Passion Sunday.

Passiontide.

Today begins the fortnight
of immediate preparation for Easter,
which in the third century,
included a twelve days' fast
preceding the dawn of the Resurrection.
In the sacred Liturgy
and more especially in the Breviary,
we can still distinguish this special cycle
formed by this holy Passion-tide.

The season of Lent,
which was of later institution than Passion-tide.

In Lent
the Church was chiefly occupied
in the preparation of the penitents
for their solemn reconciliation on Holy Thursday,

Sacred Instruction into the Mysteries of the Faith.

and the instruction of catechumens
in preparation for their reception of Holy Baptism.

St. Peter baptizes those who were Catechumens.

Throughout Passiontide
these important occupations of Lent
take a secondary place.

The Pharisees take counsel with the Herodians.

During Passion-tide
but one thought predominates
in the Missal and in the Breviary
-the thought of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
who realizes the bitter persecution
which His enemies are plotting against Him.

During this fortnight,
in which the Liturgy illustrates with dramatic force
the ever-growing hatred of the enemies of our Lord,
the early Ordines Romani
forbid the final doxology to be said
after either the antiphonic or the responsorial psalmody.

Psalm 42, introduced in the 8th century,
is also omitted at the beginning of Mass.
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Passion Sunday.
Station at St. Peter.
(S. Pietro.)


The station at the Vatican today
is the last remaining trace of the pannuchis which,
in the time of Pope Gelasius,
was celebrated at the tomb of the Apostles
during the night previous to the solemn Ordination
of the priests and deacons
of Rome.

The Crucifixion of St Peter.

The Liturgical cycle of the Passion
begins with the Mass at the Vatican,
where Nero crucified the first Vicar of Christ
and where Pope Symmachus had built an oratory
named - Sancta Hierusalem -Holy Jerusalem
in honour of the triumphant Cross.

Who didst save Peter in the sea...

It was from that oratory near St. Peter's
that the following verses were introduced into the Liturgy:
Salve nos, Chrtiste Salvator,
per virtutem Crucis;
qui salvasti Petrum in mare,
miserere nobis.
Save us, Christ our Saviour,
by the virtue of Thy holy cross;
Thou who didst save Peter in the sea,
have mercy upon us.

The Mass of this Sunday
is entirely dominated by the memory
of the Sacrifice on Golgotha,
and is one of the most beautiful and pathetic
of the whole Roman Antiphonary.

Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord...
Thou wilt lift me up above them that rise up against me
From the unjust man Thou wilt deliver me.
(Gradual Ps. 17:48)

Quo vadis Domine?
Where art Thou going Lord?

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Oremus.
Let us pray.

Domine Jesu Christe, qui de coelis...
O Lord Jesus Christ,
Who didst come down to earth from heaven,
from the bosom of the Father,
and didst pour out Thy Precious Blood
for the remission of sins,
we humbly beseech Thee,
that on the day of judgment,
standing on Thy right hand,
we may be considered worthy to hear:
Come ye blessed.
Who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

Deus, qui errata...
O God, who settest straight
what has gone astray,
and gatherest together what is scattered,
and keeping what Thou hast gathered together,
we beseech Thee in Thy mercy
to pour down on Christian people
the grace of union with Thee,
and putting aside disunion
and attaching themselves
to the true shepherd of Thy Church,
they may be able to render Thee due service.
Through our Lord.

Saturday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent.

Saturday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent.

Station at. St. Nicholas in Carcere.
(S. Nicola in Carcere.)


Since the time of Gelasius I (A.D. 492-496)
this day has been devoted in Rome to the conferring of Holy Orders
and this station marked in the Sacramentaries
was held only in those years
in which the Pope did not ordain any titular priests or deacons,
for in the fifth century,
the consecration of the ministers of the Church
could only take place at the tomb of the Apostles at the Vatican.

Today is called Sitientes,
from the first word of the Introit of the Mass,
in which the Church addresses her catechumens
in the words of Isiaiah:
O you that thirst come to the waters.

