between you and us; so that they, who would pass hence to you, cannot, nor return hither from thence. And he said: Then I beseech thee, O Father, send him to my Father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may admonish them, lest they also come into this place of torment. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. And he said: No, Father Abraham; but if one go to them from the dead, they will do pennance. But he said to him: If they will not hear Moses, nor the Prophets; neither will they believe, though one should rise from the dead.

OFFERT. Exod. 32. Moses prayed in the presence of the Lord his God, and said: Why, O Lord, art thou angry with thy people? Let the wrath of thy soul be appeased; remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom thou didst swear to give a land flowing with milk and honey. And the Lord was appeased, and did not the evil, with which he threatened his people.

SECRET. May the fast consecrated to thy name, O Lord, sanctify us by this present sacrifice, that we may experience inwardly the effects of what we outwardly profess by our fast. Thro,'

COMM. John 6. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him, saith the Lord.

POSTCOMM. Gratia tua. May thy grace, O Lord, we beseech thee, never abandon us; but always make us intent on thy holy service, and always procure us thy help. Thro'."

Let us pray. Bow down your heads to God.

PRAYER. Adesto. Be favourable, O Lord, to thy servants, and hear their prayers in the grant of evelasting mercy; that glorying in thee their creator and governor, they may have all things perfected and perpetuated to them. Thio'.

The COMMEMORATION at VESPERS. Anth. That rich man begged for a drop of water, who denied Lazarus some crumbs of bread.

V. and R. as p, 225.

Ant. Dives ille guttam aquæ petiit, qui micas panis Lazaro negavit.

PRAYER. Adesto, as above,

BUT

UT I will appear with the justice of my cause in thy sight; I shall be satisfied, when thy glory shall appear. Ps. Hear, O God, the justice of my cause; hearken to my prayer. V. Glory."

COLLECT. Da, quæsumus. Grant, O Almighty God, that, being purified by this fast, we may come to the approaching solemnity with clean hearts. Thro'.

LESSON. Gen. xxxvii. 6. 22.

In it thought we were binding

N those days: Joseph said to his brethren: Hear my

sheaves in the field; and that my sheaf arose, as it were, and stood upright, and your sheaves standing round about it, adored my sheaf. His brethren answered: Art thou to be our king? Or are we to be subject to thy power? These dreams, therefore, and discourses furnished the fuel of their envy and hatred. He had also another dream, which he told his brethren, saying: I saw in a dream the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars, as it were, adoring me. And when he had told this to his father, and brethren, his father rebuked him, and said: What is the meaning of this dream which thou hast seen? Am I, and thy mother, and thy brethren to adore thee upon earth? His brethren therefore envied him; but his father considered the thing with himself in silence. And when his brethren were in Sichem feeding their father's flocks, Israel said to him: Thy brethren are feeding the sheep in Sichem; come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered I am ready, he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren and the flocks; and bring me word again what is doing. Being sent therefore from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem; and a man found him wandering in the field, and asked him, what he sought; and he answered. I seek my brethren; tell me where they are feeding their flocks. And the man said to him: They are gone from hence; but I heard them say, Let us go to Dothain. Joseph therefore went after his brethren, and found them in Dothain. Who, when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they resolved to kill him; and said one to another: Behold, here cometh the dreamer; come, let us kill him, and cast him into an old pit; and we will say some wild

beast hath devoured him; and then it will appear what his dreams will avail him. But Ruben hearing this, endeavoured to deliver him out of their hands, and said: Do not take away his life, nor shed his blood; but cast him into this pit; which is in the desert, and keep your hands guiltless. Now he said this, being desirous to rescue him out of their hands, and to restore him to his father.

GRAD. Ps. 119. distress, and he heard me. from wicked lips, and from a deceitful tongue. TRACT. Deal not with us, O Lord, p. 212. GOSPEL. Matt. xxi. 33. 46.

