SAINT Frederick
He was Bishop of Utrecht between 816 and 838. Frederick was born around 780 in Friesland and was a grandson of the Frisian King Radboud. He preached at Walcheren and together with St. Odulfus in Stavoren and its surroundings.
Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Ps 16:15
As for me, in justice I shall behold your face; I shall be filled with the vision of your glory.
Collect
O God, who show the light of your truth to those who go astray, so that they may return to the right path, give all who for the faith they profess are accounted Christians the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that does it honour. 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: Exodus 2:1-15
There was a man of the tribe of Levi who had taken a woman of Levi as his wife. She conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine child he was, she kept him hidden for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch, she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the river’s edge. His sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him. Now Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it. She opened it and looked, and saw a baby boy, crying; and she was sorry for him. “This is a child of one of the Hebrews” she said. Then the child’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to suckle the child for you?” “Yes, go,” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her; and the girl went off to find the baby’s own mother. To her the daughter of Pharaoh said, “Take this child away and suckle it for me. I will see you are paid.” So the woman took the child and suckled it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who treated him like a son; she named him Moses because, she said, “I drew him out of the water.” Moses, a man by now, set out at this time to visit his countrymen, and he saw what a hard life they were having; and he saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his countrymen. Looking round he could see no one in sight, so he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. On the following day he came back, and there were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, “What do you mean by hitting your fellow countryman?” “And who appointed you” the man retorted, “to be prince over us, and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was frightened. “Clearly that business has come to light” he thought. When Pharaoh heard of the matter he would have killed Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian.
Psalm 68(69):3,14,30-31,33-34
R/ Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.
I have sunk into the mud of the deep and there is no foothold. I have entered the waters of the deep and the waves overwhelm me.
This is my prayer to you, my prayer for your favour. In your great love, answer me, O God, with your help that never fails.
As for me in my poverty and pain let your help, O God, lift me up. I will praise God’s name with a song; I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
The poor when they see it will be glad and God-seeking hearts will revive; for the Lord listens to the needy and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
Gospel Acclamation: Ps118:24
Alleluia, alleluia! Train me, Lord, to observe your law, to keep it with my heart. Alleluia!
Gospel: Matthew 11:20-24
Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent. “Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard on Judgement day with Tyre and Sidon as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.”
Prayer over the Offerings
Look upon the offerings of the Church, O Lord, as she makes her prayer to you, and grant that, when consumed by those who believe, they may bring ever greater holiness. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Cf. Ps 83: 4-5
The sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for her young: by your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they who dwell in your house, for ever singing your praise.
Prayer after Communion
Having consumed these gifts, we pray, O Lord, that, by our participation in this mystery, its saving effects upon us may grow. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Brothers and sisters, our Lord is in pain despite the blessings he never ceases to shower upon us. Indeed, our heart easily becomes impenetrable and blind to His calls. He therefore warns us this day about the result of such behaviour. Pharaoh’s daughter did not need to be a Hebrew to save the little child who will be the liberator of God’s people. She had no idea of the promise made to Abraham, but she only applied the commandment of love long before it was ever pronounced. We who have been taught the signs of grace should strive to live as righteous men and women, so that at the judgment we may be exalted to the eternal life.