The Lesson is from the Prophet Isaiah.
How these words must have consoled the hearts of the catechumens.
Through the prophet God declares that
He gives the whole earth to His Son, The Shepherd,
that He may save it.
The Fountain, the Baptismal font,
shall be the center where all the human race is to meet.
The Gentile world is henceforth to be called Sion
and the Lord loves the gates of this city
above all the tabernacles of Jacob (Ps. 86:2).
God has not forgotten her during the long ages of her idol worship;
His love is tender as that of the fondest mother;
yea, and though a mother's heart may forget her child,
God will never forget His Sion,
the Holy Catholic Church.

Liturgical Note:
In the Roman Lectionaries of the ninth century,
there was a second lesson again from the prophet Isaiah:
Omnes sitientes venite ad aquas.... O you that thirst come to the waters,
which like the Introit,
exhorted the Catechumens to hasten to the baptismal font.

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Oremus.
Let us pray.

Deus qui sperantibus...
O God, who choosest rather to show mercy,
than to be angry with those who hope in Thee,
grant we may worthily lament the evil we have committed,
that so we may find the favour of Thy consolation.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Friday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent.

Friday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent.
Station at St. Eusebius.
(S. Eusebio.)

The ascent into heaven
of the soul of St. Eusebius the Martyr.

The Church of St. Eusebius (Dominicum Eusebii),
first mentioned in the Acts of a Council held in Rome
under Pope Symmachus in A.D. 498,
marks the site of the house of St. Eusebius,
that heroic Roman priest who was a victim
of the cruel measures of the Arian Emperor Constantius II (A.D. 353 - 361).
It was converted into a church immediately after the death of the saint.

St. Eusebius is commemorated on August 14, the Vigil of the Assumption.

(Modern restorations in 1711 and 1750
have robbed the church of all its ancient and artistic features.)

The Raising of Lazarus

The Gospel describes the resurrection of Lazarus (Jn. 11: 1-45),
thus anticipating the Greek Church,
which celebrates it with great solemnity on the day preceding Palm Sunday.

The raising up of Lazarus
after he had lain four days in the grave
is the most marvellous of the miracles worked by Our Saviour.
Not indeed on account of the magnitude of the prodigy
-for to the omnipotence of God it is as easy to raise to life
the whole human race at the last day
as it is to cause the smallest flower in the field to unfold its petals -
but because of the circumstances in which it was accomplished.
The miracle, tangible and undeniable,
was worked at the very gates of Jerusalem,
and in the presence of a multitude of witnesses.
the enemies of Jesus were so convinced of the decisive power
of this new proof of His Messianic mission
that they even planned to do away with Lazarus
and put him back again into his tomb,
as though by killing him thay could,
says St. Augustine,
prevent our Lord from restoring him a second time to life.

Liturgical Note:
The Communion, contrary to the usual lenten custom,
is drawn from the Gospel of the day.
It belongs to the Ambrosian Liturgy,
which shows a more archaic taste
in the selection of its chants compared to that of Rome.
The videns Dominus
with the syllabic melody of the Gregorian antiphonary
is wonderfully striking,
especially in the force of the Lazare, veni foras (Lazarus, come forth)
in which the composer has endeavoured
to express the fullness of the love of Jesus for His friend.

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Oremus.
Let us pray.

Deus, qui ineffabilibus....
O God, who in Thy ineffable mysteries givest new life to the world;
grant, we beseech thee,
that Thy Church may advance in the observance of Thy eternal precepts,
and never de destitute of Thy temporal assistance.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thursday after the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

Thursday after the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
Station at St. Martin "ad montes".
(S. Martino ai Monti.)

This church dates from the time of Constantine
and is considered one of the most beautiful in Rome.
An oratory was opened in this place by Pope St. Sylvester
in the time of Constantine,
among the ruins of Trajan's baths.
It bore the name of Titulus Equitii, 'Church of Equitius'
a priest on whose property it was.

St. Sylvester held two Councils here in 325 and 326
at the first of which Constantine was present
and the heresies of Arius, Photinus and Sabellius were condemned:
in the second, the decrees of the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) were confirmed.

St Gregory the Great mentioned this place in his Sacramentary.
Pope St. Symmachus built a new oratory about A.D. 500,
on the level of the present church,

and converted the original edifice into a crypt.

This new church was was dedicated to St. Martin of Tours and St. Sylvester.

The raising of the dead child by the Prophet Eliseus in the lesson
from the Fourth Book of Kings contains an allusion to St. Martin of Tours
who raised three dead persons to life
and who was greatly celebrated among the early Christians.

Liturgical Note:

As today's station dates only from the time of Pope St. Gregory II (A.D. 715-731) cetain parts of the Mass are borrowed from other feasts. (Introit: Ember Friday in September; Collect, from after yesterday's first lesson; Gradual borrowed from XIII Sunday after Pentecost.) We can see from this that the ancient Church was loath to improvise new Mass texts unless absolutely necessary. It must be so.

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Oremus.
Let us Pray.

Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God,
that the devotion that makes us punish ourselves by this yearly fast,
may also make us rejoice;
to the end that,
suppressing in ourselves all earthly affections,
we may more easily receive Thy heavenly inspirations.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Wednesday after the Fourth Week of Lent.

Wednesday "In Mediana" after the Fourth Week of Lent.

Station at St. Paul "in the opening of the ears".

(S. Paolo fuori le mura.)


Today's station is held at St. Paul's
because he is the prototype and model of catechumens,
on account of his conversion on the way to Damascus,
where he was blinded by the light from heaven.

The ceremony is also known as
in aperitione aurium -in the opening of the ears-,
because the miracle which Christ worked upon the deaf man
was renewed in a spiritual sense upon the candidates for baptism,
to whom the Pontiff explained for the first time with solemn rites
the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the beginning of the four Gospels.
Thus the ears of the catechumens,
deaf hitherto to the words of truth,
were opened at length to hear the tidings of eternal life.

The full ceremony is too long to be reproduced in this post.
We now give but one excerpt from the Ordines Romani
(dating from about A.D. 650)
and found in Blessed Schuster's work The Sacramentary.

Blessed Schuster consecrated bishop by Pope Pius XI.


Before the Catechumens are dismissed
they are given the following solemn explanation of the Our Father:

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"The priest now gives an explanation of the Lord's Prayer:

"Our Father, who art in heaven.

"This is a cry of freedom and of perfect confidence. Let your conduct show that you are indeed sons of God, and brothers of Jesus Christ. For how can any man dare to call God his Father, unless he strives to do His will? Therefore, dearly beloved, endeavour to show yourselves worthy of this divine adoption, since it is written that as many as believed in Him were made worthy to become the sons of God.

"Hallowed by Thy name.

"This does not mean that God, Himself the source of all sanctity, may become holy because we acknowledge Him as holy; on the contrary, we ask that His Name may be sanctified in us, so that we, having become holy by means of His baptism, may always persevere in this purity of life.

"Thy kingdom come.

"God, whose dominion is without end, reigns for ever. Therefore, when we say, "Thy kingdom come," we ask that our kingdom may also come, that Messianic kingdom promised to us by God and bought by the Passion and the precious Blood of the Redeemer.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

"That is to say, may Thy will be accomplished, and those things which Thou dost will in heaven be carried out by us here on earth.

"Give us this day our daily bread.

"By these words is meant our spiritual food. Our bread indeed is Christ, who said: 'I am the living bread which came down from heaven.' We speak of our daily bread because we must pray to be kept continually far from sin, in order to be worthy of the heavenly food.

"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass against us.

"This precept teaches us that we cannot obtain pardon for our sins, unless we first forgive those who have sinned against us, for our Lord says in the Gospel: 'If you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences.'

"And lead us not into temptation.

"That is, let not the author of evil, the tempter, drive us into sin. Holy Scripture, indeed, says that it is not God who tempts us but the devil, against whom Christ tells us to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation.

"But deliver us from evil. Amen.

"This is added because as St. Paul says: 'You know not that which you should pray.' We must therefore pray the One and All-powerful God that He would give us strength to avoid those things into which our human weakness might lead us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord," etc.

Deacon: "Stand in order, be silent and attentive."

Priest: "You have heard, dearly beloved, the profound and sacred meaning of the Lord's Prayer. Go now and ponder it in your hearts, that you may become perfect in Jesus Christ, and may obtain the mercy which you implore. Our God is able to do this; may He lead you who desire to embrace our holy faith to the waters of regeneration; and may He grant us who have instructed you in the sacred mysteries the grace of attaining with you to the heavenly kingdom, He who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, world with out end. Amen."

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Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent.

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent.
Station at St. Lawrence in the House of St. Damasus.
(S. Lorenzo in Damaso.)

Today the church is part of the Cancelleria, or the chancery,
that houses the Holy Father's Tribunals:
the Roman Rota, Apostolic Signatura, and Apostolic Penitentiary.

The Basilica of St. Lawrence in Damaso
takes its name from the great Pontiff of the catacombs,
who caused it to be built beside the ancient Archives of the Roman Church,
on the spot where his father had ended his ecclesiastical career,
and where he himself had begun his own.
It is therefore full of memories connected with his family.

St Damasus' statue
in the Portico ceiling of St Peter's Basilica.

We know from documentary evedince that the family of Damasus
had been established in Rome for a long period,
while the high ecclesiastical office held by his father
made it easy to suppose that the son, too,
would in time attain to the highest honours,
so in a famous inscription we find the following designation
bestowed upon Damasus in his quality of being born a Pope:
Natus qui antistes Sedis Apostolicae.
Who is born the bishop of the Apostolic See.
Under the high altar of the stational basilica rest the sacred relics of its founder.

The Lesson is from the Book of Exodus
relates the rebellion of the Israelites against Moses.
Whilst it may contains an allusion to the schism
which broke out in Rome on the occasion of the election
of Damasus as Pope,
when even a great part of the clergy abandoned him,
it is most certainly a type of the treatment
which our Lord received from his own people
when He went up to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles,
and of which we read in the Gospel of today
(John 7: 14-31).

Notes:
Today's Gospel begins
Jam die festo mediante... About the midst of the feast...
From these words in today's Gospel,
in the Roman Liturgical terminology,
this first week of the second half of Lent
was known as mediana.
But in other churches the term is not used
until the middle of the paschal season.

The Offertory is from Psalm 39:
"...and he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God."
What is this new canticle of praise?
The hymn of the resurrection,
the Eucharistia of the New Testament in the blood of Christ.

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Oremus.
Let us pray.

Convertere; poenitere; revela occulta; ...

Be converted, my soul!
Do penance;
reveal thy hidden sins;
say to thy God Who knowest all things:
Thou, my only Saviour, knowest all things;
do Thou, as David sings,
have mercy upon me according to Thy great mercy.

My days have vanished
as the dream of one that wakeneth;
wherefore like Ezechias, I weep on my couch
and beseech Thee to add to the years of my life.
But who, O my soul,
can be thine Isaias and help thee,
but He that is God of all?

Monday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent.

Monday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent.
Station at the Four Holy Crowned Martyrs.
(SS. Quattro Coronati.)

First Day of Lent in Rome in the third century.


This ancient church which stands fortress-like at the foot of the Coelian hill,
is mentioned in a document of the time of St. Gregory the Great (A.D. 590-604).
It was rebuilt by Honorius I (A.D. 626-638),
enlarged by St. Leo IV (A.D. 847-855),
almost burnt to the ground by the conflagration
caused by the Normans in 1084,
then again rebuilt by Paschal II in 1112
and finally restored under Martin V (1417-1431).
Pope St. Leo IV (A.d. 847-855) and Stephen III (768-772)
were elected to the Papacy in this church.

