News Item: : Septuagesima - From the Crib to the Cross
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
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Monday 02 February 2015 - 11:50:44

The Parable of the Vineyard from Chapter 20 of St. Matthew's Gospel is read in the Traditional Mass for Septuagesima Sunday: This parable encourages us to practice the theological virtue of Christian Hope, by teaching us to avoid the opposite sins of despair on the one hand, and presumption on the other.

The traditional calendar provides a great variety of rich sources for spiritual nourishment and growth. The celebration of Septuagesima Sunday - marking roughly 70 days until Easter - presents us with a splendid opportunity to begin preparing for the penitential season of Lent. As Septuagesima closes the Christmas cycle, we are now journeying with Christ from the Crib to the Cross. In the Sacred Liturgy of Tradition, the purple vestments are again worn to denote penance and the Alleluia and Gloria are not said.

In order to prepare us for the solemnity of the Redemption, the Church invites us now to ponder on the fact and the malice of sin, on the need for moral effort and mortification as a response to God's grace, and above all on our need for the mercy of God.

The Traditional Liturgy yesterday thus provided an answer to all those seeking to implement notorious 'pastoral' practices, which have more to do with presumption than with conversion and genuine hope for God's mercy. For example, the Parable of the Vineyard, from Chapter 20 of St. Matthew's Gospel, teaches us that those who come to Christ at the 11th hour can still be saved and reach Heaven; this teaches us to avoid despair. On the other hand, those who come earlier must persevere in truth and love. Also, those who come later than the 11th hour are lost. These themes teach us to avoid presumption. There is a helpful teaching on the theological virtue of hope - and on the opposite sins of presumption and despair - in paragraphs CCC 2090 - 2092 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The words of the Collect for Septuagesima Sunday also gave a timeless - and timely - answer to Stephen Fry's hideously blasphemous rant against God and human suffering, which aired in Ireland on RTE at the weekend.

The Collect intones: ''Graciously hear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people: that we, who are justly afflicted for our sins, may for the glory of Thy name, be mercifully delivered.''

In light of The Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn reflected on the fact that all, who reflect honestly on their own sufferings, can come to realise that in the end we have brought suffering on ourselves and on the world by our sins. 

The difference between the Catholic Faith and all other systems of belief or thought, is that Catholics have a God Who suffers with them and transforms their sufferings for the good. The death we deserve can then be raised with Him to new life. The condition is that we repent and join our sufferings to His on the Cross. People often mockingly laugh about 'Catholic Guilt'. The truth is that, whilst all people have guilt, Catholics deal with it. They do this, in Christ, by way of the Sacraments of His Church; thus finding freedom, healing and that peace which the world cannot give.

May Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve us all in Christian Hope, helping us to avoid despair or presumption, as we toil in His vineyard from the Crib to the Cross.

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.860 )