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The Light of the World
to us! Holy Mother the Church is also aware of their needs and is solicitous for them. And
the Church will surely be heard.
Today in the spirit of the liturgy it behooves all of us to assume the attitude of penitents.
With the Canaanite woman we should pray fervently and perseveringly: “Have mercy on
me, O Lord; . . . my daughter [my soul] is grievously troubled by a devil.” Bowed down and
full of remorse we pray at the foot of the altar: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Turning from our own unworthiness we approach the heavenly mother, Mary, the holy
apostles Peter and Paul, blessed John the Baptist, and all the saints in heaven, and implore
them to ask God to forgive us our sins. Then we turn to the celebrating priest and through
him to the whole Catholic Church that they also may include us in their prayers to God.
And the Church answers through her priests, “May the almighty God have mercy on you
and forgive you your sins.” “Show us O Lord Thy mercy, and grant us [in this holy season
of Lent] Thy salvation.” Kyrie eleison; Christe eleison; Kyrie eleison. The Church’s prayer for
mercy is heard.
The Church offers the Holy Sacrifice to the blessed Trinity as an act of propitiation for our
sins and the sins of other men. After the Consecration she offers the blood of the Redeemer to
the Father, begging Him to forgive us our sins.
Prayer
Behold with kindness, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the devotion of Thy people, that they who
are now mortified in the flesh by abstinence, may be refreshed in mind by the fruit of their
good works.
Grant to all Christian peoples, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to understand what they profess
and to love the heavenly gifts to which they have recourse. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ember Friday
Ember Friday finds us assembled in the church of the Twelve Apostles. The Mass has in mind
both the penitents and the neophytes. We join ourselves to them at the Introit and pray, “Deliver
me, O Lord, from my necessities, see my abjection and my labor, and forgive me all my sins. To
Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul; in Thee, O my God, I put my trust.”
“If the wicked do penance for all his sins, which he hath committed, and keep all My
Commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not
remember all his iniquities that he hath done; in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live.
Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted
from his ways and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity
according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his
justices which he hath done shall not be remembered; . . . in his sin which he hath committed,
in them he shall die. . . . And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which
he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice; he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth
and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely
live and not die” (Epistle). Blessed penance! God rejoices in the opportunity we give Him for
forgiving our sins. He is eager to forgive the sins of anyone who will turn away from his evil
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