It

we may, profit by our to-day's assistance at it. contains the pledge and price of our Salvation, and, if we put no obstacle in the way, will complete our reconciliation with our Lord.

SECRET.

Look down, O Lord, we beseech thee, on this our sacrifice, that it may increase our devotion, and procure our salvotion. Through, &c.

Sacrificiis præsentibus, Domine, quæsumus, intende placatus: ut et devotioni nostræ proficiant, et saluti. Per Dominum.

The second and third Secrets are given on the First Sunday of Lent, page 138.

The penitent soul, having seen how this ineffable Mystery has given her to enjoy the presence of Him who is her Saviour and her Judge, offers to him her prayers with all the fervour of confidence. She says to him these words of the Psalmist, which form the Communion-Antiphon :

COMMUNION.

Understand my cry, hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God! for to thee will I pray, O Lord!

Intellige clamorem meum: intende voci orationis meæ, Rex meus et Deus meus: quoniam ad te orabo, Domine.

In the Postcommunion, the Church prays especially for those of her children, who have partaken of the Victim she has just been offering. Jesus has nourished them with his own Flesh; it behoves them to prove themselves worthy of him by the renewal of their lives.

POSTCOMMUNION.

Grant, we humbly beseech thee, Almighty God, that those whom thou hast re

Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus, ut quos tuis reficis Sacramentis, tibi

etiam placitis moribus dignanter deservire concedas. Per Dominum.

freshed with thy sacraments, may worthily serve thee in the conduct of their lives. Through, &c.

The second and third Postcommunions are given on the First Sunday of Lent, page 140.

VESPERS.

The Psalms and Antiphons are given in page 101.

CAPITULUM.

(I. Thess. iv.)

Fratres, rogamus vos, et obsecramus in Domino Jesu: ut quemadmodum accepistis a nobis quomodo Vos oporteat ambulare, et placere Deo: sic et ambuletis, ut abundetis magis.

Brethren, we pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus: that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more.

For the Hymn and Versicle, see page 108.

We may close our Sunday by reciting the following beautiful prayer taken from the Mozarabic Breviary.

CAPITULUM.

(In 11. Dominica Quadragesimæ.)

O Jesus, our God! Eternal first beginning of light! who willedst that thy servants should devote the seventh day to sanctification, rather than to work; lo! we come, seeking how we may find thee, but we are prevented by the habitual darkness of our conscience; we make efforts to arise, but we fall back again, and are dejected. Therefore, we beseech thee, cast not away from thy face them that seek thee, for thou didst deign to show thyself to them that did not seek thee. Now is the season of the year, when we are offering to thy holy Name a tithe of our days; and of these days, seven are passed: grant us thine assistance in the path of this fatiguing journey, that so our proffered homage may be without blemish. Sweeten our toil by filling us with an ardent love of thy Majesty, and awaken us from the sluggishness of the body, by the fervent abundance of thy charity. May our life, being thus in thee, know no faltering, and our faith find its reward.

Christe Deus, luminis perenue principium, qui septimum diei curriculum sanctificatione potius, quam operatione voluisti esse confitentium; quærimus ecce faciem tuam, sed impedimur conscientiæ nostræ tenebra consueta: conamur adsurgere, sed relabimur in moerorem; non ergo abjicias te quærentes, qui non quærentibus apparere dignatus es. Ecce dierum nostrorum decimas sancto tuo Nomini annuis recursibus persolventes, septimum nunc ex ipsis decimis peregimus diem; da ergo nobis adjutorium in hujus laboriosi itineris via, quo inlibata tibi nostra dedicentur obsequia : ut labores nostros amoris tui desiderio releves, et socordiam sensus nostri fervida dilectionis tuæ ubertate exsuscites : ut in te vita nostra non habeat casum, sed fides inveniat præmium.

MONDAY

OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT.

THE Station is in the Church of Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr. In this, more than in any other Church of the City of Rome, there has been preserved the ancient arrangement of the early Christian Basilicas. Under its altar there reposes the body of its holy Patron, together with the Relics of St. Ignatius of Antioch, and of the Consul St. Flavius Clemens.

COLLECT.

Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut familia tua quæ se, affligendo carnem, ab alimentis abstinet, sectando justitiam, a culpa jejunet. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that thy people who mortify themselves by abstinence from meat, may likewise fast from sin, and follow righteousness. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

EPISTLE.

Lectio Danielis Prophetæ.

Cap. IX.

In diebus illis: Oravit Daniel Dominum, dicens: Domine, Deus noster, qui eduxisti populum tuum de terra Egypti in manu forti, et fecisti tibi nomen secundum diem hanc peccavimus, iniquitatem fecimus, Domine, in omnem justitiam tuam. Avertatur, obsecro, ira tua et furor tuus a civitate tua Jerusalem, et a monte sancto tuo. Propter peccata enim nostra, et

Lesson from Daniel the
Prophet.
Ch. IX.

In those days: Daniel prayed to the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day; we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, O Lord, against all thy justice. Let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain.

For, by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are a reproach to all that are round about us. Now, therefore, our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and show thy face upon thy sanctuary which is desolate, for thy own sake. Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called; for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, be appeased; hearken, and do; delay not for thy own sake, O my God; because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people, O Lord our God.

iniquitates patrum nostrorum, Jerusalem et populus tuos in opprobrium sunt omnibus per circuitum nostrum. Nunc ergo exaudi, Deus noster, orationem servi tui et preces ejus : et ostende faciem tuam super Sanctuarium tuum, quod desertum est, propter temetipsum. Inclina, Deus meus, aurem tuam, et audi: aperi oculos tuos, et vide desolationem nostram, et civitatem super quam invocatum est Nomen tuum: neque enim in justificationibus nostris prosternimus preces ante faciem tuam, sed in miserationibus tuis multis. Exaudi, Domine; placare, Domine : attende et fac: ne moreris, propter temetipsum, Deus meus: quia nomen tuum invocatum est super civitatem et super populum tuum, Domine Deus noster.

Such was the prayer and lamentation of Daniel, during the captivity in Babylon. His prayer was heard; and, after seventy years' exile, the Jews returned to their country, rebuilt the Temple, and were once more received by the Lord as his chosen people. But what are the Israelites now? What has been their history for the last eighteen hundred years? If we apply to them the words of Daniel's lamentation, they but faintly represent the sad reality of their present long chastisement. God's anger lies beavily on Jerusalem; the very ruins of the Temple have perished; the children of Israel are dispersed over the whole earth, a reproach to all nations. A curse hangs over this people; like Cain, it is a wanderer and fugitive; and God watches over it, that it