The Four Crowned Martyrs.
Un the crypt immediately under the high altar
lie the bodies of the Four Crowned Martyrs
who are Saints Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus and Victorinus all brothers,
who held important offices in Rome,
were arrested under Diocletian for denouncing the worship of idols,
and cruelly scourged to death.

The pagan god Aesculapius.

With the Four Crowned Martyrs are associated five other martyrs,
Saints Cladius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorus and Simplicius, all sculptors,
who suffered at Pannonia in the same persecution,
for refusing to make a statue of Aesculapius.
St. Leo IV translated the remains of the nine martyrs
to this church about A.D. 847;
their bodies are enshrined in two urns of porphyry and serpentine.
The head of St. Sebastian is also kept here.

Roman Tower of the Basilica of the Four Crowned Martyrs.

The Primitive Roman Lent,
which included the three weeks before Easter,
began on this day in the third century;
and the last trace of this liturgical period
is to be seen in the series of lessons from St. John's Gospel,
which continue from now to Easter.
The few Masses which do not have their Gospels from St. John
are either those stations instituted afterwards by Gregory II
or their Gospels were added at a later date.

The Offertory is that of the First Sunday after the Epiphany.
It's flowing Gregorian melody is true jubilation,
well suited to this first day of the great paschal fast,
when a special note of gladness
was to dominate the whole Mass.
God loves a cheerful giver.

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Oremus.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God,
that we who annually celebrate this holy fast,
may be well pleasing to Thee,
both in body and in mind.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Fourth Sunday of Lent.

The Fourth Sunday of Lent.
Station at the Roman Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.
(S. Croce in Gerusalemme.)

Apse of the Basilica depicting the Finding of the Holy Cross.

Today is a day of liturgical monuments.

Beginning of the Ancient Roman Lent of 20 Days
The ancient name for this Sunday is Dominica in Vigesima
counting but 20 days left to Holy Saturday night.
It is the day of the caput jejunii,
the beginning of the primitive Roman Lent of three weeks before Easter
which was from about A.D. 250 until the Council of Nicaea
fixed the fast at forty days.
Previous to the primitive Roman Lent of three weeks,
the Fast lasted but a week at Rome, Alexandria, and Gaul
while in other places it was only for the last two days of Holy Week,
Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Celebration of the Middle of Lent.
Today is also the joyful celebration of
the middle of Lent
which Pope Gregory II transferred from last Thursday,
a day of Fast, to this Sunday.

Following the Greek Church
that keeps the feast of the Holy Cross on the middle day of Lent,
we celebrate mid-Lent today in the Station church of Rome called
"Holy Cross in Jerusalem."
It is Laetare Sunday,
we rejoice to have arrived at the mid point of the holy fasts.

+++++ Special Notice. +++++

If you have have not yet begun the Holy Fast of Lent,
do not lose courage,
begin it tomorrow,
it's still not too late to join the Lent of 2011.

If you begin your Lent tomorrow
you will be keeping
the primitive Roman Lent of 20 days
that was
celebrated by our ancestors
in the catacombs
from about the year A.D. 250.

Joining this ancient Lent is very worthwhile,
do it for Our Lord to show your love for Him.
It will also bring you graces for all your needs,
it will make some reparation for your sins,
and prepare your soul for the Holy Feast of Easter.

It is not too late.
Start tomorrow.
Join the Primitive Roman Fast.
Make a holy Lent
of the last 20 before Easter.

A Golden Rose given by Bl. John XXIII.

The Golden Rose is blessed today.

In the Middle Ages, on this day,
the Pope used to proceed to the station at Holy Cross in Jerusalem
holding in his hand a golden rose,
the mystical significance of which he afterwards explained to the people.
On his return he presented it to the Prefect of Rome,
and this gave rise to the custom, which continues to this day.
Pope Benedict XVI has sent seven Golden Roses,
the last in 2009 to the shrine of Our Lady of Europe.

Golden Rose in the Vatican Library.

