March 17
Daily Gleanings of the Saintly LifeSeptuagesima Sunday
· Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh. S. Matthew 24:44.
SEPTUAGESIMA begins to arouse us to the race set before us. It is, I have always thought, a marvellous proof of the Church's wisdom that we do not at once go from Epiphany joy to Lent humiliation. We have these days intervening; days, as they tell us, wherein those who intend to run in that race are to divest themselves, as the racers of old, of every hindrance; so that when Ash Wednesday shall come, we may be found ready and longing to run in the race set before us. Well, then, whatever may be the separate work of each of you this Lent, remember this, that it may be the means whereby the days of your purification may be accomplished. One cannot but imagine, if, as the general belief of the Church is, your guardian angels foresee what are to be your especial difficulties, trials, temptations for that time, what is the intense interest with which they must see you preparing yourselves for the warfare. There is something very striking, very dear, in carrying out our Lord's own words, "Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." The watchword for all is, quite as much in Septuagesima as in Lent, Preparation. Be ye also ready to serve Him with your very best; ready, if He should call you thence, or hence, home to Him, to say, "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord."
In Thee, dear Lord, my pensive soul respires, Thou art the Fulness of my choice desires; Thou art that sacred Spring whose waters burst In streams to him that seeks with holy thirst. Thrice happy man, thrice happy thirst to bring Thy fainting soul to so, so sweet a Spring.