saint John XXIII, Pope
He was ordained priest in 1904. He served the Holy See directly in various posts, both in Rome and in Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece, culminating as Apostolic Nuncio to France from 1944 until 1953. He was elected Pope in 1958. He convoked the Roman Synod, instituted the revision of Canon Law, and called the Second Vatican Council, which opened on 11 October 1962.
Entrance Antiphon: Est 4: 17
Within your will, O Lord, all things are established, and there is none that can resist your will. For you have made all things, the heaven and the earth, and all that is held within the circle of heaven; you are the Lord of all.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. 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: Jonah 4:1-11
Jonah was very indignant; he fell into a rage. He prayed to the Lord and said, “Ah, Lord, is not this just as I said would happen when I was still at home? That was why I went and fled to Tarshish: I knew that you were a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, relenting from evil. So now, Lord, please take away my life, for I might as well be dead as go on living.” The Lord replied, “Are you right to be angry?” Jonah then went out of the city and sat down to the east of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God arranged that a castor-oil plant should grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head and soothe his ill-humour; Jonah was delighted with the castor-oil plant. But at dawn the next day, God arranged that a worm should attack the castor-oil plant – and it withered. Next, when the sun rose, God arranged that there should be a scorching east wind; the sun beat down so hard on Jonah’s head that he was overcome and begged for death, saying, “I might as well be dead as go on living.” God said to Jonah, “Are you right to be angry about the castor-oil plant?” He replied, “I have every right to be angry, to the point of death.” The Lord replied, “You are only upset about a castor-oil plant which cost you no labour, which you did not make grow, which sprouted in a night and has perished in a night. And am I not to feel sorry for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, to say nothing of all the animals?”
Psalm 85(86):3-6,9-10
R/ You, O Lord, have mercy and compassion.
You are my God, have mercy on me, Lord, for I cry to you all the day long. Give joy to your servant, O Lord, for to you I lift up my soul.
O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call. Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my voice.
All the nations shall come to adore you and glorify your name, O Lord: for you are great and do marvellous deeds, you who alone are God.
Gospel Acclamation: Ps118:24
Alleluia, alleluia! Train me, Lord, to observe your law, to keep it with my heart. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 11:1-4
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “Say this when you pray: ‘Father, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come; give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us. And do not put us to the test.’”
Prayer over the Offerings
Accept, O Lord, we pray, the sacrifices instituted by your commands and, through the sacred mysteries, which we celebrate with dutiful service, graciously complete the sanctifying work by which you are pleased to redeem us. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Lam 3: 25
The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the soul that seeks him.
Prayer after Communion
Grant us, almighty God, that we may be refreshed and nourished by the Sacrament which we have received, so as to be transformed into what we consume. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Jesus’ teaching on prayer starts from his own experience of prayer. Thus, when we take up the words Jesus left us to pray, we are not only following the lesson of a teacher but we are making Jesus’ own prayer ours. Through it, we are introduced into Jesus’ filial relationship with his Father, whom he teaches us to call “Our Father”. To say to God, Father, is to be a son, a child of God. Jesus’ prayer makes us share the feelings and needs that unite him to his Father. The requests for bread, forgiveness and the removal of temptation are linked to our wounded and suffering human condition, today as yesterday. But above all, they are geared towards the construction and advent of the Kingdom of God here below.