[Officium]
Feria Quinta infra Hebdomadam I in Quadragesima

[Lectio1]
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 15:21-28
In that time, Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And so on.
_
Homily by St. Jerome, Priest (at Bethlehem.)
!Bk. ii Comm. on Matth. xv
Christ leaveth the Scribes and Pharisees who had spoken falsely against Him, and goeth into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, that He may heal the Tyrians and Sidonians. But a woman of Canaan cometh to Him out of the land He had left, and crieth to Him to give health to her daughter. Remark that the case of the daughter of this woman of Canaan is the fifteenth case of healing. Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David! She knew that He was to be called Son of David because she was come out of His own country, and had left the errors of the Tyrians and Sidonians when she changed her home and her faith.

[Responsory1]
R. I had been troubled, but that I knew thy mercy, O Lord; Thou hast said: I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his way and live.
* O Thou, Who didst call the Canaanite woman and the Publican unto repentance!
V. In the multitude of the sorrows within my heart, thy comforts delight my soul.
R. O Thou Who didst call the Canaanite woman and the Publican unto repentance!

[Lectio2]
My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. I think that the daughter of this woman of Canaan, (whom the Lord at length delivered,) was a figure of the souls of such as now believe, but were once grievously vexed by the devil, knowing not Him Who made them, and bowing down to stocks and stones. But He answered not a word not because He was puffed up with the pride of the Pharisees, or shared the high looks of the Scribes, but that He might fulfil His own word that He had spoken, saying: Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. (Matth. x. 5.) He would not give an occasion to such as spoke falsely against Him, and He kept back perfect salvation from the Gentiles until such time as He should have suffered and risen again.

[Lectio3]
And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: Send her away; for she crieth after us. The disciples, knowing not as yet the mysterious things of the Lord, said this, either because they were moved with compassion and so interceded for this Canaanite woman, whom another Evangelist calleth a Syrophoenician, (Mark vii. 26,) or because she was crying out that the Lord was an hard, instead of a merciful physician, and they desired to be rid of her clamour. But He answered and said: I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, not that He was not sent unto the Gentiles, but because it was to Israel in the first instance that He was sent, whom refusing the Gospel, He might justly pass away from, and go to the Gentiles.

[Ant 2]
And Jesus went from thence * and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him: Have mercy on me, O thou Son of David.

[Oratio 2]
We beseech thee, O Lord, look with favor upon the devotion of Thy people, that they who mortify the body by abstinence, may be refreshed in mind by the fruit of good works.
$Per Dominum

[Ant 3]
O woman * great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.

[Oratio 3]
Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, unto all Christian people, that what they now believe they may one day know and may see in love unchecked, that heavenly gift whereof now they are the worshippers and the partakers.
$Per Dominum