Monday 28 th november 2022
St. Catherine Laboure
St. Catherine Laboure, a virgin, was born on May 2, 1806. At an early age she entered the community of the Daughters of Charity in France. Three times in 1830 the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Catherine Laboure, who then was a twenty-four year old novice. She died in 1876.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Jer 31: 10; Is 35: 4
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations; declare it to the distant lands: Behold, our Saviour will come; you need no longer fear.
Collect
Keep us alert, we pray, O Lord our God, as we await the advent of Christ your Son, so that, when he comes and knocks, he may find us watchful in prayer and exultant in his praise. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : Isaiah 4:2-6
That day, the branch of the Lord shall be beauty and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be the pride and adornment of Israel’s survivors. Those who are left of Zion and remain of Jerusalem shall be called holy and those left in Jerusalem, noted down for survival. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughter of Zion and cleansed Jerusalem of the blood shed in her with the blast of judgement and the blast of destruction, the Lord will come and rest on the whole stretch of Mount Zion and on those who are gathered there, a cloud by day, and smoke, and by night the brightness of a flaring fire. For, over all, the glory of the Lord will be a canopy and a tent to give shade by day from the heat, refuge and shelter from the storm and the rain.
Psalm 121(122):1-2,4-5,6-9
R/ I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
- I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
- It is there that the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord. For Israel’s law it is, there to praise the Lord’s name. There were set the thrones of judgement of the house of David.
- For the peace of Jerusalem pray: ‘Peace be to your homes! May peace reign in your walls, in your palaces, peace!’
- For love of my brethren and friends I say: ‘Peace upon you!’ For love of the house of the Lord I will ask for your good.
Gospel Acclamation : cf.Ps79:4
Alleluia, alleluia! God of hosts, bring us back: let your face shine on us and we shall be saved. Alleluia!
Gospel : Matthew 8:5-11
When Jesus went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded with him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘my servant is lying at home paralysed, and in great pain.’ ‘I will come myself and cure him’ said Jesus. The centurion replied, ‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this. And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Accept, we pray, O Lord, these offerings we make, gathered from among your gifts to us, and may what you grant us to celebrate devoutly here below gain for us the prize of eternal redemption. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 105: 4-5; Is 38: 3
Come, O Lord, visit us in peace, that we may rejoice before you with a blameless heart.
Prayer after Communion
May these mysteries, O Lord, in which we have participated, profit us, we pray, for even now, as we walk amid passing things, you teach us by them to love the things of heaven and hold fast to what endures. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
The vision of prophet Isaiah seems quite unreal; yet, it is a vision which is fulfilled in the person of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah speaks of peace and reconciliation amongst nations. He uses powerful and beautiful imagery to depict it: “They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” The quest for world peace and reconciliation remains illusory even with the foundation of such world bodies as the United Nations and the Commonwealth. World peace becomes possible only when nations subject themselves to the teachings of God’s laws and walk in his paths. Jesus in the Gospel text extols the faith of the centurion, a non-Jew, from the pagan territory of Capernaum. It is faith in God that brings us lasting peace of mind and body.