Saturday 01 st october 2022
Saint Theresia of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor
Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin was born in Alençon, in France, on 2 January 1873. Her mother, who already had breast cancer, died when Thérèse was four, and the family moved to Lisieux.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Deut 32: 10-12
The Lord led her and taught her, and kept her as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle spreading its wings he took her up and bore her on his shoulders. The Lord alone was her guide.
Collect
O God, who open your Kingdom to those who are humble and to little ones, lead us to follow trustingly in the little way of Saint Thérèse, so that through her intercession we may see your eternal glory revealed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
First reading : Job 42:1-3,5-6,12-17
This was the answer Job gave to the Lord: I know that you are all-powerful: what you conceive, you can perform.
I am the man who obscured your designs with my empty-headed words.
I have been holding forth on matters I cannot understand, on marvels beyond me and my knowledge. I knew you then only by hearsay; but now, having seen you with my own eyes, I retract all I have said, and in dust and ashes I repent. The Lord blessed Job’s new fortune even more than his first one. He came to own fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she-donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters; his first daughter he called ‘Turtledove’, the second ‘Cassia’ and the third ‘Mascara.’ Throughout the land there were no women as beautiful as the daughters of Job. And their father gave them inheritance rights like their brothers.
After his trials, Job lived on until he was a hundred and forty years old, and saw his children and his children’s children up to the fourth generation. Then Job died, an old man and full of days.
Psalm 118(119):66,71,75,91,125,130
R/ Let your face shine on your servant, O Lord.
- Teach me discernment and knowledge for I trust in your commands. It was good for me to be afflicted, to learn your statutes.
- Lord, I know that your decrees are right, that you afflicted me justly. By your decree it endures to this day; for all things serve you.
- I am your servant, give me knowledge; then I shall know your will. The unfolding of your word gives light and teaches the simple.
Gospel Acclamation : cf. Lk 1:28
Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 10:17-24
The seventy-two came back rejoicing. ‘Lord,’ they said ‘even the devils submit to us when we use your name.’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.’
It was then that, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said:
‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them in private, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’
Prayer over the Offerings
As we proclaim your wonders in Saint Thérèse, O Lord, we humbly implore your majesty, that, as her merits were pleasing to you, so, too, our dutiful service may find favour in your sight.
Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Mt 18: 3
Thus says the Lord: Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Prayer after Communion
May the Sacrament we have received, O Lord, kindle in us the force of that love with which Saint Thérèse dedicated herself to you and longed to obtain your mercy for all. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that the source of true joy is God alone. In good times and bad times, God always assures us of victory in Jesus Christ. Jesus assures His disciples that He has all power over evil, including the power of Satan and evil spirits. Jesus came into the world to overthrow the Evil One. Like Jesus’ disciples, we have been given spiritual authority and power to overcome the works of darkness and evil. Jesus sends out seventy disciples on a mission and they return elated with their accomplishments. What do you think of your Christian mission in these challenging times?