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cast into the furnace (TRACT), He has withered away
and has mingled his tears with his drink (COMMUNION).
In his
Father.
greatest
"
Hear,
sorrows he supplicates His heavenly
O Lord, my prayer, and let my cry
come to thee. Turn not thy face away from me.
The Gradual, taken from Psalm LXVIII;, expresses
almost in the same terms this last supplication. In
the first Collect the Church speaks in the name of all
her children, but particularly in the name of the cate
chumens and public penitents. These unfortunately
have sinned, but may God be pleased to have regard to
the Passion of His only Son which He endured for their
salvation. It is indeed this suffering Jesus whom Isaias
depicts in the first Lesson. He appears as a victim with
His garments dyed red because He has trodden the grapes
in the wine-press. Abandoned in the midst of this
hard labour, He has taken upon Himself the guilt of
the whole human race to ensure for them the benefits
of the divine mercy. The second Collect again sets
before the Lord guilty humanity but with full confidence
in their restoration. It declares that Jesus Christ by
His sufferings has broken the yoke of the devil. What it
has cost the Son of God to effect this redemption Isaias
wonderfully describes, many ages in advance, by setting
forth all the sufferings the calmness and the submis
sion of the divine Victim. Thus his reward shall be in
the multitude of those who purified from sin, restored
to life, and made sharers in His glory and His triumph,
shall follow Him.
The Secret has for its aim to inspire us with a true love
for the holy Mysteries in which each day the Passion of
our divine Saviour is renewed upon our altars. The
Postcommunionjasks for all the faithful the grace that
they may have confidence in the divine mercy, a con-