Friday 16 th december 2022
St. Ado
An archbishop and scholar, Ado was born in Sens and educated at the Benedictine abbey of Ferrieres. Ado reformed the clergy in Vienne and wrote the lives of St. Desiderius and St. Theuderis. He was an energetic man of wide sympathies and considerable influence. Ado died in 875.
Entrance Antiphon
Behold, the Lord will come descending with splendour to visit his people with peace, and he will bestow on them eternal life.
Collect
May your grace, almighty God, always go before us and follow after, so that we, who await with heartfelt desire the coming of your Only Begotten Son, may receive your help both now and in the life to come. 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 : Isaiah 56:1-3,6-8
Thus says the Lord: Have a care for justice, act with integrity, for soon my salvation will come and my integrity be manifest. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who clings to it: observing the sabbath, not profaning it, and keeping his hand from every evil deed. Let no foreigner who has attached himself to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’ Let no eunuch say, ‘And I, I am a dried-up tree.’ Foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love his name and be his servants – all who observe the sabbath, not profaning it, and cling to my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their holocausts and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. It is the Lord who speaks, who gathers the outcasts of Israel: there are others I will gather besides those already gathered.
Psalm 66(67):2-3,5,7-8
R/ Let the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you.
- O God, be gracious and bless us and let your face shed its light upon us. So will your ways be known upon earth and all nations learn your saving help.
- Let the nations be glad and exult for you rule the world with justice. With fairness you rule the peoples, you guide the nations on earth.
- The earth has yielded its fruit for God, our God, has blessed us. May God still give us his blessing till the ends of the earth revere him.
Gospel Acclamation : Ps 84:8
Alleluia, alleluia! Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and give us your saving help. Alleluia!
Gospel : John 5:33-36
Jesus said to the Jews: ‘You sent messengers to John, and he gave his testimony to the truth: not that I depend on human testimony; no, it is for your salvation that I speak of this. John was a lamp alight and shining and for a time you were content to enjoy the light that he gave. But my testimony is greater than John’s: the works my Father has given me to carry out, these same works of mine testify that the Father has sent me.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Be pleased, O Lord, with our humble prayers and offerings, and, since we have no merits to plead our cause, come, we pray, to our rescue with the protection of your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Phil 3: 20-21
We await a saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our mortal bodies, to conform with his glorified body.
Prayer after Communion
Replenished by the food of spiritual nourishment, we humbly beseech you, O Lord, that, through our partaking in this mystery, you may teach us to judge wisely the things of earth and hold firm to the things of heaven. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Bearing witness is central to Christian life. A witness is a person who testifies to the truth of a given fact. Every Christian has to be a witness of Jesus; he has to show the world, through his words and actions, that Jesus is alive, that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is the one by whom we can be saved. John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus; we must do the same. The call to bear witness to Jesus is addressed to all of us, regardless of our origin or status. Whether we are rich or poor, black or white, from one ethnic group or another, does not matter; what matters is whether we make Jesus known wherever we find ourselves