Ember Saturday

Having just attended an edifying low Mass at Harvington, I thought it would be wonderful to show the lessons of this important day. It is quite strange to have only 3 candles lit on our advent wreath when it's this close to the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Christmas)!

The Mass today was in the special location of the Georgian chapel in the grounds of Harvington Hall. I will also take this opportunity to promote the parish priest David Higham's new book: The Priests and People of Harvington 1580-2006. From this book, displaying the chapel on the cover, I can tell you that this Georgian chapel was built at the house following the use of 'secret chapels' within the house itself during the reformation. In 1743 the garrets of two cottages were adapted and made into a little chapel, accessible via a staircase. It was only in 1791 that Catholics were given permission to worship in England, and so the chapel was still relatively secretive, being inside the moat and appearing secular on the outside. The original oak altar boasted several relics inside, which were unfortunately destroyed in a great fire of 1824.

It was then that St. Mary's church was built, which is the present parish church. However, the Georgian chapel was restored in 1986. It is now suitably adorned with a late eighteenth century altar and communion rails from St. Joseph's, Upton-upon-Severn, which is said to have belonged to a former Jesuit, John Joseph Reeve (1781-1848). Above the altar hangs a wonderful 17th Century painting of the Blessed Virgin and Child with St. Dominic and other saints after Barroccio. Mass is offered here every Saturday by Fr. Higham, and was a perfect setting for a Mass in the Classical Roman Rite.

Ember Saturday: All the elements of this Mass show every sign of being part of the ancient liturgy: the numerous lessons, interspersed with responsories and collects, recall the primitive form of the night vigil at Rome. On this night of ordinations twelve long lessons (as on Holy Saturday) were read to the people gathered in the Vatican basilica; the six lessons of today's Mass are a relic of this ancient practice. In reading this we are filled with a holy impatience at the approach of Christmas. We read the most beautiful prophecies of Isaiah, giving urgent appeal to the greatness of the Messiah and Saviour. The Epistle of St. Paul speaks of the second coming, but it is even now, as well as in eternity, that "the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain" (Gospel).

- Adapted from the Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1954

- Following readings from Douay-Rheims Bible

First Lesson: Isaiah 19. 20-22
It shall be for a sign, and for a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver them. And the Lord shall be known by Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall worship him with sacrifices and offerings: and they shall make vows to the Lord, and perform them. And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a scourge, and shall heal it, and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be pacified towards them, and heal them.

Second Lesson: Isaiah 35. 1-7
The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily. It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God. Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees. Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will save you. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in the wilderness. And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwell before, shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush.

Third Lesson: Isaiah 40. 9-11
Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God: Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.

Fourth Lesson: Isaiah 45. 1-8
Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the bars of iron. And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name, the God of Israel. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have made a likeness of thee, and thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God, besides me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me: That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things. Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him.

NB. "create evil" - The evils of afflictions and punishment, but not the evils of sin

Fifth Lesson: Daniel 3. 47-51 (& Hymn: Daniel 3. 52-56)
And the flame mounted up above the furnace nine and forty cubits: And it broke forth, and burnt such of the Chaldeans as it found near the furnace. But the angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace: and he drove the flame of the fire out of the furnace, And made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them, nor did them any harm.

Then these three as with one mouth praised, and glorified, and blessed God in the furnace, saying: Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of our fathers: and worthy to be praised, and glorified, and exalted above all for ever: and blessed is the holy name of thy glory: and worthy to be praised, and exalted above all in all ages. Blessed art thou in the holy temple of thy glory: and exceedingly to be praised, and exceeding glorious for ever. Blessed art thou on the throne of thy kingdom, and exceedingly to be praised, and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou, that beholdest the depths, and sittest upon the cherubims: and worthy to be praised and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven: and worthy of praise, and glorious for ever.

Epistle: 2 Thessalonians 2. 1-8
And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together unto him: That you be not easily moved from your sense, nor be terrified, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, Who opposeth, and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God. Remember you not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

NB. "A revolt" - This revolt, or falling off, is generally understood, by the ancient fathers, of a revolt from the Roman empire, which was first to be destroyed, before the coming of Antichrist. It may, perhaps, be understood also of a revolt of many nations from the Catholic Church; which has, in part, happened already, by means of Mahomet, Luther, &c., and it may be supposed, will be more general in the days of the Antichrist.

"The man of sin" - Here must be meant some particular man, as is evident from the frequent repetition of the Greek article: 'the man of sin, 'the son of perdition, 'the adversary or opposer. It agrees to the wicked and great Antichrist, who will come before the end of the world.

"In the temple" - Either that of Jerusalem which some think he will rebuild; or in some Christian church, which he will pervert to his own worship: as Mahomet has done by the churches of the east.

Gospel: Luke 3. 1-6
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea, and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina; Under the high priests Annas and Caiphas; the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins; As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

O God, who sees that we are afflicted because of our wickedness,
grant in Thy mercy that we may be comforted by Thy visitation.
Who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, world without end. Amen.