He took her by the hand, and the maid arose
The Time after Pentecost is the symbol of the Church’s long pilgrimage towards heaven, the last stages of which are described in prophetic language on these closing Sunday’s of the season. Quite naturally, the breviary lessons during November are taken from the major and minor prophets who foretell the events which will mark the end of the world. After the Jews had been carried captive into Babylon, Jeremias wandered among the ruins of Jerusalem, uttering his lamentations. “Regard, O Lord, how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow… Weeping she hath wept in the night and her tears are on her cheeks” (2nd response for the first Sunday in November). But he goes on to foretell the twofold coming of the Messiahs who will restore all things. “The Lord hath redeemed His people and delivered them; and they shall come and give praise in Mount Sion, and they shall flow together to the good tidings of the Lord” (Jeremias xxxi, 11, 12). Among those who had been carried captive into Babylon was a priest named Ezechiel who had foretold the captivity which was to overtake Israel. “The end is come, the end is come,… Now I will pour my wrath out upon the… and I will judge the according to thy ways… neither will I show mercy” (Ezechiel vi, 6-8). Later, when in exile, he prophesied further. “Our iniquities and our sins are upon us… how can we live? Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways: and why will you die, o house of Israel?” (Ezechiel xxiii, 10, 11). In one vision almighty God showed the prophet the future Temple established on a high mountain, pointing out to him how perfect would be the worship He would expect from His people when He had gathered them once more to the eternal hills of Sion. Again, Daniel, also one of the captives in Babylon, explained Nabuchodonosor’s dream in the sense that the little stone which became a great mountain after having overturned the statues of Gold, Silver, Iron and Clay is a symbol of Christ whose kingdom shall supersede all kingdoms and last forever. Among the Minor Prophets Osee is the one of whom most use is made in the official worship of the Church (in the fourth Week in November). He foretold that God would bring to an end the kingdom of the House of Israel, and that it would be said to a people that was not His people: “Ye are the sons of the living God. And the children of Israel and the children of Juda shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head.” “These words,” says St. Augustine, “are a prophecy concerning the Gentiles, who at first, did not belong to God. And since the people of the Gentiles is also spiritually of the number of Abraham’s servants, and by this title are called Israelites, the prophet adds: “The children of Israel and the children of Juda shall be gathered together and they shall appoint themselves one Head.” We think, naturally, of Christ as the corner-stone and of the two walls, one composed of the Jews and the other of the Gentiles, the first called Juda, and the second Israel; both resting on the same foundation and rising on the same ground. As for those Israelites according to the flesh who at present will not accept Christ, the same prophet foretells that one day they will believe in Him, that is not they themselves (since they will have gone to their own place) but their children. This Osee asserts in so many words when he says: “The children of Israel shall sit many days without king and without prince and without sacrifice and without altar and without therapim” (Osee iii, 4). Who does not see that this is the state of the Jews at the present time?” (Third nocturn, fourth Week). All this is shown forth in today’s Mass. Interpreting the story in the Gospel of the cure of the woman with the issue of blood and the raising of Jairus’ daughter, St. Jerome says: “When the ruler begs Jesus to raise his daughter from the dead, an eighth miracle begins. But lo! a woman, troubled with an issue of blood, slips across the path of the procession and is healed, the eighth in number, so that the ruler’s daughter loses this place and has now only the ninth, in accordance with the psalmist’s words: Ethiopia shall haste to stretch out her hands to God,” and those of the apostle: “The fulness of the Gentiles shall come in and to all Israel should be saved.” The woman troubled with the issue of blood twelve years is the people of the Gentiles, who fell sick while the Jews, represented by Jairus daughter, who was twelve years old, were being born to the faith. Now, while our Lord was on His way to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, this woman troubled with the issue of blood approached Him, so that while on His way to one person, He healed another. The apostles acted in the same way they told the Jews: “To you it behooved us first to speak the word of God: but because you reject it and judge yourselves worthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles.” So long as the hands of the Jews, full of blood, remain uncleansed, their synagogue, now dead will not rise again” (Homily for this Sunday). One day, however, this resurrection will take place, for just as the Gentiles were healed by their faith in Christ, like the woman with the issue of blood, so the Jews, disillusioned as regards Antichrist, will return to Christ Himself, who will restore life to their souls as He gave back bodily life to Jairus’ daughter. At that moment the utterance of the prophets will be fulfilled. Those, described by St. Paul in today’s Epistle, as “enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things”, will in their damnation, reach the fatal end to which such a life of wantonness must lead, while those who have lived as fellow-citizens of heaven will be forever delivered by Christ from the seductions of the world and sin. It is from heaven, the apostle goes on to remind us, that we look for the Saviour, “Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory, according to the operation whereby also He is able to subdue all things to Himself” (Epistle). This power of healing went out from Him to cure the woman with the issue of blood, and it raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. In the same way it will reach the two peoples of the Gentiles and the Jews, who are symbolized in this illness and death, and who will be saved by their faith in Christ. In fact all the acts of physical healing and raising from the dead performed by our Lord are only symbols of our freedom from sin and resurrection to come. “I will bring back your captivity from all places,” says Jeremias in the Introit; “Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob,” adds the second verse of the psalm; and the Gradual goes on: “Thou hast delivered us, O Lord, from them that afflict us.” In the same strain the Alleluia and the Offertory psalm relate how from the depths of exile the two nations have cried to the Lord imploring Him to hear their prayer, and how “with the Lord there is plenteous redemption, and He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (v. 7). So let us pray with confidence, for if at Jairus’ prayer, our Lord raised his daughter from the dead, and if He healed the woman with the issue of blood in response to her faith, it will be by carrying out our Lord’s precept: “All things, whatsoever you ask when you pray believe that you shall receive: and they shall come unto you”; in other words, by turning to God in prayer full of faith, the Gentiles will be cured of their evil passions, and Israel will rise to her true life in Christ. This return of the daughter of sin to the Truth, after her period of temporary death, will be a sign that the Last Day is near at hand, for it will put the final seal on the fulfillment of prophecy. Then freed, at last, “from the bonds of sin which by frailty we have contracted” we shall glory in God and give thanks to Him forever (Collect and Gradual).
