MONDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK IN LENT; SAINT CHAD (672 A.D.); BLESSED CHARLES THE GOOD (1124 A.D.)

  

MONDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK IN LENT

By Desertpad - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147195632

SAINT CHAD
Bishop, Confessor  

SIMPLE / PURPLE
INTROIT Ps. 25:11-12
Redeem me, O Lord, and have pity on me, for my foot stands on the right path. In the assemblies I will bless the Lord.
Ps. 25:1. Do me justice, O Lord, for I have walked in innocence, and in the Lord I trust without wavering.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O Almighty God, while Your servants mortify their bodies by fasting, may they also follow after righteousness and avoid sin. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT CHAD
St. Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, was a disciple of St. Aidan. He traveled over Ireland and Britain, seeking to spread everywhere the knowledge and charity of Christ. His characteristic virtue was his boundless charity to the poor. He died, A.D. 672.

Almighty and everlasting God who dost gladden us on this, day's feastday of blessed Chad, Thy Confessor and Bishop, we humbly implore Thy clemency, that we, who by this devout office venerate his Feast, may by his loving support, obtain the remedies of eternal life. Through our Lord . . . 

 

LESSON Dan. 9:15-19

In those days, Daniel prayed to the Lord, saying, "O Lord, our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt, with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, O Lord, against all thy justice: let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city, Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people, are a reproach to all that are round about us.
"Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate, for thy own sake. Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies. O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not, for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people."

GRADUAL Ps. 69:6, 3
Help me and deliver me, O Lord, make no delay! V. Let my enemies who seek my life be put to shame and confounded.

TRACT Ps. 102:10; 78:8-9
O Lord, repay us not according to the sins we have committed, nor according to our iniquities. V. O Lord, remember not our iniquities of the past; let Your mercy come quickly to us, for we are being brought very low. (All kneel.) V. Help us, O God our Savior, and for the glory of Your name. O Lord, deliver us; and pardon us our sins for Your name's sake.

GOSPEL John 8:21-29
At that time, Jesus said to them: "I go: and you shall seek me. And you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come." The Jews therefore said: "Will he kill himself, because he said: Whither I go you cannot come?"
And he said to them: "You are from beneath: I am from above. You are of this world: I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin." They said therefore to him: "Who art thou?" Jesus said to them: "The beginning, who also speak unto you. Many things I have to speak and to judge of you. But he that sent me, is true: and the things I have heard of him, these same I speak in the world." And they understood not that he called God his Father.
Jesus therefore said to them: "When you shall have lifted up, the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself. But as the Father hath taught me, these things I speak. And he that sent me is with me: and he hath not left me alone. For I do always the things that please him."

OFFERTORY Ps. 15:7, 8
I bless the Lord, who has given me understanding. I set the Lord ever before me; with Him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

SECRET
O Lord, protect us through this sacrifice which we offer to atone for our sins and to give glory to You. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT CHAD
Be propitious unto our supplications, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and through the intercession of blessed Chad, Thy Confessor and Bishop, grant that we who serve the altar of Thy heavenly Sacraments, may be free from all sin, that by Thy purifying grace we may be renewed by the very Mysteries which we serve. Through our Lord . . .  

 
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps. 8:2
O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name over all the earth!

POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, may this Communion cleanse us from sin, and bestow upon us spiritual health from heaven. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT CHAD
Vouchsafe, we beseech Thee, O Lord our God, that being cleansed by the divine Mysteries, we may, by the intercession of blessed Chad, Thy Confessor and Bishop, progress towards the fullness of that heavenly Sacrament in which we have shared. Through our Lord . . .

 
PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE
Hear our petitions, O Almighty God. Your love has given us hope; let Your unfailing mercy protect us. Through our Lord . . .

 

BLESSED CHARLES THE GOOD

Martyr (1124 A.D.)

[Historical]

 
Charles was born in Denmark, only son of King Canute IV (Saint Canute) and Adela of Flanders. His father was assassinated in Odense Cathedral in 1086, and Adela fled back to Flanders, taking the very young Charles with her. Charles grew up at the comital court of his grandfather Robert I and uncle Robert II. In 1092 Adela went to southern Italy to marry Roger Borsa, duke of Apulia, leaving Charles in Flanders.
In 1111 Robert II died, and Charles' cousin Baldwin VII became count. Charles was a close advisor to the new count (who was several years younger), who around 1118 arranged Charles' marriage to the heiress of the count of Amiens, Margaret of Clermont. The childless count Baldwin was wounded fighting for the king of France in September 1118, and he designated Charles as his successor before he died on the 19th of July 1119.
Charles was noted for his kindness and generosity towards the poor, and during a time of famine he distributed bread to them. He also took action to prevent grain from being hoarded and sold at excessively high prices. Prodded by his advisors, he also began proceedings to reduce the influential Erembald family, which was heavily engaged in this activity, to the status of serfs. As a result, Fr. Bertulf FitzErembald, provost of the church of St. Donatian,^[1] the most important church in Bruges, masterminded a conspiracy to assassinate Charles and his advisors.
On the morning of March 2, 1127, as Charles knelt in prayer in the church of St. Donatian, a group of knights answering to the Erembald family entered the church and hacked him to death with broadswords. The brutal and sacrilegious murder of the popular count provoked a massive public outrage, and he was almost immediately regarded popularly as a martyr and saint, although not formally beatified until 1884.^[2]
The Erembalds, who had planned and carried out the murder of Charles, were arrested and tortured to death by the enraged nobles and commoners of Bruges and Ghent. King Louis VI of France, who had supported the revolt against the Erembalds, used his influence to select his own candidate, William Clito, as the next Count of Flanders.