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Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Church of Saint Susanna, Virgin and Martyr of Rome. The reason of this Church having been chosen is that today, there is read the history of the chaste Susanna, the daughter of Helcias. COLLECT Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus; ut qui se, affligendo carnem, ab alimentis abstinent, sectando justitiam, a culpa jejunent. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that they who mortify themselves by abstinence from food, may, by observing thy holy law, also fast from all sin. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Let thy kind favor, O...

Violet Simple THE STATION is at the Church of Saint Laurence in Lucina. In this venerable and celebrated Church is kept the Gridiron on which the holy Archdeacon consummated his martyrdom. COLLECT Jejunia nostra, quæsumus, Domine, benigno favore prosequere: ut, sicut ab alimentis abstinemus in corpore, ita a vitiis jejunemus in mente. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Let thy kind favor, O Lord, accompany our fast, that as we abstain from corporal food, so we may likewise refrain from all vice. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. EPISTLE LECTIO LIBRI NUMERORUM. LESSON from the BOOK of NUMBERS. Cap. xx Ch....

Violet Simple THIS DAY brings us to the middle of Lent, and is called Mid-Lent Thursday. It is the twentieth of the forty fasts imposed upon us at this holy Season by the Church. The Greeks call this Thursday Mesonēstios, that is, the mid-Fast. They give this name to the entire week, which, in their Liturgy, is the fourth of the seven which form their Lent. But the Thursday of this week is, with them, a solemn feast, and a day of rejoicing, whereby they animate themselves to courage during the rest of the Season. The Catholic nations of...

Violet Simple THE STATION, at Rome, is in the Church of Saint Xystus, on the Appian Road. It now goes under the name of Saint Xystus the Old, in order to distinguish it from another Church that is dedicated to the same holy Pope and Martyr. COLLECT Præsta nobis, quæsumus, Domine, ut salutaribus jejuniis eruditi, a noxiis quoque vitiis abstinentes, propitiationem tuam facilius impetremus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that being improved by this wholesome fast, we may abstain from all pernicious vice, and by that means, more easily obtain thy mercy. Through...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Church of St. Pudentiana, daughter of Pudens, the Senator. This holy virgin of Rome lived in the 2nd century. She was remarkable for her charity, and for the zeal wherewith she sought for and buried the bodies of the Martyrs. Her Church is built on the very spot where stood the house in which she lived with her father and her sister St. Praxedes. St. Peter, the Apostle, had honored this house with his presence, during the lifetime of Pudentiana’s grandfather. COLLECT Exaudi nos, omnipotens et misericors Deus; et continentiæ salutaris propitius...

Violet Simple THE STATION is in the Church of Saint Mark, which was built in the fourth century, in honor of the Evangelist, by the holy Pope Mark, whose relics are kept there. COLLECT Cordibus nostris, quæsumus, Domine, gratiam tuam benignus infunde: ut sicut ab escis carnalibus abstinemus, ita sensus quoque nostros a noxiis retrahamus excessibus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. We beseech thee, O Lord, mercifully to pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that, as we abstain from flesh, so we may keep our senses from all noxious excesses. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. EPISTLE LECTIO LIBRI...

Violet Semidouble (Privilege of the First Class) THE HOLY CHURCH gave us, as the subject of our meditation for the First Sunday of Lent, the Temptation which our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to suffer in the Desert. Her object was to enlighten us how to conquer them. Today, she wishes to complete her instruction on the power and stratagems of our invisible enemies; and for this, she reads to us a passage from the Gospel of St. Luke. During Lent, the Christian ought to repair the past, and provide for the future; but he can neither understand how it...

Green Semidouble THE VARIATION OF EASTER SUNDAY necessitates almost every year a different arrangement of the Sundays after the Epiphany from that in which they stand in the Missal. Septuagesima often comes in January and the Feast of the Purification is occasionally later than Quinquagesima Sunday; hence the office of these four last Sundays may have to be transferred to another season of the liturgical cycle. We have inserted here the third and fourth Sundays as usually falling in Christmastide, while the office of the fifth and sixth Sundays will be found near Septuagesima and the second after Pentecost,...

THE GREAT MYSTERY of the Alliance of the Son of God with the universal Church, and which is represented in the Epiphany by the Magi, was looked forward to by the world in every age previous to the coming of our Emmanuel. The Patriarchs and Prophets had propagated the tradition; and the Gentile world gave frequent proofs that the tradition prevailed even with them. When Adam, in Eden, first beheld her whom God had formed from one of his ribs, and whom he called Eve, because she was the Mother of all the living—he exclaimed, “This is the bone...

White Double of the First Class with Privileged Octave of third Order BEFORE MASS.—The merry-pealing Bells have wakened us up, echoing to us the sweet burden of our Matin-Song, and inviting us to come once more and adore our Jesus, and assist at the Mass of the Day, which we call the Third Mass: Christ is born unto us; come! let us adore! The sun is shining in the east—not, indeed, as he will in his summer’s pride—still, brightly enough to tell us that his triumph over winter has begun. Now, we say, the day will grow longer! Under...

Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus. Come, let us adore the King our Lord, who is to come. De Isaia Propheta. From the Prophet Isaias. Cap. xxxiii. Ch. xxxiii. Domine, miserere nostri, te enim exspectavimus; esto brachium nostrum in mane, et salus nostra in tempore tribulationis. A voce angeli fugerunt populi, et ab exaltatione tua dispersae sunt gentes. Et congregabuntur spolia vestra sicut colligitur bruchus, velut cum fossae plenae fuerint de eo. Magnificatus est Dominus, quoniam habitavit in excelso; implevit Sion judicio et justitia. Et erit fides in temporibus tuis: divitiae salutis sapientia et scientia; timor Domini ipse est thesaurus...

Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus. Come, let us adore the King our Lord, who is to come. De Isaia Propheta. From the Prophet Isaias. Cap. xxx. Ch. xxx. Exspectat Dominus ut misereatur vestri; et ideo exaltabitur parcens vobis, quia Deus judicii Dominus: beati omnes qui exspectant eum! Populus enim Sion habitabit in Jerusalem: plorans nequaquam plorabis: miserans miserebitur tui, ad vocem clamoris tui: statim ut audierit, respondebit tibi. Et dabit vobis Dominus panem arctum, et aquam brevem; et non faciet avolare a te ultra doctorem tuum; et erunt oculi tui videntes praeceptorem tuum. Et aures tuae audient verbum post...

THIRD ANTIPHON O RADIX Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges o ssuum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare. O ROOT of Jesse, who standest as the standard of the people; before whom Kings shall not open their lips; to whom the nations shall pray: come and deliver us; tarry now no more. AT LENGTH, O Son of Jesse! thou art approaching the city of thy ancestors. The Ark of the Lord has risen, and journeys, with the God that is in her, to the place of her rest. “How beautiful are...

Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus. Come, let us adore the King our Lord, who is to come. De Isaia Propheta. From the Prophet Isaias. Cap. xxviii. Ch. xxviii. Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego mittam in fundamentis Sion lapidem, lapidem probatum, angularem, pretiosum, in fundamento fundatum; qui crediderit, non festinet. Et ponam in pondere judicium, et justitiam in mensura; et subvertet grando spem mendacii, et protectionem aquae inundabunt. Et delebitur foedus vestrum cum morte, et pactum vestrum cum inferno non stabit. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried...

Violet or Rose Privileged Sunday of the Second Class (Semidouble) TODAY AGAIN, the Church is full of joy, and the joy is greater than it was. It is true that her Lord is not come; but she feels that he is nearer than before, and therefore she thinks it just to lessen somewhat the austerity of this penitential season by the innocent cheerfulness of her sacred rites. And first, this Sunday has had the name of Gaudete given to it, from the first word of the Introit; it also is honored with those impressive exception which belong to the...

The economy’s rate of economic growth was revised up Wednesday to the fastest pace in three years, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Gross domestic product grew at a 3.3 percent annualized rate in the July through September period, an increase from the previous estimate of three percent. The increase means economic growth was stronger in the third quarter than previously believed despite the damage done by hurricanes Harvey and Irma The revision also shows that the economy has been growing at a rate closer to what President Donald Trump said he would achieve than what many economic forecasters thought was...

HAD we Angels’ eyes, we should see the earth as a vast field sown with seed for the resurrection. The death of Abel opened the first furrow, and ever since, the sowing has gone on unceasingly the wide world over. This land of labor and of suffering, what treasures it already holds laid up in its bosom! And what a harvest for heaven, when the Sun of Justice, suddenly darting forth his rays, shall cause to spring up as suddenly from the soil the elect ears ripe for glory! No wonder that the Church herself blesses and superintends the...

The U.S. economy unexpectedly maintained a brisk pace of growth in the third quarter. An increase in inventory investment and a smaller trade deficit offset a hurricane-related slowdown in consumer spending and a decline in construction. Gross domestic product increased at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the July-September period after expanding at a 3.1 percent pace in the second quarter The U.S. economy unexpectedly maintained a brisk pace of growth in the third quarter as an increase in inventory investment and a smaller trade deficit offset a hurricane-related slowdown in consumer spending and a decline in construction. Gross domestic...

The final faceoff between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump reached 71.6 million television viewers, meaning two of the three most-watched presidential debates in history occurred during this campaign. The debate from Las Vegas, moderated by Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace, exceeded the 66.5 million people who watched the second debate. The first time these two candidates met on stage in September, the audience of 84 million set a viewership record, the Nielsen company said. …

For the first time in hundreds of years, there are serious preparations underway to build the Third Temple prophesied in Scripture. This week, the nascent Sanhedrin, a group attempting to revive the ancient Jewish legal institution, reportedly selected an individual to serve as high priest if the political situation allowed Jews to access the Temple Mount for Yom Kippur. The high priest would bring the sacrifices which would be offered in such a situation.