On the previous day, Durandus explains that the Masses of the three days after Ash Wednesday treat of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving respectively.
The liturgy of Friday is about fasting, and shows what kind of fast is pleasing to God, namely, that which is spiritual, not carnal. For this reason the epistle (Isaiah 58, 1-9) says, “Cry out, cease not... why have we fasted, and Thou hast not regarded?” And the Lord answered, “Is this such a fast as I have chosen, (for a man to afflict his soul for a day), or wind his head about like a circle?” (vs. 5), as if to say, Such a fast does not please me, that a man should torment himself, but rather, that he should loose the bands of wickedness (vs. 6), that is, abstain from every sin, which is done through charity. From this follows the Gospel (Matthew 5, 43 - 6, 4), “You have heard that it was said, ‘Thou shalt love they neighbor.’ ”, which treats of charity. (William Durandus, Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, VI, 30)
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| An image from the Paris Psalter, a decorated psalter made in Constantinople in the mid-10th century, now at the Bibliothèque national de France in Paris. On the left side stands the personification of night, and in the middle, the prophet Isaiah, with the personification of the early morning, represented as a small child carrying a torch, in front of him as he looks up to God. This refers to one of the canticles from his book, chapter 26, 9-20, which is sung at Orthros in the Byzantine Rite, and Sunday Matins in the Ambrosian Rite. |
