Fragmenda

Scripture

Psalms 104–105

Psalms 104

Confitemini Domino. A thanksgiving to God for his benefits to his people Israel. Alleluia.

1 

Give glory to the Lord, and call upon his name: declare his deeds among the Gentiles.

2 

Sing to him, yea sing praises to him: relate all his wondrous works.

3 

Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 

Seek ye the lord, and be strengthened: seek his face evermore.

5 

Remember his marvellous works which he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth.

6 

O ye seed of Abraham his servant; ye sons of Jacob his chosen.

7 

He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth.

8 

He hath remembered his covenant for ever: the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

9 

Which he made to Abraham; and his oath to Isaac:

10 

And he appointed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting testament:

11 

Saying: To thee will I give the land of Chanaan, the lot of your inheritance.

12 

When they were but a small number: yea very few, and sojourners therein:

13 

And they passed from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people.

14 

He suffered no man to hurt them: and he reproved kings for their sakes.

15 

Touch ye not my anointed: and do no evil to my prophets.

16 

And he called a famine upon the land: and he broke in pieces all the support of bread.

17 

He sent a man before them: Joseph, who was sold for a slave.

18 

They humbled his feet in fetters: the iron pierced his soul,

19 

Until his word came. The word of the Lord inflamed him.

20 

The king sent, and he released him: the ruler of the people, and he set him at liberty.

21 

He made him master of his house, and ruler of all his possession.

22 

That he might instruct his princes as himself, and teach his ancients wisdom.

23 

And Israel went into Egypt: and Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Cham.

24 

And he increased his people exceedingly: and strengthened them over their enemies.

25 

He turned their heart to hate his people: and to deal deceitfully with his servants.

26 

He sent Moses his servant: Aaron the man whom he had chosen.

27 

He gave them power to shew them signs, and his wonders in the land of Cham.

28 

He sent darkness, and made it obscure: and grieved not his words.

29 

He turned their waters into blood, and destroyed their fish.

30 

Their land brought forth frogs, in the inner chambers of their kings.

31 

He spoke, and there came divers sorts of flies and sciniphs in all their coasts.

32 

He gave them hail for rain, a burning fire in the land.

33 

And he destroyed their vineyards and their fig trees: and he broke in pieces the trees of their coasts.

34 

He spoke, and the locust came, and the bruchus, of which there was no number.

35 

And they devoured all the grass in their land, and consumed all the fruit of their ground.

36 

And he slew all the firstborn in their land: the firstfruits of all their labour.

37 

And he brought them out with silver and gold: and there was not among their tribes one that was feeble.

38 

Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them lay upon them.

39 

He spread a cloud for their protection, and fire to give them light in the night.

40 

They asked, and the quail came: and he filled them with the bread of heaven.

41 

He opened the rock, and waters flowed: rivers ran down in the dry land.

42 

Because he remembered his holy word, which he had spoken to his servant Abraham.

43 

And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness.

44 

And he gave them the lands of the Gentiles: and they possessed the labours of the people:

45 

That they might observe his justifications, and seek after his law.


Psalms 105

Confitemini Domino. A confession of the manifold sins and ingratitudes of the Israelites. Alleluia.

1 

Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2 

Who shall declare the powers of the Lord? who shall set forth all his praises?

3 

Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all times.

4 

Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of thy people: visit us with thy salvation.

5 

That we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in the joy of thy nation: that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance.

6 

We have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity.

7 

Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt: they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies: And they provoked to wrath going up to the sea, even the Red Sea.

8 

And he saved them for his own name’s sake: that he might make his power known.

9 

And he rebuked the Red Sea and it was dried up: and he led them through the depths, as in a wilderness.

10 

And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them: and he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11 

And the water covered them that afflicted them: there was not one of them left.

12 

And they believed his words: and they sang his praises.

13 

They had quickly done, they forgot his works: and they waited not for his counsel.

14 

And they coveted their desire in the desert: and they tempted God in the place without water.

15 

And he gave them their request: and sent fulness into their souls.

16 

And they provoked Moses in the camp, Aaron the holy one of the Lord.

17 

The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan: and covered the congregation of Abiron.

18 

And a fire was kindled in their congregation: the flame burned the wicked.

19 

They made also a calf in Horeb: and they adored the graven thing.

20 

And they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that eateth grass.

21 

They forgot God, who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,

22 

Wondrous works in the land of Cham: terrible things in the Red Sea.

23 

And he said that he would destroy them: had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach: To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

24 

And they set at nought the desirable land. They believed not his word,

25 

And they murmured in their tents: they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.

26 

And he lifted up his hand over them: to overthrow them in the desert;

27 

And to cast down their seed among the nations, and to scatter them in the countries.

28 

They also were initiated to Beelphegor: and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

29 

And they provoked him with their inventions: and destruction was multiplied among them.

30 

Then Phinees stood up, and pacified him: and the slaughter ceased.

31 

And it was reputed to him unto justice, to generation and generation for evermore.

32 

They provoked him also at the waters of contradiction: and Moses was afflicted for their sakes:

33 

Because they exasperated his spirit. And he distinguished with his lips.

34 

They did not destroy the nations of which the Lord spoke unto them.

35 

And they were mingled among the heathens, and learned their works:

36 

And served their idols, and it became a stumblingblock to them.

37 

And they sacrificed their sons, and their daughters to devils.

38 

And they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters which they sacrificed to the idols of Chanaan. And the land was polluted with blood,

39 

And was defiled with their works: and they went aside after their own inventions.

40 

And the Lord was exceedingly angry with his people: and he abhorred his inheritance.

41 

And he delivered them into the hands of the nations: and they that hated them had dominion over them.

42 

And their enemies afflicted them: and they were humbled under their hands:

43 

Many times did he deliver them. But they provoked him with their counsel: and they were brought low by their iniquities.

44 

And he saw when they were in tribulation: and he heard their prayer.

45 

And he was mindful of his covenant: and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

46 

And he gave them unto mercies, in the sight of all those that had made them captives.

47 

Save us, O Lord, our God: and gather us from among the nations: That we may give thanks to thy holy name, and may glory in thy praise.

48 

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say: So be it, so be it.

Catechism

An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Lesson 24, Question 269

269 Q. How should we assist at Mass?

A. We should assist at Mass with great interior recollection and piety and with every outward mark of respect and devotion.

If you were admitted into the presence of a king or of the Holy Father you would be careful not to show any indifference or disrespect in his presence. You would not be guilty of looking around or of talking idly to those near you. Your eyes would be constantly fixed on the great person present. So should you be at Mass, for there you are admitted into the presence of the King of kings, our divine Lord. Your whole attention, therefore, should be reverently given to Him, and to no other. How displeasing it must be to Him to have some in His presence who care so little for Him and who insult Him without thought or regard! If we acted in the presence of any prince as we sometimes act in the presence of Our Lord on the altar, we should be turned out of his house, with orders not to come again. But Our Lord suffers all patiently and meekly, though He will not allow any of this disrespect to go unpunished in this world or in the next. Knowing this, some holy persons offer up their prayers and Holy Communions in reparation for these insults, and try to atone for all the insults offered to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. They have united in holy society for this purpose, called the Apostleship of Prayer, or League of the Sacred Heart, now established in many parishes. If you do not belong to such a society, you should make such an offering yourself privately.

In the Old Law the people brought to the temple whatever they wished the priests to offer up for them—sometimes a lamb, sometimes a dove, sometimes fruit, etc. The offering or sacrifice was theirs, and they offered it up by the hands of the priests. In the early ages of the Church the Christians brought to the priests the bread and wine to be consecrated and offered up at Mass. Now as the bread and wine used at the Mass must be of a particular kind, namely, wheaten bread and wine of the grape, there was some danger of the people not bringing the proper kind: so instead of the people bringing these things themselves, the priests began to buy them, and the people gave him money for his own support; and thus you have the origin of offering money to the priest for celebrating Mass for your intention. The money is not to pay for the Mass, because you could not buy any sacred thing without committing sin. The priest may use the money also for the candles burned, the vestments and sacred vessels, etc., used at the Mass. To buy a holy thing for money is the sin of simony—so called after Simon, a magician, who tried to bribe the Apostles to give him Confirmation when he was unworthy of it. To buy religious articles before they are blessed is not simony, nor even after they are blessed, if you pay only for the material of which they are made; but if you tried to buy the blessing, it would be simony. When the Holy Mass is offered, the fruits or benefits of it are divided into four classes. The first benefit comes to the priest who celebrates the Mass; the second, to the one for whom he offers the Mass; the third benefit to those who are present at it; and the fourth to all the faithful throughout the world.