Sexagesima

Sexagesima Sunday is the second Sunday of the pre-Lenten season. As we approach the penitential season of Lent, now is a suitable time to lift our imperfect eyes from our imperfect circumstances and remember by Whom we were made and towards Whom we should set our hearts.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
    look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
    the earth will wear out like a garment
    and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
    my righteousness will never fail.

Isaiah 51:6

And do not despair that the burdens of this life are too heavy to carry:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

May God bless you, kind visitor, with a humble and contrite heart, and strength to bear your burdens with hope.

Septuagesima Sunday

Psalm 50 (Douay Rheims)

¹ Unto the end, a psalm of David,

² When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bethsabee.

³ Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.

⁴ Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

⁵ For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.

⁶ To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged.

⁷ For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.

⁸ For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.

⁹ Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

¹⁰ To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.

¹¹ Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

¹² Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.

¹³ Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

¹⁴ Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.

¹⁵ I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be converted to thee.

¹⁶ Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice.

¹⁷ O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

¹⁸ For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.

¹⁹ A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

²⁰ Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

²¹ Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

Show with Haydock Commentary or the Latin Vulgate Bible
Bible passage courtesy of VeritasBible.com

Father Gordon Mahoney, RIP

Father Gordon Mahoney, an associate priest at Sts. Peter and Paul for several years, and a pastor in his own right before that, passed into eternal life today. He kindly visited my mother in the hospital a decade ago when she was battling cancer. May God grant them now a happier meeting.

A memorial Mass will be said for him on Thursday, February 24th at 11:00am.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Please remember him in your prayers.

+++
And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Genesis 5:22-24

Exegesis of this passage, according to an young girl blessed with understanding:

Enoch and God were friends and they used to go on walks together. One day, they went on a very long walk, and it was getting dark, and God said "We are closer to My house than to yours. Why don't we go there, instead?".

So they did.

Candlemas

The first prayer for the Blessing of the Candles on the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God, Who hast created all things out of nothing, and Who through the labor of bees at thy command hast caused this fluid to come to the perfection of wax, and Who, on this day, didst fulfill the request of the just Simeon, we humbly beseech Thee, that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bless † and sanctify † these candles prepared for the service of man, and for the health of their bodies and souls, whether by land or sea, through the invocation of thy holy Name, and through the intercession of blessed Mary, Ever-Virgin, whose feast is this day devoutly celebrated, and through the prayers of all thy Saints; and that from thy holy heaven, and from the seat of thy majesty, Thou wouldst hear the voice of this thy people, who desire in thy honor to bear them in their hands, and to praise and exalt Thee; and that Thou wouldst be propitious unto all who call upon Thee, whom Thou has redeemed with the precious blood of thy Son. Who with Thee and the Holy Spirit liveth in glory, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The candles to be used this year in Church are blessed today and there is also a custom of bringing beeswax candles from home to be blessed. They should be made of at least mostly beeswax. Worker bees do not mate and are considered a symbol of virginity.

Our Lady, ever virgin, needed no purification, but she did not place herself above the law, which came from God, and in in humble obedience presented herself at the temple with her Son. There they encountered Saint Simeon and Saint Anna, who recognized that the messiah had at last come.

Saint Simeon blessed God for keeping him to see this day. Speaking as a prophet, he hailed the glory of Israel: our Lord, Who was to be a light for revelation to all the nations. And he warned our Lady of bitter sorrow to follow. Recalling his words, our thoughts are turned from the joy of the Christmas season now ending to the somberness of the approaching Lenten season.