Sarx

Today’s Station: At San Lorenzo in Panisperna

ONFESSIO ET Pulchritúo

COLLECT:
Behold with kindness, we beseech Thee O Lord, the devotion of Thy people, that they, who are now mortified in body by abstinence, may be refreshed in soul by the fruit of their good work. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen.

EPISTLE: Ezechiel 18:1-9
In those days, the word of ADONAI came to me: “What does it mean, that you keep quoting this proverb in the land of Isra’el ‘When parents eat sour grapes, their children’s teeth are set on edge’? “As I live,” says Adonai ELOHIM, “I swear that you will never again quote this proverb in Isra’el. Look, all lives belong to me - both the parent’s life and the child’s life are equally mine - so it is the person who sins, himself, who must die. “Consider someone who is righteous, who does what is lawful and right. He doesn’t eat on the mountains or raise his eyes toward the idols of the house of Isra’el; he doesn’t defile his neighbor’s wife or touch a woman during her time of menstrual impurity; he doesn’t wrong anyone; he returns any pledged property a debtor has given as collateral for a loan; he takes nothing by robbery, but gives his food to the hungry and clothing to those who need it; he neither demands nor accepts interest on a loan; he refrains from what is evil; and he judges honestly between one person and another. In short, he lives according to my laws and observes my rulings, so as to act faithfully. Such a person is righteous, and he will certainly live,” says Adonai ELOHIM.

GRADUAL: Psalm 16:8, 2
Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of Thy eye; protect me under the shadow of Thy wings. V. Let my judgment come forth from Thy countenance; let Thy eyes behold the things that are equitable.

GOSPEL: Matthew 15:21-28
Yeshua left that place and went off to the region of Tzor and Tzidon. A woman from Kena`an who was living there came to him, pleading, “Sir, have pity on me. Son of David! My daughter is cruelly held under the power of demons!” But Yeshua did not say a word to her. Then his talmidim came to him and urged him, “Send her away, because she is following us and keeps pestering us with her crying.” He said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el.” But she came, fell at his feet and said, “Sir, help me!” He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their pet dogs.” She said, “That is true, sir, but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their master’s table.” Then Yeshua answered her, “Lady, you are a person of great trust. Let your desire be granted.” And her daughter was healed at that very moment.

A Homily on the Gospel Passage From Matins for the Day
by St. Jerome the Priest

Christ departed from the scribes and Pharisees, who had spoken falsely against him, and went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, that might heal the Tyrians and Sidonians. And a woman of Canaan came to him out of these same coasts, and besought him to heal her daughter. And she cried unto him : Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. She had learned to call him Son of David, because she was come out of her own country. When she changed her home, she changed her faith, and left behind her the errors of the Tyrians and Sidonians.

My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. I think that the daughter of this woman of Canaan, whom the Lord at length delivered, was a figure of the souls of such as now believe, but were once grievously vexed with the devil, knowing not him who made them, and bowing down to stocks and stones. But he answered her not a word : not because he was proud, like the Pharisees ; nor because he was filled with disdain, like the Scribes ; but that he might fulfil the word which he had spoken, saying : Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. For he wished not to give occasion to such as spoke falsely against him ; and as for the Gentiles, he reserved the fulness of salvation for them until after his passion and resurrection.

And his disciples came and besought him, saying : Send her away ; for she crieth after us. The disciples, ignorant as yet of certain hidden things concerning the Lord, said this, either because they were moved with compassion, and so would intercede for this Canaanitish woman (whom another Evangelist calleth a Syrophoenician), or because she was crying out that the Lord was an hard, instead of a merciful physician, and so they would be rid of her clamour. But he answered and said : I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. From this we do not understand that he was not sent to the Gentiles, but rather that he was sent first to Israel. Hence, if the latter did refuse the Gospel, they would be done no injustice should he leave them to go to the Gentiles.

OFFERTORY: Psalm 33: 8-9
The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear Him, and shall deliver them: taste and see that the Lord is sweet.

SECRET:
Mercifully grant, we be­seech Thee, O Lord, that these sacrifices, offered up with wholesome fasting, may insure our salvation. 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.

COMMUNION: John 6:52
The bread that I will give, is My flesh for the life of the world.

POSTCOMMUNION:
By the plenteous bestowal of Thy gifts, O Lord, sustain us by temporal aids and renew us by those that are eternal. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen.

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE
Grant to all Christian peoples, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to understand that which they profess, and love the heavenly gift to which they have recourse. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen.