SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

Tomorrow is Septuagesima Sunday, or 70 days before Easter, and we begin to get ready for the penitential season of Lent. During this period from this Sunday to Ash Wednesday, the Liturgy speaks no more of our greatness, but contemplates the misery of fallen man, the fatal consequences of original sin and actual sin, and the sacrifice that God asked of the faithful Melchisedech, the symbol of the sacrifice that Jesus brings for the whole human race. We no longer will say or sing the Alleluia or the Gloria, until the great Feast of Easter Sunday. During this time, we prepare for the fasting and penance of the Season of Lent. The preface for Lent states: 'Who by this bodily fast dost curb our vices, lift our minds and bestow strength and rewards.' Our souls are slaves of the devil, the flesh, and the world. Jesus came into the world, not to be crowned king of the Jews, but to deliver us from this threefold bondage and to restore to us the divine life which we had lost.

The upcoming season is one of most serious thought. The words from Ivo of Chartres in the 11th century pretty much sum it up: "We know that every creature groans, and travails in pain even til now; and not only it, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body."

Tomorrow we hear a multiple of things to keep in mind as we begin the Lenten season of 2014. First, we hear about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; their fall; then their expulsion from the garden to work the earth forever. Also, we hear about what God Himself will do about it. He will eventually send His only-begotten Son to earth in the form of a baby, Who will grow up as we all do, then offer His divine Body to His Eternal Father as the 'sacrificial Lamb' on the Cross at Calvary. All this because of our first parents, Adam and Eve. We have ALL inherited this sin onto our souls, which needs to be cleansed by Baptism and self sacrifices which we can offer to the Eternal Father for our sins.

Then, in the Gospel of Matthew, we hear about the vineyard, where many are chosen to work at various times of the day, with the same pay at the end. According to St. Augustine and St. Gregory the Great, they offer the following, which I am taking from our beloved Abbot Gueranger:

'...The vineyard is the Church in its several periods, from the beginning of the world to the time when God Himself dwelt among men, and formed all true believers into one visible and permanent society. The morning is the time from Adam to Noah; the third hour begins with Noah and ends with Abraham; thesixth hour includes the period which elapsed between Abraham and Moses; and lastly, the ninth hour opens with the age of the prophets, and closes with the birth of the Saviour. The Messias came at the eleventh hour, when the world seemed to be at the decline of its day. Mercies unprecedented were reserved for this last period, during which salvation was to be given to the Gentiles by the preaching of the Apostles. It is by this mystery of mercy that our Saviour rebukes the Jewish pride. By the selfish murmuring made against the master of the house by the early labourers, our Lord signifies the indignation which the scribes and pharisees would show at the Gentiles being adopted as God's children. Then He shows them how their jealousy would be chastised: Israel, that had laboured before us, shall be rejected for their obduracy of heart, and we Gentiles, the last comers, shall be made first, for we shall be made members of that Catholic Church, which is the bride of the Son of God.'

These two holy doctors of the Church offer a second meaning of these passages:

The Gospel reading from Matthew 'signifies the calling given by God to each of us individually, pressing us to labor, during this life, for the kingdom prepared for us. The morning is our childhood. the third hour, accord to the division used by the ancients in counting their day, is sunrise; it is our youth. The sixth hour, by which name they called our midday, is manhood. The eleventh hour, which immediately preceded sunset, is old age. The Master of the house calls His laborers at all these various hours. They must go that very hour. They that are called in the morning may not put their starting for the vineyard, under pretext of going afterwards, when the Master shall call them later on. Who has told them that they shall live to the eleventh hour? They that are called at the third hour may be dead at the sixth. God will call to the laborers of the last hour such as shall be living when that hour comes; but, if we should die at midday, that last call will not avail us. Besides, God has not promised us a second call, if we excuse ourselves from the first.'

I'd like to end with the following Anthem to Our Blessed Lady, the Virgin. This is the same one the Church uses on the feast of the Purification.

Hail Queen of heaven! Hail Lady of the angels! Hail blessed root and gate, from which came light upon the world! Rejoice, O glorious Virgin, that surpasses all in beauty! Hail, most lovely Queen! and pray to Christ for us. Vouchsafe, O holy Virgin, that I may praise thee. Give me power against thine enemies.

Let us pray.

Grant, O merciful God, thy protection to us in our weakness; that we who celebrate the memory of the holy Mother of God, may, through the aid of her intercession, rise again from our sins. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let's pray for a holy and fruitful penitential season. We need all the help we can get.