On the preceding day (Ash Wednesday), all are invited to repentance; and because penance consists in three things, namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, on the three days, the liturgy treats of these three, with prayer first, on this Thursday, and for this reason, the introit begins with the words, “When I cried out to the Lord.”
Introit When I cried out to the Lord, He heard my voice from those who approach me, and He humbled them, Who is before the ages and remaineth forever. Cast Thy thought upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee. Ps. Hear my prayer, o God, and despise not my pleading; give Thou heed to me, and hear me. Glory be... When I cried out...Introitus, Ps. 54 Dum clamárem ad Dóminum, exaudívit vocem meam ab his, qui appropinquant mihi, et humiliávit eos, qui est ante sáecula et manet in aeternum: jacta cogitátum tuum in Dómino, et ipse te enutriet. Ps. Exaudi, Deus, oratiónem meam, et ne despéxeris deprecatiónem meam: intende mihi et exaudi me. Gloria Patri... Dum clamárem...Now a man may pray sometimes for himself, sometimes for another. Therefore, to show how much prayer made for another on one’s behalf avails, there follows the Epistle, “Ezechiah grew sick unto death,” (Isaiah 38, 1-6), in which the Church puts King Ezechiah forth as an example, who, by the prayer made for himself, obtained from the Lord that fifteen years be added to his life. And so that the Church may also show how greatly prayer for another avails, the Gospel “When Jesus entered Capharnaum” is read (Matt. 8, 5-13), about the centurion who prayed the Lord that his servant might be saved, and obtained this. (William Durandus, Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, VI, 29)
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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, the prophet Isaiah visits King Ezechiah as he lies on his sickbed, as narrated in today’s epistle; on the right, Ezechiah prays as he looks at the personification of Prayer. The canticle which follows this lesson, Isa. 38, 10-20, is sung in the Roman Office at Lauds of Tuesday, and in the Office of the Dead. |
