Septuagesima (Third Sunday before Lent) - 2014

The Sunday called Septuagesima, or the Third Sunday before Lent.

Psalm 23

Dominus regit me.

THE Lord is my shepherd : therefore can I lack nothing.

2. He shall feed me in a green pasture : and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.

3. He shall convert my soul : and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness, for his Name’s sake.

4. Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me.

5. Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me : thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full.

6. But thy loving-kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life : and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

The Collect.

O LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Joshua 1.1-9

Psalter: Psalm 8, 148 | 104

Epistle Reading:1 Corinthians 9.24-27

Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 20.1-16

Toon: “Introduction to Septuagesima

As the Church moves through the Christian Year from Epiphany to Lent she passes through three Sundays which have to modern ears strange titles. Septuagesima, Sexagesima & Quinquagesima are in fact three Latin words and they indicate how far away we are from Easter - that is, 70, 60 & 50 days respectively. From the fifth century after Christ these Sundays emerged as a preparatory cycle for Lent in the West.

The Latin names arose by analogy with Quadragesima, the first Sunday in Lent, known as the "fortieth day" before Easter. Quinquagesima is exactly fifty days before Easter but Sexagesima (60) and Septuagesima (70) are only approximations.

In Rome and the West, Septuagesima (the 70th) day before Easter was regarded as the beginning of the preparation for Easter and thus it was natural to attract to itself the theme of The Beginning, that is the Creation of the world by the Father through the Son and with the Holy Ghost. (Thus there began the reading of Genesis on this day in the monastic Daily Offices.)

In the Church of the East in the Byzantine tradition there also emerged a cycle of preparation before Lent proper, with the last two Sundays being known as "Meatfare" and "Cheesefare" Sundays. There is partial fasting between these two Sundays and then Lent begins on the Monday which is known as "Clean Monday," with no meat or cheese.

In the West, in the modern post 1960s Roman Catholic and Anglican Prayer Books, the "Gesimas" have been abolished. However, they remain part of the Christian Year in The Book of Common Prayer. They serve to place worshippers today in a long tradition of regarding Lent to be so important as a preparation for Easter, the Feast of Feasts, as to require for itself a preliminary preparation. So the "Gesimas" are a preparation for the Preparation.

The Collect for Septuagesima which begins the short cycle anticipates two chief ideas of Lent - the confession of our sin and its just punishment, and the prayer for forgiveness from God's mercy in Jesus Christ. Thus in these three weeks the faithful begin to turn their minds to Lent, its solemnity and how they will keep it, in joining with their Lord in his fasting, meditating, praying and resisting temptation in the wilderness” (The rest of Toon’s commentary can be found here: http://www.pbs.org.uk/the-bcp/septuagesima).