Si autem ecclesiam non audíerit: sit tibi sicut éthnicus et publicánus...

Today is Tuesday post Dominicam IIIam Quadragesimae; the Mass Ego clamavi was sung at Barroux and will be said at Saint-Eugène. Yesterday was a grey rainy day: today was predicted to be a grey not-so rainy day but the surprise of the morning was the dense fog. I love it but of course I'm on foot not having to negotiate my two-ton machine between all those other two-ton machines which are being driven by preoccupied, tired, less than overwhelmingly skillful, and impatient human beings. 

Lectio 1
Léctio sancti Evangélii secúndum Matthǽum
Matt 18:15-22
In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Si peccáverit in te frater tuus, vade, et córripe eum inter te et ipsum solum. Et réliqua.

Homilía sancti Augustíni Epíscopi
Sermo 16 de Verbis Dómini, tomus 10, post initium
Quare illum córripis? Quia tu doles, quod peccáverit in te? Absit. Si amóre tui id facis, nihil facis: si amóre illíus facis, óptime facis. Dénique in ipsis verbis atténde, cujus amóre id fácere débeas, utrum tui, an illíus. Si te audíerit, inquit, lucrátus es fratrem tuum. Ergo propter illum fac, ut lucréris illum. Sic faciéndo lucráris: nisi fecísses, períerat. Quid est ergo, quod pleríque hómines ista peccáta contémnunt, et dicunt: Quid magnum feci? In hóminem peccávi. Noli contémnere: in hóminem peccásti.

R. Nuntiavérunt Jacob dicéntes: Joseph fílius tuus vivit, et ipse dominátur in tota terra Ægýpti: quo audíto revíxit spíritus ejus, et dixit:
* Súfficit mihi, vadam et vidébo eum ántequam móriar.
V. Cumque audísset Jacob quod fílius ejus víveret, quasi de gravi somno evígilans, ait.
R. Súfficit mihi, vadam et vidébo eum ántequam móriar.

Lectio 2
Vis nosse, quia in hóminem peccándo perísti? Si te ille, in quem peccásti, corripúerit inter te et ipsum solum, et audíeris illum, lucrátus est te. Quid est, Lucrátus est te; nisi quia períeras, si non lucrarétur te? Nam si non períeras, quómodo te lucrátus est? Nemo ergo contémnat, quando peccat in fratrem. Ait enim quodam loco Apóstolus: Sic autem peccántes in fratres, et percutiéntes consciéntiam eórum infírmam, in Christum peccátis: ídeo quia membra Christi omnes facti sumus. Quómodo non peccas in Christum, qui peccas in membrum Christi?

R. Joseph dum intráret in terram Ægýpti, linguam quam non nóverat, audívit: manus ejus in labóribus serviérunt:
* Et lingua ejus inter príncipes loquebátur sapiéntiam.
V. Humiliavérunt in compédibus pedes ejus: ferrum petránsiit ánimam ejus, donec veníret verbum ejus.
R. Et lingua ejus inter príncipes loquebátur sapiéntiam.

Lectio 3
Nemo ergo dicat, quia non peccávi in Deum, sed peccávi in fratrem: in hóminem peccávi, leve, vel nullum peccátum est. Forte inde dicis: Leve est, quia cito curátur. Peccásti in fratrem: fac satis, et sanátus es. Cito fecísti mortíferam rem, sed remédium cito invenísti. Quis nostrum speret regnum cælórum, fratres mei, quando dicit Evangélium: Qui díxerit fratri suo, Fátue: reus erit gehénnæ ignis? Magnus terror: sed vide ibi remédium. Si obtúleris munus tuum ad altáre, et ibi recordátus fúeris, quia frater tuus habet áliquid advérsum te, relínque ibi munus tuum ante altáre. Non iráscitur Deus, quia differs impónere munus tuum: te quærit Deus magis, quam munus tuum.

R. Meménto mei, dum bene tibi fúerit:
* Ut súggeras pharaóni, ut edúcat me de isto cárcere: * Quia furtim sublátus sum, et hic ínnocens in lacum missus sum.
V. Tres enim adhuc dies sunt, post quos recordábitur phárao ministérii tui, et restítuet te in gradum prístinum: tunc meménto mei.
R. Ut súggeras pharaóni, ut edúcat me de isto cárcere.
V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.
R. Quia furtim sublátus sum, et hic ínnocens in lacum missus sum.

