Sarx

Today’s Station: Santa Maria in Via Lata (The Missal says Saint Cyriacum, but that Church is no more).

Missa: EXSPECTA DOMINUS

INTROIT: Psalm 26: 14
Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord. The psalm of David before he was anointed. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?
REPEAT: Expect the Lord…

COLLECT:
May our fasts be acceptable to Thee, O Lord, and expiate our sins ; may they make us worthy of Thy grace, and lead us unto life everlasting. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen

2nd COLLECT: Against the persecutors of Holy Mother Church:
We beseech Thee, O Lord, mercifully to receive the prayers of Thy Church : that, all adversity and error being destroyed, she may serve Thee in security and freedom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen

EPISTLE: Daniel 14: 27-42 (NB: This passage is part of the Apocrypha. It is not available in my preferred translation).
In Those days the Babylonians came to the king, and said: Deliver us Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thy house. And they cast him into the den of lions, and he was there six days. And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep: but then they were not given unto them, that they might devour Daniel. Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and he had boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl: and was going into the field, to carry it to the reapers. And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc: Carry the dinner which thou hast into Babylon, to Daniel, who is in the lions’ den. And Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the den. And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon, over the den, in the force of his spirit. And Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take the dinner that God hath sent thee. And Daniel said, Thou hast remembered me, O God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love thee. And Daniel arose, and eat. And the angel of the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place. And upon the seventh day the king came to bewail Daniel: and he came to the den, and looked in, and behold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions. And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying: Great art thou, O Lord, the God of Daniel. And he drew him out of the lions’ den. But those that had been the cause of his destruction, he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before him. Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel: for he is the Saviour, working signs, and wonders in the earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions’ den.

GRADUAL: Psalm 42: 1-3
Distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy: deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man. For Thou art God my strength: why hast Thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me? Send forth Thy light and Thy truth: they have conducted me, and brought me unto Thy holy hill, and into Thy tabernacles

GOSPEL: John 7:1-13
In those days: Yeshua traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y’hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him. But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near; his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go into Y’hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do; for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world!” (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.) Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right. The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are. You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil. But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he too went up, not publicly but in secret. At the festival, the Judeans were looking for him. “Where is he?” they asked. And among the crowds there was much whispering about him. Some said, “He’s a good man”; but others said, “No, he is deceiving the masses.” However, no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Judeans.

A Homily on the Gospel Passage From Matins for the Day
by St. Augustine the Bishop

In this Chapter of the Gospel, my brethren, our Lord Jesus Christ hath much commended himself unto our faith, in respect of his humanity. Forsooth, his words and works were always such as to give us to believe that he is both God and Man : God who made us, and Man who sought us ; as touching his Godhead, always with the Father, and as touching his Manhood, one with us in time. For he could not have sought after that which he had made, save that he himself was made one with all that he made. Yea, verily, be ever mindful of this, and never let it escape from your hearts, to wit : That Christ was made Man in such wise that he ceased not to be God. He who is the Maker of man made himself to become Man, yet he remained that very God who is from everlasting to everlasting.

Wherefore, albeit his Godhead was hidden by his humanity, we must not think that he had suffered any lessening of power, but rather that he was giving ensample to our weakness. He was taken, but not until he willed it. Likewise not until he willed it, was he put to death. But his faithful people, who are his members, have not that power over their lives which he who is our God had over his. For this reason he hid himself. Yea, he concealed himself, as it were, to escape being put to death, so as to shew what should be done in like case by his members in whom he himself doth dwell.

For Christ is not the head of his Church in such sense that he is not also the body thereof. Rather, the whole Christ is in the head, and the whole Christ is in the body. What therefore his members are, that same is he himself. Albeit it doth not follow that his members are the same as he is. For if his members were not one with himself, how could he say unto Saul : Why persecutest thou me? For Saul was not persecúting Christ but Christ’s members, that is, his faithful ones which were upon earth. He said not : Why persecutest thou my holy ones? Nor did he say : My servants : not yet did he give them that more honourable name : My brethren. But rather, he called them : Me : that is to say, My members whose head I am.

OFFERTORY: Psalm 9:11-13
And let them trust in Thee who know Thy name: for Thou hast not forsaken them that seek Thee, O Lord. Sing ye to the Lord, Who dwelleth in Sion: declare His ways among the Gentiles: For requiring their blood, He hath remembered them: He hath not forgotten the cry of the poor.

SECRET:
Protect us, O Lord, who assist at Thy mysteries ; that, fixed upon things divine we may serve Thee in both body and mind. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen

2nd SECRET: Against the persecutors of Holy Mother Church:
Protect us, O Lord, who assist at Thy mysteries ; that, fixed upon things divine we may serve Thee in both body and mind. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen

PREFACE OF THE HOLY CROSS
It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God : Who didst establish the salvation of mankind on the tree of the Cross: that whence death came thence also life might arise again, and that he, Who overcame by the tree, by the tree also might be overcome: Through Christ our Lord. Through Whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, the Dominations worship it, the Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the Heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to celebrate it.

COMMUNION: Psalm 24: 22
Redeem me, O God of Israel, from all my tribulations.

POSTCOMMUNION:
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that ever following after Thy divine things, we may deserve to attain heavenly rewards. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen

2nd POSTCOMMUNION Against the persecutors of Holy Mother Church:
We beseech Thee, O Lord our God, that Thou wouldst not suffer to be exposed to human dangers those to whom Thou givest to rejoice in this divine banquet. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE:
Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, a preserving obedience to Thy will, that in our days the people who serve Thee may increase both in merit and number. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen