Sacred Calendar

First Lesson, Song of Songs

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him but I found him not. Then I rose and went about the city; in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me. Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth. I have taken hold on him, and I will not let him go, until I bring him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

Second Lesson

O that thou wert my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother, that I might find thee without, and kiss thee, and still no man despise me! I will take hold on thee, and bring thee into my mother's house; there thou shalt teach me, and I will give thee a cup of my spiced wine, and new wine of my pomegranates. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until she please.

Third Lesson

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, overflowing with gladness, leaning upon her beloved?

Under an apple-tree did I rouse thee up; there was thy mother ravished, there was she deflowered that bare thee. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm. For love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave; the light thereof is a light of fire and flames. Many waters cannot quench love, neither will floods drown it.

Fourth Lesson, Pope St. Gregory the Great

Mary Magdalen, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, through love of the truth, washed away in her tears the defilement of her sins, and the words of the Truth are fulfilled which He spake: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much." She who had remained chilly in sin, became fiery through love.

When even His disciples went away again unto their own home, Mary still stood without at the sepulchre of Christ, weeping. She sought Him Whom her soul loved, but she found Him not. She searched for Him with tears; she yearned with strong desire for Him Who, she believed, had been taken away. And thus it befell her, that being the only one who had remained to seek Him, she was the only one that saw Him. It is the truth that the backbone of a good work is perseverance.

Fifth Lesson

At first when she sought Him, she found Him not; she went on searching, and so it came to pass that she found Him; and this was so, to the end that her longing might grow in earnestness, and so in its earnestness might find what it sought.

Hence is it that the Bride in the Song of Songs saith as representing the Church: "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth." We seek on our bed for Him Whom our soul loveth, when, having got some little rest in this world, we still sigh for the Presence of our Redeemer; but it is by night that we so seek Him, for though our mind may be on the alert for Him, yet still He is hidden from our eyes by the darkness that now is.

Sixth Lesson

But if we find not Him Whom our soul loveth, it remaineth that we should rise and go about the city, that is, by thought and questioning, go through the holy Church of the elect; seek Him in the streets, and in the broad ways, that is, walk anxiously looking about us both in the narrow and the broad places, that if we can, we may find His footsteps there, for there are some even of those who live for the world, from whom something may be learnt to be imitated by a godly man.

As we thus go wakefully about, the watchmen, that keep the city, find us; the holy Fathers, who are the watchmen of the bulwarks of the Church, come to meet our good endeavours, and to teach us either by their words or by their writings. And it needeth but a little to pass from them, but we find Him Whom our soul loveth, for albeit our Redeemer in lowliness became a man among men, yet by right of His Divine Nature He is still above men.

Seventh Lesson, St. Augustine on Luke 7

Ye have listened carefully to the Gospel whileas it was being read, so that the thing told hath, as it were, passed before the eyes of your heart. Ye have seen in your mind's eye, albeit not with bodily sight, the Lord JESUS Christ sitting down to meat in the Pharisee's house, and not refusing when He is bidden of him.

Ye have seen also an infamous woman of the city, one of utterly bad character, a sinner, thrusting herself in an uninvited guest, to the banquet where her Healer was sitting, and seeking health at His hands with godly shamelessness; thrusting herself in eager for mercy, as though eager for the feast. She knew under what a disease she laboured, and she knew that He unto Whom she came was mighty to cure it.

Eighth Lesson

She drew near therefore, not unto the Lord's Head, but unto His Feet. She that had so long walked the paths of sin betook her unto the Feet that went about doing good. She first poured forth heart-felt tears, and washed the Lord's Feet with the humble service of her acknowledgment, wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them. Her silence cried aloud, not in words but in manifested love.

The Pharisee, who had desired the Lord JESUS Christ that He would eat with him, belonged to that class of proud men concerning whom the Prophet Isaiah saith: "A people which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou." When therefore he saw how this woman touched the Lord's Feet with her tears, her kisses, her hair, and her ointment, he spake within himself, saying: "This Man, if He were a Prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is, that toucheth Him; for she is a sinner."

Ninth Lesson

O Pharisee, that biddest and scornest the Lord! Thou invitest the Lord to meat, and thou knowest not Him That should have given thee to eat! Whence knowest thou that the Lord knoweth not who and what manner of woman this is, save from this, that she is allowed to draw near unto Him, and that He suffereth her to kiss His Feet, to wipe them, and to anoint them?

Ought not an unclean woman to have been permitted to do these things to clean feet? If such a woman had drawn near to the feet of this Pharisee, he would have said to her what Isaiah putteth into the mouth of such: "Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou." But she came unto the Lord unclean that she might go away cleansed, sick, that she might go away healed, with confession, that she might go away with thanksgiving.