Sirach 39:12-21; 32-35; 42:15-25(Third Monday of Lent)
I have more on my mind to express; I am full like the full moon. Listen to me, my faithful children, and blossom like a rose growing by a stream of water. Send out fragrance like incense, and put forth blossoms like a lily. Scatter the fragrance, and sing a hymn of praise; bless the Lord for all his works. Ascribe majesty to his name and give thanks to him with praise, with songs on your lips, and with harps; this is what you shall say in thanksgiving:
‘All the works of the Lord are very good, and whatever he commands will be done at the appointed time. No one can say, “What is this?” or “Why is that?”— for at the appointed time all such questions will be answered. At his word the waters stood in a heap, and the reservoirs of water at the word of his mouth. When he commands, his every purpose is fulfilled, and none can limit his saving power. The works of all are before him, and nothing can be hidden from his eyes. From the beginning to the end of time he can see everything, and nothing is too marvellous for him. No one can say, “What is this?” or “Why is that?”— for everything has been created for its own purpose.
So from the beginning I have been convinced of all this and have thought it out and left it in writing:
All the works of the Lord are good, and he will supply every need in its time.
No one can say, ‘This is not as good as that’, for everything proves good in its appointed time.
So now sing praise with all your heart and voice, and bless the name of the Lord.
I will now call to mind the works of the Lord, and will declare what I have seen.
By the word of the Lord his works are made; and all his creatures do his will.
The sun looks down on everything with its light, and the work of the Lord is full of his glory.
The Lord has not empowered even his holy ones to recount all his marvellous works,
which the Lord the Almighty has established so that the universe may stand firm in his glory.
He searches out the abyss and the human heart; he understands their innermost secrets.
For the Most High knows all that may be known; he sees from of old the things that are to come.
He discloses what has been and what is to be, and he reveals the traces of hidden things.
No thought escapes him, and nothing is hidden from him.
He has set in order the splendours of his wisdom; he is from all eternity one and the same.
Nothing can be added or taken away, and he needs no one to be his counsellor.
How desirable are all his works, and how sparkling they are to see!
All these things live and remain for ever; each creature is preserved to meet a particular need.
All things come in pairs, one opposite to the other, and he has made nothing incomplete.
Each supplements the virtues of the other. Who could ever tire of seeing his glory?
Commentary
The same God who has put everything in order is the God who made it. To some, he has given awareness and understanding and immortality, as he did to the angels; to others, awareness and understanding and mortality, as to us humans; to yet others, he gave bodily sense but not understanding nor immortality, like the beasts of the field; and to yet others still, neither awareness nor understanding nor immortality, like the plants, the trees, like stones. But even these, on their level, cannot fall short: so he has ordained creation at each step, from earth to sky, from visible to invisible, from mortal to immortal. This interweaving of creation, this most well-proportioned beauty and elegance, sealing the heights from the depths, plumbing the depths from the heights, never breaking off or going short indeed, yet ever harmonising the variety. Everything there is gives praise to God.
And yet, what do we mean when we say that? It really means this: when you consider it all and see how beautiful it all is, in so doing you yourself are praising God in it, or through it. For the speechless earth has yet a voice of its own, its eloquent beauty. Take stock of its beauty, its abundance and strength, the way the seed germinates, so much commonly being brought forth that never was planted. You examine it all, marvelling as you do so at the great strength, the great beauty of it, the potency you find in it, realising that all this could not have come of itself. And it strikes you, therefore, that it could only have got there from the Creator. What you have found there is the voice, just alluded to: this manifestation presenting itself in praise of the Creator. Does not the thought of all the beauty there is in the world lead you on to the point where the very beauty itself seems to proclaim with one voice: It was not I who made me, who put me here, but God?
Observe, then, the beauty of the world: the earth, the sea, the air, the sky, the stars! Does not all this overawe the beholder? Does not the beauty itself strike the gaze as if to suggest that naught else could be devised more beautiful? And yet, here amidst all this beauty and elegance well nigh unutterable, you have worms and mice and reptiles for company. How beautiful, then, that kingdom which you share but with the angels! It was little indeed to sing the praises of visual elegance, the beauty we can see. All that would apply to anything there is, in this world, the earth resplendent with forest and glade, or the sky aflame with celestial light. But those words, the great beauty of your kingdom, tell us of a sight which we have not seen and yet believe; not having seen, yet desire because we believe, bearing all things in the meantime for that desire. That is the measure of a beauty (one which does not fade): may it be loved before it can be seen, so that once seen it may be securely possessed.(St. Augustine of Hippo)
Musical Selection
Loving source of all being, Fruitful womb of all the living, Show to us one more season of mercy.
Let us sense your compassion For the creatures you have fashioned With tenderness and with love.
Let us feel your great anguish For the people who languish In poverty and despair.
Put our hands to your labor In the service of our neighbor Whom you commit to our care.
Let us sense your deep wisdom In the beauty that has come from The depths of your mystic word.
Collect
Lord God, we pray that your endless mercy may cleanse and protect your Church; and, since it cannot stand firm without you, guide and govern it always by your grace. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.