The Sunday called Quinquagesima
the Sunday before Lent
Augustine on Psalm XVI
Quinquagesima Home
O LORD which dost teach us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth; Send thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
Quinquagesima is 50 days before Easter and the Sunday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Source of collect, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer [1549]. Reflects 1 Cor 13 on Charity. Replaced a Mideival prayer used on Shrove Tuesday, when penitients were shriven, that is absolved, of their sins
Deuteronomy xxxiii 1 Psalm 15, 16 | 111, 112; 1 Corinthians xiii. 1. & St. Luke xviii. 31
Homily of Augustine on Psalm XVI
ECCLESIA MILITANS
Deuteronomy xxxiii 1-4
And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
Psalms for Morning and Evening 15, 16 | 111, 112
1 Corinthians xiii. 1
THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.St. Luke xviii. 31
THEN Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way-side begging: and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
Scripture from 1928 Book of Common Prayer and KJV
The Collects of Thos. Cramner, Barbee and Zalh
Augustine
Psalm XVI
The inscription of the title, of David himself. [505]
1. Our King in this Psalm speaks in the character of the human [506]
nature He assumed, of whom the royal title at the time of His passion
was eminently set forth.
2. Now He saith as follows; "Preserve me, O Lord, for in Thee have I
hoped" (ver. 1): "I have said to the Lord, Thou art my God, for Thou
requirest not my goods" (ver. 2): for with my goods Thou dost not look
to be made blessed.
3. "To the saints who are on His earth" (ver. 3): to the saints who
have placed their hope in the land of the living, the citizens of the
heavenly Jerusalem, whose spiritual conversation is, by the anchor of
hope, fixed in that country, which is rightly called God's earth;
although as yet in this earth too they be conversant in the flesh. "He
hath wonderfully fulfilled all My wishes in them." To those saints then
He hath wonderfully fulfilled all My wishes in their advancement,
whereby they have perceived, how both the humanity of My divinity hath
profited them that I might die, and the divinity of the humanity that I
might rise again.
4. "Their infirmities have been multiplied" [507] (ver. 4): their
infirmities have been multiplied not for their destruction, but that
they might long for the Physician. "Afterwards they made haste."
Accordingly after infirmities multiplied they made haste, that they
might be healed. "I will not gather together their assemblies by
blood." For their assemblies shall not be carnal, nor will I gather
them together as one propitiated by the blood of cattle. [508] "Nor
will I be mindful of their names within My lips." But by a spiritual
change what they have been shall be forgotten; nor by Me shall they be
any more called either sinners, or enemies, or men; but righteous, and
My brethren, and sons of God through My peace.
5. "The Lord is the portion of Mine inheritance, and of My cup" (ver.
5). For together with Me they shall possess the inheritance, the Lord
Himself. Let others choose for themselves portions, earthly and
temporal, to enjoy: the portion of the Saints is the Lord eternal. Let
others drink of deadly pleasures, the portion of My cup is the Lord. In
that I say, "Mine," I include the Church: for where the Head is, there
is the body also. For into the inheritance will I gather together their
assemblies, and by the inebriation of the cup I will forget their old
names. "Thou art He who will restore to Me My inheritance:" that to
these too, whom I free, may be known "the glory wherein I was with Thee
before the world was made." [509] For Thou wilt not restore to Me that
which I never lost, but Thou wilt restore to these, who have lost it,
the knowledge of that glory: in whom because I am, Thou wilt restore to
Me.
6. "The lines have fallen to me in glorious places" (ver. 6). The
boundaries of my possession have fallen in Thy glory as it were by lot,
like as God is the possession of the Priests and Levites. [510] "For
Mine inheritance is glorious to Me." "For Mine inheritance is
glorious," not to all, but to them that see; in whom because I am, "it
is to Me."
7. "I will bless the Lord, who hath given Me understanding" (ver. 7):
whereby this inheritance may be seen and possessed. "Yea moreover too
even unto night my reins have chastened Me." Yea besides understanding,
even unto death, My inferior part, the assumption of flesh, hath
instructed Me, that I might experience the darkness of mortality, which
that understanding hath not.
8. "I foresaw the Lord in My sight always" (ver. 8). But coming into
things that pass away, I removed not Mine eye from Him who abideth
ever, foreseeing this, that to Him I should return after passing
through the things temporal. "For He is on My right hand, that I should
not be moved." For He favoureth Me, that I should abide fixedly in Him.
9. "Wherefore My heart was glad, and My tongue exulted" (ver. 9).
Wherefore both in My thoughts is gladness, and in my words exultation.
"Moreover too My flesh shall rest in hope." Moreover too My flesh shall
not fail unto destruction, but shall sleep in hope of the resurrection.
10. "For Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell" (ver. 10). For Thou wilt
neither give My soul for a possession to those parts below. "Neither
wilt Thou grant Thine Holy One to see corruption." Neither wilt Thou
suffer that sanctified body, whereby others are to be also sanctified,
to see corruption. "Thou hast made known to Me the paths of life" (ver.
11). Thou hast made known through Me the paths of humiliation, that
[511] men might return to life, from whence they fell through pride; in
whom because I am, "Thou hast made known to Me." "Thou wilt fill Me
with joy with Thy countenance." Thou wilt fill them with joy, that they
should seek nothing further, when they shall see Thee "face to face;"
in whom because I am, "Thou wilt fill Me." "Pleasure is at Thy right
hand even to the end." Pleasure is in Thy favour and mercy in this
life's journey, leading on even to the end of the glory of Thy
countenance. [512]
Let us pray in the words of Augustine.
Turn we to the Lord God, the Father Almighty, and with pure hearts offer to him, so far as our
meanness can, great and true thanks, with all our hearts praying his exceeding kindness, that of
his good pleasure he would deign to hear our prayers, that by his Power he would drive out the
enemy from our deeds and thoughts, that he would increase our faith, guide our understandings,
give us spiritual thoughts, and lead us to his bliss, through Jesus Christ his Son our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth with him, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[A prayer which he was wont to use after his Sermons and Lectures.]
NPNF (V1-08) St. Augustine
Notes:
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[504] Lat. XV.
[505] ["Michtam of David," which Bishop Wordsworth derives from Catham,
and illustrates by Job xix. 23.--C.]
[506] Susceptionis humanae.
[507] So Oxford mss.
[508] Isa. i. 11, 12.
[509] John xvii. 5.
[510] Numb. xviii. 20.
[511] Oxford mss. "that by it."
[512] [Compare Acts ii. 25 and xiii. 34.--C.]
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