Tuesday, 19 February, 2008
TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK IN LENT (III)
(Day of fast – traditional)



Collect: Mercifully perfect within us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the aid given us by this holy observance: that what by Thine instruction we know we should do, by Thine assistance we may do it. 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 Third Book of Kings, 17:8-16.
[The lesson tells of Elias going to a heathen woman, a poor widow of Sarepta, to ask for nourishment, when a drought had fallen on impenitent Israel. The widow took two pieces of wood and prepared a hearth cake for the Prophet and one for herself. Her charity and compassion were rewarded, for never after did she want for bread.]
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, 23:1-12.
[Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ declares that the Jews who profess the law of Moses did not observe it. The Kingdom of God is open to the heathen, who by baptism become disciples of Christ and accomplish His works.]

ST. SIMEON, Bishop, Martyr (Comm.)
"St. Simeon, who was closely related to the Blessed Virgin, became Bishop of Jerusalem after St. James. As martyr of the Faith, he was crucified under Trajan at the age of 120 years A.D. 106."

Collect: Look down upon our weakness, almighty God; and since the weight of our own deeds bears us down, may the glorious intercession of blessed Simeon, Thy Bishop and Martyr, protect us. 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 Blessed James the Apostle, 1:12-18.
[God is the Author of all good, but not of evil. The benefit of tribulations, of martyrdom.]
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke, 14:26-33.
[The necessity of renouncing all to follow Christ. The martyr carries his cross.]

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)