Monday, March 17, 2008

Monday in Holy Week-Stationed at the Church of St. Praxedes

Introit:
Judica, Domine, nocentes me, expugna impugnantes me: apprehende arma et scutum, et exsurge in adjutorium meum, Domine virtus salutis meae.
Psalm:
Effunde frameam, et conclude adversus eos qui persequuntur me: dic animae meae: Salus tua ego sum. Judica, Domine.
"At length, Jesus leaves the temple, and takes the road that leads to Bethania. Having come as fare as Mount Olivet, which commands a view of Jerusalem, He sits down and rests awhile. The disciples take this opportunity of asking Him how soon the chastisements He has been speaking of in the temple will come upon the city. His answer comprises tow events: the destruction of Jerusalem, and the final destruction of the world. He thus teaches them that the first is the figure of the second. The time when each is to happen, is to be when the measure of iniquity is filled up. But with regard to the chastisement that is to befall Jerusalem, he gives this more definite answer: 'Amen I say to you: this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.' History tells us how this prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled: forty years had scarcely elapsed after His Ascension, when the Roman army encamped on this very place where He is now speaking to His disciples, and laid siege to the ungrateful and wicked city. After giving a prophetic description of that last judgment, which is to rectify all the unjust judgments of men, He leaves Mount Olivet, returns to Bethania, and consoles the anxious heart of His most holy Mother."
From The Liturgical Year- Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B. (St. Bonaventure Publications, 2000)

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