The Pope's Blessing of the Golden Rose:
"O God! by Whose word and power all things have been created,
by Whose will all things are directed, we humbly beseech Thy Majesty,
Who art the joy and gladness of all the faithful,
that Thou wouldst deign in Thy fatherly love to bless and sanctify this rose,
most delightful in odour and appearance,
which we this day carry in sign of spiritual joy,
in order that the people consecrated by Thee
and delivered from the yoke of Babylonian slavery
through the favour of Thine only-begotten Son,
Who is the glory and exultation of the people of Israel
and of that Jerusalem which is our Heavenly mother,
may with sincere hearts show forth their joy.
Wherefore, O Lord, on this day,
when the Church exults in Thy name
and manifests her joy by this sign [the rose],
confer upon us through her true and perfect joy
and accepting her devotion of today;
do Thou remit sin, strengthen faith, increase piety,
protect her in Thy mercy, drive away all things adverse to her
and make her ways safe and prosperous,
so that Thy Church,
as the fruit of good works,
may unite in giving forth the perfume of the ointment
of that flower sprung from the root of Jesse
and which is the mystical flower of the field and lily of the valleys,
and remain happy without end
in eternal glory together with all the saints."


Finding of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem by St. Helena.

The Mass of the day.
The Epistle points us to the Jerusalem that is above;
the Gradual is in praise of Jerusalem and
the Tract speaks of Jerusalem as a type of the soul which trusts in the Lord.
Its faith is as immovable as Mount Sion, for its hope is in God,
whose grace is about His people, even as the hills encircle Jerusalem,
so that the enemy shall not prevail against them.
The Communion proclaims once more
the the glories of the mystical city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
It is built on the hill of faith like a walled city,
and its streets are connected with one another,
just as the blessed are united together in the Communion of Saints.
Through its twelve apostolic gates all the tribes of the Lord
enter to glorify that name of the Lord.

Fast Suspended on Sundays of Lent
The fast is suspended today on account of the Sunday
-not however, abstinence from flesh meat,
for in early days this was strictly observed all through Lent in Rome
until the 20th Century,
just as it is now by the Russian and Oriental Churches.

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Hymn.
Sacro jejunii stadio jam dimidio superemenso, ...
We have passed one half of our journey through the holy fast;
let us then, as it behooves us,joyfully complete what remains.
Let us anoint our souls with the oil of good works,
that we may be made worthy to celebrate the divine sufferings of Christ our Lord,
and to be brought to His venerable and holy Resurrection.

Jesus, He that planted the vine abd hired the labourers, is near at hand.
Come ye brave fasters! let us receive the reward;
for He that pays us is rich and merciful.
After our short labours, He will requite our souls with His mercy.

Come, let us who are in the mystic Vine, produce fruits of penance.
Here labouring, let our feasting be, not in meat and drink,
but in prayer and fasting and good works.
Our Lord, being pleased with our labour, will pay us with that,
whereby He, the one God, rich in mercy,
will forgive us the debt of our sins.

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent.
Station at St. Susanna, the ancient titulus Gaii.
(S. Susanna.)

The High Altar and Confession of S. Susanna.

The Church of St. Susanna had originally been the house of St. Gabinus,
brother of the martyred Pope Caius
who consecrated it and after whom it was called (Titulus Gaii).
St. Gabinus dwelt here with his daughter Susanna,
belonging to the highest astocracy of Rome.
Here both were martyred
because Susanna refused to break her vow of virginity
by marriage with the pagan prince Maximianus Galerius,
the adopted son of Diocletian.

The bodies of the martyrs, SS. Caius, Gabinus, Susanna,
also St. Felicitas, the mother of the seven martyred brother,
and her younger son St. Silanus
lie in the confession under the high altar.

Depiction of Susanna and the Elders above a catacomb niche.

The story of Susanna described in the Book of Daniel (13: 1-62)
was loved by the early Christians,
for it was often represented in the catacombs.

St Hippolytus, a martyr of the third century says that
Susanna is a figure of the Church, solicited by the pagans to evil,
but remained faithful to her divine Spouse,
even though death was the punishment for resistance.

