Ember Saturday in September: Let us acclaim God our Savior.

Two of today’s readings are from Leviticus, and they are a reminder of how much God loves us, and knows what is good for us, and lets us know it. One of the very best things for us is to worship God, and God himself is very specific about how this is to be done. The striking nature of Leviticus is just this: The absolute precision with which God defines the rubrics of worship. Nothing is left to interpretation. There are no “options.” Crisp, tight, beautiful.

Do you see where this is going?

Have you ever read Leviticus? Take five minutes, have a go at the first two chapters, and then ask yourself if the Novus Ordo, in all of its ambiguity and arbitrariness, is really the “unique expression” of the Roman Rite, as claimed by Antipope Bergoglio. On the contrary, it is indeed a miracle that it is valid at all.


 Introit
Ps 94:6-7
Come, let us bow down in worship to God; let us kneel before the Lord. Let us weep before Him Who made us; for He is the Lord our God.
Ps 94:1
Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us acclaim God our Savior.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Come, let us bow down in worship to God; let us kneel before the Lord. Let us weep before Him Who made us; for He is the Lord our God.


Collect
Let us pray.
V. Let us kneel.
R. Arise.
Almighty, everlasting God, You Who cure body and soul through healing self-denial, we humbly entreat Your majesty to hear favorably the devout prayer of those who fast, and to grant us help for the present and the future.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Lesson
Lev. 23:26-32 In those days, the Lord said to Moses, The tenth of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; it shall be most solemn, and shall be called holy; and you shall mortify yourselves on that day and offer an oblation to the Lord. On this day you shall not do any work, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord, your God. Anyone who does not mortify himself on this day shall be cut off from his people; and if anyone does any work on this day, I will remove him from the midst of his people. This is a perpetual statute for you and your descendants wherever you dwell: you shall do no work, but shall keep a Sabbath of complete rest and mortify yourselves. Beginning on the evening of the ninth of the month, you shall keep this Sabbath of yours from evening to evening, says the Lord almighty.
R. Thanks be to God.

Gradual
Ps 78:9-10
Pardon our sins, O Lord; why should the nations say, Where is their God?
V. Help us, O God our Savior; because of the glory of Your name, O Lord, deliver us.

Collect
Let us pray.
V. Let us kneel.
R. Arise.
Grant us, we beseech You, almighty God, that by fasting we may be filled with Your grace, and by abstinence we may be made stronger than all our enemies.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Lesson
Lev. 23:39-43
In those days, the Lord said to Moses, On the fifteenth day, then, of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate a pilgrim feast of the Lord for a whole week. The first and the eighth day shall be days of complete rest. On the first day you shall gather foliage from majestic trees, branches of palms and boughs of myrtles and of valley poplars, and then for a week you shall make merry before the Lord, your God. By perpetual statute for you and your descendants you shall keep this pilgrim feast of the Lord for one whole week in the seventh month of the year. During this week you shall dwell in bowers; every native Israelite among you shall dwell in booths, that your descendants may realize that, when I led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, I made them dwell in booths. I, the Lord, am your God.
R. Thanks be to God.


Here are the first two chapters of Leviticus. Have a look:

1And the Lord called Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of the testimony, saying: 2Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man among you that shall offer to the Lord a sacrifice of the cattle, that is, offering victims of oxen and sheep, 3If his offering be a holocaust, and of the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish, at the door of the testimony, to make the Lord favourable to him: 4And he shall put his hand upon the head of the victim, and it shall be acceptable, and help to its expiation. 5And he shall immolate the calf before the Lord, and the priests the sons of Aaron shall offer the blood thereof, pouring it round about the altar, which is before the door of the tabernacle. 6And when they have flayed the victim, they shall cut the joints into pieces, 7And shall put fire on the altar, having before laid in order a pile of wood: 8And they shall lay the parts that are cut out in order thereupon, to wit, the head, and all things that cleave to the liver, 9The entrails and feet being washed with water: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar for a holocaust, and a sweet savour to the Lord.

10And if the offering be of the hocks, a holocaust of sheep or of goats, he shall offer a male without blemish: 11And he shall immolate it at the side of the altar that looketh to the north, before the Lord: but the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof upon the altar round about: 12And they shall divide the joints, the head, and all that cleave to the liver: and shall lay them upon the wood, under which the fire is to be put: 13But the entrails and the feet they shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer it all and burn it all upon the altar for a holocaust, and most sweet savour to the Lord.

14But if the oblation of a holocaust to the Lord be of birds, of turtles, or of young pigeons, 15The priest shall offer it at the altar: and twisting back the neck, and breaking the place of the wound, he shall make the blood run down upon the brim of the altar. 16But the crop of the throat, and the feathers he shall cast beside the altar at the east side, in the place where the ashes are wont to be poured out, 17And he shall break the pinions thereof, and shall not cut, nor divide it with a knife, and shall burn it upon the altar, putting fire under the wood. It is a holocaust and oblation of most sweet savour to the Lord.

1When any one shall offer an oblation of sacrifice to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense, 2And shall bring it to the sons of Aaron the priests: and one of them shall take a handful of the flour and oil, and all the frankincense, and shall put it a memorial upon the altar for a most sweet savour to the Lord. 3And the remnant of the sacrifice shall be Aaron’s, and his sons’, holy of holies of the offerings of the Lord.

4But when thou offerest a sacrifice baked in the oven of flour, to wit, loaves without leaven, tempered with oil, and unleavened wafers, anointed with oil: 5If thy oblation be from the fryingpan, of flour tempered with oil, and without leaven, 6Thou shalt divide it into little pieces, and shalt pour oil upon it. 7And if the sacrifice be from the gridiron, in like manner the flour shall be tempered with oil: 8And when thou offerest it to the Lord, thou shalt deliver it to the hands of the priest. 9And when he hath offered it, he shall take a memorial out of the sacrifice, and burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour to the Lord. 10And whatsoever is left, shall be Aaron’s, and his sons’, holy of holies of the offerings of the Lord.

11Every oblation that is offered to the Lord shall be made without leaven, neither shall any leaven or honey be burnt in the sacrifice to the Lord. 12You shall offer only the firstfruits of them and gifts: but they shall not be put upon the altar, for a savour of sweetness, 13Whatsoever sacrifice thou offerest, thou shalt season it with salt, neither shalt thou take away the salt of the covenant of thy God from thy sacrifice. In all thy oblations thou shalt offer salt.

14But if thou offer a gift of the firstfruits of thy corn to the Lord, of the ears yet green, thou shalt dry it at the fire, and break it small like meal, and so shalt thou offer thy firstfruits to the Lord, 15Pouring oil upon it and putting on frankincense, because it is the oblation of the Lord. 16Whereof the priest shall burn for a memorial of the gift, part of the corn broken small and of the oil, and all the frankincense.

2 thoughts on “Ember Saturday in September: Let us acclaim God our Savior.”

  1. I was thinking the same at Mass. Lately 1 Cor 10:15 keeps coming to mind – with most of them God was not well pleased. He just didn’t open the earth up to swallow them. Fr Hardon said bad priests are to blame.

  2. In which book of the Bible does God do the most direct talking as a proportion?
    Leviticus. 88 percent of the words it contains are spoken directly by God.
    Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah contain more of God’s directly spoken words, because they are both more than 50% longer than Leviticus. However, as a proportion, God speaks 82% and 58% of the words directly in those books.
    Figures from SourceView Bible App, which although incomplete, missing the seven Deuterocanonical books, is a great and unique resource for study of the other books.
    You can also visually verify with a “red text” Bible, where God’s directly spoken words are printed in red.

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