Introit
Dicit Dóminus: Ego cógito cogitatiónes pacis, et non afflictiónis: invocábitis me, et ego exáudiam vos: et redúcam captivitátem vestram de cunctis locis. Ps. lxxxiv. 2. Benedixísti, Dómine, terram tuam: avertísti captivitátem Jacob. v. Glória Patri.
The Lord saith: I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction: you shall call upon Me, and I will hear you; and I will bring back your captivity from all places. Ps. Lord, Thou hast blessed Thy land: Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. v. Glory be.
Collect
Absólve, quaésumus, Dómine, tuórum delícta populórum: ut a peccatórum néxibus, quae pro nostra fragilitáte contráximus, tua benignitáte liberémur. Per Dóminum.
Absolve, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the sins of Thy people; that we may be delivered by Thy goodness, from the bonds of sin which by our frailty we have committed. Through our Lord.
Second Collect
Ecclesiam tuam, Domine, sancti Caroli confessoris tui atque Pontificis continua protectione custodi: ut, sicut ilium pastoralis sollicitudo gloriosum reddidit; ita nos ejus intercessio in tuo semper faciat amore ferventes. Per Dominum.
Ever keep Thy Church, O Lord, we beseech Thee, under the protection of St. Charles, Thy confessor and bishop; that through the intercession of him who became glorious by his watchful care over his flock, we may ever burn with love for Thee. Through…
Third Collect
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui nos omnium Sanctorum tuorum merita sub una tribuisti celebritate venerari: quaesumus: ut desideratam nobis tuae propitiationis abundantiam, multiplicatis intercessoribus, largiaris. Per Dominum.
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given us in one feast to venerate the merits of all Thy saints; we beseech Thee through the multitude of intercessors to grant us the desired abundance of Thy mercy. Through our Lord.
Fourth Collect
Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, qui sanctorum Martyrum tuorum Vitalis et Agricolae solemnia colimus, eorum apud te intercessionibus adjuvemur. Per Dominum.
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who celebrate the festival of Thy holy martyrs Vitalis and Agricola, may be helped by their intercession before Thee. Through our Lord.
Epistle
Léctio Epístolae beáti Pauli Apóstoli ad Philippénses. Fratres: Imitatóres mei estóte, et observáte eos qui ita ámbulant, sicut habétis formam nostram. Multi enim ámbulant, quos saepe dicébam vobis (nunc autem et flens dico) inimícos crucis Christi: quorum finis intéritus: quorum Deus venter est: et glória in confusióne ipsórum, qui terréna sápiunt. Nostra autem conversátio in caelis est: unde étiam Salvatórem exspectámus Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, qui reformábit corpus humilitátis nostrae, configurátum córpori claritátis suae, secúndum operatiónem, qua étiam possit subjícere sibi ómnia. Itaque, fratres mei caríssimi, et desideratíssimi, gáudium meum, et coróna mea; sic state in Dómino, caríssimi. Evódiam rogo, et Syntychen déprecor idípsum sápere in Dómino. Etiam rogo et te, germáne compar, ádjuva illas, quae mecum laboravérunt in Evangélio cum Cleménte, et céteris adjutóribus meis, quorum nómina sunt in libro vitae.
Lesson from the Epistle of blessed Paul the Apostle to the Philippians. Brethren, be followers of me, and observe them who walk so as you have our model. For many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping) that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory, according to the operation whereby also He is able to subdue all things unto Himself. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and most desired, my joy and my crown: so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved: I beg of Evodia, and I beseech Syntyche to be of one mind in the Lord: and I entreat thee also, my sincere companion; help those women who have labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life.
Gradual
Liberásti nos, Dómine, ex affligéntibus nos: et eos, qui nos odérunt, confudísti. v. In Deo laudábimur tota die, et in nómine tuo confitébimur in saécula. Allelúia, allelúia. Do profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi oratiónem meam. Allelúia.