Susanna is a type of the Roman martyrs perferring death to apostasy;
betrothed to their divine Spouse by Baptism,
apostasy is called adultery in the Holy Scriptures.

The choice of this passage for the Lesson at Mass
was evidently suggested by the name of St. Susanna
to whom the stational basilica is dedicated.

The Gospel is that of the woman taken in adultery and brought before Christ.
Human justice is inflexible towards certain sins
for which the world has not pity.
How much more gentle is the grace of the Holy Ghost.

Why did Christ say to the adulteress: "Neither will I condemn thee"?
Does His law then not condemn sins of impurity?
It does condemn them,
and as long as the sinner cherishes an affection for sin,
God will not receive him,
but when he repents and detests his wrongdoing,
his contrition brings him back to God,
who no longer condemns him but grants him pardon and reconciliation.
How great a consolation it is to the fallen ones,
to those who can never hope to regain the esteem of their fellowmen,
to hear the voice of God within them saying:
"Neither will I condemn thee."

Friday after the Third Sunday in Lent.

Friday after the Third Sunday in Lent.
Station at St. Lawrence in Lucina.
(S. Lorenzo in Lucina.)

In the list of churches St. Lawrence in Lucina is the first of the presbyteral titles. It was originally the house of a Christian lady named Lucina who converted it into an oratory.
In A.D. 366 Pope St. Damasus was elected here.

Pope St. Damasus
elected A.D. 366

Pope Sixtus III enlarged the edifice into a church about the year A.D. 435.
The church was seized by anti-Pope Anacletus II in 1130,
who consecrated it and enriched it with many relics.
Pope Celestine III (1191 - 1198) reconsecrated it on May 26, 1196.

Relic of the Gridiron of St. Lawrence.

In 1112 Pope Paschal II placed under the altar
a large piece of the gridiron on which St. Lawrence was martyred.
The most ancient document which guarantees the authenticity of this holy relic
is a sermon by St. Leo the Great,
who, on the feast of St Lawrence,
speaks of it as an object of veneration to all Romans.
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Prope est finis, o anima, prope est, nec es sollicita?...
Thy end is near, O my soul!
How comes it thou art heedless?
How is it, that thou art making no preparation?
Time presses; arise!
The Judge is near, even at the very gate.
Life is passing away, as a dream, and as a flower.
Why trouble we ourselves with vain things?

Recover thyself, O my soul!
Recall to mind the acts of thy life;
bring them before thee,
and let thine eyes shed tears over them.
Openly confess thy deeds and thoughts to Christ,
and be justified.

Act of Contrition.
O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee
and I detest my sins above every other evil,
because they have deserved Thy dreadful punishments,
because they have crucified my loving Saviour, Jesus Christ,
and, most of all, because they have offended Thine infinite goodness.
I firmly purpose with the help of Thy grace,
which I beseech Thee to grant me now and always,
never more to offend Thee,
to avoid the occasions of sin
and to amend my life. Amen.

The Mid-Lent Station.

Thursday after the Third Sunday in Lent.
The Middle of Lent.
Station at SS. Cosmas and Damian.
(SS. Cosma e Damiano)

The mosaic in the apse of the basilica.
The Greeks were in the habit of celebrating a day of festival
in honour of the holy cross in the middle of Lent,
making a break, as it were in the long period of fasting.
In Rome this solemnity was deferred to the Sunday following,
but Gregory II instituted this station at the Church of SS Cosmas and Damian,
in order not altogether to deprive the faithful
of that innocent satisfaction in the middle of Lent.

SS. Cosmas and Damian
The two martyrs known as "Anargyri" (moneyless)
-that is, they belonged to that class of pious Byzantine doctors
who despised money and gave their healing services free.
Moreover, considering the rigour of the Lenten fast in those days
it is easy to understand that many persons
must have needed to have recourse to these heavenly physicians.

The Mass has been adapted to the occasion;
it refers chiefly to the anniversary of their martyrdom,
and the frequent mention of health, sickness and healing
recalls the great popularity of the veneration
paid to the holy Moneyless martyrs in those early days.