Communion of Ash Wednesday
The text of the Communion
He who shall meditate day and night on the law of the Lord shall yield his fruit in due season.
Haydock
Verse 2. Will. He is wholly occupied and delighted in keeping God’s commandments. W. --- This distinguishes the saint from him who only refrains from sin through fear. C. --- Qui timet invitus observat. S. Amb. --- Yet even servile fear is of some service, as it restrains exterior conduct, and may, in time, give place to filial reverence. H. --- Meditate, and put in practice. M. --- Night. The Jews studied the books of the law so earnestly from their childhood, that they could recite them as easily as they could tell their own names; (Josep. c. Ap. 2. Deut. vi. 6.) and is it not a shame that many Christians should be so negligent, that they have never so much as read the gospels! (C.) though they be eager enough after idle books. The sacred writings are the records of our inheritance. They shew us our true destination, and deserve to be most seriously considered from the beginning to the end. H.
Verse 3. Tree. Probably the palm-tree, the emblem of a long life. Job xxviii. 18. The tree of life is watered by the river of living waters, proceeding from the throne of God, who is the source of all grace. Apoc. xxii. 1. Lu. xxi. 33. Jo. iv. 14. C. --- Those who make good use of favours received, are continually supplied with fresh graces. W. --- And. In the office-book a new verse begins here, though not in Heb. which the Vulg. follows. They were not marked by the sacred penman. --- Prosper, and be rewarded hereafter, though the just man even among the Jews might be here afflicted. Prosperity was only promised to the nation, as long as it continued faithful. Individuals were in the same condition as Christians. They were to trust in the promises of futurity, though some have very erroneously asserted, that there is no mention of eternal felicity in thee holy canticles; (Berthier) Ferrand says, hardly in the Old Testament. C. --- All this verse might perhaps be better understood of the tree. “And its leaf…and whatever it shall produce,” faciet (fructum). H. --- Some trees are always covered with leaves, like the palm-tree, &c. M.