Original

409
ted out. The object of this observance which occurs
four times in the year is to remind us that we need
to be constantly purified from sin, since the weakness of
the flesh and the strength of our passions are ever caus
ing us to commit fresh sin. The Ember days of this
season also recall the fast observed by the Jews in the
seventh month of the year, and these days of prayer and
fasting help us to sanctify our souls by securing for us
the fruits of grace produced by the practice of charity.
In the Mass for Wednesday the two Lessons taken
from the Old Testament contain an allusion to the abun
dant harvest. In the FIRST the Prophet Amos describes
the prosperity of Israel after the captivity as the result
of the divine blessing on the vines and the fields. In
the SECOND the sacred historian, who was the author
of the second Book of Esdras, describes the new promul
gation of the Law, the observance of which will bring,
as in the past, joy and plenty. In the Gospel of the Mass
in which Saint Mark relates our Lord s cure of the deaf
and dumb man who was possessed by an evil spirit, we
learn that we cannot conquer the devil, who is the first
cause of all our infirmities, without prayer and fasting,
and that to bring this about we must place our whole
trust in the divine physician at whose omnipotent
word and command we are healed of all our weaknesses.
The two Collects are an appeal to the divine mercy
to which alone we owe our continued existence ; through
this mercy also our bodily privations will obtain for us
grace to abstain from sin. The Secret offers the Host
of the Sacrifice as the source of all purification and sanctification
both of body and soul. The Postcommunion
prays that all those who zealously practise the necessary
penitential exercises may participate in the divine gifts.
The Introit teaches us to rejoice in doing penance.