Thou hast delivered us, O Lord, from them that afflict us: and hast put them to shame that hate us. v. In God we will glory all the day: and in Thy name we will give praise forever. Alleluia, alleluia. From the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my prayer. Alleluia.
Gospel
Sequéntia sancti Evangélii secúndum Matthaéum. In illo témpore: Loquénte Jesu ad turbas, ecce princeps unus accéssit, et adorábat eum, dicens: Dómine, fília mea modo defúncta est: sed veni, impóne manum tuam super eam, et vivet. Et surgens Jesus sequebátur eum, et discípuli ejus. Et ecce múlier, quae sánguinis fluxum patiebátur duódecim annis, accéssit retro, et tétigit fímbriam vestiménti ejus. Dicébat enim intra se: Si tetígero tantum vestiméntum ejus, salva ero. At Jesus convérsus, et videns eam, dixit: Confíde, fília, fides tua te salvam fecit. Et salva facta est múlier ex illa hora. Et cum venísset Jesus in domum príncipis, et vidísset tibícines, et turbam tumultuántem dicébat: Recédite: non est enim mórtua puélla, sed dormit. Et deridébant eum. Et cum ejécta esset turba, intrávit, et ténuit manum ejus. Et surréxit puélla. Et éxiit fama haec in univérsam terram illam.
Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, behold a certain ruler came up, and adored Him, saying: Lord, my daughter is even now dead; but come lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus, rising up, followed him, with His disciples. And behold a woman, who was troubled with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind Him, and touched the hem of His garment. For she said within herself: If I shall touch only His garment, I shall be healed. But Jesus turning and seeing her, said: Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus was come into the house of the ruler, and saw the minstrels and the multitude making a tumult, He said: Give peace; for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed Him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, He went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose. And the fame thereof went abroad into all that country.
Offertory
De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi oratiónem meam: de profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine.
From the depths I have cried out to Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer: from the depths I have cried out to Thee, O Lord.
Secret
Pro nostrae servitútis augménto sacrifícium tibi, Dómine, laudis offérimus: ut, quod imméritis contulísti, propítius exsequáris. Per Dóminum.
We offer to Thee, O Lord, this sacrifice of praise as an additional act of homage: that what Thou hast granted to us Thine unworthy servants, Thou wouldst mercifully accomplish. Through our Lord.
Second Secret
Exáudi nos, Deus salutáris noster: ut per hujus sacraménti virtútem, a cunctis nos mentis et córporis hóstibus tueáris; grátiam tríbuens in praesénti, et glóriam in futúro. Per Dóminum.
Graciously hear us, O God our Saviour, and by the virtue of this sacrament protect us from all enemies of soul and body, bestowing on us both grace in this life and glory hereafter. Through our Lord.
Preface for the Most Holy Trinity
Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutáre, nos tibi semper, et ubíque grátias ágere: Dómine sancte, Pater omnípotens, aetérne Deus: Qui cum unigénito Fílio tuo, et Spíritu Sancto, unus es Deus, unus es Dóminus: non in uníus singularitáte persónae, sed in uníus Trinitáte substántiae. Quod enim de tua glória, revelánte te, crédimus, hoc de Fílio tuo, hoc de Spíritu Sancto, sine differéntia discretiónis sentímus. Ut in confessióne verae sempitern-aéque Deitátis, et in persónis propríetas, et in esséntia únitas, et in majestáte adorétur aequálitas. Quam laudant Angeli atque Archángeli, Chérubim quoque ac Séraphim: qui non cessant clamáre quotídie, una voce dicéntes:
It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God. Who with Thine only-begotten Son and the Holy Ghost art one God, one Lord; not in the oneness of a single person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For that which we believe from Thy revelation concerning Thy glory, that same we believe also of Thy Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without difference or separation. So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, we shall adore distinction in persons, oneness in being, and equality in majesty. Which the angels and archangels, the cherubim also and the seraphim do praise nor cease to cry out as with one voice:
Communion
Amen dico vobis, quidquid orántes pétitis, crédite quia accipiétis, et fiet vobis.
Amen I say to you, whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive and it shall be done to you.
Postcommunion
Quaésumus, omnípotens Deus: ut, quos divína tríbuis participatióne gaudére, humánis non sinas subjacére perículis. Per Dóminum.
We beseech Thee, almighty God, that Thou wouldst not permit us to be subject to human dangers, to whom Thou givest to rejoice in the participation of divine mysteries. Through our Lord.
Second Postcommunion
Mundet et múniat nos, quaé-sumus, Dómine, divíni Sacra-ménti munus oblátum: et, intercedénte beáta Vírgine Dei Genitríce María, cum beáto Joseph, beátis Apóstolis tuis Petro et Paulo, atque beáto N., et ómnibus Sanctis; a cunctis nos reddat et perversitátibus expiátos, et adversitátibus expedítos. Per eúmdem Dóminum.
May the oblation of this divine sacrament cleanse and defend us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and, through the inter-cession of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with blessed Joseph, Thy blessed apostles Peter and Paul, blessed N. (here mention the titular saint of the church), and all the saints, purify us from all our sins and deliver us from all adversity. Through the same Lord.