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CHAPTER XXXV
The last Sunday
after Pentecost.
Sources of the liturgy : Sung parts, the same as on the 23rd.
Sunday. Epist, Coloss., i,9-14. Gospel, St. Matth., xxiv,
15-35.
In the middle ages, the Mass of the twenty-third Sun
day was considered as really the last of the cycle. In
the Mass we have the conversion of the Jews, set before
us as being the fulfilment in time of the divine intent
ions. The two Testaments, both old and new, of
themselves, stand aside to give place to the splendours of
the eternal alliance.
But, several centuries ago, the Church ordained that
the liturgical cycle should have a MORE STRIKING CONCLU
SION and it now ends with the prophetic description of
the LAST COMING OF OUR DIVINE LORD, which brings
time to an end and inaugurates eternity. In this way
also the Church connects the year which is now end
ing with that which is about to begin. We know,
indeed, that at the commencement of Advent, the
Church would have us meditate on the final Judgment
as described in the Gospel of Saint Luke. On the last
Sunday after Pentecost it is Saint Matthew who speaks
to us at great length of the awful coming of Jesus Christ
at the end of time.
The sentiments expressed in the prayers of the Mass
for this last Sunday are on all points suited to the season
on which we are entering. In the Collect the Church