[Rank]
Feria Tertia infra Hebdomadam IV in Quadragesima;;Feria major;;2

[Rule]

[Lectio1]
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 7:14-31
In that time, about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews wondered. And so on.
_
Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!29th Tract on John
He Who had gone up unto the Feast, not openly, but as it were in secret, the Same taught, and spake openly, and no man laid hands upon Him. That He had hid Himself, was for example's sake; that He manifested Himself, was to show His power. And when He taught, the Jews marvelled. As seemeth to my mind, they all marvelled, but were not all converted. And wherefore marvelled they? Because many of them knew where He was born, and how He had been brought up. They had never seen Him learn letters; but they heard Him dispute concerning the law, and allege the testimony of the same, as no man could do who had not read it; and no man can read unless he learn; and therefore they marvelled. But their marvelling was unto the Teacher an occasion for the revealing of higher truth.

[Responsory1]
R. Why go ye about to kill Me, a Man That hath told you the truth?
* If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?
V. Many good works have I wrought among you; for which of those works go ye about to kill Me?
R. If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?

[Lectio2]
For when they marvelled and whispered, the Lord said a certain deep thing, yea, a thing worthy of very careful thought and discussion. And what was this thing which the Lord gave for an answer to such as marvelled that He knew letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them and said: My doctrine is not Mine, but His That sent Me. Here is the first depth, for He seemeth in these few words to enunciate a contradiction. He saith not: This doctrine is not Mine but: My doctrine is not Mine. O how is it thine? If it be thine, wherefore sayest Thou that it is not thine? For Thou sayest: My doctrine is not Mine.

[Responsory2]
R. I, even I, the Lord, have led you forty years in the wilderness, and your clothes are not waxen old upon you.
* I rained down manna upon you from heaven, and ye have forgotten Me, saith the Lord.
V. I led you forth out of the land of Egypt, and delivered you from the house of bondage.
R. I rained down manna upon you from heaven, and ye have forgotten Me, saith the Lord.

[Lectio3]
Let us then carefully regard what this same holy Evangelist saith in the beginning of his Gospel, and we shall find there wherewith to loose the knot of this difficulty. There it is written: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (i. 1.) What is the doctrine of the Father but the Word of the Father? If Christ therefore be the Word of the Father, He is the doctrine of the Father. But a Word cannot be of no one, but must needs, if it be a Word, have some one whose word it is. Christ therefore saith that His doctrine is Himself, and therefore not His, forasmuch as He is the Word of the Father. And what hast thou that is so much thine own as thy self? Or what is there that is so little thine own as thyself, if that which thou art is another's?

[Ant 2]
Why go ye about to kill Me, * a Man that hath told you the truth?

[Oratio 2]
O Lord, we beseech thee, that the observance of this holy fast may avail us both to the increase of godliness in our conversation, and the stablishing upon us of the help of thy mercy.
$Per Dominum.

[Ant 3]
No man laid hands on Him; * because His hour was not yet come.

[Oratio 3]
O Lord, have mercy upon thy people, and be graciously pleased to grant relief unto the same, who are ever toiling amid the storms of diverse tribulations.
$Per Dominum.