# Nocturn 2-3, Palm Sunday (temporalId palm-sunday). Sourced from # Tempora/Quad6-0.txt (Latin) / English/Tempora/Quad6-0.txt. See # advent-1.yml/lent-1.yml for the general sweep method. # # Nocturn 2 (Lectio4-6): one continuous excerpt from St. Leo the Great's # Sermon on the Passion of the Lord. Responsory: Lectio4's own # (Responsory4, "Conclúsit vias meas inimícus"). # # Nocturn 3 (Lectio7-9): Lectio7 carries real homily prose after its bare # Gospel incipit (Matt 21:1-9, the entry into Jerusalem, "Et réliqua") - # St. Ambrose's Commentary on Luke, Book 9, begins within Lectio7 itself, # same pattern used throughout this sweep. Combined Lectio7's homily # portion (incipit dropped) with Lectio8-9, using Responsory7 ("Dóminus # mecum est tamquam bellátor fortis") - the first responsory of the group # the combined reading spans. # # Update (2026-09): the Gospel pericope itself, previously left unauthored # per the "bare incipit, skip it" convention described above, is now # authored too (isGospel: true, immediately before the homily). Unlike # every other Sunday in this sweep, Palm Sunday's Missale [Evangelium] tag # is the Passion narrative (Matt 26-27), read at Mass itself - Matt 21:1-9, # the entry into Jerusalem this Nocturn 3 homily is actually about, is a # second, separate Gospel proclaimed earlier at the Blessing of Palms # (Tempora/Quad6-0.txt's own Benedictio Palmorum section, not its # [Evangelium] tag) - sourced from there instead. Matins now shows the # full Gospel, then the homily on it, matching post-pentecost-15's # original pattern - see TODO.md's dated entry. id: palm-sunday readings: - nocturn: 2 isGospel: false source: "St. Leo the Great, Sermon on the Passion of the Lord" text: la: >- Desideráta nobis, dilectíssimi, et univérso optábilis mundo adest festívitas Domínicæ passiónis, quæ nos inter exsultatiónes spirituálium gaudiórum silére non pátitur. Quia etsi diffícile est, de eádem solemnitáte sǽpius digne aptéque dissérere: non est tamen líberum sacerdóti in tanto divínæ misericórdiæ sacraménto fidélibus pópulis subtráhere sermónis offícium: cum ipsa matéria ex eo quod est ineffábilis, fandi tríbuat facultátem: nec possit defícere quod dicátur, dum numquam potest satis esse quod dícitur. Succúmbat ergo humána infírmitas glóriæ Dei, et in explicándis opéribus misericórdiæ ejus, ímparem se semper invéniat. Laborémus sensu, hæreámus ingénio, deficiámus elóquio: bonum est ut nobis parum sit, quod étiam recte de Dómini majestáte sentímus. Dicénte enim prophéta: Quǽrite Dóminum, et confirmámini, quǽrite fáciem ejus semper: némini præsuméndum est, quod totum quod quærit, invénerit, ne désinat propinquáre, qui cessárit accédere. Quid autem inter ómnia ópera Dei, in quibus humánæ admiratiónis fatigátur inténtio, ita contemplatiónem mentis nostræ et obléctat et súperat, sicut pássio Salvatóris? Qui ut humánum genus vínculis mortíferæ prævaricatiónis absólveret, et sæviénti diábolo poténtiam suæ majestátis occúluit, et infirmitátem nostræ humilitátis objécit. Si enim crudélis et supérbus inimícus consílium misericórdiæ Dei nosse potuísset, Judæórum ánimos mansuetúdine pótius temperáre, quam injústis ódiis studuísset accéndere: ne ómnium captivórum amítteret servitútem, dum nihil sibi debéntis perséquitur libertátem. Feféllit ergo illum malígnitas sua, íntulit supplícium Fílio Dei, quod cunctis fíliis hóminum in remédium verterétur. Fudit sánguinem justum, qui reconciliándo mundo et prétium esset, et póculum. Suscépit Dóminus, quod secúndum propósitum suæ voluntátis elégit. Admísit in se ímpias manus furéntium: quæ dum próprio incúmbunt scéleri, famulátæ sunt Redemptóri. Cujus étiam circa interfectóres suos tanta erat pietátis afféctio, ut de cruce súpplicans Patri, non se vindicári, sed illis postuláret ignósci. en: >- Dearly beloved brethren, the jubilant and triumphal day which ushereth in the commemoration of the Lord's Passion is come; even that day for which we have longed so much, and for whose yearly coming the whole world may well look. Shouts of spiritual exultation are ringing, and suffer not that we should be silent. It is indeed hard to preach often on the same Festival, and that always meetly and rightly, but a Priest is not free, when we celebrate so great and mysterious an out-pouring of God's mercy, to leave his faithful people without the service of a discourse. Nay, that his subject-matter is unspeakable should in itself make him eloquent, since where enough can never be said, there must needs ever be somewhat to say. Let man's weakness, then, fall down before the glory of God, and acknowledge herself ever too feeble to unfold all the works of His mercy. We may jade our emotions, break down in our understanding, and fail in our speech: it is good for us, that even what we truly feel in presence of the Divine Majesty is but little, compared to the vastness of the subject. For