Saturday, 23 February, 2008
SATURDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT (III)
(Day of fast-traditional)

Collect: We beseech Thee, O Lord, give a healing effect to our fasts: that the chastisement of the flesh which we have taken upon us, may bring new life to our souls. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Lesson: From the Book of Genesis, 27:6-40.
[The Epistle sets forth in the figure of the catechumens and public penitents how they are to take the place of the Jews in the Kingdom of God. Isaac has two sons. The elder Esau represents the people of God who sell their birthright to gratify their carnal appetite. Jacob represents the Gentiles who check their passions and are blessed by God.]
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke, 15:11-32.
[Parable of the prodigal son. The elder son is the Jewish element of the primitive Church which is scandalized at the vocation of the Gentiles; the prodigal son is the pagan element.]

ST.PETER DAMIAN, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church (III)
“Peter Damian, a Benedictine monk, was nominated Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia on account of his learning and high virtues. He rendered immense services to St. Gregory VII in his struggle for the rights of the Church. He retired to his abbey of Fonte Avellano and died A.D. 1072.”

Collect: Grant unto us, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, so to follow in the counsels and example of blessed Peter, Thy Confessor and Bishop, that we may, by despising earthly things, obtain everlasting joys. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Epistle: From the Second Letter of Bl. Paul the Apostle to Timothy, 4:1-8.
[St. Paul admonishes Timothy to hold firmly to the sound doctrine of the Gospel. The Doctors of the Church were also renowned for their orthodoxy and their theological learning.]
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, 5:13-19.
[Like the Apostles, the Doctors of the Church are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.]

Remarks are abstracted from The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual, from Editio Typica of the Roman Missal and Breviary, 1962
(Baronius Press Limited, London, 2004, in conjunction with the Fraternal Society of St. Peter, www.baroniuspress.com)