I cried out to the Lord in my

V. Deliver my soul, O Lord,

T that time; Jesus spoke to the multitude of the

A Jews, and to the chief priests this parable: There

was a certain housholder who planted a vineyard, and hedged it about, and fixed in it a wine press, and built a tower, and letting it out to some husbandmen, went to a far country. And when the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive the fruit of his vineyard. And the husbandmen laying hold of his servants, one they beat, another they killed, and another they stoned: He sent again other servants more in number than the former, and they treated them in like manner. And last of all, he sent to them his Son, saying; They will have respect for my Son. But the husbandmen, seeing the Son, said among themselves : This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance. And seizing him, they dragged him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When the Master therefore of the vineyard, cometh, what will he do to these husbandmen? They say to him: He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall give him the fruit in their seasons. Jesus saith to them: Have you never read, in the scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, is become the chief corner stone; this is done by the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore I say to you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation, that will bring forth the fruits thereof. And whoever shall fall on this stone, shall, be broken; and on-whomsoever it shall fall, it shall crush him. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew he spoke of them. And seeking to lay hands on him,

they feared the people, because they held him for a prophet.

OFFERT. Ps. 39. Look down to my aid, O Lord, let them be put to confusion and shame, who seek my life; look down to my aid, O Lord.

SECRET. May the effects of this sacrifice, O Lord, remain in us, and be increased by good works. Thro'. COMM. Ps. 11. Thou wilt defend us, O Lord, and protect us both now and for evermore.

POSTCOMM. Fac nos. Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that, having received this pledge of our eternal salvation, we may so direct our course thereto, as happily to arrive at it. Thro'.

Let us pray. Bow down your heads to God.

PRAYER. Da quæsumus. Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to thy people health both of soul and body, that by the continual practice of good works, they may always be defended by thy powerful protection. Thro The COMMEMORATION at VESPERS.

TH

Ant. Quærentes eum te nere timuerunt turbam, quia sicut prophetam eum habebant.

PRAYER. Da quæsumus,

as above.

SATURDAY.

MASS. INTROIT. Psalm 18.

HE law of the Lord is without reproof, and converteth souls; the testimony of the Lord is true, and bestoweth wisdom on little ones. Ps. The heavens publish the glory of God; and the firmament declareth the works of his hands. V. Glory.

COLLECT. Da, quæsumus. Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, this saving effect of our fast, that the chastisement of the flesh, which we have undertaken, may become the improvement of our souls. Thro'.

IN

LESSON. Gen. xxvii. 5. 39.

N those days; Rebecca said to her son Jacob; I heard thy father speak to thy brother Esau, and say to him; bring me in something of thy hunting, and make it ready for me, that I may eat and bless thee in

the sight of the Lord, before I die. Now, therefore, my son, take my counsel; and going to the flock, bring me two of the best kids, that I may make thereof for thy father meat such as he liketh; which thou shalt carry in, that when he hath eaten he may bless thee before he dieth. To whom Jacob answered; Thou knowest, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth. If my father should touch me, and perceive it, I fear he will think, I would have deceived him, and I shall bring a curse upon me, instead of a blessing. His mother said to him; Let this curse fall upon me, my son; obey thou only my voice, and go, fetch me what I told thee. He went, and brought them, and gave them to his mother. And she dressed them, as she knew his father liked them. And she put him on the best garments of Esau, which she had at home by her; and covered his hands and the bare of his neck with the skins, of the kids. And she gave him the meat, and delivered to him the bread, she had made. Which he carried in, and said: My father. And he answered: I hear. Who art thou, my son? And Jacob answered, I am Esau thy first born: I have done as thou commandest me; arise, sit, and eat of my hunting, that thy soul may bless me. Then Isaac said to his son: How couldst thou find it so quickly, my son? Who answered: It was the will of God, that what I wanted, came presently in my way. And Isaac said come near me, that I may touch thee, my son, and feel, whether thou art my son Esau, or no. And he came near his father, and Isaac having felt him, said: The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he knew him not, because his hairy hands resembled those of his elder brother. Blessing him therefore he said; Art thou my son Esau? He answered; I am. And he said; Bring me the meat of thy hunting, my son, that my soul may bless thee. Which when he had eat, he gave him wine also: and having drunk it, he said to him: Come near, and kiss me, my son and he came near and kissed him. And as soon as he perceived the perfume of his clothes, he blessed him, and said; Behold the perfume of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed. May God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, plenty of corn and wine. May people serve thee, and tribes adore thee: be thou Lord over thy