 

The church where the assembly meets today owes its origin to the zeal of the Byzantines, who built at least five churches in Rome to the honour of the martyrs Sergius and Bacchus. One of these, the Canelicum, with the adjacent monastery, where the people collected for the stational procession to the Basilica of Pudens, stood in the regio of the Montes. The domus Pudentiana or the titulus sancti Pudentis was one of the oldest of the urban titular churches, and, so far, nothing has appeared to disprove the truth of the ancient ecclesiastical tradition which asserts that it was sanctified by the sojourn of Peter in the house of the senator Pudens. The memories of Pope St Pius I (158-67), of his brother Hermas, the mystic author of the Pastor, those of Priscilla, Pudentiana, Praxedes, Justin the Philosopher, Hippolytus the Doctor-- all these are connected with the Viminal and with the history of the house of the Pudenti in such a
way as to make it appear that in the 2nd century this was really the papal residence.
The sacred Liturgy has re-echoed this local tradition, and
the Gospel for today containing the passage in which Peter
interrogates our Lord concerning the forgiveness of sins,
has been chosen on purpose, in order to recall the memory
of the Apostle in the very place where he was the guest of
the Pudenti. (Liber Sacramentorum)

By evoking memories of the earliest layers of Rome’s Christian tradition, the Basilica of St. Pudenziana embodies three important themes: Peter’s presence in Rome and his personal care of the Christian community; the universality of Christ’s salvific sacrifice; and the cult of the martyrs. According to an inscription, the basilica sits atop the house of Senator Pudens, “the first to give hospitality to St. Peter” (who is also thought to be the “Pudens” mentioned in 2 Timothy 4.21). Tradition has it that Peter began his evangelizing mission in Rome here, with the assistance of the senator’s daughters, Praxedes and Pudenziana. Pudens’s elaborate home and the neighboring Baths of Novatius were transformed by Pope St. Pius I in 145, when the bath complex was fused into a single worship space, the Oratory of the Holy Pastor. In 384, Pope St. Siricius rededicated the oratory to St. Peter and rebuilt the church with the assistance of the presbyters Massimo, Leopardo, and Illicio (as recorded in a marble engraving made during their lifetimes). The orientation was shifted ninety degrees, granite columns from the old hall were used to line the nave, and the apse was placed into the curved exedra of the earlier building. To extend the structure into a Latin cross, the other curving side of the hall was demolished and the nave elongated. 

The apse was then decorated with the city’s oldest extant Christian mosaic-- one of the first attempts to render artistically the glory and mystery of the Incarnation: Christ, framed by a cityscape, appears enthroned under a jeweled cross, and is flanked by seated apostles. Above him float the four evangelists, who appear for the first time as a winged man (Matthew), a winged lion (Mark), a winged ox (Luke), and an eagle (John). The apostles sit within the enclosure of the exedra (although two are missing because of the resizing necessary to construct the dome overhead). Sts. Peter and Paul sit closest to Christ, Paul in the robe of a Roman senator and Peter in the philosopher’s chiton. Two women lift wreaths over their heads; often described as Praxedes and Pudenziana, the two women more likely represent the Church of the Gentiles and the Church of the Jews-- a theme repeated in the basilicas of St. Sabina and St. Mary Major. (Elizabeth Lev in Roman Pilgrimage)


Statio ad S. Pudentianam


M le Curé is celebrating Holy Mass today.

Introitus. Ps. 16, 6 et 8. Ego clamávi, quóniam exaudísti me, Deus: inclína aurem tuam, et exáudi verba mea: custódi me, Dómine, ut pupíllam óculi: sub umbra alárum tuárum prótege me. Ps. ib., 1. Exáudi, Dómine, justítiam meam: inténde deprecatiónem meam. ℣. Glória Patri.




Oratio. Exáudi nos, omnípotens et miséricors Deus: et continéntiæ salutáris propítius nobis dona concéde. Per Dóminum.

Léctio libri Regum.
4 Reg. 4, 1-7.

