‘3 ae a 7k fn ae BX 8067 .Al1 Si7 Strodach, Paul Zeller, 1947. The church year ' i di wile ra ” a a , . § ‘ q ¥ of B.3 Ae adc: Citar Milne? hah aM a aie pati Ree ies MG N eae area ie Fee, ihe eee i ee ‘aie Yl ain Lae i] it aS ' I ¢ ae TY ee b MF eld 9% Si rt ay Digitized by the Internet Archive In 2022 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/churchyearstudieOOstro THE CHURCH YEAR Studies in the Introits, Collects, Epistles and Gospels By PAUL ZELLER STRODACH JUN 12 1998 A es \“EoLogican SEM PHILADELPHIA, PA. THE UNITED LUTHERAN PUBLICATION HOUSE Copyricut, 1924; By THE Boarp oF PUBLICATION OF THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA MaDE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOREWORD A few years since, the Editor of The Lutheran requested the writer to prepare a brief article for weekly publication in that journal, in which facts of interest in the historic development of the Chris- tian Year were to be noted: something of the nature of popular comments on the Church Calendar. As this series developed, two things became very evi- dent: that the articles could not be confined to the original brief compass, and that other features of interest had to be included. Further, the interest in these Calendar Notes and the encouragement of the Editor led to a much wider and fuller treatment as the Year advanced; the article grew from a para- graph to a column, even longer. The result at the end of the year was a series of studies very uneven and unlike in treatment and length. At all events, an opportunity had been afforded, and very gratefully employed, to work over and re- write material which had been gathered from many sources, and notes which had been made in the yearly study of the Propers—a study to which each year’s recurrent use brought a fresh interest: for a new angle, or new interrelation, or new applica- tion would appear. Then, too, an interest in things liturgical and a reading of the ancient commentators on the Worship of the Church aided the gathering of notes, historical and interpretive, from sources seldom disturbed. To one thus interested and study- ing the Propers in the background of their origin and gradual assembling into the Use of the Church, there could not help but be borne the conviction of the orderliness and harmony of their choice and the 3 4 FOREWORD definite contribution they make to the structure of Worship into which they had been built. A number of years have passed since the first studies appeared in The Lutheran. The interest in them expressed in a desire to have them in more permanent form led to a rewriting of the entire series. The major portion of these studies is en- tirely new. An opportunity to show the harmony, the real beauty, the spiritual chording of the varying ele- ments of each Proper combining to declare the Teaching of the Day, contributing to the glorious harmony of the Worship of the Church, is a rich privilege; and this effort to grasp this opportunity is humbly dedicated TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND A DEVOUTLY APPRECIATIVE USE OF THE LITURGY IN HIS WORSHIP. CONTENTS FOREWORD ...... et et cept pay a ie pa eertaes Patt Ailey A a Bh Mt dr tert Ree Co URC HY BAR een tatictserestcesessetett ere cameecasceas ssentaonavccosen stat HEV CHURCH WY FARING W ORSHIPS: cosssecccsssecccestcncscccsessteceoosace PAD VEIN Tigeetec seco turttcne cere: case Dhicesattececeseratestrecheaterscterstuatinereleiccers seks FLEE VEIRSTESUNDAYSINUADVEN Ten cisccasticsiscccercarsiresscaebesseeens THE SECOND CHRISTMAS DAY...........ccccccccsccceseeees Ap Aaya THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAG..........c000 ss opepierilltaps THE CIRCUMCISION AND THE NAME OF JESUS.........scccccsseee THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAG..........ccssssssssessesees THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD...............000 feb peb aia aca AL, THE First SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY.............scccecee THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY..........cccccc00 THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY. ........cccsscossoesess THE FouRTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY.........c.ccsceeeee THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY Site Neuen epee eal THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD.........sccccsssssesssssreceess SEPTUAGESIMA |: ciscsseconscctasares fee bites py CA OO A eae Ball edd a ON CA GISINUA Metric serse re iatee stone rete ir caece reel teri eens cre vebecratees DYITINGUAGESIM Ae crecsrtacecipecoetondeseseersss onven cose cermacects wiach Sanden taueuss ASH WEDNESDAY. THE FIRST DAY OF LENT..............00000 INVOCAVIT. THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.............css0000000 REMINISCERE. THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT...........0000 OcuLI THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT..........ccccccssscccsssscscces LAETARE. THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT...........cccccsseesees TUDICA HE CASSION SES UNDAY cat scloctcc cetosrictscoensteetoan stoned CERO ES Ee NYYB O12 ain NR aL alr gu a ag Ub hppa RUlaE pa OAR RN ef, MOAT MARU M Bers cere rested resect cookie cates tetetaoci ce see cecctbreses cestinercraaencce ster MONDAY TING HOLY a VV BER Secesccaccetesecectepesstesece Pale SAA te Mbit a TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEE............ mat Sea teased Sb Maal ih ote WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEE............ Magra nelle olay Joy Save ule THURSDAY IN HOLY WEEK.............000 aalaceesstuerueseanteretelecccectes 5 6 CONTENTS PAGE GOOD RIDA Y: Gilde cccesaceleccatectesschecces sesaiiscivesetsonetans teat een an eet ae 144 SATURDAY. “IN (HOLY )\W EEK Getcinvccsscccacsetectivestecsevescdecsot orient 147 EASTER DAy. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD.............. 149 MONDAY, VAPTER WASTER cei crieteccttsterssccrttreaeturereestine ae 153 Quas!I Mopo GENITI. THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER... 154 MISERICORDIAS DOMINI. THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER FOASTER Aiei is lestetcccreveckce cette seer renee ai Ceecetsectene areata ees 157 JUBILATE. THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER..........00006 160 CANTATE. THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER............ 163 ROGATE. THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EAASTER.........ccccccssees 166 THE “ASCENSION | OFY OURTLIORDicceccccetstorsessccccesessotrercetiedsrscree 169 EXAUDI. THE SUNDAY AFTER THE ASCENSION.........00seseee 172 THE FESTIVAL OF PENTECOST. WHITSUNDAY.....ccccccccsssesse 174 THE MONDAY IN WHITSUN-WEEK........ccccsssccscccccccceeescsessceees 177 THE FESTIVAL OF THE HOLY TRINITY........cccccccssscscsscccccsees 179 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.........ccccccsssssssssoscscceseces 182 THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY........0.scccccscecscsssscsees 186 THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY........cccccccsssscccsccosecccees 189 THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.........ccccccccssccccsccsesees 192 THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY........cccccccccsssscsesscssscees 195 THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.......ccccccoccssscssssscccecsesees 198 THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.......ccccccccccscccscscceees 201 THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY..........ccccccssccccccssseeees 203 THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.........cccccccssccccccsscssseses 205 THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY..........cccccccsscssccccssscsees 208 THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY ........ccccccccsccecees 211 THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY......ccccccccssssssscsscccs 215 THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY........cccccscccccscees 219 THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.......cccccssscsssees 223 THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.......ccccscccssscecees 226 THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY........cccccccssssssssces 230 THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY......cccccccscccece 233 THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY....ccccccccsssssssees 236 THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.......ccccccccccecces 239 THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.........cccccccscsseeee 242 THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY......ccccccoccsscse 246 THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.......cccccsees 249 THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.........ccccccsccee 253 THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.........cccc000 256 THE TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY........ccccccccccsscccccccssecccece 263 THE CHURCH YEAR In the course of these nineteen centuries an atmosphere has been created in which the Church uniquely expresses her life. This is her annual round of Days, Feasts, Fasts and Seasons, in which certain outstanding facts have found expression and other experiences have borne fruit. This de- veloped into an annual commemorative cycle of observances, historic and dogmatic in character, and has borne the name, The Church Year, for cen- turies, since it has always been distinguished from the common or civil year and is, strictly speaking, the Church’s method of marking the passing of time. She has not ignored the common year, but on the other hand has depended upon that for the definite dating of certain central Days; but these once dated, her method of reckoning is uniquely her own. In this she lives, always conscious of her past; perpetuating the Life of her Founder in all the actuality of the present; her history in witness- bearer and witnessing; re-living it all as though it were a wholly new experience, for the testimony this may bear to the world and the inspiration it will be to her children. In this she witnesses and worships, because it fully, harmoniously and elo- quently expresses her life. The Church Year, as we know it now, complete, purposeful and logically harmonious, is not the product of any one age of the Church’s life. It has been a gradual development from rather small be- ginings; but it came into being in a most natural way. The Early Church centered her life in a weekly commemoration of her Lord’s Resurrection on the 7 8 THE CHURCH YEAR day that even in the New Testament is called The Lord’s Day—upon this day they met for what we now speak of as the Services, very simple in form, we may be sure, at first, and for the celebration of the Holy Supper. Very soon we find that the Friday of each week is observed likewise in com- memoration of the Death on the Cross. It was most natural that a weekly round should find place in the young Church for that had formed the basis of religious observance in the Jewish Church out of which many of them had come; and it also was most natural that she should mark certain days uniquely connected with her experience. The spirit of this is to perpetuate the Events in honor of her Lord and their effect on life and worship. From a weekly observance to a yearly was a simple step. In exactly the same way as there are certain days in a family’s life that are annually remembered because of some particular event—such as a birthday or wedding day, a death or some un- usual occurrence, so as the year passed, this event in her Lord’s life or that occasion in the Church’s experience would be recalled: On such a day our Lord was crucified, on such a day our Lord arose; on such a day the Spirit descended; and remem- brance would find expression in the Church, in her Services and in her homes. Add to this another group: The Church very soon experienced the test- ing of persecution. Every locality had its own group of faithful witness-bearers, martyrs; in some there would have been very close association with an Apostle or his immediate successor—most of these suffered martyrdom. So in addition to the commemoration of what may be spoken cf as the Major Events, the days of the martyrdom of the faithful of that locality or province would be grate- fully and joyfully remembered. Out of these at THE CHURCH YEAR 9 first purely local celebrations naturally grew the wider as the repute of the individual Saint would for one or another exemplary reason be dissemi- nated in the Church at large. As the commemoration of our Lord’s Resurrec- tion first appeared in the Church’s life in her weekly round, so it appears with the other days immediately associated with it historically as the first of the annual observances. With it, as a ter- minus, and because of its place in the Church’s his- tory, Pentecost is almost immediately associated. This is the earliest of the Festival observances, and from this as a nucleus, with local commemoration of Apostles and Martyrs added, the Church Year makes its beginning. It is not our purpose to trace an historical and detailed development of the Church Year at this point; we reserve that for the notes of the various Days and Seasons as they will be met in the course of the year. The addition of one or another of the Great Festivals is only with the passing centuries; at times as the result of a deliberate effort on the part of Church authority to establish the use, at others almost spontaneously. The former is the case with the commemoration of the Nativity, to which is just as deliberately added the season of preparation, Advent. As one approaches the Middle Ages and notes the large addition of Days some of major, most of minor, importance, one is struck by the fact that now the Church Year is being de- veloped in a studied way with a definite end in view; and its emerges from that period with every day in the year occupied with some observance either Feast or Fast. The result of this was a very cumbersome and overcrowded year demanding rules for observance which were far from simple. It well nigh destroyed 10 THE CHURCH YEAR through artificial manipulation, the original pure motive which brought it into being, and left the Church’s life enslaved to the formal observance of fasts and feasts. It is in this period that claim is made for the first time that a definite purpose underlies the Church Year, that its arrangement is logical and harmonious, that it now is a symme- trical whole! The commentators on the Mass, etc., of that and the immediately succeeding period— and there is quite a good sized group—all have opin- ions on this subject and seek very painstakingly to prove what to them appears to be a self-evident proposition. In some cases the comments are of much historical value and extremely interesting; but in others one is lost in the mazes of mystical interpretations with their artificial twists and turns and arrives at no satisfactory, not to say historical, conclusion. The overcrowding is due to the introduction of an ever increasing group of Days in honor of the Blessed Virgin, in honor of the Holy Cross, of a great host of Saints, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, etc., each with an author- ized date of commemoration. Naturally the multi- plicity of these days brought about confusion, due to the concurrence of a number of commemorations on the same day; and this was not helped very much by the many carefully determined rules for the remedying of such concurrences. The Church Year had become nothing more than a big, cumbersome machine and its observance wholly mechanical. This is the situation at the time of the Reforma- tion; and here, too, the spirit of the Reformation made itself felt. As the worship of the Church was cleansed and restored to its ancient beauty and spiritual purpose, so the year. This structure re- turns to the form it had before the days of deliber- ate manipulation; it is cleansed of a great host of THE CHURCH YEAR 11 Days which only served to throw shadow and not to give light. The principal that only such should be retained as are immediately centered in Christ or immediately connected with Him or serve to His praise entirely, governed the retention of a compara- tively small group of so-called ‘““Minor Festivals” or Saint’s Days, even though others had become deeply rooted in the spiritual life of the masses. The pur- pose of the year was to foster devotion, to give ex- pression to the Church’s worship; to serve to instruct, not to govern or enslave. It must be Christo- centric, as much when it recalls His Birth or Resur- rection, as when the Church is born, or one of His followers seals his faith with his blood. It is to be not only the Church’s Year but her Lord’s Year. Considered in this light, the Church Year has a definite purpose in view and is logical and harmoni- ous in structure. THE CHURCH YEAR IN WORSHIP THE PROPERS The formal worship of the Church is centered in The Liturgy. It also finds expression in other serv- ices: Matins and Vespers and the Occasional Offices. But the atmosphere or setting of this worship is the Church Year. In The Liturgy or The Holy Communion, and in Matins and Vespers, there is a fixed structure made up of unvarying and vari- able parts. Some of these latter will vary with every Sunday or Festival, others will vary only with the Season. In the former group will be the Introits, Collects, Epistles, Graduals, Gospels of The Liturgy; the Psalms, Lections and Collects of the other Services: in the latter will be the Season Sentences, Proper Prefaces, of The Liturgy, and the Invitatories, Responsories and Canticles of the other Services. These variable parts are known as Propria—Propers, that is, the parts that are the proper Use for such a Day or Season :—thus the Propers for Advent Sunday will be the Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gradual and Gospel, appointed for use on that Day. Thus the influence of the Church Year is felt in the Propers. How did certain portions of Holy Scripture come to be so appointed? Where did we get the Introits, the Graduals, the Collects? Just here is the point of contact between the Church’s worship and the Church’s Year. That “Reading of the Scriptures” was a definite part of the worship of the Early Church more than one reference in the New Testa- ment testifies; but the Scriptures read were the ancient “Law and Prophets.” It was not until the 12 THE CHURCH YEAR IN WORSHIP 13 third decade, at least, after our Lord’s Resurrection that the first of our New Testament writings came into existence; but we may be certain that with the spread of St. Paul’s Epistles their use in the wor- ship of the Church would find a very natural place. Direct narrative took the place of a reading of the Gospel until this had been committed to writing by the Evangelists, and in the course of time after very laborious copying became the treasured possession of the Churches. GOSPELS AND EPISTLES One could not very well imagine a service, say, on the Day of the Resurrection, or the Day of the Crucifixion, without the reading of the historic nar- rative. Such portions of Scripture would be used because of natural association and would thus be- come The Gospel for the Day, a technical name that has been in use for many, many centuries. As the years passed and the worship of the Church took more and more the form that early and historic examples reveal, and the observance of certain Events formed into a yearly round, there would be a very definite schedule of portions of Scripture coming into use quite simply. That a Lesson from the Epistles was associated with a Reading from the Gospel, in very early times, is abundantly wit- nessed; but this reading was not confined to a short passage, it usually embraced a number of sections, (for “chapters” were not known in those days) and in some cases entire Epistles. Gradually certain passages from these Epistolary writings would be associated with certain sections of the Gospel, and thus be used. Herein is the germ of the system of Lections or Pericopes now the Use of the Church. But such a series or system of Lessons cannot be expected to exist before the time when at least the 14 THE CHURCH YEAR major Festivals of the Church Year and their sea- sons have come into use. Quite definite testimony carries us pretty far back and names Jerome as the one who prepared the Lectionary of the Roman Church. This was done at the request of Damasus, Bishop of Rome, 366-384, a period worthy of re- membrance, as it is also claimed that some of our Collects come from these early years! The title which Jerome gave to his book was Comes, mean- ing, “companion,” but more exactly “‘the book that instructs in what is to be read,” for the book con- tains a full complement of Epistles and Gospels. This is the beginning of the Roman Lectionary and that of the Church of the Reformation is in direct line of descent. If the “‘preface’” or comment ac- companying the Comes is genuine we would not need to look any farther for substantiation of the claim that there is a definite purpose in the choice of the Lessons; that there is a “rational reason” for their choice as well. SERVICE BOOKS In this early period—and for centuries there- after—“books” were manuscripts, and as such both expensive, and, in many cases, very bulky. Such a book as an entire Bible, as we know it, would have been a volume so large that it could not have been handled except with great difficulty. For this rea- son, and also many times because of the expense involved in the copying, the Scriptures in the Church would be only those portions of Holy Scrip- ture forming the Lessons to be read in the Services; usually the H’pistles would be in one volume and this was called the E'pistolarium; and the Gospels in another, this being called the Evangelistarium. When The Liturgy and its Prayers were committed to writing this formed a third volume, called the THE CHURCH YEAR IN WORSHIP 15 Liber Sacramentorum or Sacramentary. In course of time a fourth volume is added which contains the Introits, Graduals, Antiphons, etc.; this is called the Antiphonarium. With the invention of printing the four were combined into one and called the Missale. The Missale Romanum or Roman Missal or Mass Book—for the celebration of Holy Com- munion was known as “The Mass” (and still is in some Lutheran Countries even to this day)—was the book in use at the time of the Reformation and therefore the Service Book in which the Reformers were at home. It is this Use which they purified with devout hand; and thus cleansed, it continued in the Services of the Church of the Reformation. It is this Liturgy and its Propers, the purified Serv- ices, the restored Services, that is the Common Service Book of the Church in America. THE INTROIT The Introit is not as ancient as some other por- tions of the Liturgy. It formed the real beginning of the Mass. There is an old tradition that one of the Bishops of Rome, Ceelestin I (died 432), ordered the singing of the 150 Psalms at the beginning of the Liturgy. This was to be done antiphonally, that is, between the congregation divided into two groups, or between two choirs. Just what the original use was is not quite certain. In the early days the faithful would meet at a certain central church and move in procession to the church where the special commemoration of the Day was to be made. Psalms would be sung on the way and as the congregation entered the church the Introit Psalm (introire, to go in) would be sung; and as it was being concluded and the Gloria Patri was being sung, the Celebrant and his attendants would enter the Sanctuary. With the discontinuance of the 16 THE CHURCH YEAR Processions, the Liturgy would begin with the sing- ing of the Introit, by the choir, and at its conclu- sion the Ministrants would enter. One can readily see how this use of an entire Psalm would in course of time be abbreviated; and as the “office” of the Introit was to announce the particular Event cele- brated or to strike the Tone of the Day’s Service, it was to be expected that just such portions would survive as would serve this purpose. The one verse marked Psalm in the present Introits is the rem- nant of the use of the entire Psalm and indicates which one was appointed for the Day. The preced- ing verses are called the Antiphon. The nature of the Introit requires that it be sung by the choir. It is the herald’s voice, the announce- ment of the great theme of the Day’s worship; it is a call to worship, whether adoration or thanksgiving or confession; it strikes the keynote. As such it harmonizes with the other Propers and yet contrib- utes a part uniquely its own, to the Day’s worship and teaching. THE COLLECT The Collects have come to us from the rich treas- ury of the Church’s devotion; the youngest of them are as old as the Reformation and not a few of them have been in use for over fourteen hundred years. With but a very, very few exceptions, we do not know who wrote them. Some of them are found in the oldest Roman Sacramentary, that which carries the name of Leo the Great (440-461) ; others are first found in the Sacramentary of Gelasius, who was Bishop of Rome, 492-496; while others come from the Gregorian Sacramentary (Gregory the Great, 590-604) ; a few are found for the first time in one or another of the Kirchen Ordnungen —Church Orders—of the Reformation Period. THE CHURCH YEAR IN WORSHIP 17 The Collect is a short prayer, very exact and defi- nite in structure. It is peculiar to the Western Church and seems to have been wholly her “inven- tion.” There are two “Collect” models in the Acts of the Apostles, and one or two prayers of St. Paul in his Epistles which carry a somewhat related structure; but the prayers of the Church of the Orient are lengthy and in many cases verbose, and although not lacking in great beauty, are an entirely different type. The word Collect has been variously interpreted. The first meaning attached to it grows out of the gathering of the faithful for the procession to the Stational Church, and the prayer said before the procession was started was called the ‘‘Collect”’ be- cause the coming together was known as the col- lecta—(colligere: to gather together). Another meaning is that it collects or gathers the meaning, the central teaching, of the E’'pistle and Gospel, and makes that the ground of the petition. Still another is that the ministrant gathers all of the petitions of the people together in this little concise prayer, and presents it as theirs and his before the Throne of Grace. The structure of the Collect is definite and exact. It consists of but one sentence, usually short; it offers only one petition; it always pleads the medi- ation of our Lord (except in the rare cases when addressed to Him); and concludes with an ascrip- tion of praise, a “doxology,” to the Blessed Trinity. The normal Collect has five parts: The address to God; the ground upon which the prayer is made; the petition; the benefit hoped for as a result; and the mediation and ascription. All in one sentence! It is the prayer of the Liturgy because of its close connection with the celebration of the Day and with the other Propers. Ofttimes it will recite the His- 18 THE CHURCH YEAR toric Fact of the Day’s commemoration as the ground of the petition; at others it will fuse to- gether the very centers of both E’pistle and Gospel in such a truly marvelous and glorious way that one is enraptured with its spiritual beauty. The repeti- tion of the Collect of the Day at all the Services of the Day—Matins and Vespers—and throughout the ensuing week, serves to perpetuate the teaching as well as contact with the week’s commemoration. Other Collects found a place in the Liturgy; the remnant of this use remains in our Postcommunion Collect. This is now invariable, but in the pre- Reformation times, as well as in the present Roman Missal, this prayer varied with the Day. While some of these Postcommunions were of great beauty, many of them contained expressions con- trary to pure doctrine; others merely repeated the petition of the Collect of the Day in other words; and doubtless for these reasons they were not con- tinued in the Church’s Use. THE GRADUAL The Gradual and Hallelujah perpetuate a very ancient custom. Psalms were sung between the Lessons by specially appointed servers. Then these, like the Introits, were abbreviated. The name Gradual comes from gradus, step. The Lessons were read from an Ambon or elevated Reading Desk, and these verses were sung elther while the reader was on the step, coming down to make way for the next reader who would read the Gospel, or they were sung by the cantor from the step of the Ambon. THE HALLELUJAH The Hallelujah is an inheritance from the Jewish Church, and is a full outburst of praise. It is found THE CHURCH YEAR IN WORSHIP 19 in use in the very earliest period of the Church. It is employed as climax to the praise of the Gradual and as an outburst preparatory to the Gospel next to be read. During Lent the character of this anthem is en- tirely changed. The Hallelujah disappears, for now the time is strictly penitential: longer, drawn out, passages breathing the spirit of penitence and mourning appear. This is best known as the Tract. Whether Gradual or Tract, their function is to knit the two Liturgical Lections together, and thus con- tribute to the harmony of the Worship. From these Propers, the Teaching of the Day in the harmonious and purposeful structure of the Church Year is to be drawn. j i te eu ies) STUDIES of the Introits, Collects, Epistles and Gospels of THE CHURCH YEAR With Historical Annotations on the Seasons and Days ADVENT In the arrangement of the Church Year the Great Festivals are provided with a series of days which precedes and follows them, and acts as a season of preparation for, and application of, the central teaching of the Festival. In this manner Christmas is preceded by the Advent Season and followed by the Twelve Days culminating in the Festival of the Epiphany and the Epiphany Season. Naturally this arrangement is not particularly ancient in all cases, since the Church Year as we now have it in its harmonious entirety is a develop- ment through many centuries. The Feast of our Lord’s Nativity, commonly spoken of as Christmas, attains prominence as a 21 22 THE CHURCH YEAR day widely observed in the Church, late in the Fourth Century. Other Great Festivals were much earlier; but since these other Festivals, particularly Easter, had a preparatory season leading up to them, when the Nativity joins their rank, a season of preparation is provided for it almost immedi- ately. However, there was no uniformity either in duration or character of observance in the various territorial sections of the Church. The idea of providing a Quadragesima like Lent but Preparatory to the Nativity, seems to have originated in France. Milan and Spain followed this example. Under this arrangement Advent began with St. Martin’s Day, November 11th, and could contain as many as seven Sundays, but usually contained six. These were interpreted as the Five World Periods preceding the Coming (Advent) of Christ: 1—Adam to Noah; 2—to Abraham; 3—to David; 4—to the Exile; 5—to Christ; the 6th, with Christ; the 7th, after. The Greek Church still observes a preparatory period as long as this, but the Feast it leads to is the E'piphany. Rome did not follow this, but estab- lished an arrangement of her own which eventual- ized in the Season as we now observe it. As Advent is four-part, ancient interpreters busied themselves in endeavoring to invent a four- part meaning for it. The name Advent, literally speaking, means coming; but according to the com- mentators it is to be understood in the sense of the Incarnation of the Son of God. According to one of these ancient writers the four Advent Sundays or weeks are to be explained as telling of, 1—our Lord’s visible coming from Heaven to become incarnate ~ and redeem the world from sin; 2—His invisible coming in the Spirit to be with His own until time Shall end; 3—His invisible coming to each one of ADVENT 23 His own to take him home to Himself; 4—His visible coming in Glory to Judgment. Another speaks of them as, 1—Incarnation; 2—Redemption; 3—In- struction; Luft htea ain Still another very briefly, 1—to men; 2—for men; 3—in men; 4— against men. Since this period is to prepare for the high and holy joy of the Nativity, to welcome the Coming of God’s Son in humility, it has always been con- sidered as a time of deep penitence. “Oh, how | shall I receive Thee? How greet Thee, Lord, | aright?” It was observed with strict fast, and clergy were forbidden to perform marriages. But the effort to attach this strict Lenten, penitential, character to this Season was never generally suc- cessful, although it was, and still is, everywhere considered a general season of penitence and prayer. This is typified in the Liturgical Color of the Sea- son, Violet. The beginning of Advent, sometimes spoken of as Advent Sunday, is determined by St. Andrew’s Day, November 30: Advent Sunday being the near- est Sunday, whether before or after. Nae ty THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT Introit: Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul: O my God, I trust in Thee; rf Let me not be ashamed: let not mine enemies triumph over me; Yea, let none that wait on Thee: be ashamed. Psalm: Show me Thy ways, O Lord: teach me Thy paths. The Gloria. ; Collect: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come; that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins, and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen. Epistle: Romans 138: 11-14 Gospel: Matthew 21: 1-9 The beginning of a new Anno Domini in the real sense of that term, the Church’s New Year’s Day, and instantly the announcement, ‘“‘Zion, behold thy King cometh unto thee!’ The Church Year is vastly different from the common or civil year, not only in its divisions and the Days and Facts therein commemorated, but in that it is distinctively the Christian Year, in the fullest sense the Year of Grace. To grasp this is to understand its structure and purpose. For while it is built through the conjoining of various Sea- sons and marks certain Holy Days for observance, this is done with no mechanical or sentimental ob- ject in view, but entirely for the believer’s benefit. For no Feast or Fast Day or Season will have any point or good in its coming or going unless it stirs one to remembrance and causes one to pass through the commemoration in such a way that one will be benefitted thereby. Thus the entire Year wherein the Church lives and divides her time, is one of great spiritual opportunity; not merely to 24 THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT 25 review and remember, but to see therein more and more “what God has done for my soul.” The portals are thrown wide, a Year of Grace! Will it be a year? Who knows? But in Ged’s good- ness to us all there opens before us again the way to the Green Pastures and the Still Waters perhaps, too, to the Valley of the Shadow. Day by day He comes to us. ‘Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift | up my soul. O my God, I trust in Thee!” (Introit): the entering in; and, if this but truly express the spirit of my soul, a most devout entering word! The historical point of departure is this: The hurch Year begins, one can almost say, picturing the Drama of Redemption. It is to be worked out according to God’s plan. This is to be vivified in the Life of Christ and in the Birth of the Church, Christianity. It is to be developed in an orderly manner, step by step, Lord’s Day on Lord’s Day; a constant calling to remembrance of all that has been done and won. But the genius of the Year , is in that it develops this in such a way as if we | were experiencing this for the first time, as though it were all for me;—dramatic perhaps, but it makes the contact, the effect, vivid. Hence the constant play of Lections, Introits, Collects and Graduals and other minor “variables”: all contributing some part in developing real contact with a moment which is to be to us an intensely real, personal ex- perience with the Events. Thus the Year begins with the waiting, believing, expectant Church; the One Promised, the Saviour, yet to be born to re- deem !—and yet we know we are redeemed! But it is only by transplanting—transposing !—ourselves into such an atmosphere that we will garner the full, powerful, realistic and blessed effect of the spirit of the Season. Advent: Coming. Who cometh? The Gospel 26 THE CHURCH YEAR answers: “Thy King cometh.” To whom? Again the answer: “To thee, Zion.” But a coming on the one hand means an expectation on the other, and this is voiced by the Church in the Introit, the confessing prayer of a waiting people, “Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in Thee; let me not be ashamed: let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed. Show me Thy ways, O Lord: teach me Thy paths.” Soul. . . trust; enemies . . triumph; wait on Thee; show me . . . Thy ways; teach me .. . Thy paths; one seems to see the Year stretching out in all its course .. . Redemption ! “There are many elements pointedly expressed and eloquently crystalized in the word Advent; from them comes the spirit of these days, days of expectation, of promise, of realization; days of preparation, of joy, of serious consideration; days of consecration, of getting “in tune with the Infinite,” that when the Great Moment has arrived, we can cry from the heart: ‘“‘Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord! Hosannah!”’ The Advent-tide as it prepares for and precedes. the Great Day of the Holy Nativity, is very much, in our experience, like the Ages which preceded the Birth of the Messiah. We are not attempting to make that our actual experience now, for we are never without the Coming One, without Him Who has come and who is coming again, ‘‘Who was, and is, and ever will be’; and He ever blesses us with a never ceasing coming of His Grace in His Word and Sacraments. We want to become thoroughly con- scious of the relation in which we stand with Him, very particularly at this time. Soon will come the Feast Day of His Birth: we want to be ready for that as we never have been before; but we cannot go THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT 27 to Christmas Day with a mere thought of a Babe in our minds, nor that of celebrating an event marking an Anniversary. We have to approach and take that Day as part of a Completed Plan; and permit it to contribute its peculiar part in influencing us to real- ize how we stand, how we feel, what we really are, at the Manger Throne in the light of that Completed Plan. Small wonder then that at this time, the beginning of the Preparation, the Message of An- nouncement is so completely illuminating and wide- reaching. It signalizes no individual event; it marks no one day or hour; it describes no single trait or act; but centralizes in its words the Whole Story and carries it home to the waiting heart. “O my God, I trust in Thee!” Let it be empha- sized once for all, right here at the beginning of the Year, how individual, personal, this whole expected, promised, confessed relationship is: “I ...m . Thee’: the trusting one in the Trusted One; the trusting one confessing “the threatening perils of sins,’ the need for deliverance, the pleading of all the Promises—(Has not ancient Prophecy a mighty voice these days?)—of help and deliver- ance; groping in the dark for the Morning Star’s light is still dim but points to the Dayspring’s Dawn that will “show me Thy ways and teach me Thy paths.” This Divine guidance is the center of the confessing waiter’s hope and aspiration. “To Thee do I lift up my soul. I trust in Thee.” How then could such a waiting, longing Church help but pray, “Stir up Thy power and come’ ?—and come—we wait, we hope, we look. And herein is the whole Year’s forward look: Man, the sinner, exiled from God; condemned by sin; enshackeled by the enemy, lost, but to be rescued from the perils and saved “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy.” We Who Th ae. Nek tren iH, Mad Alf 28 THE CHURCH YEAR will hear this very soon, on the First High Day of Giving; it will recur again and again throughout the Year! Set free by the Son Divine, the Son, the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world. The Gospel carries all this in the clarion voice of the herald; the watcher on the mountain gives the signal, to the waiting Church, ancient and now. Hear! “Tell ye the Daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek . . .” Isaiah cries: “Say ye to the Daughter of Zion, Behold thy Sal- vation cometh; behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.’ Zachariah cries: “Re- joice greatly, O Daughter of Zion; shout, O Daugh- ter of Jerusalem, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee; He is just and having Salvation; lowly’”—O uplifting Glory of the Power to Save—“Stir up Thy power and come”—of the King come to redeem and bless, of fulfillment, of—Immanuel—God with us! “Hosannah in the highest!” It is not all joy, oh no! The Gospel carries right into that terrible Week which leads through all those hours to the Cross! This right at the begin- ning of a new Church Year!—with our expectation centering in that tender Babe, the Royal Son in the humble Inn, with Angels’ Songs and joy, joy! In- deed! for hear, “rescued, saved; perils of our sins, mighty deliverance.” The Humble Man of the Royal Throne, the Cross!—“‘Thy King cometh unto thee—meek” ... “Thy Salvation cometh.” Up, therefore, prepare for His coming; to meet, to greet Him. How? The Epistle carries the in- structing answer. The nearing salvation; the night is far spent, the day is at hand; darkness, light; oh, what contrasts; and last the reaction from the dole of sin and the dark of the sin- shrouded night give vent in excess of jubilation. THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT 29 Hear the voice calling to holy preparation, to glad- some looking forward; but armed against the threatener with the armor that reveals him and his ways, with the anticipation of the Coming One. He comes! “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus, the Promise said, “He shall save His people from their sins” . . . Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Anointed One—‘“‘Hosannah!”’ A final element must be noted which is strictly in point this Day. The story of “Time” is im- pressed by the Epistle. It is deeply earnest for “the night is far spent, the Day is at hand.” For this we need wakefulness, watchfulness. Here again, God-granted opportunity is spread before us, and instruction how to grasp and use it; for He Who has come will come again. Time passes, the Day nears—‘‘Behold, thy Salvation cometh!’’ SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 25: 1-2a, 2b, 3a. Psalm, Psalm 25: 4 Collect: Excita, Domine, quaesumus, potentiam tuam et veni, ut ab imminentibus peccatorum nostrorum periculis te mereamur protegente eripi, te liberante salvari. Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Gregorian Sacramentary, where it is appointed for use in the “month of December,” “the First Lord’s Day’; this of course, is Advent Sunday. Gradual: Psalm 25:3 (An example of liturgical para- phrasing) * Psalm 25: 4 Psalm 85:7 *It will be very evident, if one is interested in examining these Sources, that at times there is a variation in the language of the Introits and Graduals between the King James Version and the Text of The Common Service Book. This may be accounted for in one or another of two ways. It is either because of the difference in the Latin text of the Vulgate, which text is the original of the Introits and Graduals; or it may be due to liturgical modification, which amounts to a change in phrasing, at times resulting in nothing more than a reminiscence of a passage of Scripture. THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT Introit: Daughter of Zion: behold Thy salvation cometh. The Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard: and ye shall have gladness of heart. Psalm: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock. The Gloria. Collect: Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Thine Only-begotten Son, so that by His coming we may be enabled to serve Thee with pure minds; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord.... Epistle: Romans 15: 4-13 Gospel: Luke 21: 25-36 ‘Daughter of Zion: behold thy salvation cometh” (Introit). To the Church, waiting, expect- ant, comes the announcement of the Coming of her Lord—“Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.” What “sladness of heart” there will be in that everlasting union with her Salvation! The Second Sunday in Advent completes the teaching of the First Sunday. Then the teaching of the Day centered in our Lord’s First. Coming, His Advent in the flesh, in humility. Today it tells of His Second Coming, His Advent to judgment, in glory, to inaugurate His eternal Kingdom and Rule. This completes the cycle of His Comings, and also completes the cycle of Redemption. These Comings are described in the Gospels of this and the preceding Lord’s Day; and the purpose of the Church in thus presenting these Events, and em- phasizing them so strongly in this commanding and logical position at the entering in of the Eccle- siastical Year, is most earnest. The object is to tell us of the beginning of our Saviour’s earthly life and the heavenly completion 30 THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT 31 of our redeemed life; to show us how quietly, how simply, and yet how irresistibly God develops and unfolds His eternally planned purpose, and also how wonderfully and majestically He completes it; to show us that in the Divine Plan there is no beginning, can be no beginning, without its ending, no plan without its purpose, no prophecy without its fulfillment, no fulfillment without its enjoyment, no time without its eternity, no faith without its fruition, no Saviour without His saved. And as the Church teaches today the First Coming cannot be considered save as it finds its completion in ‘the Second; no more can the Second unless it be con- sidered as it traces its origin, its cause, to the First. God sends His Son into the world—the King comes and may be rejected, but He comes again and must be received. Through His humiliation He enters into His glory; He comes again “with power and great glory” to complete that which He has done in His humiliation. The First Advent, Historic Fact, lies behind us; the Second lies before. Is this not another reason why Advent must be a season of penitence, preparation and humble prayer? The teaching of the Day centers in the Gospel. This brings our Lord’s own Prophecy concerning His Second Coming. To it the Church adds other prophetic messages out of the long ages of hope ere the Sun of Righteousness had risen. The ancient prophecies in the Introit are purely Mes- sianic, but in their use there is very sweet mean- ing to the Daughter of Zion to whom Salvation has come, who has heard the Voice and whose heart is glad. Yea that all, she makes her song of joy in the assurance held out to her, the Bride of Christ, in His Coming Again: that these days, the days of sin and trial, the days of time and the world, will end in the Conqueror’s Coming, in her 32 THE CHURCH YEAR ultimate victory also in Him. This is the coming of perfect joy, of fruition. “Gladness of heart ” —the song, the everlasting song before the en- throned Lamb! The parallel runs deeper still. The First Advent deals with the Coming of the King—‘“Zion, Behold, thy King cometh”’—but the Second, while the King comes again, His Coming is the coming of the King- dom—“Thy Kingdom come”! Each of these Great Events has its own preparation in world events, in prophecy, in Divinely given signs; and each bears in its very nature, its own attest to its Divine Source and Purpose. The Epistle serves a double purpose this Day. It harmonizes with the Day’s teaching concerning our Lord’s Second Coming in bringing its lesson of “natience and comfort of the Scriptures” instilling hope in the hearts of the waiting believers. “Our Hope and Expectation, O Jesus, now appear!” It points to Him Who is to come, the Promised One, born to redeem, to “save’—only Jews? Was He to be only “a minister of the circumcision—to con- firm the promises made unto the fathers”? Was He not to arise “to give light to them that sit in dark- ness and in the shadow of death” ?—“‘to reign over the Gentiles.” Are they too not to “trust” in Him? The “Coming in of the Gentiles” is most closely joined with the Coming of our Lord. He Himself teaches this; so does the Apostle Paul: “the fullness of the Gentiles.”” Upon them, too, the Light is to shine; for them too place is to be in the Kingdom of His glory. Further, one should not forget to whom the Apostle writes this Epistle; then (and to us, too, “Gentiles’!) its blessed prayer will be more than prayerful aspiration; it will also be guarantee of share in the Hope: “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT 33 that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”’ (One cannot pass the opportun- ity by of noting how the Apostle has emphasized in this Epistle the work of God the Ever-blessed Trin- ity in this unique application.) But He also is the God of patience, and the Hope may be long de- ferred; but the Coming is sure and will be sudden as the thief in the night (Gospel); therefore add to the lesson of patient and hopeful expectation, the warning which our Lord adds to the promise of His Coming in the Gospel: “Take heed”—‘‘Watch— and pray.” While the Second Advent is uppermost in the | Church’s thought today, she would not have us for- get that we are rapidly approaching that Day which commemorates His First Coming, and therefore she leads us to pray: “Stir up our hearts to make ready the way of Thy Only-begotten Son, so that by His coming we may be enabled to serve Thee with pure minds” (Col.) Epistle: “like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus’’—“with one mind, one mouth glorify God.” SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Isaiah 62:11; 30: 30. Psalm, Psalm 80: 1. Collect: Excita, Domine, quaesumus, corda nostra ad praeparandas Unigeniti tui vias: ut per eius adventum puri- ficatis tibi servire mentibus mereamur, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, where it is appointed for an Advent Missa. Gradual: Psalm 50: 2-3a; Psalm 50:5; Psalm 122: 1;, Psalm 122: 2. THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT Introit: Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Re- oice. : Let your moderation be known unto all men: the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing: but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Psalm: Lord, Thou hast been favorable unto Thy land: Thou hast brought back the captivity of J acob. The Gloria. Collect: Lord, we beseech Thee, give ear to our prayers, and lighten the darkness of our hearts, by Thy gracious visitation; Who livest... . Epistle: I Corinthians 4: 1-5 Gospel: Matthew 11: 2-10 Due to a single verse in the Epistle, the fifth, efforts have been made to force the teaching of this Lord’s Day to correspond with a general pre- arranged sequence of Advent Lessons: the desire being to make this Day teach the Advent to Judg- ment. But this single and very brief reference to that topic, in the entire group of the Day’s Propers, is by no means adequate ground to establish a Sun- day’s teaching. The Church has set a noble task for her endeavor these Advent days, to bring to her children in the four short weeks, the history of the need and prom- ises, the longings and expectations, the preparation of thousands of years of the life of the waiting people. With Lessons and Collects, Introits and Graduals, she preaches the Word of promise and hope mightily. She shows the need :—we recall the cry of the opening Introit, “Unto Thee, O Lord, do Llift up my soul. Let not mine enemies triumph over me. Show me Thy ways, teach me Thy paths.” 34 THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT 35 She announces the promise in the Gospel, “Behold, thy King, thy Salvation, cometh.” Then the prep- aration; this is two-sided. First the announcement of the ancient Heralds, and now the ‘‘Messenger.”’ “This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.” The cry: ‘‘Prepare—Re- pent”; and how is it taken up? Prepare? First with gladness; He has kept His word; the waiting is over; the promised voice is heard at last. There- fore, ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway’—‘“The Lord is at hand.”’ But the joy is not to be unrestrained: the realization of the blessing in that Coming, in that Fulfillment, is best found in quiet, holy, con- templation. “Let your moderation—gentleness— be known to all men,” in the joy of gratitude and adoring worship, in “prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” All that meant to ancient Israel, all that means to the New, is sensed in “Lord, Thou hast been favorable unto Thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.”’ Thou hast not forgotten. Thou hast fulfilled Thy Promise! “The Lord is at hand.” — One almost feels that he stands like Israel of old, looking forward, expectant—hopeful. Does the Church really intend that today when the Gospel brings the age-old question “Art THOU He that should come, or look we for another?” Hardly in that sense!—but that she may answer it with her testimony: ‘‘Rejoice in the Lord!” The question of John in the Gospel is not only a natural one in the Advent-tide, but one that must be answered by the Advent Messages. Apart from any concern about John the Baptist’s faith, or mo- tives in sending and asking, there are many even now to whom the Church must bear the testimony of what she has seen and heard: “Go and show 36 THE CHURCH YEAR again’”—her answer based on her experience, carry- ing proof. Here and now is Preparation for the Advent, the Day of the Forerunner to whom our Lord vouch- safed a definite answer linking it with ancient, Messianic, prophecy; granting also His personal commendation—“My Messenger’—the herald of the Coming King, the messenger of the Preparation, “the burning and the shining light” who was but the merest ray before the Day-spring Who was to arise to give Light (cf. Col.), to be “the Light of the world.” As John was the preacher of the Preparation, so the Church places him before us in this historic place and relationship today, and joins with this a very definite application in the Epistle. The King Who is to come again still has the Preachers of the Preparation—‘“ministers of Christ, stewards of the mysteries of God”—“Go and show’! The Church and her—HIS—ministers “rejoices in the Lord, alway !’’—because He has come, because He is to come—“The Lord is at hand.” Their “‘gentle- ness” is to be known to all men! Carefree, but prayerful and thankful they go before Him (Jnt.). They have ever before them this Herald’s example, they are to let men “so account of” them “as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God’’; they are to remember the word—/aithful. They are to learn, as did John, what is means to fight through the trials of this life, the testing of one’s faith, the judgment of men, the suffering for righteousness’ sake. They are to face the perils of being “offended in Me,” and if He but grant the grace, learn the blessedness of clinging to Him through all—“faithful’’! THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT 37 SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Philippians 4: 4, 5, 6. It is extremely rare to find a New Testament passage appointed in the Introit. Psalm, Psalm 85: 1. Collect: Aurem tuam, quaesumus Domine, precibus nostris accomoda: et mentis nostrae tenebras, gratia tuae visita- tionis illustra, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, where this Collect is appointed for the Second Sunday before the Nativity of our Lord. Gradual: Psalm 80: 1b, 2b; Psalm 80: 1a; Psalm 80: 2b. THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT Introit: Drop down, ye heavens, from above: and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open: and bring forth salvation. Psalm: The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament showeth His handiwork. The Gloria. : Collect: Stir up, O Lord, we beseech Thee, Thy power, and come, and with great might succor us, that by the help of Thy grace whatsoever ig hindered by our sins may be speedily accomplished, through Thy mercy and satisfaction, Who livest... Epistle: Philippians 4: 4-7 Gospel: John 1: 19-28 The last of the Sundays of the preparation for the Great Day soon to come is here. In olden days it was called Praeparatio, the Preparation. All is expectation. The Church bursts forth in a won- drous song: “Drop down, ye heavens, from above: and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and bring forth salvation.” She knows Who has come, Who cometh again, “Who standeth among you,” Whose Natal Day she will soon com- memorate again: the Birthday of the Babe of Bethlehem, but, “True Son of the Father, He comes from the skies”—(Int./) “Born to set His people free.” The Introit reaches far beyond the immedi- ate moment, that of ushering in the Festival of the Nativity (first verse) ; it earries far ahead to the Cross-crowned Hill and the setting up of the En- sign for all the world—the Victory (second verse). God showers His Love upon the world, that out of it may grow the Tree of Life—and here the plant- ing! To the Church’s song is added the Herald’s testi- 38 THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT 39 mony (Gospel) —“And this is the record of John.” This is uniquely in place this Day. Again there is a questioning embassage—“Who art thou?” Not HE, but the voice—‘“Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” Like a mighty antiphonal chorus, the Epistle adds its cry, “The Lord is at hand!”’—the great Advent Cry. Thus the Day leads us forth to meet Him Who cometh. How shall we prepare to welcome Him? We need to follow the Herald’s cry, ‘‘Make straight the way of the Lord’—“O come to my heart Lord Jesus!” We need to feel that same humility and unworthiness—“Whose shoes’ latchet J am _ not worthy to unloose.” We need to learn the empty- ing of self, the effacement of self—Who art thou? Who but His loyal herald, that the ‘One Who standeth among” us may be revealed. We need to pray, “Stir up Thy power and come, and with great might succor us, that by the help of Thy grace, whatsoever is hindered by our sins may be speedily accomplished by Thy mercy and _ satisfaction” (Col.) —a self-emptying, a self-surrender, that may find its fullness in receiving, and owning, and be- ing owned by, HIM. And how the Epistle teaches the true preparation: Hearts full of joy; lives re- vealing all gentleness; mouths filled with prayer and thanksgiving; souls possessed of the Peace of God. “To Bethlehem hasten, to worship the Lord!” SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Isaiah 45: 8a, 8b. Psalm, Psalm 19: 1. Collect: Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam; et magna nobis virtute succurre: ut per auxilium gloriae tuae, quod nostra peccata praepediunt, indulgentia tuae propitiationis acceleret. Qui vivis... Gelasian Sacramentary, where it is appointed for the First Lord’s Day before the Nativity. Gradual: Psalm 145: 18; Psalm 145: 21; Psalm 40: 17b. CHRISTMAS DAY—THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD I For THE EARLY SERVICE Introit: The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son: this day have I begotten Thee. Psalm: The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with majesty: the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself. The Gloria. Collect: O God, Who hast made this most holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light: Grant, we be- seech Thee, that as we have known on earth the mysteries of that Light, we may also come to the fullness of His joys in heaven; Who liveth and reigneth. . . Epistle: Titus 2: 11-14; Isaiah 9: 2-7 Gospel: Luke 2:1-14 II FoR THE LATER SERVICE Introit: Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God: The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Psalm: O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvellous things. The Gloria. Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the new Birth of Thine Only-begotten Son in the flesh may set us free who are held in the old bondage under the yoke of sin; through the same... Epistle: Hebrews 1: 1-12 Gospel: John 1: 1-14 The Name of the Day. This Festival, being dis- tinctly of Western origin, bears as its earliest name, Natalis or Nativitas Domini, hence, the Nativity of our Lord. From this is derived Noel, French and early English. The German name, Weithnacht— 40 CHRISTMAS DAY Al Holy Night—is derived from the solemn Vigil which preceded the Feast. Scandinavian, Yule, which also found its way into English use. Christ- mas is distinctively the English name. It is analo- gous to such names as Candlemas, Michaelmas, the Christ-mass, meaning the Mass of Christ’s Day. History of the Festival.—tit is not hard to under- stand why the Church should commemorate an- nually our Lord’s Incarnation; it would seem very unnatural not to do so. Yet this Feast is far from being the oldest in the Church’s life, and seems to have come into its use as a result, partially at least, of a desire to offset a day observed by the heretical Gnostics, and a holiday period dear to heathen Rome. Whether these elements contributed to, or forced the introduction of, this Feast by the Church is largely a matter of conjecture. At all events the earliest traces of this Festival as a Church observ- ance are to be found in the Eastern Church as early as the end of the Third Century, when January 6 is observed in the double capacity as the Day of our Lord’s Birth and Baptism. It then bore and still bears the name of The Epiphany, the Manifesta- tion. There is some scant evidence that this Feast and date were observed here and there in other territories, but mainly local. It did not commend itself to the Roman Church’s use. Tradition, of course, tells of an early observance; but there is a wide difference between that and his- tory. When men began to think of such things and look into such matters, nobody knew the date when our Lord was born. So they began to reckon on whatever “evidence” they had, and consulted what- ever “records” were at hand, and so finally arrived at certain dates, which were duly announced as the dates of such and such events in our Lord’s life. Such a chronological calculation by one of Rome’s 42 THE CHURCH YEAR truly great churchmen, Hippolytus (about 220) has given us December 25 as the date of our Lord’s Nativity. At this time there is no thought evident of a festival observance. The introduction of the Festival on this date is attributed to both Julius I (3387-52) and Liberius (354), Bishops of Rome: proof that even Rome is not certain when the festival observance began! However, this is the general period, late Fourth Century; and gradually the observance spread from land to land, ever growing in popularity and greatness until it is acclaimed as the Greatest Festival. Its introduction into the Eastern Church took place at the end of the Fourth Century. The West received and accepted the great day of the East, the Epiphany on January 6, and the East accepted the Western “Christmas.” Here it was far from popular; the people were wedded to their own day; but opposition was overcome slowly, and the Feast found its place in the Church’s life. It was intro- duced in Constantinople in 379; Chrysostom preached on the Gospel in Antioch on the Festival in 388. He spoke of the slow headway the Day had made in the regard of the people, although it had been known for ten years; of the prejudice against it, because the people would not give their new Day the regard they held for the old. To this day, the Epiphany is the Great Day in the Eastern Church! Because of its nearness to the beginning of the Church Year, and since it tells of God’s Great Gift to men, the very spirit of the Festival calls to peace and loving friendship, and expresses itself in a cus- tom that has been associated with it from time im- memorial, the interchange of gifts and good wishes. The reason for the two complete sets of Propers appointed for this Day is historic. The Church pre- CHRISTMAS DAY 43 pared for this great Day not only with the prepara- tory Season of Advent, but with solemn services on the day before, especially the evening of this day. These last were called the Vigils of the Feast; the expression indicates just what the congregation did: gathered in the church, passing the hours in songs, prayers and listening to homilies, watching (Vigils) for the coming of the Day. As midnight would strike, then would burst forth the song of Joy, the first Introit of the Day: “The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son: this day have I begotten Thee.” How wonderfully pointed this the first announcement! Prophecy found its place in one of the Epistles, but here it is prophecy fulfilled. The purpose of His Coming, the message to, and the life He de- mands of, mankind in the other. The Gospel is the narrative of the Historic Fact. The language of the Collect for the Early Service is testimony of the time when it was used. It finds its inspira- tion in the Isaiah Prophecy and the Life that ful- filled it. How full its single sentence is of the Christmas Glory! ne second set of Propers has been spoken of as dogmatic in purpose in contrast with the first set nee which are historic. One needs to be carried away day” not Holy-day; one needs to have the Wondrous Story told in its full import, in its application to the souls and lives of men. When one meets this group of Propers one feels as though the old fathers had taken the Angelic Message, “Unto you is born this day a Saviour Who is Christ the Lord,” and, using it as a text, developed the mightiest Festival Sermon possible in the Scriptures for the Second Service. Here again the lofty strains of inspired men: ae ener oO aoa 44 THE CHURCH YEAR The Prophet in the Introit; The Writer in the Epistle; the great Prose-singer, the Witness in the Gospel. Note the testimony: “Unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given.”—Introit. Whose? “God’s Son—through Whom He hath spoken unto us”—E'pistle; “The Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth—The true Light’—Gospel. Nor is there lacking the element of the witness- bearing Church, “We have seen His glory.” In the midst of the great joy of this Holy Day, comes the quietly sober note of the Collect of the Later Service. The Church could pray for many things; no doubt her greatest desire would be to take up the Glory-song of the Angels and pour it forth in adoration and thanksgiving; but in deep quietness of heart she finds the very center of the Coming-into-the-world and carries that in her festal prayer to the Giver of the Gift Divine. As one prays, one thinks of “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” and the “God so loved the world.” The play of the original language is not only extremely expressive but very beautiful, and very excellently rendered in the English transla- tion. In addition to being our prayer, this Collect is a very concise and complete doctrinal statement of the Incarnation of the Son and the Goal set be- fore Him. SOURCES I—Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 2: 7 Psalm, Psalm 93:1 Collect: Deus, qui hanc sacratissimam noctem veri luminis fecisti inlustratione clarescere: Da, quaesumus; ut, cuius Lucis mysterium in terra cognovimus, eius quoque gaudiis in caelo perfruamur, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, appointed for the Vigils. Gradual: Psalm 110:3; Psalm 110:1; Psalm 2: 7. CHRISTMAS DAY 45 II—Introit: Antiphon, Isaiah 9: 6 Psalm, Psalm 98:1 Collect: Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut Unigeniti tui nova per carnem Nativitas liberet, quos sub peccati iugo vetusta servitus tenet, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, for the second Mass in the Night. Gradual: Psalm 98: 3b; Psalm 98:2; Psalm 95:1, 6a. THE SECOND CHRISTMAS DAY Introit and Collect as for Christmas Day. Epistle: Titus 3: 4-7 Gospel: Luke 2:15-20 Each of the Great Festivals, it will be found, is followed by a number of days directly connected with the Great Day-by name and continuing the festival commemoration by some additional contri- bution. Originally this lasted through the entire week following and closed with the Eighth Day— thus the name Octave of the Feast, with another reference to the Feast. In the case of Christmas, the days immediately following, however, have a character of their own, notwithstanding their connection with the Great Festival and the continuance of the festival cele- bration. Reference to The Calendar and to the Propers appointed in The Common Service Book will show first: The Second Christmas Day and then St. Stephen’s Day, December 26th, and St. John’s Day, December 27th. To these should be added, without question, The Holy Innocents’ Day, December 28th, if the little cycle is to be histor- ically and logically complete. One must admit the possibility of confusion all too apparent in the appointment of two possible observances for one day: one an immediate and un- broken continuation of the Feast, the other a Mar- tyr’s Day finding its very apt and deserved connec- tion with the Christmas-tide. While S¢. Stephen’s Day enters the Church Year apparently at an early date, its appointment here with the addition of the other two days was made deliberately. The cele- bration of the Second Christmas Day is what one 46 THE SECOND CHRISTMAS DAY AT might call spontaneous, and unquestionably the original commemoration, and directly part of the Feast; and where it is possible to hold Services on this Day, its Propers, without question, would be used, but commemoration of St. Stephen should not be omitted. This commemoration, liturgically speaking, consists of the use of the Proper Collect of St. Stephen’s Day immediately after the Collect of the Day. There is a possibility of a third appointment fall- ing on this Day! When Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, December 26th will naturally be a Sun- day; thus The First Sunday after Christmas, for which the Church appoints a complete and distinc- tive group of Propers, will ‘‘concur”’ with the other two Festivals. There should not be any confusion as The Second Christmas Day would take the “‘pre- cedence,” and then both the Collect of this Sunday, and that of St. Stephen’s Day would be used after the Christmas Collect. When Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, the appointments for the First Sun- day after Christmas will be displaced. Then the Sunday after Christmas will be not only the Octave of Christmas but also the Feast of the Circumcision. Rules governing these cases of “‘concurrence” and “precedence” of Festivals and Days will be found in The Common Service Book, in the General Ru- brics, page 491, Text Edition. SOURCES Gradual: Psalm 118: 26a, 27; Psalm 118: 23; Psalm 93: la, b. THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS Introit: Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, forever. Ly throne is established of old: Thou art from everlast- ing. Psalm: The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with majesty: the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself. The Gloria. Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, direct our actions according to Thy good pleasure, that in the Name of Thy beloved Son, we may be made to abound in good works; through the same . Epistle: Galatians 4: 1-7 Gospel: Luke 2: 33-40 In the old Service Books of the Church this Day is always spoken of as the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas. In some years it will not be observed, as reference to the preceding Day’s Notes will show. It was a possibility in The Calendar that had to be reckoned with not only in the Church Year but also in Church life, and therefore pro- vision had to be made for it. That it occupies a kind of anomalous position cannot be denied, and that it is not expected to contribute a very import- ant part to the building of the Year is also appar- ently its fate. This is not deserved, for there are important lessons to be brought home and the Day with its testimony is needed, not to strengthen, but to complete. Midway, let us say, between two great Feasts, the Birth and the Circumcision, we come to this Day. Announcement and testimony, acceptance and joy, fulfillment and application, have been 48 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS 49 heard and learned. Between the Gospels of the Birth and of the Submission to the Law, this Day’s Epistle declares, “When the fulness of the time was come—(the completion of the Preparation—Ad- vent!)—God sent forth His Son—(The Nativity) —made of a woman—(the connection with the In- carnation)—made under the Law—(the connec- tion with the Circumcision)—to redeem them that were under the Law—(the waiting, expectant Is- rael)—that we might receive the adoption of sons —(The Gift). And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, erying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ”—“Thy testimonies are very sure!’’—(the purpose of the Incarnation). The Birth of Christ for us is to be the Birth of Christ in us. The goal of this is visualized in the three Fes- tivals so close to this Sunday, St. Stephen, St. John, and Holy Innocents. The way to this goal, which only will be reached in Eternity, must be revealed and taught. It leads through repentance and the law. We are “heirs,” true; but “so long as the heir is a child he differeth nothing from a servant, even though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.” So we when we were children were under the bond- age of the law; but the time appointed has come; and through the sending of God’s Son, sonship has become ours, the bondage of the servitude of the law gives place to the freedom of an heir of God through Christ. The Gospel, an altogether too brief a look into the days of the Holy Infancy, shows us the accept- ance and joy of two of the ancient saints, “under the Law,” who were looking for the Promise. Would we had that precious Song of Simeon in this 50 THE CHURCH YEAR Gospel also! ‘For mine eyes have seen Thy Sal- vation.” It carries with it the prophecy of the sor- row and suffering which is to come; it promises the uplift and glory to be revealed in Him. The place of the Law in the Epistle, the observance of the Law in the Gospel: both serve to emphasize the aspect of the Law in the lives of men before the Coming of the Son. The Collect seems to find its inspiration in the holy lives of Simeon and Anna, such faithful ex- amples of devotion even under the Law; but when. at the end of the Gospel we read of the growth of the Holy Babe, growing into the youth and man- hood which later receives the Father’s commenda- tion—“In Whom I am well pleased’”—we find the source of the petition that the Father “would direct our actions according to His good pleasure” that our lives may abound more and more. The Collect is particularly appropriate for an- other application. This Sunday is the Last in the Civil Year. The Church does not recognize, or rightly know anything of, a New Year’s Day: this is foreign to her Year and her purpose. But in the early days of the Church, this time of the year was given over to celebrations of heathen customs in connection with the ending of the old, and the beginning of the new, year. Certain gods and god- desses were invoked, their shrines thronged; and, with a holiday spirit permeating the days, excesses of most revolting character became very common. The influence of such things was felt in two ways. First the Christmas Cycle was emphasized all the more strongly and filled with celebrations peculiar to itself; and then, when the carnival spirit through its lure to pleasure and excess made itself felt, even within the fold, the Church entitled the Mass of this Day as one for the redemption from the wor- THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS 51 ship of tdols! The present Collect is that of this ancient Mass; knowledge of this makes it all the © more pointed. | A much later age turned the attention more and: more to the celebration of this Sunday as a sort of Old _Year’s Day with a looking forward into the New. The Collect in particular, and some parts of the Gospel were used in this connection as perti- nent. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 98:5, 2. Psalm, Psalm 93: 1. Collect: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, dirige actus nostros in beneplacito tuo, ut in nomine dilecti filii tui mereamur bonis operibus abundare, per eundem. Gelasian Sacramentary, appointed for the Mass for re- demption from the worship of idols. Gradual: Psalm 45: 2; Psalm 45:1; Psalm 93: 1. THE CIRCUMCISION AND THE NAME OF JESUS Introit: O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth: Who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. What is man that Thou art mindful of him: and the son of man that Thou visitest him? Psalm: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer: Thy Name is from everlasting. The Gloria. Collect: O Lord God, Who, for our sakes, hast made Thy blessed Son our Saviour subject to the Law, and caused Him to endure the circumcision of the flesh: Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit, that our hearts may be pure from all sinful desires and lusts; through the same... Epistle: Galatians 3: 23-29 Gospel: Luke 2: 21 With the Festival of the Nativity assigned to a particular date, the Feast of the Circumcision and the Name of Jesus follows logically “eight days” thereafter. This is established by the Gospel. This “Kighth Day’ has been observed from an early period as, first, the Octave of the Nativity, then, somewhat later, as the Feast mentioned. It cannot be dissociated from the Birth of our Lord, and must always be regarded as part of the great center of this Cycle, contributing its unique part to the Record of the Humiliation of the Son Divine. Not the least phase of its value in the Church Year and to the worshiper, is that it is also His Holy Name Day. The Roman Church appoints a Festival of the Holy Name, but not in this Season, and there- fore lacking both the important historic connection and the rich opportunity this affords. This very happy and expressive union is distinctively an ap- pointment of the Church of the Reformation, and, of 52 THE CIRCUMCISION OF JESUS 53 course, finds its inspiration in the Gospel for the Day, the shortest liturgical Lection, by the way, in the whole Church Year. This whole period, in the earlier centuries of Church life, fell in the midst of one of the greatest heathen festival seasons, and it can readily be imagined how difficult it was for the Church to make headway in observance of Holy Days ’mid the driving stream of worldly pleasure and relax- ation. Particularly is this true of this Feast which is coincident, even in early times, with the Kalends or first of January, when the heathen Roman world broke loose in the riotous orgies of the Saturnalia. Of course the Church has never purposely con- nected “January Ist” with the beginning of its year nor has it ever recognized a “New Year’s Day” excepting Advent Sunday. The observance of this Day and its spirit has been wholly intended to be associated with the Christmas Cycle; but as years passed the New Year’s Day idea made itself felt, and gradually came into the ascendency, fortun- ately not altogether displacing The Circumcision, but making it decidedly secondary. This custom antedates the Reformation by many years; and like many other inherited things, drew from the great Reformer expressive observations, as: “On this day it is considered necessary to announce and speak of, the New Year, as though there were not enough necessary and salutary things to preach about without this”; and again, “This day is called the New Year’s Day after the custom of Rome,— this and other things, which we have received from Rome, we now let pass away. Since, however, the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ has been ap- pointed to this day, it is proper that we preach about this today.” Notwithstanding this rightful recognition of the 54 THE CHURCH YEAR true place and value of the Feast by Luther and the other Reformers, the day continued to be ob- served as New Year’s Day with The Circumcision secondary or even entirely displaced! This unhap- pily proves how hard a task the Church has to com- bat and overcome worldly customs which force their way into her life and affect Church practice, when once they become popularly established. “His Name was called JESUS” when He was made to conform to the Law: The promised Name, —“‘Thy Name is from everlasting” (Jnt.); the authorized Name,—‘“which was so named of the Angel” (Gos.) ; the all-revealing Name,—“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth” (Int.)—“Given Him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of JESUS every knee should bow.” “The Year begins with Thee,” so runs an old Breviary hymn for the Day. “The Year begins with Thee,’—in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives. We have just welcomed the Guest of guests, and sung Venite adoremus; our prayer, “O come to my heart Lord Jesus; there is room in my heart for Thee’ ;—and we know Who has come, the Day- spring from on high, the Giver of Light to us in darkness and shadow, the Bringer of Peace. His Glory revealed, our souls respond in adoration. He has come, not to go, but to remain—‘What is man that Thou art mindful of him: and the son of man that Thou visitest him?”—(Jnt.) He is our Lord, —“O Lord, our Lord,’”—and we are His—brethren —‘For ye are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus—for ye are all one in Christ. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Epistle). The historic element in the development of the Life of the Holy Babe is brought us by the Gospel, THE CIRCUMCISION OF JESUS 55 the shortest of all, but in some respects the most complete in revealing promise, in tender comfort to him who waits in hope. The choice of the Epistle which is the companion of this Gospel, is probably due to the mention of Baptism of which Circum- cision is the Old Covenant type, and the reference to the state under the Law before faith had come. Through the Rite of Circumcision the recipient entered into the covenantal relation, “Abraham’s seed—heir to the promise’”—; but ‘‘as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ —ye—are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” The Collect is in complete harmony with these Lections. Note again how the Festival Col- lect always recites the Event. With the performance of the ancient Rite comes the custom of name-giving: not merely as a means of identity but as marking a distinct personality, and individualizing the life thus named, such an one entering upon his own peculiar development. He is now “so and so,” not so and so’s son or child, but—the name—and is known by this. Following this custom, the Holy Infant is submitted to the Rite and Mary’s Son receives His name—‘“His Name was called JESUS.” If we were only able to reach the lowest peak of the great and lofty heights, all carrying higher and higher—(‘‘Who hast set Thy glory above the heavens’) —which merest thought of the Holy Name, Jesus, wakens! If one could but sing it, or write it, what a welling forth of praise and trust, of faith and comfortable- ness, of joy and peace, of thankfulness and ador- ation! It is Festival Day! Not because the Nativity was but a week ago; nor because the New Year has dawned, this is but a mere accretion; but it is Festival Day because today that Holy Child is 56 THE CHURCH YEAR named with the Name of names, and forever on- ward, the heart clings to Him, not the Babe of Bethlehem, but JESUS—‘“Jesus, Name all names above, Jesus best and dearest, Jesus, Fount of per- fect Love, holiest, tenderest, nearest; Jesus, Source of grace completest, Jesus purest, Jesus sweetest ; Jesus, Well of Power Divine, make me, keep me, seal me, Thine!” (Theoctistus). SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 8: 1, 4 Psalm, Isaiah 63: 16 Collect: Omnipotens Deus, cujus Unigenitus hodierna die, ne Legem solveret, quam adimplere venerat, corporalem sus- cepit Circumcisionem: spiritali circumcisione mentes vestras ab omnibus vitiorum incentivis expurget, et suam in vos infundat benedictionem. Amen. Gregorian Sacramentary. The original Latin is a Bene- diction not a Collect, and our Collect is based upon this part of the Benediction. Gradual: Psalm 98: 3; Psalm 98: 2; Hebrews 1: 1, 2. THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS Introit, Collect and Gradual as for the First Sunday after Christmas. Epistle: I Peter 4: 12-19 Gospel: Matthew 2: 13-23 There is a possibility that in some years a Sun- day may fall between The Circumcision (Jan. 1st) and The Epiphany (Jan. 6th). The Roman Church does not recognize this possibility, relying on its other appointments to meet the need should it arise; the Anglican Church simply directs: “The same Collect, Epistle and Gospel (of the Circum- cision—, they have lost the historic Introits) shall serve for every day after (1.e., the Circumcision) unto the Epiphany.” The Church of the Reformation is the first to provide specific and appropriate appointments for this Day. This was done in the early part of the Seventeenth Century. Some of the ancient Lection- aries appointed Scripture passages for this Day, but because one had been used just a few days pre- viously and another appeared to be a repetition of another preceding selection, they did not commend themselves for perpetuation in our Use. The fact that the Day is still a part of this im- portant Cycle, and very close to The Epiphany, no doubt influenced the choice of the only remaining Gospel of the Infancy not otherwise appointed. This Gospel contains the account of the Flight into Egypt, and the Martyrdom of the Holy Innocents. It will be recalled that The Holy Innocents’ Day has been excluded from the Church Year. Of this Gospel Luther writes: “This is indeed an import- 57 58 THE CHURCH YEAR ant narrative, which should not be permitted to disappear from the churches for any reason: im- portant because of the teaching and then on ac- count of the comfort, which therein is brought be- fore us Christians. The teaching is this: That we see how the devil and the world are enemies of the Little Child Jesus and His Kingdom; how strenu- ously they fight against Him; how they seek to oppress, smother, and wipe it out. The comfort is this: That this purposing by the world will not sueceed. It must leave Christ, His Word and His Church, in possession of the field; the tyrants shall be brought low; there will be nothing to help them.” To this Gospel, 1 Peter 4: 12-19 was added as companion Epistle. Can anyone fail to mark the harmony? Both Lections treat of suffering: In the Gospel, the Lord’s and the Little Ones of Beth- lehem for Him; in the Epistle, the Christian’s, ‘for the Name of Christ”—“partaker of Christ’s suffer- ings.” As this Sunday, whenever it does appear in the Church Year, must invariably be the first Sunday in the new Civil Year, the Lessons are also instruc- tive in this connection. This is especially true of the Epistle which deals with the sufferings of the Christian and his comfort in the midst of them; for every new year will bring new experiences in this school but also new blessings in the comfort of the fellowship of Christ. Bravely he may not only look forward, but press on into the unknown, committing the keeping of his soul to his faithful God. The Collect for New Year, as well as the sug- gested appointment, will enrich the harmony of the Day’s teaching. THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS 59 SOURCES The probable Source of the New Year Collect is found in a much longer German Collect in the Oestreich Kirchen Ord- nung of 1571, there appointed for Neu Jahrstag. THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD Introit: Behold the Lord, the Ruler, hath come: and the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, are in His hand. Psalm: Give the King Thy judgments, O God: and Thy righteousness unto the King’s Son. The Gloria. Collect: O God, Who by the leading of a star didst mani- fest Thy Only-begotten Son to the Gentiles: Mercifully grant, that we, who know Thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of Thy glorious God-head ; through the same... Epistle: Isaiah 60: 1-6 Gospel: Matthew 2: 1-12 The Festival is known as The Epiphany, Mani- festation, of our Lord; and also as The Theophany, the Manifestation of God. It has been called the Fest. trium regum, the Feast of the Three Kings: German, Drei Keenigetag; in England, Twelfth Day. To a certain degree The Epiphany must be as- sociated with Christmas; but there is a place where it is independent of that Cycle, and initiates a dis- tinct advance in the Church Year’s teaching. The association with Christmas is natural, bringing as it does one of the precious Gospels of the Holy In- fancy. Its history is somewhat varied before it arrives at its present position in the Year and its present meaning. In one large section of the Church it originally was, and, for that matter, still is, their Christmas Festival, being their commemoration of our Lord’s Birth and Baptism in one. The truth is that this Day and combined observance really antedated the Festival of the Nativity by quite some years. The origin of the Feast is in the Eastern Church, 60 THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD 61 Third Century, from which section also we receive the name it carries, Hpiphany. At least two Epiph- anies were commemorated, the Birth and the Bap- tism; in the latter case the name Theophany is used. As a reason for this double remembrance, one of the early Fathers implies that Jesus was baptized on His thirtieth Birthday. Quickly other Epiphanies are added, as for example, the First Miracle, which gave the Feast a very little used name, Bethphania, from the place where the Mir- acle was performed. It will be noted that the Feast celebrates a certain central idea, but that this is founded on, associated with, a group of Events. As noted above, under the Notes on Christmas, introduction of this Feast into the Western Church from the Eastern, came only after the establish- ment of the Christmas observance in the West. For this reason the later adopted, but earlier, ' Festival received a much fuller interpretation and application in the Church Year in the West. The Coming of the Magi is made the center, but it is “to the King”; their seeking, acknowledgment, worship and acclaim; the “apparition” of Christ to them, the “Gentiles,” is a later addition, but served to develop the complete teaching demanded by the Coming of the Son into the world: first to “His own,” then “to the Gentiles.” ‘God so loved the world . . . whosoever’—“all men to be saved.” We remember we had the completeness of the Promise in the Coming one of the Advent Sundays, in the E’pistle of the Second; here is the fulfillment, and to this will be added other proof later in the | Epiphany Season. It will be noted that the Gospel of the Baptism, which was one of the original Festival Lections, no longer appears among the Liturgical Gospels. This is unfortunate. To complete the group however 62 THE CHURCH YEAR in our Use, this Gospel has been appointed for the Vespers of the Feast. This Day, like Christmas, is one of the immov- able Festivals, being celebrated on a fixed date, January 6th. There is no certain reason for the choice of this date. The East arrived at this date in much the same manner as the West determined upon December 25th for the Nativity, by calcula- tions based on a certain fixed starting point. In this case the East began with April 6th as the date of the Crucifixion, and arguing or reckoning, as the Church everywhere always has, on the premise of a “perfect” Life, the Annunciation would be that date also, and therefore the Birthday would be January 6th. The fact that both heathen and heretical celebrations centered around this date, may also have borne some influence: the desire, of course, being to give the faithful a Day to observe which would counteract the influences without. The Epiphany being a fixed date, and Easter be- ing a movable Festival naturally means that the period between the two will be shorter or longer, depending upon the early or late date of Haster. Lent and the three pre-Lent Sundays being a defi- nitely closed period, the variation will be felt in the Epiphany Season. It is possible to have six Sundays after the Epiphany, but this is seldom the ease. Provision has been made for all of these in our Use, especially noteworthy being the appoint- ments for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, and the rubrical directions in the Common Service Book, a distinctive use of the Church of the Reform- ation. This Festival and its Season seem to be designed purposely to develop and reveal a definite proposi- | tion. He Who has come, born a Babe in Bethlehem, \/conformed to the Law, given a human Name, He it THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD 63 is Who has been promised of old, the Christ of God; | but this Messias is Lord indeed, ‘“‘God of God, Light | of Light, Very God of Very God,” and now to be | manifested in all the Divine Glory; Son of Man, but Son of God; shrouded in the flesh but the efful- | gence of the Divine bursting through to reveal Who | He is. Steadily this will be developed: manifested to the Gentiles and received and acclaimed by them; shown in His Baptism, acknowledged and com- mended by the Father; revealed at the Marriage at Cana, the first of His Signs, manifesting His glory, and His disciples believed in Him; and so one mani- festation is added to another until the Season ends, is completed, in the burst of the Glory of the Trans- figuration—“This is My beloved Son.” As the Sea- son began so it ends; but with this filling our hearts we pass over into the Season of the Humiliation, hearing still—‘‘This is My beloved Son... in Whom I am well pleased ... hear ye Him.” That this is true, hear the voice of the Introit: “Behold the Lord, the Ruler, hath come: and the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, are in His hand.” “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glary of the Lord is risen upon thee,” sings back the H’'pistle. Here is an ushering in of this majestic Festival in tones of uplifting joy and praise. The Epistle is a passage from the Old Testament; some- thing very seldom met with in the course of the Year; its joyful promise, its far-reaching prophecy, its all-revealing comfort, its telling of the coming of the Gentiles, connect it with the spirit of the Day; but it is here as fulfillment as well as an- nouncement. It is answer to the Introit, as well as finger pointing to the approaching caravan of the Magi as they draw near to Jerusalem, following the star. And then they come! The Gospel carries the narrative. How gladly we read it and follow 64 THE CHURCH YEAR their search for the King—‘Behold, the Ruler hath come.” He is here!—but they find—“the young Child”—“and fall down and worship Him’—and open their treasures—and present their gifts. “All they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.” Mark the contrast in the Gospel—“His own’”— of course the “expectant” Israel—they know Who is meant when the Wise Men ask; they know where He is to be found!—but do they go? Epiphany to them? But the Gentiles come to the Light, and kings to the brightness of His rising! Small won- der that this Day has, since early times, marked the call and the coming in of the Gentiles—the heathen, and that “Foreign Missions” find such a welcome place in this Season. The Gradual deserves especial notice. Its prov- ince is to act as a connecting link between the read- ing of the Epistle and the reading of the Gospel. It is supposed to draw an element from each, to conclude the one, to introduce the other; and in a brief sentence, connect, fuse, harmonize, the two. As a well-nigh perfect example of what a Gradual is intended to be and do, that of today is outstand- ing. Note its connection with the Epistle in the first verse, and how it concludes it; they are yet to come!—but in its second verse, are both elements; and in its third, which directly leads into the Gospel still to be read—“We have seen His star— we have come with our gifts”! The Collect brings the practical application of the Day’s teaching. Its very beautiful harmony with both Lections is self-evident. Like most Feastday Collects, it makes the ground of its peti- tion a recitation of the historic Event commem- orated. Its petition based on this carries the faith- THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD 65 ful one who has found his Lord, ‘‘who knows Him now by faith,” not through the manifestation led to by a star, but the revelation of all-giving Love in the darkness of the Cross, to the fruition of His glorious Godhead,—faith and fruition,—for the original of the last clause of the Collect reads, “that we may be led on till we come to gaze upon the beauty of Thy Majesty.” SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, based on Mal. 3:1 Psalm, Psalm 72:1 Collect: Deus qui hodierna die Unigenitum tuum gentibus stella duce revelasti! concede propitus, ut qui iam te ex fide cognovimus, usque ad contemplandam speciem tuae celsitudinis perducamur, per eundem. Gelasian Sacramentary, for Epiphany. Gradual: Isaiah 60:6; Isaiah 60:1; Matthew 2: 2. THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER AV Ler id EPIPHANY Introit: I saw also the Lord, sitting upon a throne: high and lifted up. And I heard the voice of a great multitude, saying: Alle- luia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Psalm: Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands: Serve the Lord with gladness. The Gloria. Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully to receive the prayers of Thy people who call upon Thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through... Epistle: Romans 12: 1-5 Gospel: Luke 2: 41-52 The heavenly Vision which the prophet saw, and which the Introit describes, holds the key to this Day’s purpose. The enthroned Lamb in all His Glory, before Whom the Heavenly Multitude wor- ships and sings its “Alleluia,” Whom all earth’s lands are to acknowledge, serve and adore; the opened portal of the Realm of the Eternal One— “the Lord God Omnipotent”—the prophet’s Theo- phany!—; the unalloyed splendor of the glory and majesty of God,—of all this the Church sings, “Be- hold Him, the Lord come to His temple.” With the background of the heavenly Vision she points to the Little Lad seated in the midst of the Doctors in the Temple at Jerusalem, and adoringly worships Him, Lord of lords, and King of kings—‘God in Man made manifest.” We are to behold His Glory through these Epiphany days, but it is the Glory which only shines through on occasion; but it is to be seen, and being seen, recognized, “the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father.” The Gospel, the only account we have of the 66 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 67 growing Lad, naturally finds its place here at the point which connects the days of the Infancy with the early activities of the Young Man. We expect it as long as the Church Year is developing a bio- graphical view of that Life. But the Church Year is far more than biography; and this Gospel is far more than a fortunately preserved incident in the youth of our Lord; more than the story of His “coming of age” or of a lost and found Lad. “I saw the Lord’—“Full of grace and truth.” This is E'piphany! Here is a lifting of the veil and a shining through of the Glory of the Everlasting Son in this Little Lad. Human life indeed,—isn’t the Story so human with all its play of emotions? —but in it too, the dawn of the consciousness of His relation to His Father, revealed in His simple, childlike question to His Mother, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”—asg if the only answer from her could be “Yes” !—ag if she, too, knew! Here too, is more than consciousness of Who He is; here is consecration of Himself to what He is to do!—so simply, so unreservedly, so loyally made. Remember it is all revealed in the First Word we hear Him speak! Others have spoken of Him, acclaimed Him, adored Him, told others about Him; but His first recorded Word— for us!—“I must be about My Father’s business.” While we will find in the Epiphany Gospels Christ revealed for us, we will also find the Epistles teaching that Christ is to be revealed in us, by us. The companion Epistle today carries the Spirit of the Little Lad’s wholehearted consecration of Him- self to His Father’s business over into our lives, and in the light of that Example beseeches us “by the mercies of God”—so wonderfully brought home to us in the histories of the Days just passed—to present our bodies a living sacrifice—the Heavenly 68 THE CHURCH YEAR Temple—the Throne—the Enthroned One—the sacrificing Throng—their sacrifice—the Little Lad’s—holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Can one find any parallel, or harmony, in the unquestioning yielding of Himself to His Father’s will?—to His earthly Mother?— and the Epistle’s exhortation, “that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,” and know that on right relationship with God depends our relationship with each other ?— that we cannot be in that relationship with God and not with each other? As but one of many—“every one members one of another’”—‘“one body in Christ” __we are to show forth the praise of Him Who has called us out of darkness to light. “Serve the Lord with gladness” sings the Introvt. This service is emphasized in both Gospel and Epistle. The Little Lad—to tread the hard way of His life—“I am come to do the will of Him that sent Me’—‘‘to seek and to save the lost.” Only he who serves God truly, can serve his brethren. The one is the source from which the other follows. But there can be no service of God without sacrifice: this is the climax of the service! He who would serve God and then his brethren, must “present his body, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God’”—must offer himself, must yield himself. Did the Little Lad become conscious of this? Did He do it?—and to this the Epistle exhorts! ‘Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.” Conscious of this the Christian will pray that ‘he may both perceive and know what things he ought to do”’—these the Epistle shows—“and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same”—for this there is the blessed inspiration and example of the Little Lad in the Gospel. THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 69 Perhaps it would not be far wrong to call the Day, The Epiphany of Loving Duty. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 19:6 Psalm, Psalm 100:1, 2 Collect: Vota, quaesumus Domine, supplicantis populi tui coelesti pietate prosequere ut et quae agenda sunt, videat, et ad implenda quae viderit, convalescat, per Dominum. Gelasian Sacramentary, where it is appointed for the First Sunday post Theophaniam. Gradual: Psalm 72:18, 19; Psalm 72:3; Psalm 100: b] THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY Introit: All the earth shall worship Thee: and shall sing unto Thee, O God. They shall sing to Thy Name: O Thou Most Highest. Psalm: Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: sing forth the honor of His Name, make His praise glorious. The Gloria. Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplica- tions of Thy people, and grant us Thy peace all the days of our life, through... Epistle: Romans 12: 6-16 Gospel: John 2: 1-11 The reason for the appointment of this Gospel on this Day is found in the eleventh verse: “This beginning of miracles”—literally, the first of His signs—“did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and mani- fested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.” The Epiphany in the First Word is im- mediately followed with the Epiphany in the Furst Sign, specially spoken of as a manifestation of His glory, and a cause of faith in Him in His follow- ers. And these “signs,” it will be remembered, appear in the answer our Lord gave to John the Baptist as definite proof of His fulfillment of pro- phecy and attest to His claim! In this sense one of those who witnessed this First Miracle inter- prets and records those we find in his Gospel. This miracle revealed our Lord as possessing Divine Power, the Power of the Creator. “He who had once taken of the dust of the earth and elevated it in the order of existence, so that by His breath- ing upon it “man became a living soul,’ now mani- 70 THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 71 fests Himself in flesh of man as the Lord of Cre-- ation.” This is the Power, and This is He, Who is manifested at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee. The humble, newly-arisen Teacher, and His little group of peasant followers, changing water into wine; “Almighty,” let this word bear its testimony—here is God’s Power—“Everlasting,” here is His exist- ence—GOD—here is His Name! Does the Introit catch up this strain today and extol the wonder and glory of Him Who was and is, and is to come, the Almighty, the Creator? “They shall sing 1» Thy Name: O Thou Most Highest’’—superlative !—but we have not language else, even to express the little our hearts, our knowledge, comprehend. “Al- mighty, Everlasting God, Who dost govern all things in heaven and earth’—the Jesus Who was called to the marriage. However there is something more here in the Gospel today, something always present too where Jesus is, the Shadow! The Glory is here, resplen- dent, pure, majestic, Divine; the Shadow is here, enshrouding, foreboding, humiliating. As His Ministry begins with His ever ready, understand- ing, helpful, sympathy, “rejoicing with them that do rejoice’—revealing His heart to man, a glory which will be revealed to every heartache and cry of need He meets, we are arrested by His word, “Mine hour is not yet come’; the Hour to which all these lead is known as coming, here; to which all these “Signs” point, known now, inevitable; the Hour when the “Son of Man shall be glorified.” Thus early the Way is pointed out to us too—“His disciples believed on Him”—the faith that is needed to travel this Way with Him is one born of that glorious Revelation, but strengthened and gov- erned, tested and purified, ennobled and crowned, by faithfully following whithersoever He leadeth! 72 THE CHURCH YEAR Think of that little company called to follow the ways of His journeyings—of ourselves—‘‘whither- soever Thou goest’’? The need for this, which is the Epiphany of Christ in the Christian, is made the basis of the Epistle’s instruction, and so simply summarized in the petition of the Collect for “Thy peace all the days of our life’; His peace, “the Peace of God which passeth all understanding,” which shall keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The glory of the Christian life, the glory of the Lord of the Epiphanies which is reflected in those who believe in Him, is the theme which parallels in the practical teaching of the Epistles and in the manifestations of the Gospels, of this Season. We remember that last Sunday’s Epistle showed us the first ray of this glory, its beginning ;—the Chris- tian’s life is to be an unreserved offering of self to the glory of God and devoted love of the brethren. Today’s Epistle is the continuation of the same chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, and carries the instruction forward to the next logical application. The Christian’s life will reveal his Master’s glory in his devoted relation to those in the community, both Church and State, in which he lives. “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us’—the gifts are of God; the Christian recognizes his responsibility, and, strengthened by God’s grace, manifests the glory of his Master by the good use made of them. The ministry, the teaching, the exhorting, the giv- ing, the ruling, the showing mercy—these are gifts. They are to be used as gifts—with diligence, faith- fulness, simplicity, cheerfulness. Love, kindness, fervor, patience, constancy in prayer, generosity, unity, humility—these are marks of the true fol- lower of the Master. Living them, is living Him. THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 73 “Sing forth the honor of His Name: make His praise glorious” (Jnt.). The Day’s teaching in the Gospel reveals what is, and in the Epistle what is to be, the Epiphany of Sympathy. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 66: 4 Psalm, Psalm 66: 1, 2 Collect: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui coelestia simul et terrena moderaris, supplicationes populi tui clementer exaudi, et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, where it is appointed for the Second Sunday post Theophaniam. Gradual: Psalm 107: 20; Psalm 107: 21; Psalm 148: 2. THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY Introit: Worship Him, all ye His angels: Zion heard and was glad. The daughters of Judah rejoiced: because of Thy judg- ments, O Lord. i Psalm: The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice: let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. The Gloria. Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty, to help and defend us, through... Epistle: Romans 12: 16-21 _ Gospel: Matthew 8: 1-13 It is in the Gospels of the Epiphany Season that the progressive teaching of the period is developed. Upon them, and in some cases upon them alone, will the definite purpose of the Day in the scheme of the Church Year depend. The other Propers will be found to contribute something to this; at times forming a perfect harmony; at others seem- ing to parallel, being more in the nature of a com- mentary on the Fact rather than in strict harmony with it. The Jntroits do not seem to be as expres- sive as in other Seasons: their immediate connec- tion with a teaching of the Day at best seems tenu- ous and confined to a phrase. One must consider these as exhibiting during this Season the broadest function of the Introit, in that they give a gen- eral Festival tone to the Church’s worship, inspired by no single Event, but by the great all-revealing glory of the Epiphany. For this reason the Introits are calls to, and ascriptions of, worship: the wor- shiping Church joining her praises with a rejoicing 74 THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 75 creation and an adoring Heavenly Host; and in this sense their place in the harmony is assured: ‘“Be- hold, the Lord, the Ruler, hath come: and the king- dom, and the power, and the glory, are in His hand.” Then, too, it is to be noted that much in the na- ture of stating a theme, the Feast and its Gospel announce The Epiphany, the subsequent Sundays contributing Epiphanies varying in both character and purpose, and developing this general theme through them. It may be that this Day’s Gospel owes its choice to its place in the First Gospel Narrative, where St. Matthew records these two Miracles as the first which our Lord performed immediately after His First Discourse, the Sermon on the Mount. But we would like to follow another and new direction today. In the Gospels of the Epiphanies it is apparent that various phases of human life are shown, and our Lord in direct relation with these. That of the First Sunday after the Epiphany portrays boyhood, home life, home duties, parents and children, as well as other important teachings; that of the Second brings us to a marriage, the joys of life; that of today carries us into the despair of human woe, misery and disease. Our Lord in meeting each of these makes that touch, His fitting into that ex- perience of life, His Epiphany! He lives in these realities of life; He is not there and aloof from them; He shares them; they touch Him, He touches them; but His Life is all the more clear and out- standing because of the surroundings, because of His meeting the problem and answering it, as only He could! Today’s Epiphany: Our Lord “comes down from the mountain” where His wonderful words had 76 THE CHURCH YEAR fallen into hungering hearts, to meet the anguish- ing hearts of men, the miseries of life. Ideals, lofty aspirations, wonderful, far-reaching, stirring Truth with its precious appeal, on the mountain side; down in the valley, the stern realities of the cry of sin-possessed, diseased humanity, the cry for a Saviour! How does He meet it ?—this call of the hard, hard things of life? His Epiphany! What had the prophet promised of old that He would do? —how men would know Him when He had come? “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives; —to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” —‘“‘Go and show John those things which ye do see and hear: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them’—His Epiphany! Just one thing more: Both leprosy and palsy are types of sin; the leper, a Jew; the Centurion and his servant, Gentiles. To each of them, J wiil! The touch of the Hand—‘“stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty” (Col.); the instant readiness to “come and heal’—“mereifully look upon our in- firmities’”’; these are not only manifestations of His Glory in the exhibition of His almighty Power, but they are the manifestations of that Heart’s com- passionate sympathy to all the world of sin-sick men burdened with the ills and miseries of human flesh. Mercy has come: the Mercy that ministers the Love of God. The Epistle is the continuation of last Sunday’s and concludes the chapter which has given us these THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY G7 three consecutive and logically progressive Epistles teaching the Epiphany of the Christ in the Chris- tian. It shows very clearly today the “infirmities” about which we pray in the Collect, which result from sin, and the dangers to which they expose us. We need help; we need sympathy; we need heal- ing. Does not the Gospel prove His readiness? Therefore we pray: “Almighty and Everlasting God”—think of the address—almighty—GOD !— “mercifully look upon our infirmities”—regard us as Thou didst the leper ;—let our need come before Thee as did the appeal of the Centurion ;—let our “dangers and necessities” find the sympathy of Thy tender, compassionate, all-feeling heart. ‘Mercy,’ we plead—“Lord, have mercy upon wus! Christ, have mercy upon us! Lord, have mercy upon us!” —Amen!—“stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty to help and defend US!” The sentences of the ancient Offertory appointed for this Day read: “The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. J shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Pray, indeed we may, we must, encouraged by the blessed answer of the Gospel; but we too must “offer the gift’—there must be glory in our hearts and lives. The positive directions of the Epistle teach how the Epiphany of the Christ in the Chris- tian is in showing mercy—for which he prays, which he receives—unto others. The cries which we hear, the needs which we see, the lives which we touch, are to be heard, seen, and touched, in the Spirit of Him Who went about doing good—‘‘Go thou, and do likewise.” %8 THE CHURCH YEAR SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 97: 7b, 8a, 8b Psalm: Psalm 97: 1 Collect: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, infirmitatem nos- tram propitius respice, atque ad protegendum nos dextram tuae maiestatis extende, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, Third post Theophaniam. Gradual: Psalm 102:15; Psalm 102: 16; Psalm 97:1. THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY Introit and Gradual as for The Third Sunday after the Epiphany. Collect: Almighty God, Who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through... Epistle: Romans 138: 8-10 Gospel: Matthew 8: 23-27 The proportion of years in which there are more than three Sundays after The Epiphany is small: becoming smaller still as the date of Easter falls earlier. Thus, for example, the full number of Sundays for which provision is made in the Com- mon Service Book will not be observed until 1943, and not again until 1962! As has been observed before, the number of Sundays after will vary, de- pending upon the date of Easter; but, striking an average, it was found that three Sundays after represented the most frequent occurrence. Pos- sibly because of this and a like variation, for the same reason, in the post Trinity Season (post Pentecost in the old Service Books) Propers of a more general character were provided for possible additional Sundays. Thus when an Epiphany Sea- son would cover a larger number of Sundays, the Trinity Season would be shortened by the same number; and vice versa. Anciently the appoint- ments of these Sundays were used interchangeably ; those that would not be used after Hpiphany would be needed for after Trinity use. 19 80 THE CHURCH YEAR The original appointments seem to have been primarily intended for an Epiphany use; and to that portion of the Year they are confined in our Use, since the Church has made definite provision for the final Cycle of the Trinity Season in the appointment of Propers strictly in harmony with that Season. The only variation from an ancient, historic use for this period, appearing in our Serv- ice Book, is found on the Sixth Sunday after, which Sunday, in our Use, is appointed as The Festival of the Transfiguration. Provision for what amounts to virtually an annual observance of this very im- portant Feast is likewise authorized. The reason for this variation and appointment will be found in the Notes of that Day. It will be noted that the Fourth and Fifth Sun- days have their proper Collects, Epistles and Gospels, but the Introit is common to both, being the same as that of the Third Sunday. The general tone of this Introit makes this possible use harmoni- ous and, one may also say, saves it from artificial- ity: an all too imminent danger in a Season whose Sundays are so restrictedly confined to one general theme. One of the old commentators on the harmony of the Church Year finds this Epiphany to be that of the Lord of Nature. This may have been intended; but did not the Miracle of the Turning of Water into Wine give somewhat of that indication? We turn rather gladly to the Collect for an indication of today’s Epiphany revealed in the Stilling of the Tempest. He Whom “the winds and waves obey,” at Whose simple word “there was a great calm,” He it is Who is revealed as the Saviour of all “set in the midst of so many and great dangers.” As He was revealed last Sunday as the Saviour of those afflicted with the frailties and ills of human flesh, THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 81 the Healer of sickness, the sympathizing Heart “Who knoweth our infirmities,’ so He is revealed today as saving perfectly sound and vigorous men, who, notwithstanding their health and strength, are helpless, hopeless, without Him! The leper, the paralytic, cry to Him for help; these men whose daily life was on the sea, hardy fishermen—‘“Lord, Save us; we perish.” “What manner of Man is this?” On reading the Epistle and Gospel closely there does not seem to be any possible connection between them: not even the possibility of forcing one should one so desire! But there is connection and rela- tionship with the preceding E'piphany Epistles, and this finds a logical place in the development of the general theme of this Epistolary series. The prac- tical instructions to the follower—to those in the ship with Him—are very pointedly and “briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Such expressions: “We be- ing many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another’; “Be kindly affectioned one to another”; “Live peaceably with all men’”’— have not been mere reiterations of the same ad- monition; but have instructed in corporate relation- ships of different kinds, and developed very precise duties in each. ‘‘Source” there has been, and appli- cation of practical kind; but the summary reveals the all-pervading inspiration of the obedience to the law, but the law of Christ, as revealed and lived by Him. Individual commands will govern specific needs; but the heart possessed by the real power of loving for Christ’s sake, holds the all-inspiring mo- tive of service, and reveals Christ in every relation- ship of life; not because of the ‘Thou shalt not’’; but because of the Christ in us! Oh, this is glori- ously ideal! But we acknowledge and pray to Him 82 THE CHURCH YEAR Who was in the ship with His disciples, Whom these days show in the lives of every-day men like our- selves, Who sees the littleness of our faith when trouble and tempest arise, “that because of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand up- right in the midst of so many and great dangers.” We cannot help but think of our manifest duties to “one another,” the dangers, the temptations, the “Thou shalt not’s’—and yet we do! “Grant to us such strength”’—strong men, rugged men, in the boat !—“and protection’—‘“but He was asleep” !— “And His disciples—awoke Him—and He rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm” —“as may support us in all dangers’—the boat ?— or the One in the boat?—“and carry us through all temptations’—“Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” “Almighty God’—“O ye of little faith!” “What manner of Man is this!” SOURCES Collect: Deus qui nos in tantis periculis constitutos pro humana scis fragilitate non posse subsister! da nobis salutem mentis et corporis, ut ea, quae pro peccatis nostris patimur, te adiuvante vincamus, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, for the IV post Theophaniam. THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY Introit and Gradual as of The Third Sunday after the Epiphany. Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee to keep Thy Church and Household continually in Thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of Thy heavenly grace may ever- more be defended by Thy mighty power; through... Epistle: Colossians 3: 12-17 Gospel: Matthew 13: 24-30 There has been a remarkable variety in the Gospels of these Sundays. They have covered a very wide range of events. We began at the Manger, and have found the Shadow of the Cross; we have visited a Little Babe; we have found a Little Lad; we have journeyed, companied with a Young Man. We have seen the glory of the Star; we have seen the Glory of the Only-begotten of the Father; we have seen the glory of His sympathy and love. The water in the water-pots obeys His will; the tempest- tossed water of the sea obeys, calms at His rebuke. His Power creates, His Power heals, restores; His Power controls. We have seen Him learning; we have seen Him ministering; we have been with Him in the Temple, and in the home; we have gone with Him to the house of joy, and with Him have met. sorrow on its toilsome, despairing way. And now, it is not strange—for do we not expect it too, this Season ?—we hear Him teaching. Is this to be the Epiphany of the Word?—and,. remembering that He is the Word, will not this Gospel teach the ultimate triumph of the Word in the face of all opposition? The Parable of the 83 84 THE CHURCH YEAR Tares and the Wheat as an Epiphany Gospel re- veals Him as the Lord of the Church for her gov- ernment as well as her preservation; and sets forth His glory in her increase, and the development of that Kingdom on earth which is to be eternal in the heavens; and, even though evil comes and enters therein, it shows that even when He seems to be permitting what He might easily prevent, His pur- pose is still full of love for His own, lest the wheat should be harmed by the destruction of the tares. That this is the center of our Sunday’s teaching, the Collect witnesses in that it prays that “His Church and MHousehold’—literally, family,—‘‘be kept continually in His true religion’”—‘“defended by His mighty power,” guarded against the invad- ing, choking growth of the Tares, evil. The prom- ise of His defence is there, for are they not to be separated first at the harvest and destroyed, and the Wheat to be garnered? The “elect of God” of the Epistle, “holy and be- loved,”? the Wheat, the Church, of the Gospel, col- lectively today, the Communion of Saints, praying to be ‘“‘kept in His true religion,” in the Collect, hears what that is. The relationships, one with another, are put on the basis of that ever shown quality of the Master: mercies, kindness, humble- ness, meekness, longsuffering, forebearance, for- giveness. The motive as we have already learned by inference, is now stated: “Even as Christ for- gave you, so also do ye”; but there is added “the bond of perfectness, charity’—love, in which this union is to be perfected. Follow the admonitions: “As Christ forgave”—forgive; “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts”—can there be peace where there is disunion?—can there be union without a “bond” ?—can there be a “bond” of man’s devising? “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 85 wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Here we need to remember the Gospel and the ‘“‘good seed sowed in the field.” ‘Do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus.” This definite activity precludes the pos- sibility of a rival growth. “Do all’’; such “do lean upon the hope of His heavenly grace’’; such will be “defended by His mighty power.” The Epiphany of the Possessed Heart—Christ in the Christian! SOURCES Collect: Familiam tuam, quaesumus Domine, continua pietate custodi, ut quae in sola spe gratiae coelestis innititur ; tua semper protectione muniatur, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, for V p. Theophaniam. THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD Introit: The lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. Psalm: How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts: ae he longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the ord. The Gloria. Collect: O God, Who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thy Only-begotten Son, hast confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers, and Who, in the voice that came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful man- ner foreshow the adoption of sons: Mercifully vouchsafe to make us co-heirs with the King of His glory, and bring us to the enjoyment of the same; through the same... Epistle: II Peter 1: 16-21 Gospel: Matthew 17: 1-9 This Festival has been observed in different sec- tions of the Church on various days since very early times. In 1457, Calixtus III ordered its uni- versal observance on August 6th in commemoration of the victory of Capistran and Hunyadi over the Turks at Belgrade on August 6, 1456. This is the date observed in the Roman and Anglican com- munions. Its observance, as appointed in our Calendar, on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, is distinctively a Lutheran use, and dates from Reformation times. The very definite Rubric of the Common Service Book (p. 67, Text Ed.) appointing this commemo- ration for the Last Sunday of this Season, except- ing when there is but one Sunday following the Feast, provides for a celebration that is almost annual; and at the same time has a very definite purpose in view. The Epiphany Season and the Sundays thereof are in the scheme of the Church’s Year, to demon- 86 THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD 87 strate that He Who has come, Who was born into the world a Little Babe, Who grew to the Young Lad, then to Young Manhood, and Who was seen and known of men in the walks and relations of common daily life, is God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God—‘“‘God in Man made mani- fest.” Also it is to show that wondrous process whereby, in the love of God, this Jesus is saving His people from their sins. There are many things we can but see and not understand; but there are many steps in that Life that are illuminated by such a purpose as the Church Year unfolds in a Season such as H'piphany. Sunday after Sunday adds to the manifestations, not so much numbers thereof as instances, rather in degree, till we reach the Transfiguration Mount and there behold the Climax of Epiphanies; and this Sunday, the last of the Sea- son, being that immediately before the preparation season of the Passion, accords with the historic place of the Transfiguration in our Lord’s Life. He descends from the Mount, having heard, and heartened by, the Voice out of the Cloud, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased”; and He sets His face to go up to Jerusalem—and His Passion. With this ever before us, we too, enter the Days and Hours of the Holy Passion: down into the Valley through the gloom and agonies, to climb with Him the Other Hill, and at the Cross to know “Who hangs and suffers there,” and why! ‘Jesus’! The tone of the Propers is naturally historic. Ob- serve the two elements in the Introit: the whole wondrous Event flashes before our eyes at the Anti- phon; while the Psalm senses the true desire of tabernacling with God. The Gospel records the simple narrative of the transcendant Fact; and one of the privileged three 88 THE CHURCH YEAR who were in this holy place, and who there too acted so impetuously, bears unique testimony in the Epistle, the eye-witness. He who saw what he testifies, can and does, add the word Divine. The Collect, not only recites the historic Event commemorated, but looks backward and forward; back to the “mysteries” only to be revealed by a faith simple and true, back to the sure word of testimony of the eye-witnesses; forward to the ful- fillment of the Purpose of the Coming and His reve- lation to men. That Voice said, “Thou art My Son,” but through Him and in Him comes to us, “Now are ye... sons’—co-heirs with the King! “My soul longeth .. . for the courts of the Lord” —“Make us co-heirs with the King of His glory, and bring us to the enjoyment of the same.” The older the Collect is, the shorter and more concise in expression it is also. This Collect, one of the youngest in the Use of the Church, is directly the opposite, being quite lengthy for a Collect, and having a rather involved style. Note the two grounds for the Petition, and the parallel construc- tion running throughout. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 77: 18b, c Psalm, Psalm 84:1, 2a Collect: Deus, qui fidei sacramenta, in Unigeniti tui gloriosa Transfiguratione patrum testimonio roborasti, et adoptionem filiorum perfectam, voce delapsa in nube lucida, mirabilite praesignasti: concede propitius; ut ipsius regis gloriae nos cohaeredes efficias, et ejusdem gloriae tribuas esse consortes. Per eumden Dominum. This Collect enters the Use of the Church in 1456-7. Since then it has appeared in all Service Books. Gradual: Psalm 45: 2a, b; Psalm 110: 1; Psalm 96: 2, 3— modified. SEPTUAGESIMA Introit: The sorrows of death compassed me: the sorrows of hell compassed me about. In my distress I called upon the Lord: and He heard my voice out of His temple. Psalm: I will love Thee, O Lord my Strength: The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress. The Gloria. Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee favorably to hear the prayers of Thy people: that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by Thy good- ness, for the glory of Thy Name; through... Epistle: I Corinthians 9: 24—10: 5 .Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16 The name of the Sunday suggests its relation to ° Easter toward which the Church is now reckoning. This and the following Sunday, Sexagesima, are rather loosely named, as the one is neither seventy days nor the other sixty days from Easter; al- though Quinquagesima, the third of the pre-Lent Sundays, is exactly the fiftieth day before Easter. The names of these Sundays are usually ascribed to the fact that they fall in the sixth and seventh decades before Easter. Thus Septuagesima would mean the Lord’s Day within seventy days of Easter. There did not seem to be any universal rule in the early period of the Church either as to the length, or manner, of the Lenten Fast. One of medieval writers states that the monastic orders began the Fast with Septuagesima, the Greek Church with Sexagesima, and the secular clergy with Quinquagesima. There did appear much em- phasis on a forty-day period, a Quadragesima, in imitation of our Lord’s Fast in the Wilderness; and as one or another of the classes mentioned might 89 90 THE CHURCH YEAR omit, as for example the monastics, Sundays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from the Fast, naturally the fast period would be lengthened. Thus in one case at least the beginning of this period would be thrown back to Septuagesima, in order to include forty fast days. Septuagesima introduces a new devotional period, preparatory to Lent, and almost Lenten in depth and seriousness of spiritual tone. This distinct change in the spirit of the Church Year is instantly apparent. These three Sundays are not a little bridge intended to span what would otherwise be a marked break between the Hpiphany Season and Lent; but, being thoroughly pre-Lenten in tone, have a purpose distinctly their own while leading up to, preparing for, Lent. When we read the Propers of these days we can- not help but be impressed with the penitential spirit. The Epistle of Septuagesima strikes a note that rings and echoes through the entire Season: the race, the fight, with the prize held out—‘“so run that ye may obtain.” Unfortunately the spirit of the contest, that the prize held out is to be won only by most rigorous effort, does not fail to find place in what many have considered one of the chief objectives of the Lenten days. To them it becomes a period of self-immolation in order to merit re- ward: to please God with externals; but that can- not be the lesson of these days when we are com- panying with the Man of Sorrows. The true keynote for this whole period is heard in two phrases of the Septuagesima Collect: “We (who) are justly punished for our offences’— “mercifully delivered by Thy goodness, for the glory of Thy Name.” There are expressions here worthy of emphasis: “justly,” deservedly, merited ! —‘‘offences,” sins standing out in the brilliant, all- SEPTUAGESIMA 91 revealing Light of the Man of Sorrows; naturally “punished” will be coupled therewith, here is a different kind of merit! Vivid consciousness of the relation between sinner, sin and God, holy, pure but just, is to be most thoroughly, minutely and cura- tively developed. Were one to pause with only the first emphasis of that, the despairing cry of the first verse of the Introit would stand alone, and would be most literally true—‘“‘The sorrows of death compassed me: the sorrows of hell compassed me about.” The word “sorrows” is worthy of deep thought, not torments, or punishments, or deserved rewards, but sorrows, the anguishes of mind and soul, the too-lates with all their train ou realiza- tions! One could not imagine a deeper wail or more utter despair—the soul that has sinned, that has thrown God away to go its own way, and the realization of the end of that choice!—‘“the sorrows of death—the sorrows of hell!” This is a descrip- tion of sin not intended for a worldling but for those in the fold! While the Church drives home this terrible warn- ing, she must couple with it the comfort which she dare not fail to minister: comfort which is two- part, showing the way back, and the reception awaiting the penitent. Why, these very days which we are entering are filled with it, proving it, lead- ing to the great Guarantor of Divine justice and ministering mercy. So the second verse of the Introit raust follow: “In my distress I cried unto the Lord” (personal pronoun) “and He heard my yoice out of His temple’—‘“punished for our of- fences” indeed, but ‘mercifully delivered”— “through Jesus Christ, our Lord’—how eloquent here—‘“for the glory of Thy Name.” It is well we have this keynote struck so emphat- ically, that it rings out so clearly over against the 92 THE CHURCH YEAR false conceptions which many hold concerning the coming Lenten days. It is of grace, not of merit. We are not able to find the way by any means of our own, or to discharge the debt, or to earn or merit sufficient even to mitigate the justly due pun- ishment. Perhaps some would isolate the little phrase “so run that ye may obtain’”—emphasizing the running to obtain, and center the whole thought there, as though by self-discipline, fasting, and other meritorious practices one were to earn a re- ward. We are running the race, fighting the fight, (Epistle) ; working in the vineyard, bearing the burden and heat of the day (Gospel) ; and we are doing it with a purposeful end in view, an all-ani- mating one, to win ‘“‘the crown,” to receive “the penny” at the end of the day. It looks almost like earning, doesn’t it?—the rigor of effort, the con- centration of purpose, the devotion of energy, the spending of strength, the crowning of continuing will to accomplish! But it all must be in the spirit of the blessed Word. The prize is set before us, not of an ending of the Lenten Fast well lived, faithfully, devotedly, perseveringly lived: the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, the privi- lege of answering the call of the Householder to work for Him in His vineyard. While this brings a needed lesson which teaches self-analysis and the necessary application of methods in life (even though they be external, like fasting, self-denial) that will create a habit of life in keeping with our holy calling, the messages today are for more than these days only; they are for all days to come: to learn now, that we never forget. “So run that ye may obtain’—“I run, not as un- certainly—lI fight, not as one that beateth the air— I keep under by body, bring it into subjection’— SEPTUAGESIMA 93 that is the real story of self-knowledge, self- discipline, self-mastery; but definitely, for the “in- corruptible crown.” And I must strive with every resource of my being called into the effort, for there remains, after all, possibility of being a cast- away. There is no guarantee, no assurance, simply because I say, I am a Christian, or because I am in the race, or because I am in the vineyard, or I do, or strive, or labor, or bear! Mark well the close of the Epistle, the sad history of Israel in the Wilder- ness: God’s own people, yet with many of them He was not well pleased! The Gospel, the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, will complete this Day’s most earnest warning. How simply it teaches us that we are not acquiring merit when we serve God, put it in whatever simile one will: the race, the fight, the work—even though we bear the burden and heat of the day. Self-discipline must not breed self- righteousness, but humility and gladness in bear- ing. We are but doing our duty; and that which is asked of us, is the best use of all our facilities “for the glory of His Name.” It is not our merit which moves God’s mercy, but our need. It is His answer to our necessity; His supply which inspires our service. Again mark the close of the Gospel as we marked the close of the Epistle, “Many be called, but few chosen.” SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 18: 5, 6 Psalm, Psalm 18:1, 2 Collect: Preces populi tui, quaesumus Domine, clementer exaudi, ut qui iuste pro peccatis nostris affligimur, pro tui nominis gloria misericorditer liberemur, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, for Septuagesima. Gradual: Psalm 99: 9, 10; Psalm; 99:18; Psalm 99: 19a. Tract: Psalm 130: 1, 2a. SEXAGESIMA Introit: Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord: arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face: and forgettest our affliction? Our soul is bowed down to the dust: arise for our help and redeem us. Psalm: We have heard with our ears, O God: our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days. The Gloria. Collect: O Lord God, Who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do: Mercifully grant that by Thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through... Epistle: II Corinthians 11: 19—12: 9 Gospel: Luke 8: 4-15 Sexagesima: the Lord’s Day within sixty days of Easter. This Sunday brings an example of how the Church of the Reformation has purified, “re- formed,” some of the unevangelical teachings in the old Church Year without disturbing an historic Use. It must be remembered that the name, The Church of the Reformation, describes one of the far-reaching activities of the movement within the Church at that period. This was the reformation of customs and practices as well as doctrine: refor- mation in the externals, for example, worship; but the process was not a new building or a new out- fitting in that sphere of the Church’s life. It was a cleansing of the existing customs and practices and rituals of all such things as did not contribute to true devotion or exemplify pure doctrine, in a word were not Evangelic. Here is an example. The ancient Collect, appointed for this Day, con- tained an invocation of the protection of St. Paul. This was not cast aside, but turned into proper 94 SEXAGESIMA 95 form. The desire was not to destroy, or displace, but to preserve, ancient Use, custom and ritual as it had been anciently, pure. Upon this Day, St. Paul was signally honored, for just what special or historical reason does not appear ; but he is held up by the Church on all three pre-Lenten Sundays as a most illustrious example, whose life and words and works are especially in point in this Season of self-searching and self-con- secration. Thus he teaches self-denial in the Epistle of Septuagesima; zeal of service, and suffering, for Christ’s sake in that of today; and in that of Quin- quagesima, he appears as the teacher, whose won- drous “Song of Love” teaches that all this, dis- cipline, self-sacrifice, burning zeal, without the fervor of love, is nothing, profiteth nothing. If those who find so much in the thought of “merit would only grasp the union of “love” and “profiteth” in the glorious Epistle! Today he is doubly honored. Have we not that long Epistle (the longest in all the Year), filled with an enumeration of his fastings, sufferings, privations (reminds us of the burdens and heat of the day; makes us stop and ponder, do some com- paring, when we think of the “sacrifices,” the marks and works of penitence, we prescribe for self’s do- ing these days!). Have we not the bursting of the Realm of Glory, with visions and revelations? Then, too, the ancient Collect contained a direct reference to him, not originally a direct appeal to him, but one for his protection. It read: “Merci- fully grant that by the protection of the Teacher of the Gentiles we may be defended against all ad- versity.” The Collect has been revised and re- tained, for its teaching is one stone in the mosaic of the Day’s lesson. The Apostle speaks to the Church in the Epistle 96 THE CHURCH YEAR with all his fervor, but also with all his deep, deep humility. Glory? He? “I will rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me”—and that is the Day’s teaching, Humility, the Christian’s; to this add the fortitude, the courage, of the burden bearer, in order that the lesson of the true Source of strength may be learned. Here too, the Introit contributes its note, that of the humble—persistent—pleading voice of the persevering, hoping bearer. Here, too, the Collect finds its source. “O Lord God” (note the address) “Who seest that we put not our trust in anything we do.’ Let us emphasize the we’s and the our as we think of St. Paul—and when we pray. Let us repeat that phrase—“Who seest ... that we... put not our trust ...in anything we do’—is that literally, absolutely, always true? To cleanse our thought utterly of what we have borne or what we have done, we need this eloquent comparison. Perhaps our trials and sacrifices do loom large in our memories of those unforgetable hours; perhaps our deeds do seem worthy; but in comparison with—St. Paul?—‘“in labors more abundant, in fastings, in perils, in weariness, in stripes” —?—in comparison with our precious Com- panion—on the Way to the Cross? When we pray, when we come to God, ask of Him and strive to learn how to “glory in my infirmities,” we need “the honest and good heart” into which the Seed has fallen, to be kept to bring forth fruit with patience! So the Gospel finds its precious place: our Lord’s Parable of the Sower and the four kinds of ground where the Seed falls. In our Collect we pray that ‘“‘we may be defended against all adversity,” the adversity which every one of these days is emphasizing, which, in them, we are to learn to guard against. This the Gospel SEXAGESIMA 97 pictures so clearly: the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; the pre-empted heart, the already occupied heart, the shallow heart, the divided heart; for we know the one sure Source of Truth, of guidance, of promise, of safety—the Word, the Gospel. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 44: 23, 24, 25a, 26 Psalm, Psalm 44:1 Collect: Deus qui conspicis quia ex nulla nostra actione confidimus! concede propitius, ut contra adversa omnia doctoris gentium protectione muniamur, per. Gelasian Sacramentary, for Sexagesima. Gradual: Psalm 83:18; Psalm 83: 13. Tract: Psalm 60: 4. QUINQUAGESIMA Introit: Be Thou my strong Rock: for an house of defence to save me. Thou art my Rock and my Fortress: therefore for Thy Name’s sake lead me and guide me. Psalm: In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in Thy righteousness. The Gloria. Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully hear our pray- ers, and, having set us free from the bonds of sin, defend us from all evil; through... Epistle: I Corinthians 13: 1-13 Gospel: Luke 18: 31-43 This is the last of the three pre-Lenten Sundays, the Lord’s Day within fifty days of Haster, in this case, the fiftieth day before. It is also called Esto mihi from the opening words of the ancient Latin Introit: Esto mihi in Deum protectorem, etc. It does not require any lengthy search to discover the teaching of the Day—Love—but love in all its glory and wonder; the Love of God to man, the love of man to God, and in Him to his fellow-men, his brethren. The Church has provided a set of Propers for this Day which, in point of teaching, in harmony with the days which are opening to us, and in de- veloping an historical touch with the actual begin- ning of the Journey to Jerusalem and with Events soon to be re-lived, cannot be equaled. It is of in- terest to note that St. Augustine (354-430) used this Day’s Epistle and Gospel, harmonizing them in a sermon which was preached at the beginning of the Quadragesima, the Forty Days—Lent. This witnesses to the very ancient use of these two par- 98 QUINQUAGESIMA 99 ticular Lessons at this time in the Church Year as Service appointments. The cry of the Church in the Introit: “Be Thou for me’’—one dare emphasize that as the cry of the longing, needy, conscious, suppliant, pleading that He will show a gracious disposition to him, “for me,” for he knows he has the power (Epiphany!). Then, too, there is that in it which the German word Stellvertreter expresses, to take one’s place, to assume one’s burden or need; but above all there is in it the refuge-seeking cry of the sin-beset, the enemy-driven, for the strong Rock, for the House of Defence, for the Fortress—“to save me.” This cry is put into the very soul of the worshiper today, with it he begins his journey to the Cross and the Resurrection Morn—the ery for salvation! If these Sundays past have taught their lessons through the self-examination that resulted in the devoted heart, one has found one’s place. There is no mistaking it. One knows just where one stands, what one is, what the true values are, here at the Gateway to the Passion, if one is to journey with Him. Be Thou for me—Salvation. This is to be ever in mind for “Behold, we go up to Jerusa- lem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.” Thus the announcement of the Journey to the Cross in the Gospel; not the Church’s, but our Lord’s own, and behold, He goeth before. And thus we begin our Lent in His fellowship, following Him. But this is Love—only read the Epistle again in the light of this; see how one thing and another flames out!— “bestow all my goods”—“give my body’—“suffer- 100 THE CHURCH YEAR eth long”—‘“vaunteth not’—‘“seeketh not her own” —__“beareth—endureth—all things’—‘“never fail- eth.” Two things must be learned, if that fellowship is to be real, if the journey is to be of eternal bless- ing. The first step leads to Jericho’s Gate, and be- hold, a Blind Man sitting by the wayside begging— begging !—one cannot escape the cry of the Introvt, “Be Thou for me”’!—‘“Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be Thou for me... to save me. For Thy Name’s sake lead me and guide me” —the blind man! “In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: deliver me in Thy righteousness.” If one only will bring this blessed story to one’s self, carry home the cry, the fact; for it is not an overdrawn figure, nor mystical interpretation to see in blind Bartimeus one’s self at the Gateway to the Pas- sion. If it be not the Love of God which gives us sight, Calvary will be in vain! For that word of the Cross is mystery supreme to the natural man, foolishness to the Gentile, stumbling-block to the Jew—the Sealed Book—spiritual blindness. But Jesus opens the Blind Man’s eyes because he begged! Ministering Love, the Love that gives of Himself to the hungering cry, the Love that finds its unspeakable glory on the Throne of the Cross— that for me!—that I may see. We are to see and know this motive of God’s giv- ing, His Son (John 3:16; Rom. 5: 8) ; of His giv- ing in His Life and Death for us (John 15: 1S and it is this grace of all graces that is to fill our hearts as we enter and use these days: for without it all our devotions will be vain. “I am nothing’— without it. If we read what our Lord’s Love has carved over the Gateway to the Passion; if we see what our Lord’s Love accomplished there at the wayside, our QUINQUAGESIMA 101 hearts will be in tune to sing the Hymn of Love which St. Paul—not St. John, think of it!—sings into our hearts; and, as we think of it, think of Him—‘“Love never faileth!”—of myself—“and have not love’? “For Thy Name’s sake lead me and guide me’—‘“defend me from all evil.”’ Lead, guide, defend—befriend!—how the Blind Man needed this all! Lead, guide, defend, befriend— me! The Church of the Reformation does not observe Lent in the spirit of past custom and ritual. The Reformers could not value fasting and penance for merit’s sake but only for Jesus’ sake, and as one has pointedly written, ‘“‘The end of Lent is not merit, but character.”’ With the beginning of these days her Services increase, but she centers them in the contemplation of the Passion of our Lord. This, and this only, is to excite self-examination, self- analysis, penitence, and hearty desire to grow in grace. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 31: 2b, 3 Psalm, Psalm 31:1 Collect: Preces nostras, quaesumus Domine, clementer exaudi, atque a peccatorum vinculis absolutos, ab omni nos adversitate custodi, per. Gradual: Psalm 77:14; Psalm 77:15 Tract: Psalm 100: 1, 2 ASH WEDNESDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF LENT Introit: I will ery unto God Most High: unto God that performeth all things for me. Yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge: until these calamities be overpast. Psalm: Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in Thee. The Gloria. Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest noth- ing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and con- trite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through... Epistle: Joel 2: 12-19 Gospel: Matthew 6: 16-21 The name Lent is probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for Spring, lencten, German, Lenz (Spring), meaning the time when the days lengthen. Ash Wednesday or Dies Cinerum (Day of ashes) is also called Caput jejunti (the head or beginning of the fast). Two early Church Fathers, Augustine and Ter- tullian, tell us that the Lenten Fast originated with our Lord’s Apostles. While this is not improbable, the statement must be qualified. It is neither the Lent nor the Lenten Fast that we know, that is meant: for both of these have undergone a long process of development before they assumed very much of the character familiar to us. It is not improbable that the Lenten Fast found its origin in the desire of the early Christians to perpetuate in the lives of the believers the deep 102 ASH WEDNESDAY 103 sorrow and mourning experienced during those ter- rible hours of gloom and anguish when our Lord was crucified and lay in the tomb. This latter be- ing just forty hours in length gave some point to the period of time the fast lasted; for it first appears as of but forty hours duration. But as that first sorrow gave place to the great joy in the Resurrection, the restoration of their Lord to them, so it naturally became a period of devout Deena ation for this most holy commemoration. am From this the idea of a preparatory fast devel- | oped. Early there is added to it a deep sense of what — brought about our Lord’s Crucifixion; and then it was not a very far journey to the idea of individ- ual sin and responsibility, and therefore self- discipline and definite works of contrition. We dare never lose sight of the natural reasons under- lying these commemorations; the beginnings are all such, the loving memorials of that band of early believers. Time adds many another touch; but shorn of these, the original remains an expression of true devotion, eloquent, sincerely purposeful. Soon the brief period is extended; it covers the entire week, so rich in memories. Then it grows to two weeks, reckoning from the certain Event in the Gospel wherein the outward enmity of the Jews is very markedly shown. A remembrance of this still remains in the Church Year, Passion Sunday, and the Gospel of that Day. However those who found so much in symbolism and mystical interpre- tation could not pass by the series of Forties: The Forty Hours, the Forty Days of the Temptation in the Wilderness, etc. So the period of the Fast and strictness in other externals was lengthened to forty days, and called the Quadragesima. This or rather the beginning of it was reckoned in sev- eral ways in different sections of the Church, and 104 THE CHURCH YEAR in different communities of the Church as the numerically named Sundays testify (compare the Notes on Septuagesima) ; and the Quadragesima was arrived at by the exclusion of certain days each week on which the faithful did not fast. The pres- ent custom of beginning Lent with Ash Wednesday is attributed to Gregory the Great. This period, excluding the Sundays, is exactly forty days in length; and this gives rise to the expression for example, Invocavit, the First Sunday on Lent, but not of! While the spirit or keynote of the Sunday will be influenced by the tone of the general Season in which it falls, its character remains unchanged, it is the Lord’s Day, Festival. In the early Church, during this period, the cate- chumens were prepared for admission into the Church by Baptism at Easter. Traces of this prac- tice still remain in the Propers of the various Lenten Sundays. It was a Season of deep humili- ation, of abstinence from social intercourse and pleasures. Fasting was rigorously practiced. Fre- quent and devout attendance at Divine Worship was enjoined. It was, and should be still, a Season of deep penitence and mourning for one’s sin. This is typified in the Liturgical Color of the Season, Purple, the Church’s color of mourning. When we read the Propers for Ash Wednesday, it will be seen immediately that Introit, Lections and Collect have been chosen to conform to the idea of the Day and the general purpose of the Season it introduces. One will not go wrong in finding the center of it all in the announcement of the Epistle, “Sanctify a fast.” Its purpose and reasons are told right there: its wide application, and its goal, or objective. But while this age-old prophecy was made to fit into the ancient scheme of Lent, it puts an emphasis on the fast and on these days which ASH WEDNESDAY 105 is truly evangelical: “Turn ye even to me with all your heart”—‘“Rend your heart and not your gar- ments.” The emphasis is where it must be if it is to be spiritually worth while: not on the externals, but on the heart of man. Here, too, the wonder- fully beautiful and comforting Collect enters the harmony of the Propers. There are external things which will lend themselves to our improvement if practiced; deep emotion will find some expressive outlet; but the vitality of all this lies in the spirit- ualizing of our purpose, of our devotions, of our Lenten practices—from the heart. The new and contrite hearts of the Collect; the penitent cleansed of his sins so humbly acknowledged and “worthily” lamented, that the God of all mercy, Who does not hate but forgives, will remit and forgive for Jesus’ sake. Compare the Introit, especially the Psalm. The Gospel is our Lord’s rule for fasting and ex- horts to the quest of the eternal treasure. One wonders how a work-righteousness could have been forced into these Lessons, which are so utterly revo- lutionary themselves in declaring a fast so contrary to the customary either in Joel’s times or in our Lord’s times. Then it was external by rule and rite; but here it is in heart and spirit, in secret, unseen save of the Father; for it is not of our merit but of His grace; not that we earn forgiveness— “not by works of righteousness which we have done”—but that to Him we may show the broken and contrite heart of one who really knows and worthily laments, and earnestly seeks forgiveness for his sin. 106 THE CHURCH YEAR SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 57: 2, 1c Psalm, Psalm 57: 1a, b The Collect, with but two slight verbal changes, is that of Ash Wednesday in the English Service Books, originally appearing in the Liturgy known as I Edward VI, 1549. It probably was prepared by Archbishop Cranmer who may have gone back to an ancient Latin Benediction used for the Blessing of Ashes on this Day, and in which there are some points of possible relationship. Gradual: Psalm 57: 1a,b; Psalm 57:3 Tract: Psalm 103: 10; 79: 9a INVOCAVIT, THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT Introit: He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will deliver him ‘and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him: and show him My sal- vation. Psalm: He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High: shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. The Gloria. Collect: O Lord, mercifully hear our prayer, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty to defend us from them that rise up against us; through... Epistle: II Corinthians 6: 1-10 Gospel: Matthew 4: 1-11 The Sunday receives its name from the first word of the Latin Introit, Invocavit, He shall call. Upon this Day in the ancient Church the cate- chumens entered upon their final stage of prepar- ation for Baptism at Eastertide; and from now on each week marks a definite step forward in their instruction. Today they are called the Profitentes for all the riches of their calling is to be unfolded and they are to be taught to be profitable to God. Our present series of Lenten Propers has de- scended to us unquestionably from this early period; and it will readily be seen how the choice of the Epistle, and Gospel, for this Day has the ecatechumen in mind as well as the great body of the faithful who are now engaged in their Lenten fast. There are two points of departure from which a consideration of the Propers should proceed. First remembering the Day in the experience of the catechumenate. The Epistle brings the clear- 107 108 THE CHURCH YEAR cut, decisive announcement, ‘‘Now is the accepted time: now is the day of salvation’; and calls upon those who are giving themselves to God’s service as “ministers’—servants—to prove themselves: recognizing the earnestness of the decision being made; broadly cataloging the experiences, the tests, the life stretching before the servant. Re- member they are to be profitentes, profitable to Him. The Epistle might well be entitled The Christian’s Walk: definitely showing the enemy and the char- acter of the enmity against them, which constantly seek their overthrow; but heartening them with the high and holy encouragement that they are “workers together with Him”; exhorting, implor- ing them “receive not the grace of God in vain” but in the spirit of these blessed words, persevere and patiently bear all that in Him Who succoreth in every temptation those who are faithfully His own. To this is added the Gospel of our Lord’s Tempta- tion, appointed for this Day, not because of any artificial connection between the Temptation’s length and the length of this period, but because it shows Him tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. He Who is to succor us, Who gives Himself for us, must not only be victor but sinless; must not only conquer but know the depths and woes of the struggle; and through the fullness of this experience with, dare we say, trials and temp- tations that come to the servant too, gives us a sym- pathy and love which understand. To the one facing life’s way in the Christian pro- fession, there is no minimizing the dangers or the severity of the trials which lie before him: his life will be a testing from every side: world, flesh, devil. It will test his will, his body, his heart; his loyalty, his love, his faith; but as in the blessed THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT 109 Gospel we see the Victory of our Partner (‘“work- ers together with Him’’), so there comes to us this precious assurance that the power that cannot con- quer Him, cannot conquer us as long as we are workers together with Him, as long as we are in all things approving ourselves as the ministers—serv- ants—of God. The Introit is a song of trusting faith. ‘He,’ My tried and tempted servant, “shall call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will deliver him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My sal- vation.” Just pause to note the joining together in these words of the temporal and eternal, of the blessings in this earthly life merging now with the blessings of the life to come. Add to this the Collect. It gives the key to the triumph—‘“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty’— “Stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty to defend us’”—that communion of fearless trust and faithful confidence, of abiding, dwelling, in Him, committing all our ways and needs to Him Who has fought and won—‘“His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory’”—Who was tempted, but Who conquered. This is an all-inspir- ing first lesson in the closer walk with God for the catechumen approaching the entering in of the Way, for the pilgrim whose days are carrying him nearer, nearer—Home—under His shadow—brood- ing over us is He, the tempter’s Conqueror! This period is also one of penitential self-exami- nation for the faithful; and the Epistle will there- fore again spread before him the possibilities of his walk before God. He will view it from the standpoint of the past, seeing his many weaknesses, falls and failures. He will analyze it and find much that has not been a working together, but a striv- 110 THE CHURCH YEAR ing alone; and much that has not even been striving alone but has been betrayal. He will know wherein he failed and why! He will see that the calls upon him to resist: afflictions, necessities, distresses, labors, watchings, fastings, the patience, have found him meeting them with diminishing vigor, and lacking the power to stand fast—the world has been so hard to fight against. He will see that he has not measured up to the glories of that life so wonderfully declared:-pureness, knowledge, long- suffering, kindness, love unfeigned, the Holy Ghost, the Power of God, the armor of righteousness— the flesh has been so weak, and yet so insistently strong in its appeal! He will see how often life has tried him, played with his vanity, sneered at his ambition, derided his religion, scoffed at his holy resolutions, jeered at the very things he claimed to be true: deceiver, unknown, dying, chastened, sorrowful, poor, having nothing—the devil is ever, relentlessly, a deceiver, is ever offering a short cut, an easy way, to attainment. Of what?—“all these things will I give thee’”—the opposites of all those? But with these blessed words he will see all too well the reason why he has been so weak, why he has fallen. Therefore these holy days to call to remem- brance, to purge away the dross, to gain the true strength for the life to be lived! Workers together with Him, with Him Who was tempted as we are; with Him Who succors, Who answers the call for help, with Him to live in this accepted time! My time of opportunity to serve as never before; to prove my ministry; to be found faithful; to have nothing as the world, the flesh, the devil, may sneer- ingly say, but yet to possess all things—in Him! THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT 111 SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 91: 15, 16 Psalm, Psalm 91:1 Collect: Preces nostras, quaesumus Domine, clementer exaudi, et contra cuncta nobis adversantia dexteram tuae malestatis extende, per Dnm. Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Psalm 91:11; Psalm 91: 12 Tract: Psalm 91:1 REMINISCERE, THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT Introit: Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies and Thy loving-kindnesses: for they have been ever of old. Let not mine enemies triumph over me: God of Israel, deliver us out of all our trouble. Psalm: Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul: O my God, I trust in Thee; let me not be ashamed. The Gloria. Collect: O God, Who seest that of ourselves we have no strength: Keep us both outwardly and inwardly; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through... Epistle: I Thessalonians 4: 1-7 Gospel: Matthew 15: 21-28 The Sunday receives its name from the first word of the Latin Introit, Reminiscere, Remember. In preparation for their baptism, the catechu- mens have been under daily instruction during the week past, meeting perhaps in their catechist’s home or in some room in the House of God, for they are now called the é&odovueror. This training is very methodical and intentionally impressive, and purposeful in emphasizing the fact that until they are within the safe fold of the Church, they are in the company of evil; until born anew in the laver of Holy Baptism, they are the slaves of sin, and prisoners of the devil, their overlord. One can fol- low the steps in the progress of this instruction from the teaching of the Propers of this and the preceding and the succeeding Sundays. Three elements are very carefully developed as being the comprehensive types of the full power of the evil one, Satan, over his hosts. These, in sum- mary, appear in the three several temptations to 112 THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT 113 which our Lord was subjected in the wilderness, the narrative of which was last Sunday’s Gospel: the temptations of the flesh, of the pride of life, of trying God’s Providence or desire to go beyond God’s will. Parallel to these are the three subjects of the earliest instructions given the catechumens; and these form the questions of the renunciations which the catechumen must make publicly a little later on. The remnant of this remains in the pres- ent Order for Holy Baptism, in the question, “Dost thou renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways?”—the answer to it, “Yes; I renounce.” The Epistle and Gospel enter into this with con- tributions which are perfectly harmonious. They may be considered as chosen primarily for this pur- pose: to add to the instruction already, and being, given the catechumenate; and then to recall pro- gressively, the process of instruction through which the faithful had passed, and thus excite self-exami- nation and bring about its desired effect, penitence for failures and a contrite desire for absolution. The Lessons in particular develop the twofold pos- session of the evil one, spoken of in the Collect “outwardly and inwardly,” and in the Epistle in the sins of the flesh, the sins of impurity, and in the Gospel, the possession of the Little Daughter, the possession of the soul. Over against this come the positive instructions of the Day. The Christian’s walk—this runs through all the Epistles of the Season—as shown today is to abound more and more. He is to walk in holiness. “Ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.” Would this not re- call the instruction so lately heard? Would it not re- call their past experience to the faithful? How to walk and please God; and let it be remembered who these candidates for reception into the Church of 114 THE CHURCH YEAR Christ were, from what surroundings, what relig- ion, what manner of life, they were coming: the heathen world with all its immorality and “works of the flesh.” That life and the life into which they are being prepared to enter, are as opposite as dark and light: the soul and life and body possessed of evil to become a child of God. Here is the story of the pure in heart; and here too, is the story of the abounding, conquering faith! The faithful, in the light of this Gospel, are spoken of by the old commentators on The Liturgy as credentes et sperantes, believers and hopers. One lingers a bit at the Introit, because one likes to treasure the thought stirred by its first word, Reminiscere, Remember! There are many things we are given to remember: God’s tender mercies and loving-kindnesses, how constant they have been; but how frequently they have been followed by forgetfulness and a falling back into old ways! It is well, therefore, to begin this week with an humble lifting up of the soul to God in confession, using the words of the Collect, “O God, Who seest that of ourselves we have no strength” (think of the Woman in the Gospel) ; and upon this spread before Him the plea which seeks His merciful help with a humility, and devout, believing persever- ance, like that of the Syro-Phcenecian—“Keep us both outwardly and inwardly that we may be de- fended from all adversity which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts (Epistle!) which may assault and hurt the soul.” Think quietly, slowly: outwardly,—adversities,—happen,—body ; inwardly,—evil thoughts,—assault and hurt,—soul. “Tf God be for us, who can be against us?” With this help assured, the E’pistle’s exhortation to “abound more and more” will be inspiration to greater endeavor to “walk and please God.” Hin- THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT 115 drances, sins, are many, and not the least are those ‘which our own humanity throws into the contest; and we need to be reminded, especially in these days when the world, the flesh and the devil seem to delight to force upon us their wiles and tempta- tions, to guard the inlets to the soul. Hearken therefore to the searching admonitions of the Epistle as it pleads for that purity of heart without which we will not see God! The Gospel visualizes the determined effort of the spirit of evil to possess and to defeat the struggle of faith. But it is through this sad need that a faith which will not take “No,” or rebuff, or delay—a faith which confesses, a faith which perseveres—is re- vealed as it grows into that mighty power which does conquer Christ! Abound more and more! Lord, help me!—me! Patient, persistent, all-con- quering faith! “Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in Thee; let me not be ashamed.” “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 25: 6, 2b Psalm, Psalm 25: 1, 2a Collect: Deus, qui conspicis omni nos virtute destitui interius exteriusque custodi, ut ab omnibus adversitatibus muniamur in corpore, et a pravis cogitationibus mundemur in mente, per Dnm. Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Psalm 25:17; Psalm 25: 18 Tract: Psalm 136: 1 OCULI, THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT Introit: Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord: for He shall pluck my feet out of the net. Turn Thee unto me, and have mercy upon me: for I am desolate and afflicted. Psalm: Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul: O my God, I trust in Thee; let me not be ashamed. The Gloria. Collect: We beseech Thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of Thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty to be our defence against all our enemies; through... Epistle: Ephesians 5: 1-9 Gospel: Luke 11: 14-28 The name of the Sunday is derived from the first word of the Latin Introit, Oculi, Eyes. The Day is also variously named Dies scrutinit, the day of the scrutiny; Dominica abrenunciationis, the Lord’s Day of the renunciation ; and Dom. exorcismi, of the excorcism. These names are derived from the ceremonies of the Day and week in the preparation of the catechumens. Upon this Lord’s Day they submitted to a very strict and careful scrutiny or examination in those things wherein they had been instructed thus far, and as to their fitness to pro- ceed farther. Having passed this satisfactorily, they then submitted to the rite of publicly renounc- ing “the devil, and all his pomps, works, and ways.” Then, formally, the devil was exorcised, that is, commanded to depart from them, called out of them. After these ceremonies, the catechumens were looked upon as initiatt, initiates, novices; and entered too, with the faithful, upon the rigorous observances of the Lenten fast. 116 THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT 117 These formal rites, carried through with much solemn ceremony, and finding their prototype as well as the faith in which they were performed in the exorcisms in the Gospels, must not be looked upon as mere external, liturgical machinery, nor as a formal process of intiating candidates into the mysteries of the Faith. They must be valued as carrying the effects which an external or dramatic action (the reason for which is always imparted), always exerts; and then as being an outward com- mentary, through form or act upon the funda- mental, spiritual teaching intended to be indelibly impressed upon the heart of the candidate. For this reason the Propers, viewed from the historic Use, the purpose underlying their selection and arrangement, or the association of these cer- tain passages of Scripture and prayers with cer- tain ceremonies, always are the real center of the Spiritual objective of the ceremony and of the Day’s teaching. Throughout this Lenten period the situation and condition of the one outside of the Kingdom has ever been shown as being “a slave of sin,” an enemy of God, an ally of Satan. The need of release, the process whereby this is effected, the power of the victory, the entrance into the Kingdom, the re- quirements of this allegiance, are not only visual- ized in rite and ceremony, but brought home in the teaching of the Propers. The progression in the Epistles alone witnesses this: for therein is empha- sized the Walk of the Christian, each week con- tributing something to the description thereof. Thus to-day, viewing the candidates as having through their exorcism become initiates, the relent- lessness of the enemy’s opposition is driven home in the precious Gospel of the Day, the Gospel of the Stronger. They must be told this in as sharp and 118 THE CHURCH YEAR arresting a way as possible; and they hear it in the very words of Christ their Lord. They must real- ize this, not only to know what it really is to be Christ’s, but to know how constant is their danger. The driving out of the evil one through the Power of God, leaves them like the house in the Gospel, a soul swept and garnished, ready for a possession. But unless the Sevenfold Spirit enters in and pos- sesses and bars the entrance, the seven evil spirits will re-enter to drive down to a lower depth of in- famy and evil. There can be no neutrality; there is no such thing as an wnpossessed soul!—nor can there be a divided house. It is either for or against; either gathering or scattering; either Christ’s or the devil’s! When one hears this Gospel and then hears such words as these in the Rite of Exorcism, “Depart, thou unclean spirit and give place to the Holy Spirit,’’ would there be any impression in the heart of the candidate or the hearer? Then, too, the Epistle adds its share to the in- struction: Their life, now the walk of a child of God, “follower of God,” “inheritor in the kingdom of Christ and of God,” is definitely described. They are to walk in love after the precious example of Christ, in the spirit of whatever sacrifice may be demanded: that the walk be faithful, as “children of the light,” for their former state of darkness is all too well known. To this is added the warning of the wrath which falls on the children of disobe- dience. One sees all the horrors of the sins to which evil possessed hearts give way: the works of the flesh, the lures of the evil desires in man, the en- ticements of the deceiver with his honeyed words. One thinks of the Gospel in contrast with the “man deceiving with vain words.” “Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.” “Walk as children of the light!” THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT 119 How pointedly then the Introit, “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.’”’? And how completely the little Col- lect sums up the whole aspiration of the longing child of God whose “hearty desire’ is to walk worthily: not in his own strength or reliance, but pleading that the Father would look upon his every need and “stretch forth the right hand of His Majesty (‘If I with the finger of God cast out devils!’) to be our defence against all our enemies.” For today and the warring Christian, the Sun- day has a blessed lesson also. ‘The Son of God goes forth to war, a kingly crown to gain!... Who follows in His train?’ The Gospel answers with the Master’s words, “He that is not with Me is against Me: and He that gathereth not with Me scattereth.” “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falleth.” The call for today is allegiance unswerving, for loyalty tried and true; not a fear driven response, but a love born patriotism for the heavenly King- dom that deliberately counts the cost and as loyally and devotedly consecrates the sacrifice. The deeper we enter the Lententide, the more intense becomes the struggle between sin and righteousness, whether it be granted us to see it revealed in our Lord’s suffering for us, or in the Lessons which the Church uses to turn the divine searchlight upon our own selves. The nearer we draw to the Cross, the more distinct sin becomes in its awful guilt and consequences. ‘‘Who is on the Lord’s side?”’ There is no neutrality, no middle ground in the allegiance to the service of Christ, and it must be repeated, there cannot be a divided, nor an unpossessed heart! The sharp contrast between the Kingdom of 120 THE CHURCH YEAR Light and the kingdom of evil, of God and of the devil, is defined by both Gospel and Epistle. Each kingdom has its distinctive marks; each has its power; each makes its appeal; each claims its fol- lowers. Slowly and deliberately, in order that every word may sink in to the very soul, our Lord says: ‘‘He—that—is—not—with Me— is against Me’! Think of the double and low standards of morality so prevalent; the winking at wrong; the absorption in things transitory; the indifference in Religion; that self-satisfying’, conventional relig- ion which so many have fashioned for themselves; and then think of the childlike following (it really means “imitating’’?) of God, walking in love after the example of Christ, Who loved and gave, bring- ing forth the fruit of the Spirit in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Such an one’s eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck his feet out of the net. His hearty desires are for strength to stand and fight, defended by the right hand of the Majesty against the assaults of the evil one always ready to return for repossession. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 25:15, 16 Psalm: 25:1, 2 Collect: Quaesumus omnipotens Deus, vota humilium respice, atque ad defensionem nostram dexteram tuae maie- statis extende, per Dnm. Gradual: Psalm 9:19; Psalm 9:38 Tract: Psalm 123: 1, 3 LAETARE, THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT Introit: Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her: all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her: all ye that mourn for her. Psalm: I was glad when they said unto me: Let us go into the house of the Lord. The Gloria. Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of Thy grace may mercifully be relieved; TOTOUe neeee. Epistle: Galatians 4: 21-31 Gospel: John 6: 1-15 This is Mid-Lent Sunday, variously named in olden times for this reason, Mediana, Vicessima, or Dom. in medio Quadragesima. Its Liturgical name is Laetare, Rejoice, derived from the first word of the Latin Introit. This last name is not only startling in itself, but indicates a marked change in the tone of this Day in the midst of the Lententide. The Jntroits thus far have been veri- table groans and pleas “out of the depths,” but here, such a tremendous contrast, Rejoice! It does not seem natural, or fitting, or harmonious, when the whole period serves to emphasize true sorrow and mourning over sin. But there is good reason for this call to rejoice. It is a true joy-day. The indications are fourfold, for every one of the major Propers adds its own peculiar note to the full majestic chord of Laetare. The Collect emphasizes “the comfort of God’s grace”; the Epistle, the true freedom of the “children born after the Spirit’; the Gospel, the refreshment in the giving of the 121 122 THE CHURCH YEAR bounteous Christ, to these add both Jntroit and Gradual and the chord is complete. On account of the Gospel which is the narrative of our Lord’s Feeding the Five Thousand, the Sun- day has also been called Dom. Refectionis, or de panibus, the Lord’s Day of Refreshment, or of the Loaves. Some of the rigors of the fast were abated for this brief period and the Day assumed some- what of a festal character. In the early Middle Ages the name Dom.-de Rosa (of the Rose) was given to this Sunday; this was symbolic, and re- ferred to our Lord, the Rose of Sharon. The reason for this name grew out of the blessing of the Golden Rose on this Day by the Pope. This he sent to some emperor or king or other personage, a custom still practiced, but now bestowed on one who has done some signal service to the church in the year past. But we look for the reason for the name Laetare. The catechumens have done penitence and passed through the various stages of instruction, scrutiny, renunciation, and on the last Sunday, submitted to the Rite of Exorcism. Today, those who lately had renounced the devil and all his pomps and ways, just as ceremoniously announce their allegiance to God. This is the sponsio or addictio: their promise of allegiance and acceptance of responsibility. This has given the Sunday another name, Dom. redemp- tionibus ab Idololatria, the Lord’s Day of the re- demption from the worship of idols: one remembers that the converts are from the heathen world. The catechumens now become audientes, that is, hear- ers: because they are now admitted to the hearing of the Gospel, both read and taught; and permitted to remain through a part of the Liturgy. How much this experience in the catechumens’ life is re- flected in the Introit of the Day! Is not this step attained one for rejoicing on their part?—on the THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT 123 Church’s (“Jerusalem’s’’) ?—and can one not hear, as if for the first time, the song, “I was glad when they said unto me: Let us go into the house of the Lord”? On this occasion they received instruction in the Formula of the Faith, the Creed, which was imparted to them as a whole for the first time; likewise the Lord’s Prayer. This also named the Sunday as that of the Traditiont Symbolum et Pater Noster. Here indeed were many reasons for joy! Add then, to all this the H’pistle which fits into their experience and the total mounts, and the song becomes even more glorious. ‘Children of the free,” children of promise, born after the Spirit, children of the rejoicing Jerusalem; the contrast between the bondage of the Law and the flesh, and the freedom of the child of God; and one cannot help but feel that through it all, the cause of, the reason for, the freedom was ever shown: “if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” And now, Rejoice! Why? Catechumens and Faith- ful can answer. Because ye are called; ye are free; your walk is free; ye are children of the heavenly Jerusalem. See that ye hold yourselves such. Heavenly blessing cometh to such alone. In the heavy burdens, spiritual, earthly, ’mid which thy way leadeth, rejoice for Christ quickeneth thee, refresheth thee: for to thee He giveth the Bread of Life. Refreshment Sunday! and some of the rigors of Lent temporarily abated. It will be well to follow an indication of this kind, but not for the psycho- logical effect it may have, which will only be tem- porary; rather to point an abiding lesson. Periods of depression, sorrow, penitence, are constantly being pierced by rays of Divine Light, comforting, Uluminating, nourishing; if we but turn them to lasting good, and not sink back again into old ways. 124 THE CHURCH YEAR Sin is here and sorrow for it; and realization of consequences, the harshness of the Law—‘“‘we who for our evil deeds do worthily (really, justly) de- serve to be punished”’; that is our confession as we see ourselves in the light which streams from the Cross. Lent’s lessons are but half learned by those who stop with the conviction of sin—F'pistle, “‘ye that are under the Law’; and not learned at all unless there is a real sense of sinfulness and sorrow and shame for it, and a knowledge of consequences; but where it is learned, God meets that with ‘“‘the comfort of His grace,” “mercifully relieving us.” His gift is freedom, and this the Epistle teaches. “Tf the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” The process of the preparation of this emancipation and its application are ever before those journeying with Him these days on the Way to the Cross. The word “relieved” evidently means that some- one has “‘lifted’”’ something from us, and that some- one else is carrying or providing for, a burden that rested on me! What relief—rest—to me, when it was lifted! Turn to the Gospel. St. John is unique in his purpose in recording a miracle. It is more than mere record. It always bears some deep spir- itual wonder to which he would turn the heart. Read the whole of St. John 6; it is there. The Master of the Miracle, the One with the Five Thou- sand and more in the wilderness makes their neces- sity, their weariness, their hunger His own; but He does more, He provides for it. For the thirsty, “Water of Life’; for the hungry, “The Living Bread”; for the weary and heavy laden, ‘Rest’; for the sinner, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.’ Re- freshment? Laetare! THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT 125 SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Isaiah 66: 10 Psalm, Psalm 122:1 Collect: Concede, quaesumus omnipotens Deus, ut qui ex merito nostrae actionis affligimur, tuae gratiae consolatione respiremus, per Dnm. Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Psalm 122:1; Psalm 122: 7 Tract: Psalm 125:1 JUDICA, PASSION SUNDAY Introit: Judge me, O God: and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man: for Thou art the God of my strength. Psalm: O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill. The Gloria. : Collect: We beseech Thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon Thy people, that by Thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; throuchive.s: Epistle: Hebrews 9: 11-15 Gospel: John 8: 46-59 The liturgical name of the Day, Judica, Judge, comes from the first word of the Latin Introit. The Sunday is also known as Dom. Passionis, the Lord’s Day of the Passion, “Passion Sunday”; and this week and Holy Week have been spoken of as the Passiontide from very early times; but, strange to say, it is incorrect to speak of this week only as Passion Week! Other ancient names for the Sunday are Dom. de Cruce, of the Cross, and Dom. Atra, black, be- cause from this Day the altars were draped in black. These names will indicate that with this Day began a clearly defined period within Lent. It is true that the spirit of the days seems to be- come more and more solemn as one approaches nearer and nearer to the Holy of Holies; but the historic fact is, that with this Sunday began, and these two weeks marked the duration of, the earliest ecclesiastical observance of a specially marked period in commemoration of our Lord’s Passion. The intensity of its tone is revealed by the most 126 PASSION SUNDAY 127 somber color, black, so silently, in its symbolism, witnessing to the very spirit of the Church. From this brief period, through the centuries, due to many contributing causes, some worthy, some won- derfully purposeful, some very artificial, the Lent we now know has been developed. The Gospel of this Day is one of a carefully chosen series which has been used since ancient times in the daily Services since Laetare. In these Lections the many-sided opposition of the Jews to our Lord, their enmity, their hatred, are shown; but always becoming more intense, always increas- ing. We reach this Gospel in our Sunday Use, un- fortunately without the advantage of that finely developed, purposeful sequence of vivid scenes in our Lord’s life of service and suffering; but never- theless reach it at a climax of hatred and at a cli- macteric point in our Lenten journey. The hatred, the enmity, has become national. The Introit’s “ungodly nation” is not an artificial touch but vividly real. Their enmity and their rejection must appear in the Messiah’s Life: all the causes of the Cross and His Death must be shown. It is not faint-heart whose cry is heard in the Introit, but that Patient One of this Gospel, Who committed Himself to Him that judgeth right- eously, and Who stands out all the more wonder- fully clear and pure and holy and patient in His sufferings and in His rejection in this Gospel. In- trou and Gospel bring this before us in master strokes: our Lord’s Passion, not a few days or hours, but His entire Ministry. Another wrote, “He came unto His own, but His own received Him not.” In this Gospel the reasons for this appear: His calm questions and statements to them, His quiet and all-revealing answer: “Before Abraham was 128 THE CHURCH YEAR I AM.” Recall the Name revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush; then this is not only proclamation, but also revelation, of our Lord’s Divinity; but to the Jews, blasphemy, therefore rejection and ston- ing. Does not their whole attitude show just what His quiet answer meant? ‘He that is of God hear- eth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, be- cause ye are not of God.” The Epistle, in showing the reality of what the ancient Mosaic ceremonies were only the type, speaks of our Lord’s High-priestly Office, Priest and Victim: Process, sacrifice, ‘‘offering’’ of the “Blood of Christ’’; purpose, “obtained eternal re- demption for us”; promise, “the Mediator of the New Testament” that the ‘‘called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” When one comes to the Day’s Collect perhaps one feels like saying it is inadequate; but one should hesitate, read it again very quietly and slowly, ponder it; and then that first opinion will not re- main, but become the opposite. It is simple, yet transcendingly beautiful and so complete in its single little sentence crowded full of soul petition. Perhaps the fathers who prepared these Offices— and we owe these unknown lovers of God a debt which only our appreciation and worshipful use can repay—felt, as many unhappily do not, how empty mere words are to express the truly deep things of the soul. It is not the quantity of words, or the length to which it may be drawn out, that makes a prayer. These men were pray-ers; they prove it when they leave such devotional treasures as these Collects. A Collect such as this Day’s can be born only of the deepest contemplation; it was not “written”; it prayed itself into the very spirit of the Day with the soul as the goal of the great High Priest’s Ministry and sacrificial Death. How PASSION SUNDAY 129 humbly it takes ws of the Epistle, adds the hearers of God’s word of the Gospel, God’s own, and he- seeches God—(one cannot refrain from emphasiz- ing the directness, the utter simplicity, the unhesi- tatingness, of its address, We, we beseech Thee,— not an ungodly nation, but Thy people, the re- deemed) —“mercifully”—think of the EHpistle— “look upon Thy people;—govern and preserve’’— two words so frequently employed by the praying Church,—“‘both in body and soul.” Take the In- troit just as it stands; read it for yourself; “Plead my cause against an ungodly nation.” Who is to plead, and how? Is the answer in either of the Day’s Lections? ‘“O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill”—‘“‘govern and preserve’?! The first hill, Golgotha and the Cross; our hearts, our lives, these days of the Passiontide!—so we may come to it “glorying in the Cross.” The second hill, ““Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?’—not the earthly Zion, but the heavenly Jerusalem—“He that hath clean hands (‘the stones’!) and a pure heart” (the hearers).—‘‘Who by Thy Cross and Precious Blood have been redeemed.” Read Reve- lation 7: 13-17. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 43:1, 2a Psalm, Psalm 43: 3 Collect: Quaesumus omnipotens Deus, familiam tuam pro- pitius respice, ut te largiente regatur in corpore, et te servante custodiatur in mente, per. Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Psalm 1438: 9a, 10a; Psalm 18: 48 Tract: Psalm 129: 1, 2 HOLY WEEK This week has been observed by Christians from the earliest days with the greatest solemnity. The object has been to commemorate the last week of our Lord’s life and to help the believer to re-live it all vividly,—Holy days, holy hours indeed in that holy companionship. It it no Passion Play, nor is it mere dramatic commemoration. It is my heart, my life, my soul, in the light of that suffering. It is the Holy Week of Fulfillment. Observe how many of the Epistles are Old Testament Messianic prophecies. The Events herein so faithfully memoralized have inspired the names: The Great Week, The Holy Week. Ancient observance enjoined a strict fast and bodily mortification. The sorrow inspired by our Lord’s suffering, the depth of His anguish, find expression in the names, Heb. Nigra (Black Week), or Heb. Lamentationis (Lamentation). As early as the Fourth Century it was marked by a general release of prisoners and the manumission of slaves; cessation of labor (that the slaves might enjoy rest and opportunity to be instructed in the Faith) ; actions at law ceased and the courts were closed (Constantine, Valentinian’s law 367; Theo- dosius, 389: hence the name Heb. Muta (Week of Silence). Reconciliation of penitents by the Church and release of prisoners by the emperors gave the name of Heb. Indulgentiae (Indulgence Week). Traces of this ancient practice remain in a number of the Propers, such as the Tuesday and Wednesday Collects and the Monday and Tues- | 130 HOLY WEEK 131 day Graduals. The German name Charwoche is probably derived from the old German chara, Trauer (sorrow, mourning), or kar, Strafe, Busze (punishment, penitence). PALMARUM Introit: Be not Thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste Thee to help me. Save me from the lion’s mouth: and deliver me from the horns of the unicorns. Psalm: My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me: why art Thou so far from helping me? The Gloria. Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hast sent Thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon Him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the Cross, that all mankind should follow the example of His great humility: Mercifully grant that we may both follow the example of His patience, and also be made partakers of His resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ... Epistle: Phil. 2: 5-11 Gospel: Matt. 21: 1-9 This Sunday bears various names. The earliest are: Dom. in ramis palmarum (Lord’s Day of the Palm Branches), Hosanna Sunday, and Pascha florum (the Paschal Day of Flowers). All these indicate the historic event, the narrative of which is our Gospel. It is also called Indulgence Sunday, after the practice of reconciling the penitents this week. The Creed was again formally imparted to the candidates for Baptism and Confirmation, who during the past weeks have passed through various stages of preparation; that Confirmation is admin- istered at this time by us is therefore not without ancient historical precedent. The ceremony of Blessing the Palm and Olive Branches, and the ac- companying jubilant processions, are ancient cus- toms and almost universal by the Seventh Century. While there is a proper Introit for every Day of this Great Week, the tone of that for Palmarum characterizes not only the Day itself, but the entire 132 PALMARUM 133 Week. The depths of the Passion, the anguish of the Garden, the suffering and ignominy at the hands of men, the unspeakable Hours on the Cross, all are brought vividly to mind with these solemn words of the inspired Psalmist, the last of which our Lord made His own heart’s cry on the Cross! There may be a “festal” note in the singing and shouting of the rejoicing throng surrounding the meek and lowly King as He makes His triumphal entry into “the City of the great King”; but the “Hosanna” and the “Benedictus” will only turn to “Crucify Him! Away with Him!” But the Gospel brings much more; this is official record. The culmination, the great moment for which JESUS (He shall save!), the Lamb, foreordained, the Messiah, the Only-Begotten, THE King, had come, is here:—fulfillment of promise, of prophecy. So the Gospel is a two-sided record: personal, deep, intimate; revelatory and national. Attached to this Gospel of the meek and lowly King is the Apostle’s wonderful description of the “mind of Christ,” and as we read of that humili- ation and obedience in the Epistle our hearts will be deeply moved at every thought of all He bore for us; but soulful as our response will be, there will be added the adoring joy that “It is finished!” that “He became obedient unto death,” and there- fore “God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name.” The throngs that at- tend Him today, the tongues that acclaim Him, con- fess “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” “My Lord and my God!” Very beauti- fully have all these elements been fused together in the Collect, which in itself is a wonderful little His- tory of Redemption, and almost every word of which is richly eloquent. 134 THE CHURCH YEAR SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 22:19, 21 Psalm, Psalm 22:1 Collect: Deus, qui humano generi ad imitandum humilitatis exemplum, Salvatorem nostrum et carnem sumere, et Crucem subire fecisti; concede propitius, ut et patientiae ejus habere documentum, et resurrectionis ejus consortia mereamur Christi Domini nostri. Qui tecum... Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Psalm 78: 23b, 24; Psalm 738: 1 Tract: Psalm 22:1; Psalm 22: 4, 5 MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK Introit: Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler: and stand up for mine help. Psalm: Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy sal- vation. The Gloria. Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who amid so many adversities do fail through our own in- firmities, may be restored through the Passion and Inter- cession of Thine Only-begotten Son, Who... Epistle: Isa. 50: 5-10 Gospel: John 12: 1-23 The Epistle is one of Isaiah’s prophecies con- cerning the Messiah’s sufferings. It is evident how the Introit reflects its content. The inspired pro- phet has drawn a true and vivid picture of some of the events of this Great Week. He has also given an indication of the Messiah’s obedience, rather, consecrated determination to bear; and the Source of the inspiration that heartens His submission. (Read Rom. 8: 33ff, and note how St. Paul has used | # this passage.) The Gospel narrates various inci- | dents all historically related to this immediate period. First of all is the anointing at Bethany, “six days before the Passover,” with a revelation of the true character of Judas Iscariot and our Lord’s commendation of Mary’s act, accepting it “against the day of my burying,—two very defi- nite historic touches. One likes to think of this home where loving welcome always awaited the Master, where there was true, abiding friendship; especially in contrast with the Epistle which pic- tures the relentless contention of adversaries (chief 135 136 THE CHURCH YEAR priests, verse 10, Gospel). This Gospel also con- tains the account of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, and notes how the report of many who had wit- nessed Jesus’ raising of Lazarus affected the multi- tude which met Him. It also tells of the Greeks who “would see Jesus,” and ends with our Lord’s announcement, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” In the Collect, we may view ourselves from the angle of the Great Example these hours hold be- fore us,—our adversities in comparison with His! —that we fail, and fail so terribly, through our re- liance, so often misplaced on our own strength in our own will, is all the more sharply brought home to uS aS we pray and think of Him. There is only one Cure; there is but One to help; there is strength, sure and abiding, only in One; in these hours we can only think of ourselves as failures when we find our- selves in His Company; and only as strong to en- dure or able to overcome in and through Him Who has loved us and given Himself for us. SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 35:1, 2 Psalm, Psalm 35: 3 Collect: Da quaesumus omnipotens Deus, ut qui in tot adversis ex nostra infirmitate deficimus, intercedente uni- geniti filii tui passione respiremus, per eundem Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Psalm 35: 23; Psalm 35: 3 Tract: Psalm 79:9 TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK Introit: God forbid that I should glory: save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him is salvation, life and resurrection from the dead: by Him we are redeemed and set at liberty. Psalm: God be merciful unto us, and bless us: and cause His face to shine upon us. The Gloria. Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, grant us grace so to contemplate the Passion of our Lord, that we may find ere forgiveness for our sins; through the same Jesus TIStesi.)« Epistle: Jer. 11: 18-20 Gospel: John 12: 24-43 The Introit is interesting apart from the an- nouncement it contains. The first verse of its Antiphon is a passage from the New Testament (Gal. 6:14)—a New Testament passage is un- usual; the second verse, while its content is thor- oughly Scriptural, is not Scripture. This is an ex- ample of what is known as ‘“farsing,’ a term applied to a medieval custom of taking a Scriptural idea and drawing it out, enlarging, playing upon it. This was frequently done with the Kyrie. The Psalm verse is Ps. 67. The Epistle is one of Jeremiah’s Messianic pro- phecies, “the gentle lamb that is led to the slaugh- ter” and His utter destruction as plotted by His enemies, “that His name may be no more remem- bered.” What a contrast when the Introit puts into the mouth of the Church a glorying in the very thing that was to be the means of her Lord’s de- struction! The Gospel continues the narrative so abruptly ended on Monday, beginning with our Lord’s little parable concerning His death, “the corn of wheat 137 138 THE CHURCH YEAR that if it die, beareth much fruit.” It also records events which occurred on this day of the Paschal week. His prayer, “Father, glorify Thy name,” and the Divine voice of confirmation and inspira- tion that instantly followed, seem almost to be so placed, with the immediately following words of public warning, as a last word of opportunity to the fickle rejecting people. What conscious majesty, success, victory, are in His words, even though He sees the Cross! The Evangelist’s summary con- cludes the Gospel. In this he points to the fulfill- ment of prophecy and the reasons why many that believed did not confess Him, “for they loved the glory that is of men.” “God forbid that J should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Intrott). The Collect turns our hearts to the true use of these hours—the most fruitful use—contemplation. This means quiet, devout, meditation; from this springs realization, one finds one’s true place, one meets one’s self face to face at every turn, one reads one’s character, one’s vast shortcomings, one’s all- hungering needs; and then if contemplation has borne its fruit, comes consecration. The Introit calls it glorying in our Lord’s Cross; the Collect tells us what we find, not by merit or discovery but in the fullness of communion with our dear Lord one finds what it means when the heart knows the forgiveness of sins! SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Galatians 6: 14 Psalm, Psalm 67:1 Collect: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, da nobis ita domin- ° icae passionis sacramenta peragere, ut indulgentian per- cipere mereamur, per eundem. Gelasian Sacrametary. Gradual: Psalm 35:13; Psalm 35: Lae? WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK Introit: At the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow: of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. For He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross: wherefore He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Psalm: Hear my prayer, O Lord: and let my cry come unto Thee. The Gloria. Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds are continually afflicted, may merci- fully be relieved by the Passion of Thine Only-begotten Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen. Epistle: Isa. 62: 11—63: 7 Gospel: Luke 22: 1—23: 42 This Day marks the actual beginning of the events which reached their culmination in the cru- cifixion of our Lord: the Sanhedrin’s conspiracy ; their covenant made with Judas Iscariot, on ac- count of which the day is sometimes called Spy Wednesday. The ancient Church used on this and the two succeeding days an office called the Tene- brae. It probably developed out of the night-watch- ings of the prolonged fasts, as it was used either very late at night or before daybreak. The cere- mony which gives the office the name, consisted in the extinction of one candle after another, of fif- teen placed upon a large triangular stand, follow- ing lessons, etc., until the church was left in com- plete darkness; this significant commemoration of the crucifixion was heightened by the use of Ps. 51. ‘The Epistle is another of Isaiah’s wonderful Mes- sianic prophecies. With what a dramatic announce- ment it begins, so full of promise! and how eloquent in these deep hours of fulfillment! It not only fore- 139 140 THE CHURCH YEAR tells the struggle, but the return of the Victor from the strife, “glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength.” “At the Name of Jesus, every knee shall bow” (Introit)—To the Victor the glory! The Gospel is the “Passion according to St. Luke.” One cannot help but note the utter simplicity and restraint of the Collect. There are so many things crowding in, so many things to pray for, but this simple little prayer “collects” and carries all our ills to the One and Only Source of healing. Its les- son is most salutary. Sin is SJN—the sin that crucified our Lord; the sin that condemned the soul, the sin that always carries its penalty. “Hear my prayer, O Lord,” Victor over sin and death! “Let my cry come unto Thee”—<(Introit). Not an echo, but the reality of this pleading seeks the merciful relief: the rescue, the healing, the salvation, of His Passion. The Introit foreshadows victory—more, it as- serts victory—and with worshipful song, even in these deepening hours, gives glory to Him Whom the Prophet so many years before saw returning glorious in His apparel, bearing the marks of His awful travail and struggle but Conqueror! To Him —to His Name, ALL things bow. Every knee... King of Kings: Lord of Lords... ! JESUS! SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Philippians 2:10, 8b, 11b Psalm, Psalm 102:1 Collect: Praesta quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut qui nostris excessibus incessanter affligimur, per unigeniti tui passionem liberemur, per eundem. Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Psalm 69:17; Psalm 69:1, 2a Tract: Psalm 102:1; Psalm 102: 13 THURSDAY IN HOLY WEEK Introit: God forbid that I should glory: save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him is salvation, life, and resurrection from the dead: by Him we are redeemed and set at liberty. Psalm: God be merciful unto us, and bless us: and cause His face to shine upon us. The Gloria. Collect: O Lord God, Who hast left unto us in a wonderful Sacrament a memorial of Thy Passion: Grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so use this Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood, that the fruits of Thy redemption may continually be manifest in us; Who livest and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen. Epistle: I Cor. 11: 23-82 Gospel: John 13: 1-15 Upon this Day our Lord instituted the Holy Supper and commanded His disciples to do this in remembrance of Him. Many of the names which this Day carries have been derived from this Event. It has been known as Cena Domini (the Day of the Lord’s Supper) since the time of Augustine. It is also called Dies natalis Eucharistae (the Birth- day of the Eucharist), Natalis Calicis (of the Chal- ice), Dies Panis (the Day of the Bread), Dies Mys- teriorum (of the Sacred Mysteries). The Greek Church calls it the Great Fifth (Day). The com- monest name, Maundy Thursday, is derived from Dies Mandati (of the commandment), see the Gospel and John 18: 34, but also recall the com- mand of the Institution, ‘‘Do this in remembrance of me.” The Gospel also inspires the name Dies Pedilavii (Day of the Feet-washing). The German Gruendonnerstag is usually derived from the an- cient practice of the reconciliation of penitents on this day, connecting this with Luke 23:31, the 141 142 THE CHURCH YEAR withered branches (sinners) through the cere- monial of reconciliation are again received into the Church and once more become living, green branches; further, the unusual color of the vest- ments at this Day’s Mass, was green! The oil of Chrism used in the Baptism and Confirmation rituals on Easter was consecrated this Day. The catechumens who had been under instruction were required to repeat the Creed and Lord’s Prayer ; they also submitted to the ceremony of feet-washing (note the Gospel). The Holy Communion was cele- brated in the evening, the only day in the year when it was allowed to be celebrated at this time. At this celebration an additional portion of Bread was con- secrated to be reserved for the Good Friday and Easter Eve Masses, which, because there was no “consecration” in the Communion Office at those times, was called the Mass of the Presanctified. The Epistle is St. Paul’s account of the Institu- tion of the Holy Supper; and is here naturally as an historic narrative, because the Gospel is em- ployed for another purpose. The Collect, a very beautiful prayer for the proper use of the Holy Sacrament, was written by Thomas Aquinas. It is indeed most rare that the name of the writer of a Collect is known. The Gospel is the narrative of the Feet-washing, our Lord’s appointed example and instruction in humble, loving service; and reveals the attitude of heart required if one is to remember Him, humbly partake of the Holy Communion which He has given to us, and manifest the fruits of His redemp- tion. THURSDAY IN HOLY WEEK 143 SOURCES Introit: as for Tuesday. Collect: Deus qui nobis sub Sacramento mirabili passionis tuae memoriam reliquisti, tribue quaesumus ita nos Cor- poris et Sanguinis tui sacra mysteria venerati, ut redemp- tionis tuae fructum in nobis jugite sentiamus. Quivivis... This Collect was written by St. Thomas Aquinas in 1264. Gradual: Phil. 2: 8; Phil. 2: 9 GOOD FRIDAY Introit: Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. All we like sheep have gone astray: and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Psalm: Hear my prayer, O Lord: and let my cry come unto Thee. The Gloria. Collect: Almighty God, we beseech Thee graciously to behold this Thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the Cross; through the same Jesus Christ... Epistle: Isa. 52: 183—53: 12 Gospel: John 18: 1—19: 42 It has been well said, “This Day is not one of man’s institution, but was consecrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when He made it the Day of His most holy Passion.” It has always been a day of the greatest solemnity and most devoted religious ob- Servance, usually, however, of the simplest char- acter and shorn of anything that might contribute a festal tone. It has always been called The Day of the Cross, and in early times also Pascha Stauro- simon (The Paschal Day of the Crucifixion), as Easter was called Pascha Anastasimon (Paschal Day of the Resurrection). Later it became the Great Friday (Parasceves) and the Dies Dom. Pas- sionis (Day of the Lord’s Passion). The German name is Karfreitag, Trauerfreitag. Through the process of time, ritual and custom strove to empha- size the solemn character of the day. A most strict fast was enjoined (sick and aged alone excepted). Works of charity and gifts of love were urged. All notes of joy were scrupulously hushed: the Glorias 144 GOOD FRIDAY 145 had already been excluded at the beginning of the week; now the bells were silenced; no kiss of peace was given at the Communion (which was a Mass of the Presanctified, and finally became the com- munion of the priest alone); all altar ornaments and coverings were removed; the vestments were black; lamps and candles were gradually extin- guished (Tenebrae); a long series of intercessory prayers distinguished one of the devotions (the general form of this and some of the Collects re- main in our Use in the Bidding Prayer, where the Rubric notes its Good Friday use. See Common Service Book, Text Ed. 249). Of course, the read- ing of the Passion (according to St. John, cf., the Gospel) formed the very center of the Church’s de- votions, but probably the most conspicuous cere- mony was the Adoration of the Cross; during this the Reproaches and the hymns, Pange, lingua glori- osa, “Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle,” and Vewilla regis, “The Royal Standard Forward Goes,” were sung. It is surprising to learn to what lengths the effort of emphasizing the terrible solemnity of the Hours of the Passion went. In Spain, Seventh Century, it was customary to close all the churches and hold no services during the day. The Day is no less solemn to the Evangelical Christian, nor is his spirit less responsive to all it unfolds; but to him it is the Day when (sad to say, no matter how lax he may have been at other times) he will be in church some time. The ap- pointments of the Church of the Reformation look to the use of this Day as one of most high and solemn praise. They presuppose a Celebration of the Holy Communion, a distinct heritage of the Reformation, and what better day than this on which to unite in the Memorial of the Passion! (1 Cor. 11: 26). The altar, though dressed in black, 146 THE CHURCH YEAR carries the silent message of invitation and partici- pation. The Glorias ring out; the hymns uplift the soul. The message of the “Propers” is but a sol- emn, uplifting voice: Isaiah’s prophecy of the Suf- fering Servant; the narrative of these Final Hours written by John, the Disciple whom Jesus loved. The three Collects reach out from the foot of the Cross to the Throne of Grace: “Graciously behold this Thy family”; “Fix our hearts with steadfast faith”; “Help us to remember and give thanks.” SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Isaiah 53: 4a, 5a, 6a, ¢ Psalm, Psalm 102: 1 Collect: Respice Dne quaesumus, super hane familiam tuam, pro qua Dominus noster Ihs Xus non dubitavit mani- bus tradi nocentium, et crucis subire tormentum, qui tecum. Gelasian Sacramenetary. Gradual: Isaiah 53: 5; Isaiah 53: lla SATURDAY IN HOLY WEEK Collect: O God, Who didst enlighten this most holy night with the glory of the Lord’s Resurrection: Preserve in al Thy people the spirit of adoption which Thou hast given, so that renewed in body and soul they may perform unto Thee a pure service; through Jesus Christ... Saturday in Holy Week was called the Great Sab- bath, the Holy Sabbath as early as post-apostolic times. The Vigils of Easter, Holy Saturday, Easter Eve and Karsamstag are the usual present desig- nations. While still kept as a strict fast, as the day advanced, its tone gradually turned to joy in anticipation of the dawn of the Day of Resurrec- tion. The ceremonies of the day included the Blessing of the New Fire and the Paschal Candle, and the Water of Baptism, and at one time the Bap- tism of the Catechumens. The Alleluia appeared in the Communion and white vestments were used. Naturally, the services grew in importance toward the close of the day, and continued until after mid- night to welcome the early dawn (note the Collect, “Who didst enlighten this most holy night”). At some places the Holy Communion was celebrated in the evening, and instead of the usual Introit the Gloria in Excelsis was sung ’mid the ringing of the bells. A custom at Milan was the announcement made three times, at this service, “Christ the Lord has risen,” to which the people joyously responded “Thanks be to God.” The ancient Fpistle for this Day is Col. 3: 1-4, the Gospel Matt. 28:1-7. The Common Service Book appoints only the Collect, which is a very beautiful prayer and reflects the ancient custom of baptizing the catechumens on this Day. Reasons. 147 148 THE CHURCH YEAR why the other Propers are not appointed do not appear, except perhaps the unhappy fact that they would seldom be used as Saturday is a “poor” day for Church services in this “modern” life. When a service is held on Saturday it usually is in the evening, and for this there will be the seventh part of the History of the Passion; unfortunately in this latter case the service lacks the joy-note of anticipation of the Easter Dawn. SOURCES Collect: Deus, qui hance sacratissimam noctem gloria Do- minicae Resurrectionis inlustras: conserva in nova familiae tuae progenie adoptionis spiritum, quem dedisti: ut corpore et mente renovati, puram tibi exhibeant servitutem. Per Dominum. Gelasian Sacramentary. EASTER DAY, THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD Introit: When I awake, I am still with Thee. Hallelujah: Thou hast laid Thine hand upon me. Hallelujah. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me: it is high, I can- not attain unto it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Psalm: O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me: Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising. The Gloria. Collect: Almighty God, Who, through Thine Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech Thee, that, as Thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by Thy con- tinual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus, Cristy... Epistle: I Cor. 5: 6-8 Gospel: Mark 16: 1-8 This Day is the climax of the Church’s Year, as the Fact it commemorates is the innermost center of the Christian’s life and eternal hope. It is the Feast of Feasts, the King of Days. “The first day of the week” of the Gospel becomes the Lord’s Day, uniquely His through His victory; and in joyful re- membrance the early Church kept this weekly com- memoration of His resurrection. This was not dis- placed, but emphasized, by the annual observance of the “historic” day as the Lord’s Day of Resur- rection, this and the Paschal Day of the Resurrec- tion are its earliest names. Our popular name Easter, German Ostern, is de- rived from the name of the pagan goddess Hostre or Ostera, whose festival was celebrated at the time of the vernal equinox. Admitting that this is a rather unhappy derivation of the name of the great- est Christian Festival, philologists have traced the name to the old German urstan, to rise, and urstand, 149 150 THE CHURCH YEAR resurrection. At all events, the significance of the season of awaking and the idea of sunrise are self- evident in the English name. The modern name in the Greek Church is Lampra, Bright Day. The Day, of course, is one of greatest, holiest joy. The contrast with the long fast and the emotions of preceding days adds to this effectively. The Church could hardly wait for its coming. Its cele- bration began with ringing of bells and glad ac- claim at midnight, -continuing till dawn. The churches were ablaze with candles and lights. Joy- ful the constant greeting, ‘‘Christ is risen!” and the answer, “He is risen indeed!’’ The Day and Week (for the celebration contin- ued erght days, from which the name for the last day, “Octave,” and the expression “within the Octave,” arises) were marked by acts of Christian love; bounteous meals were provided for the poor, in the churches themselves if there were no other places large enough. The Emperor Theodosius promulgated a law closing the theaters and the circus, to guard the Christian Easter joy from be- ing mixed with heathen celebrations; and at one time (533) the Jews were ordered to keep out of sight from Maundy Thursday till Easter Monday. It was also the most solemn Day of Baptism, which was administered at ‘“cock-crow’; during this ceremony the candidates were dressed in new white robes which they wore throughout the week, from which the name White Week. All labor ceased in order that all might gather every day in the churches to participate in the services of praise. This observance of the entire week, also called The Week of Weeks, gradually was abbreviated until in 1094 it became a cycle of three days. Our ap- pointments are for but two. The day upon which Easter falls varies from EASTER DAY 151 year to year, and this variation in date has a far- reaching effect upon the Church Year. The ques- tion as to whether Easter should be kept on a Sunday (Lord’s Day) or invariably on 14 Nisan (a permanent date), whatever the day of the week might be, agitated the Church already in the be- ginning of the Second Century. This was the be- ginning of what is known as the Paschal Contro- versy, and it continued, with at times a far from gentle spirit, for centuries. The western custom of observing Easter always on the Lord’s Day near- est the historic date was confirmed at the Council of Nicea. Just as much difficulty and contention arose in connection with the determination of the date: as to whether Jewish computations should be followed (the close relation between Easter and the Jewish Passover is, of course, apparent), or the mathematical computations of Alexandrian savants. The West depended in great part upon the latter. Out of these opposing methods a process gradually evolved, which though somewhat cumber- some, became the rule of Western Christendom. This long series of rubrics and tables has fortun- ately been omitted in the Common Service Book. The directions there are a model of simplicity: a table of dates covering a long period of years, and as Easter is the center of the Church’s Year, the dating of the other festivals and seasons becomes a very simple matter. Whichever of the Introits may be used, the Hal- lelujah (Praise the Lord) rings out to usher in the Day of Joy; but it has its somber note as well, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto it.” This seems to run through Collect and Epistle. The great accom- plished Fact of the Resurrection is celebrated— Christ’s victory for us, completed! But the Collect 152 THE CHURCH YEAR —as we pray—also teaches that simply because Christ in His victorious power is risen for us does not guarantee our rising “in the likeness of His resurrection” to the enjoyment of those eternal blessings; something is required of the believer— “As Thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by Thy continual help may we bring the same to good effect.”” “If ye be risen with Christ, seek the things above’—“Purge out the old leaven!” (Epistle). On the other hand, it is a guarantee that He Who has granted us participation will ever help us to the higher life if—here the aspirations of the additional Collects are to be noted. The Epistle reminds one of the man in the Gospel who came to the marriage without a wedding gar- ment. How shall we “keep the feast?” What kind of a heart, life, are we bringing? “In tune with the Infinite’ means something this Easter Day! The Gospel is the Record of the Resurrection ac- cording to St. Mark invested with the crowning dignity of simple naturalness. SOURCES I Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 139: 18, 5b, 6 Psalm, Psalm 189: 1, 2 II Introit: Antiphon, Luke 24:6a, 5b, 6b, 7 Psalm, Psalm 8: 5b, 6a Collect: Deus, qui hodierna die per unigenitum tuum aeternitatis nobis aditum devicta morte reserasti! vota nos- tra, quae praeveniendo aspiras, etiam adiuvando prosequere, per eundem Dnm nrm. Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Psalm 118: 24; Psalm 136: 1; I Corinthians 5: 7b; I Corinthians 5: 8a, b. MONDAY AFTER EASTER Introit: He is risen, Hallelujah: Why seek ye the Living among the dead? Hallelujah. Remember how He spake unto you, Hallelujah: the Son of Man must be crucified, and the third day rise again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Psalm: Thou crownedst Him with glory and honor: Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. The Gloria. Collect: Almighty God, Who, through Thine Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, has overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech Thee, that, as Thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by Thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ... Epistle: Acts 10: 34-41 Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35 Immediately the Church begins her witness-bear- ing. The Epistle, “we are witnesses of all things which He did”; it is the address made by St. Peter to the Roman Cornelius and his household, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection Story, now to the Gentiles! Good Friday, the culmination of the rejection by “His own”; Easter Monday, one of the goings into the highways and byways, that the wedding may be furnished with guests! The Gospel is a witness to the Risen Lord, con- taining the Record of the Walk to Emmaus. No- tice how and how soon “the two” become witnesses. 153 QUASI MODO GENITI, THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER Ee As newborn babes: desire the sincere milk of the ord. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt harken unto Me. Psalm: Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. The Gloria. Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who have celebrated the solemnities of the Lord’s Resurrec- tion, may, by the help of Thy grace, bring forth the fruits thereof in our life and conversation; through the same Jesus Christualie Epistle: I John 5: 4-12 Gospel: John 20: 19-31 The Latin name of the Sunday is derived from the opening words of the Introit, As newborn babes. This Sunday illustrates how a custom in- herent in the Church’s life affected the appoint- ments for the day. This Sunday, the eighth day after the resurrection, therefore its Octave, is the end of the Feast. Upon it those who had been bap- tized at the Easter vigils received their first Com- munion. At their baptism the catechumens had been clothed in white garments, symbolic of their regeneration; and had worn them throughout the week (hence called the White Week), attending all the services and the hours of instruction wherein they were prepared for their first Communion. On this Sunday they appeared, “as newborn babes,”’ wearing their white garments for the last time (hence White Sunday) ; and after a final exhorta- tion by the bishop, for the basis of which the Church well chose the Epistle, they received the Holy Communion, thus taking their final step of 154 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER 155 entrance into the communion of believers. After the Benediction they removed the white garments (hence another ancient name The Sunday of the Removal of the White Garments). It was also called Annotine Easter (anniversary), and ob- served as the anniversary of their baptism by those who had been baptized in previous years. And so the Church strives to help all “new-born babes” (the aptness of this Sunday’s teaching is strictly in keeping today, when we remember how many have been but lately confirmed), and all who have been “born again” and incorporated in Him, by holding before them life that is to be a constant manifestation of the fruits of the Resurrection. “Whosoever is born of God, overcometh the world; and this is the victory ... even our faith,” so the Epistle. The “testimony” upon which this life rests, out of which it grows, blooms, bears fruit, is divine. Compare the second verse of the Introit and how all-embracing the Epistle is in this con- nection also. The choice of the Gospel is characteristic of the Church’s effort to repeat and emphasize the festival teaching on the Octave (see vs. 19-23 of the Gospel), but also to relive the events in point of time—“After eight days,” etc. These post-Easter Epistles continue the instruc- tion to the newly baptized. One can seek in vain for a more appropriate selection than that ap- pointed for this the Octave of the Resurrection; for beginning with the statement intended primarily for the “new born babes”—newly born in the spir- itual realm, that “whosoever is born of God over- cometh the world”—the logic of loving faith carries them forward step by step—the overcom- ing victory is our faith—the conqueror is only he who believeth that Jesus is the Son of God—on to 156 THE CHURCH YEAR the crowning gift eternal life in Him—given to us in Him—and He ours only through faith! And in this the “historic moment” is also emphasized, the victory of the Risen Lord. One almost feels that beside the majestically simple Collect of Good Friday wherein all the heart could pour forth was a plea to behold this Thy family, based upon the guarantee of our Lord’s sacrificing Love, should be placed its companion, graciously accept this Thy family of new born babes for which our Lord has risen and ever liveth and reigneth! SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, I Peter 2: 2; Psalm 81:8 Psalm, Psalm 81: 1 Collect: Praesta, quaesumus omnipotens Deus, ut qui pas- chalia festa peregimus, haec te largiente moribus et vita teneamus, per. Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Matthew 28: 2 ; John 20: 26 MISERICORDIAS DOMINI, THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER Introit: The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord: by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made. Psalm: Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. The Gloria. Collect: God, Who, by the humiliation of Thy Son, didst raisa up the fallen world: Grant unto Thy faithful ones perpetual gladness and those whom Thou hast delivered from the danger of everlasting death, do Thou make partakers of eternal joys; through the same Jesus Christ... Epistle: I Peter 2: 21-25 Gospel: John 10: 11-16 The name of the Sunday comes from a phrase in the Antiphon of the Introit, and means “the good- ness (literally: tender mercies) of the Lord.” The Sunday is also called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” after the Gospel. The note of the day is “Rejoice in the Lord,” struck by the Introit; sought in the Collect, “perpetual gladness’—“partakers of eternal joys’; found in the Epistle, in the “follow- ing His steps,” in the care of the Shepherd and Bishop of Souls; completed in the promise of the Gospel, “the one fold” to be—‘safe home at Taste cst ua The whole post-Easter Season is, of course, one of pure joy. Every week’s round will contribute its own unique note to the full chord. Here, as if to a new-born world, “the whole earth,” the glad tidings of the Easter message is to ring out. Nor should one fail to appreciate what “the whole earth” is silently but so eloquently contributing just now. Spring, the awakening, is at hand. Nature is bearing its wonderful testimony to the Risen 157 158 THE CHURCH YEAR Life. And how the very coming of spring gladdens the heart! Is not the earth full of the goodness of the Lord? But a holier note is in the joy at the Good Shepherd’s return. Now the Victor, Who, intimately knowing, and known by, His own, guards, cares for, leads to the ever green pastures. It may be through suffering, misunderstanding (Epistle), but there is “fellowship” in that suffer- ing now, which was lacking before, and which the Easter victory brings home to every believing heart. Did not Peter know that? How he poured his heart into those words he wrote—our Epistle for this day. He had gone astray, but the Good Shep- _ herd’s love had made it possible, even in His hours of anguish, for him to return. One hundred sheep —one gone astray—seek and save that which was lost. How the Church has loved the name “Good Shepherd,” Pastor Bonus, and the Gospel with its three Shepherd pictures, past, present and future! The Collect in the phrase—“by the humiliation Thy Son didst raise up a fallen world”—combines the sufferings of Christ of which the Epistle speaks, and the climax of them all, prophetically parabol- ized by our Lord in the Gospel, to make this the ground for the petition of the Day. It is not pass- ing joys or temporal ease but perpetual gladness— eternal joys that are sought and only to be found as both Epistle and Gospel teach in Christ the Good Shepherd Who has raised up a fallen world, the Bishop of Souls, Who is gathering the fruits of His Sacrificial death into an eternal fold. The “value” —‘““merit”—“power” of those Sufferings and that Shepherd’s Death are computed in human terms, but really exceeding human comprehension !— “Humiliation of Thy Son’—“raise up a fallen world”’—“perpetual gladness’—“E verlastin g death”—“Eternal joys.” THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER 159 SOURCES Introit: Antiphon, Psalm 33: 5, 6 Psalm, Psalm 33:1 Collect: Deus, qui in Filii tui humilitate jacentem mundum erexisti; laetitiam concede: ut quos_ perpetuae mortis eripuisti casibus, gaudiis sempiternis perfrui. Per. Gelasian Sacramentary. Gradual: Luke 24: 35; John 10: 14 JUBILATE, THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER Introit: Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: sing forth the honor of His Name; make His praise glorious. Psalm: Say unto God, how terrible art Thou in Thy works: through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies submit themselves unto Thee. The Gloria. ’ Collect: Almighty God, Who showest to them that be in error the light of Thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness: Grant unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Religion that they may eschew those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through Jesus Christ ... Epistle: I Peter 2: 11-20 Gospel: John 16: 16-23 The Sunday is named from the Intrott, Jubliate, “Make a joyful noise.”