when the Prophet saith: Seek the Lord and be strong; seek His face evermore, let no man thence conclude that he will ever have found all that he seeketh, lest he which hath ceased to come near should cease to be near. But among all the works of God which foil and weary the steadfast gaze of man's wonder, what is there that doth at once so ravish and so exceed the power of our mind's eye as do the sufferings of the Saviour? He it was Who, to loose man from the bands wherewith he had bound himself by the first death-dealing transgression, spared to bring against the rage of the devil the power of the Divine Majesty, and met him with the weakness of our lowly nature. For if our proud and cruel enemy had been able to know the counsel of God's mercy, it had been his task rather to have softened the minds of the Jews into gentleness, than to have inflamed them with unrighteous hatred; and so lost the service of all his slaves, by pursuing for his Debtor One That owed him nothing. But his own hate dug a pit-fall for him: he brought upon the Son of God that death which is become life to all the sons of men. He shed that innocent Blood, Which hath reconciled the world unto God, and become at once the price of our redemption and the cup of our salvation. The Lord hath received that which according to the purpose of His Own good pleasure He hath chosen. He hath let fall on Him the hands of bloody men, but while they were bent only on their own sin, they were servants ministering to the Redeemer's work. And such was His tenderness even for His murderers that His prayer to His Father from the Cross, as touching them, was, not that He might be avenged upon them, but that they might be forgiven. responsory: la: "R. Conclúsit vias meas inimícus, insidiátor factus est mihi sicut leo in abscóndito, replévit et inebriávit me amaritúdine: deduxérunt in lacum mortis vitam meam, et posuérunt lápidem contra me. * Vide, Dómine, iniquitátes illórum: et júdica causam ánimæ meæ, defénsor vitæ meæ.\nV. Factus sum in derísum omni pópulo meo, cánticum eórum tota die.\nR. Vide, Dómine, iniquitátes illórum: et júdica causam ánimæ meæ, defénsor vitæ meæ." en: "R. The enemy hath enclosed my ways; he lay in wait for me as a lion; in secret places he hath filled me, and made me drunken with bitterness; they have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. * O Lord, behold all their iniquity, and plead the cause of my soul, Thou That art the Redeemer of my life!\nV. I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.\nR. O Lord, behold all their iniquity, and plead the cause of my soul, Thou That art the Redeemer of my life!" status: { la: verified, en: verified } - nocturn: 3 isGospel: true citation: { la: "Matt 21:1-9", en: "Matt 21:1-9" } text: la: >- In illo témpore: Cum appropinquásset Jesus Jerosólymis, et venísset Béthphage ad montem Olivéti: tunc misit duos discípulos suos, dicens eis: Ite in castéllum, quod contra vos est, et statim inveniétis ásinam alligátam et pullum cum ea: sólvite et addúcite mihi: et si quis vobis áliquid díxerit, dícite, quia Dóminus his opus habet, et conféstim dimíttet eos. Hoc autem totum factum est, ut adimplerétur, quod dictum est per Prophétam, dicéntem: Dícite fíliæ Sion: Ecce, Rex tuus venit tibi mansuétus, sedens super ásinam et pullum, fílium subjugális. Eúntes autem discípuli, fecérunt, sicut præcépit illis Jesus. Et adduxérunt ásinam et pullum: et imposuérunt super eos vestiménta sua, et eum désuper sedére fecérunt. Plúrima autem turba stravérunt vestiménta sua in via: álii autem cædébant ramos de arbóribus, et sternébant in via: turbæ autem, quæ præcedébant et quæ sequebántur, clamábant, dicéntes: Hosánna fílio David: benedíctus, qui venit in nómine Dómini. en: >- At that time, when Jesus drew nigh to Jerusalem, and was come to Bethphage, unto Mount Olivet, then He sent two disciples, saying to them: Go into the village that is over against you, and immediately you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them and bring them to Me; and if any man shall say anything to you, say that the Lord has need of them, and forthwith he will let them go. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: Tell the daughter of Sion: Behold your King comes to you meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of her that is used to the yoke. And the disciples going did as Jesus commanded them. And they brought the ass and the colt, and laid their garments upon them, and made Him sit thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way, and others cut boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way, and the multitudes that went before and that followed cried, saying: Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord. status: { la: verified, en: verified } - nocturn: 3 isGospel: false source: "St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Commentary