WEDNESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT; SAINT CUTHBERT, Bishop (687 A.D.)

WEDNESDAY OF THE 

SECOND WEEK OF LENT

[Wikipedia.org image]
[Commemoration]
SAINT CUTHBERT
Bishop

SIMPLE / PURPLE
The salvation of everyone the world over depends on the mercy of God. The exercise of His mercy in forgiving sin depends partly upon His own mysterious will and partly upon our humbling ourselves before Him in sorrow, penance, and charity.  God's desire to save everyone is clearly revealed in Scripture. He became man and suffered death by crucifixion to redeem the world. It remains for us to make ourselves the servants of the spiritual and physical needs of others, even at the cost of inconvenience.

INTROIT Ps. 37:22-23
Forsake me not, O Lord, my God; be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!
Ps. 37:2. Rebuke me not in Your anger, O Lord, and chastise me not in Your wrath.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O Lord, look mercifully upon Your people. We abstain from food at Your command; may we also turn away from the spiritual poison of sin. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT CUTHBERT
Cuthbert was thought by some to be Irish and by others, a Scot. Bede, the noted historian, says he was a Briton. Orphaned when a young child, he was a shepherd for a time, possibly fought against the Mercians, and became a monk at Melrose Abbey. In 661, he accompanied St. Eata to Ripon Abbey, which the abbot of Melrose had built, but returned to Melrose the following year when King Alcfrid turned the abbey over to St. Wilfrid, and then became Prior of Melrose. Cuthbert engaged in missionary work and when St. Colman refused to accept the decision of the Council of Whitby in favor of the Roman liturgical practices and immigrated with most of the monks of Lindisfarn to Ireland, St. Eata was appointed bishop in his place and named Cuthbert Prior of Lindisfarn. He resumed his missionary activities and attracted huge crowds until he received his abbot's permission to live as a hermit, at first on a nearby island and then in 676, at one of the Farnes Islands near Bamborough. Against his will, he was elected bishop of Hexham in 685, arranged with St. Eata to swap Sees, and became bishop of  Lindisfarn but without the monastery. He spent the last two years of his life administering his See, caring for the sick of the plague that decimated his diocese, working numerous miracles of healing, and gifted with the ability to prophesy. He died at Lindisfarn. Feast day is March 20.

O God, who by the inestimable gift of Thy grace dost glorify Thy Saints, grant, we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of blessed Cuthbert, Thy Confessor and Bishop, we may worthily attain to the heights of virtue. Through our Lord . . . 

LESSON Esther 13:8-11; 15-17
But Mardochai besought the Lord, remembering all his works, And said: "O Lord, Lord, almighty king, for all things are in thy power, and there is none that can resist thy will, if thou determine to save Israel. Thou hast made heaven and earth and all things that are under the cope of heaven. Thou art Lord of all, and there is none that can resist thy majesty. And now, O Lord, O king, O God of Abraham, have mercy on thy people, because our enemies resolve to destroy us, and extinguish thy inheritance. Despise not thy portion, which thou hast redeemed for thyself out of Egypt. Hear my supplication, and be merciful to thy lot and inheritance, and turn our mourning into joy, that we may live and praise thy name, O Lord, and shut not the mouths of them that sing to thee."

GRADUAL Ps. 27:9, 1
Save Your people, O Lord, and bless Your inheritance.
V. To You, O Lord my God, I cry; be not deaf to me, lest I become like those who go down into the pit.

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 Matt. 20:17-28
At that time. as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart and said to them: "Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes: and they shall condemn him to death. And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified: and the third day he shall rise again." 
Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of him. Who said to her: "What wilt thou?" She saith to him: "say that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom." And Jesus answering, said: They say to him: "We can." He saith to them: "You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?""My chalice indeed you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father." 
And the ten, hearing it, were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them to him and said: "You know that the princes of the Gentiles lord it over them; and that they that are the greater, exercise power upon them. It shall not be so among you: but whosoever is the greater among you, let him be your minister. And he that will be first among you shall be your servant. Even as the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a redemption for many." 

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 24:1-3
I have lifted up my soul to You, O Lord; in You, O my God, I place my trust. Let me not be put to shame, nor let my enemies exalt over me. No one who waits for You shall be left in confusion.

SECRET
O Lord, look with favor upon the sacrifices we offer You. May this holy exchange of gifts free us from the bondage of our sins. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT CUTHBERT
Receive, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the sacrificial Victim of man's redemption and by the intercession of blessed Cuthbert, Thy Confessor and Bishop, mercifully grant us health of mind and body. Through our Lord . . .

COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps. 10:8
The Lord is just, and He has loved justice; the upright shall see His face.

POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, may the reception of Your Sacrament bring us ever nearer to our eternal redemption. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT CUTHBERT
May Thy holy Sacraments of which we have partaken, ever defend us by their power, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and by the intercession of blessed Cuthbert, Thy Confessor and Bishop, whose life was gloriously resplendent, guard us in peace and holiness. Through our Lord . . . 

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE
O God, You love innocence and have restored it to us. Turn the hearts of Your people towards Yourself. Set them on fire with Your Spirit, that they may be firm in faith and zealous in virtues. Through our Lord . . .