to you. people of God. The apostacy of these ungrateful Jews is the beginning of your salvation. You are to be keepers of the Vineyard to the end of time; you are to feed on its fruits, for they now belong From East and West, from North and South, come to the great Pasch that is being prepared! Come to the font of salvation, O ye new people, who are gathered unto God from all nations under the sun! Your Mother the Church will fill up from you, if you be faithful, the number of the elect; and when her work is done, her Spouse will return, as the dread Judge, to condemn those who would not know the time of their visitation.1 Let us encourage within ourselves the spirit of humility and penance by the following Hymn, which we take from the Greek Liturgy. It was composed by St. Andrew of Crete. HYMN. (Feria V. quinta Hebdomadæ.) I would mourn over the Unde primum misera sins of my wretched life; but vitæ meæ actiones lamen 1 St. Luke, xix. 44. ́ R LENT. ter? quod, Christe, hodierni planctus initium faciam? enim vero, qui misericors sis, debitorum veniam concede. Veni, misera anima, tua carne comite, omnium confitere Creatori, deincepsque antiqua abstine aliena a ratione affectione, ac Deo lacrymas pœnitens exhibe. Qui Adam protoplastum prævaricando sim æmulatus; Deo, æternoque regno et voluptate, meis cognovi peccatis me nudatum. Heu me, misera anima! ut quid primæ Evæ similis facta es? male quippe vidisti, direque vulnerata es; ac manum admovisti ligno, petulansque escam absonam gustasti. Jure merito Adam, ut qui unum tuum mandatum, O Salvator, non custodivisset, Eden illa ejectus est at ego, qui continue vivifica eloquia tua spernam, quid sustinuero ? Tempus est pœnitentiæ : ad te accedo, fictorem meum: grave a me tolle peccati jugum mihique, ut misericors, tribue veniam delictorum. Ne me, Salvator, abomineris, ne projicias a facie tua grave a me tolle peccati jugum mihique, ut misericors, tribue veniam delictorum. where shall I begin? O Jesus! how shall I commence the lamentation I fain would make this day? Do thou, my merciful God, forgive me my sins. Come, my poor soul, and thou, too, my body, come, and confess to the great Creator; and henceforth, restrain your senseless passions, and offer to God the tears of repent ance. I have imitated my First Parent in his sin; I acknowledge my nakedness, for I have lost my God, and the kingdom and the joys of eternity. Alas, unhappy soul ! wherefore hast thou made thyself like unto Eve! Oh! that guilty look! Oh! that cruel wound! Thou didst stretch forth thy hand to the tree; and, in thy frowardness, didst eat the forbidden fruit. Adam was deservedly driven out of Paradise, because he broke one of thy commandments, Oh! my Saviour! I, then, who am for ever setting thy life-giving words at defiance, what punishment shall I not have? Now is the time for repentance. I come to thee, O my Creator! Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy's sake, pardon me my crimes. Despise me not, my Saviour! Cast me not away from thy face. Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy's sake, pardon me my crimes. Do thou, my Saviour, and my merciful God, pardon me my sins, deliberate or indeliberate, public or private, known or unknown. Have mercy on me, and save me! Voluntaria mea debita præterque voluntatem, manifestaque et occulta, cognita omnia et incognita, tu Salvator, condona, velut Deus indulgens; propitius esto, ac me salvum facito. SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT. THE Station is the Church of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, two celebrated Martyrs of Rome, under the persecution of Dioclesian. Their names are inserted in the Canon of the Mass. to thy flock, bring me two kids of the best, that I may make of them meat for thy father, such as he gladly eateth; which when thou hast brought in, and he hath eaten, he may bless thee before he die. And he answered her: Thou knowest that Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am smooth; if my father shall feel me, and perceive it, I fear lest he will think I would have mocked him, and I shall bring upon me a curse instead of a blessing. And his mother said to him: Upon me be this curse, my son; only hear thou my voice, and go, fetch me the things which I have said. He went, and brought, and gave them to his mother. She dressed meat such as she knew his father liked. And she put on him very good garments of Esau, which she had at home with her; and the little skins of the kids she put about his hands, and covered the bare of his neck. And she gave him the savoury meat, and delivered him bread that she had baked. Which when he had carried in, he said: My father? But he answered: I hear; who art thou my son? And Jacob said: I am Esau thy first-born; I have done as thou didst command me; arise, sit, and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said to his son: How couldst thou find it so quickly, my son? He answered: It was gem, affer mihi duos hoedos optimos, ut faciam ex eis escas patri tuo, quibus libenter vescitur: quas cum intuleris, et comederit, benedicat tibi priusquam moriatur. Cui ille respondit: Nosti quod Esau frater meus homo pilosus sit, et ego lenis si attrectaverit me pater meus, et senserit, timeo ne putet me sibi voluisse illudere, et inducam super me maledictionem pro benedictione. Ad quem mater: In me sit, inquit, ista maledictio, fili mi: tantum audi vocem meam, et pergens affer quæ dixi. Abiit, et attulit, deditque matri. Paravit illa cibos, sicut velle noverat patrem illius. Et vestibus Esaü valde bonis, quas apud se habebat domi, induit eum : pelliculasque hoedorum circumdedit manibus, et colli nuda protexit. Deditque pulmentum, et panes quos coxerat tradidit. Quibus illatis, dixit: Pater mi! At ille respondit: Audio. Quis es tu, fili mi? Dixitque Jacob: Ego sum primogenitus tuus Esau: feci sicut præcepisti mihi: surge, sede, et comede de venatione mea, ut benedicat mihi anima tua. Rursumque Isaac ad filium suum: Quomodo, inquit, tam cito invenire potuisti, fili mi? Qui respondit: Voluntas Dei fuit, ut cito occurreret mihi quod volebam. Dixitque Isaac : Accede huc, ut tangam te, fili mi, et probem utrum tu sis filius meus Esaü, an non, |