lux, egredientur. Quia misericordiam volui, et non sacrificium et scientiam Dei, plus quam holocausta. them by the words of my mouth; and thy judgments shall go forth as the light. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than holocausts. The Tract is taken from the Canticle of the Prophet Habacuc, and which we have already sung at Lauds. It foretells the second coming of Christ, when he shall come, in glory and majesty, to judge them that have crucified him. TRACT. : Lord, I have heard thy works, and was afraid I considered thy works, and trembled. V. Thou wilt appear between two animals; when the years draw near, thou wilt be known; when the time shall come, thou wilt be shown. V. When my soul shall be in trouble, even in thy wrath thou wilt remember thy mercy. V. God will come from Libanus, and the Holy One from the dark mountain. V. His majesty hath clouded the heavens; and the earth is full of his praise. The Church sums up, in the following Collect, the prayers of her children. She reminds our heavenly Father of his justice towards Judas and his mercy towards the Good Thief, and begs, that every remnant of the old man may be removed from us, and we rise again with our Lord Jesus Christ. The second Lesson now follows. It is taken from the book of Exodus, and describes to us the ancient rite of the Paschal Lamb, which was the figure of the reality that is given to us to-day. It is to be a Lamb without spot or blemish. Its blood has the power of preserving from death those whose dwellings are sprinkled with it. It is not only to be immolated; it is to be eaten by them that have been saved by it. It is to be the food of the wayfarer; and they who partake of it must stand whilst they eat, like unto men who have no time to lose during this passing life. Its immolation is the signal of the Pasch; the immolation of our Emmanuel, the Lamb of God, is the signal of our Pasch. LESSON. (Exod. Chap. XII.) In those days: The Lord In diebus illis : Dixit Dosaid to Moses and Aaron in minus ad Moysen et Aaron in terra Egypti Mensis iste vobis principium mensium primus erit in mensibus anni. Loquimini ad universum cœtum filiorum Israël, et dicite eis: Decima die mensis hujus tollat unusquisque agnum per familias et domos suas. Sin autem minor est numerus, ut sufficere possit ad vescendum agnum, assumet vicinum suum, qui junctus est domui suæ juxta numerum animarum, quæ sufficere possunt ad esum agni. Erit autem agnus absque macula, masculus, anniculus juxta quem ritum tolletis et hoedum. Et servabitis eum usque ad quartam decimam diem mensis hujus. Immolabitque eum universa multitudo filiorum Israël ad vesperam. Et sument de sanguine ejus: ac ponent super utrumque postem, et in superliminaribus domorum, in quibus comedent illum. Et edent carnes nocte illa assas igni, et azymos panes, cum lactucis agrestibus. Non comedetis ex eo crudum quid, nec coctum aqua: sed tantum assum igni. Caput cum pedibus ejus et intestinis vorabitis : nec remanebit quidquam ex eo usque mane. Si quid residuum fuerit, igne comburetis. Sic autem comedetis illum. Renes vestros accingetis: et calceamenta habebitis in pedibus, tenentes baculos in manibus : et comedetis festinanter. Est enim the land of Egypt: This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first in the months of the year. Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month, let every man take a lamb by their families and houses. But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take unto him his neighbour that joineth to his house, according to the number of souls which may be enough to eat the lamb. And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male of one year; according to which rite also he shall kill a kid. And you shall keep it unto the fourteenth day of this month : and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the sideposts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire, and unleavened bread, with wild lettuce. You shall not eat thereof any thing raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted at the fire: you shall eat the head with the feet and entrails thereof. Neither shall there remain any thing of it until morning. If there be any thing left, you shall burn it with fire. And thus you shall eat it: you shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste: for it is the Phase (that is, the Passage) of the Lord. Phase, id est Transitus, Domini. This magnificent prophecy is followed by a Tract taken from the 139th Psalm, in which the Church represents our Redeemer, (who has been betrayed into the hands of his enemies,) praying to his Eternal Father. TRACT. Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man rescue me from the unjust man. V. Who have devised iniquities in their hearts; all the day long they designed battles. . They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips. V. Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked, and from unjust men deliver me. . Who have proposed to supplant my steps: the proud have hid a net for me. V. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling block by the way side. V. I said to the Lord: thou art my God; hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication. V. O Lord, Lord, the might of my salvation: cover thou my head in the day of battle. V. Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: taverunt adversus me, ne derelinquas me, ne unquam exaltentur. V. Caput circuitus eorum: labor labiorum ipsorum operiet eos. V. Verumtamen justi confitebuntur nomini tuo: et habitabunt recti cum vultu tuo. they have plotted against me, do not thou forsake me, lest they should triumph. V. The head of their compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them. V. But as for the just they shall give glory to thy name and the upright shall dwell with thy countenance. The Prophets have prepared us for the fulfilment of their types. Holy Church is now going to relate to us the history of our Saviour's Passion. It is St. John, the fourth of the Evangelists, and an eye-witness of what took place on Calvary, who is about to describe to us the last moments of Jesus' mortal life. Let us be all attention, and beg our Lord to give us something of that devotion, which filled the soul of his Beloved Disciple as he stood at the foot of the Cross. |