In diébus illis: Múlier quædam clamábat ad Eliséum Prophétam, dicens: Servus tuus vir meus mórtuus est, et tu nosti, quia servus tuus fuit timens Dóminum: et ecce, créditor venit, ut tollat duos fílios meos ad serviéndum sibi. Cui dixit Eliséus: Quid vis, ut fáciam tibi? Dic mihi, quid habes in domo tua? At illa respóndit: Non hábeo ancílla tua quidquam in domo mea, nisi parum ólei, quo ungar. Cui ait: Vade, pete mútuo ab ómnibus vicínis tuis vasa vácua non pauca. Et ingrédere, et claude óstium tuum, cum intrínsecus fúeris tu et fílii tui: et mitte inde in ómnia vasa hæc: et cum plena fúerint, tolles. Ivit itaque múlier, et clausit óstium super se et super fílios suos: illi offerébant vasa, et illa infundébat. Cumque plena fuíssent vasa, dixit ad fílium suum: Affer mihi adhuc vas. Et ille respóndit: Non hábeo. Stetítque óleum. Venit autem illa, et indicávit hómini Dei. Et ille: Vade, inquit, vende oleum, et redde creditóri tuo: tu autem et fílii tui vívite de réliquo.

Graduale. Ps. 18,13-14. Ab occúltis meis munda me, Dómine: et ab aliénis parce servo tuo. ℣. Si mei non fúerint domináti, tunc  immaculátus ero: et emundábor a delícto máximo.




✠ Sequéntia sancti Evangélii secúndum Matthǽum.
Matth, 18, 15-22. 

In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Si peccáverit in te frater tuus, vade, et córripe eum inter te et ipsum solum. Si te audíerit, lucrátus eris fratrem tuum. Si autem te non audíerit, ádhibe tecum adhuc unum vel duos, ut in ore duórum vel trium téstium stet omne verbum. Quod si non audíerit eos: dic ecclésiæ. Si autem ecclesiam  non audíerit: sit tibi sicut éthnicus et publicánus. Amen, dico vobis, quæcúmque alligavéritis super terram, erunt ligáta et in cœlo: et quæcúmque solvéritis super terram, erunt solúta et in cœlo. Iterum dico vobis, quia si duo ex vobis consénserint super terram, de omni re quamcúmque petíerint, fiet illis a Patre meo, qui in cœlis est. Ubi enim sunt duo vel tres congregáti in nómine meo, ibi sum in médio eórum. Tunc accédens Petrus ad eum, dixit: Dómine, quóties peccabit in me frater meus, et dimíttam ei? usque sépties? Dicit illi Jesus: Non dico tibi usque sépties, sed usque septuágies sépties.

... And lastly, let us not pass by unnoticed this other sentence, which has a close relation with the one we have just alluded to: If a man hear not the Church let him be to thee as a heathen and publican. What is this Church? Men, to whom Jesus Christ said he that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me. Men, from whose lips comes to the world the Truth, without which there is no salvation. Men, who are the only ones on earth who have power to reconcile the sinner with his God, save him from the hell he has deserved, and open to him the gates of heaven. Can we be surprised, after this, that our Saviour, who would have these men to be His instruments, and as it were, the communication between Himself and mankind, should treat as a heathen, as one that has never received Baptism, him that refuses to acknowledge their authority? There is no revealed truth, except through their teaching; there is no salvation, except through the Sacraments which they administer; there is no hoping in Christ Jesus, except where there is submission to the spiritual laws which they promulgate. (L'Année Liturgique)

Offertorium. Ps. 117, 16 et 17. Déxtera Dómini fecit virtútem, déxtera Dómini exaltávit me: non móriar, sed vivam, et narrábo ópera Dómini.




Secreta. Per hæc véniat, quǽsumus, Dómine, sacraménta nostræ redemptiónis efféctus: qui nos et ab humánis rétrahat semper excéssibus, et ad salutária dona perdúcat. Per Dóminum.

Communio. Ps. 14, 1-2. Dómine, quis habitábit in tabernáculo tuo? aut quis requiéscet in monte sancto tuo? Qui ingréditur sine mácula, et operátur justítiam.




Postcommunio. Sacris, Dómine, mystériis expiáti: et véniam, quǽsumus, consequámur et grátiam. Per Dóminum.

Oratio super populum. Humiliáte cápita vestra Deo. Tua nos, Dómine, protectióne defénde: et ab omni semper iniquitáte custódi. Per Dóminum.


LDVM




Blessed Ildefonso Schuster OSB, Elizabeth Lev, L'Année Liturgique, Dom Prosper Guéranger OSB

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