on Luke, Book 9" text: la: >- Pulchre relíctis Judǽis, habitatúrus in afféctibus géntium, templum Dóminus ascéndit. Hoc enim templum est verum, in quo non in líttera, sed in spíritu Dóminus adorátur. Hoc Dei templum est, quod fídei séries, non lápidum structúra fundávit. Deserúntur ergo qui óderant: eligúntur qui amatúri erant. Et ídeo ad montem venit Olivéti, ut novéllas óleas in sublími virtúte plantáret, quarum mater est illa, quæ sursum est, Jerúsalem. In hoc monte est ille cæléstis agrícola: ut plantáti omnes in domo Dei, possint virítim dícere: Ego autem sicut olíva fructífera in domo Dómini. Et fortásse ipse mons Christus est. Quis enim álius tales fructus ferret oleárum, non curvescéntium ubertáte baccárum, sed spíritus plenitúdine géntium fœcundárum? Ipse est per quem ascéndimus, et ad quem ascéndimus. Ipse est jánua, ipse est via, qui aperítur, et qui áperit: qui pulsátur ab ingrediéntibus, et ab eméritis adorátur. Ergo in castéllo erat, et ligátus erat pullus cum ásina: non póterat solvi nisi jussu Dómini. Solvit eum manus apostólica. Talis actus, talis vita, talis grátia. Esto talis et tu, ut possis ligátos sólvere. Nunc considerémus qui fúerint illi, qui erróre detécto, de paradíso ejécti, in castéllum sint relegáti. Et vides, quemádmodum quos mors expúlerat, vita revocáverit. Et ídeo secúndum Matthǽum, et ásinam et pullum légimus: ut quia in duóbus homínibus utérque fúerat sexus expúlsus, in duóbus animálibus sexus utérque revocétur. Ergo illic in ásina matre quasi Hevam figurávit erróris: hic autem in pullo generalitátem pópuli Gentílis expréssit: et ídeo pullo sedétur ásinæ. Et bene, in quo nemo sedit: quia nullus, ántequam Christus, natiónum pópulos vocávit ad Ecclésiam. Dénique secúndum Marcum sic habes: Quem nemo adhuc sedit hóminum. en: >- Beautiful is the type, when the Lord, about to leave the Jews, and to take up His abode in the hearts of the Gentiles, goeth up into the Temple; a figure of His going to the true Temple wherein He is worshipped, not in the deadness of the letter, but in spirit and in truth, even that Temple of God whereof the foundations are laid, not in buildings of stone, but in faith. He leaveth behind Him such as hate Him, and getteth Him to such as will love Him. And therefore cometh He unto the Mount of Olives that He may plant upon the heights of grace those young olive-branches, whose Mother is the Jerusalem which is above. Upon this mountain standeth He, the Heavenly Husbandman, that all they which be planted in the House of the Lord may be able each one to say: "But I am like a fruitful olive-tree in the House of God." And perchance that mountain doth signify Christ Himself. For what other is there that beareth such fruit of olives as He doth, not rich with store of loaded branches, but spiritually fruitful with the fulness of the Gentiles? He also it is on Whom we go up, and unto Whom we go up; He is the Door; He is the Way; He is He Which is opened and Which openeth; He is He upon Whom knocketh whosoever entereth in, and to Whom they that have entered in, do worship. A figure also was it that the disciples went into a village, and that there they found an ass tied and a colt with her: neither could they be loosed, save at the command of the Lord. It was the hand of His Apostles which loosed them. He whose work and life are like theirs will have such grace as was theirs. Be thou also such as they, if thou wouldest loose them that are bound. Now, let us consider who they were, who, being convicted of transgression, were banished from their home in the Garden of Eden into a village, and in this thou wilt see how Life called back again them whom death had cast out. For this reason, we read in Matthew that there were tied both an ass and her colt; thus, as man was banished from Eden in a member of either sex, so is it in animals of both sexes that his re-call is figured. The she-ass is a type of our sinful Mother Eve, and the colt of the multitude of the Gentiles; and it was upon the colt that Christ took His seat. And thus it is well written of the colt, that thereon never yet had man sat, for no man before Christ ever called the Gentiles into the Church: which statement thou hast in Mark also: Whereon never man sat. responsory: la: "R. Dóminus mecum est tamquam bellátor fortis: proptérea persecúti sunt me, et intellégere non potuérunt: Dómine, probas renes et corda: * Tibi revelávi causam meam.\nV. Vidísti, Dómine, iniquitátes eórum advérsum me: júdica judícium meum.\nR. Tibi revelávi causam meam." en: "R. The Lord is with me as a Mighty Terrible One; therefore have they persecuted me, and have not been able to understand. O Lord, Thou triest the reins and the heart: * Unto thee have I opened my cause.\nV. O Lord, Thou hast seen my wrong that they do me; judge Thou my cause.\nR. Unto thee have I opened my cause." status: { la: verified, en: verified }