SATURDAY 08 AUGUST 2020

by | Aug 7, 2020 | Evangelium

 

saturday 08 August 2020

 

 

St Dominic, Priest (1170 – 1221)

BVM

He was born in Castile (part of modern Spain) and became a canon of the cathedral of Osma. In 1216 he founded the Order of Preachers, dedicated to saving souls by preaching and persuasion. Dominic died at Bologna on 6th August 1221.

 

White

 

Entrance Antiphon: Sir 15: 5

In the midst of the Church he opened his mouth, and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding and clothed him in a robe of glory.

 

Collect

May Saint Dominic come to the help of your Church by his merits and teaching, O Lord, and may he, who was an outstanding preacher of your truth, be a devoted intercessor on our behalf. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

 

First reading: Habakkuk 1:12-2:4

Are not you, from ancient times the Lord, my God, my Holy One, who never dies? O Lord, you have made this people an instrument of justice, set it firm as a rock in order to punish. Your eyes are too pure to rest on wickedness, you cannot look on at tyranny. Why do you look on while men are treacherous, and stay silent while the evil man swallows a better man than he? You treat mankind like fishes in the sea, like creeping, masterless things. A people, these, who catch all on their hook, who draw them with their net, in their dragnet gather them, and so, triumphantly, rejoice. At this, they offer a sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet, for providing them with luxury and lavish food. Are they then to empty their net unceasingly, slaughtering nations without pity? I will stand on my watchtower, and take up my post on my battlements, watching to see what he will say to me, what answer he will make to my complaints. Then the Lord answered and said, ‘Write the vision down, inscribe it on tablets to be easily read, since this vision is for its own time only: eager for its own fulfilment, it does not deceive; if it comes slowly, wait, for come it will, without fail. ‘See how he flags, he whose soul is not at rights, but the upright man will live by his faithfulness.’

 

Psalm 9A(9):8-13

R/  You will never forsake those who seek you, O Lord.

 

  1. The Lord sits enthroned for ever. He has set up his throne for judgement; he will judge the world with justice, he will judge the peoples with his truth.
  2. For the oppressed let the Lord be a stronghold, a stronghold in times of distress. Those who know your name will trust you; you will never forsake those who seek you.
  3. Sing psalms to the Lord who dwells in Zion. Proclaim his mighty works among the peoples, for the Avenger of blood has remembered them, has not forgotten the cry of the poor.

 

Gospel Acclamation: Ep 1:17, 18

Alleluia, alleluia! May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our mind, so that we can see what hope his call holds for us. Alleluia!

 

Gospel: Matthew 17:14-20

A man came up to Jesus and went down on his knees before him. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘take pity on my son: he is a lunatic and in a wretched state; he is always falling into the fire or into the water. I took him to your disciples and they were unable to cure him.’ ‘Faithless and perverse generation!’ Jesus said in reply ‘How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ And when Jesus rebuked it the devil came out of the boy who was cured from that moment. Then the disciples came privately to Jesus. ‘Why were we unable to cast it out?’ they asked. He answered, ‘Because you have little faith. I tell you solemnly, if your faith were the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it would move; nothing would be impossible for you.’

 

Prayer over the Offerings

Attend mercifully to the prayers we offer you, O Lord, by the intercession of Saint Dominic, and through the great power of this sacrifice strengthen by the protection of your grace those who champion the faith. Through Christ our Lord.

 

Communion Antiphon:  Mt 24: 46-47

Blessed is the servant whom the Lord finds watching when he comes. Amen I say to you: He will put that servant in charge of all his property.

 

Prayer after Communion

May your Church, O Lord, receive with wholehearted reverence the power of this heavenly Sacrament, by which we have been nourished on the commemoration of Saint Dominic, and may your Church, having flourished by means of his preaching, be helped through his intercession. Through Christ our Lord.

 

 

Meditation

How we express our request sometimes shows how fully we accept our personal conditions and the recognition of the mercifulness of He through whom all miracles are worked. The expression «nothing would be impossible to you» (Mt 17:20) points to the level of faith we must possess if we want to be part of this vineyard. God’s Word places before us the thought about the quality of our faith and the way how we get deeper into it. In whatever thing we do in life, in all circumstances, we must find a certain amount of faith for it to work for us. Miracles do exist but what amount of conviction do we have in Christ who makes all things possible?