FURTHER to Fr Richer on the omission of the verses about purgatory from all the current Catholic Hymnals, Nov 13. how many other people have noticed a significant scriptural omission from the present Lectionary.
I refer, of course, to the passage from II Macchabees 12, dealing with the collection of silver being sent to Jerusalem that sacrifice might be offered for the sins of the dead.
This text was familiar in all old catechetical books as an OT "proof' of the teaching of the Councils of Florence and Trent: that purgatory exists and that the souls can be aided by our prayers.
Considering the wide scope of Sacred Scripture that is contained in the Lectionary, and furthermore that this was one of the rare passages from the OT occuring in the 1570 Missal (second Mass of All Souls' Day), would it be too much to assume that this passage was deliberately omitted by those who prepared the Lectionary? And if so, why?
Michael S. Feben
Church of the Annunciation Charminster Rd, Bournemouth