Psalter: Week 4
Saint JOHN OLIGIVE
Purple
Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Is 66: 10-11
Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.
Collect
O God, who through your Word reconcile the human race to yourself in a wonderful way, grant, we pray, that with prompt devotion and eager faith the Christian people may hasten toward the solemn celebrations 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: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23
All the heads of the priesthood, and the people too, added infidelity to infidelity, copying all the shameful practices of the nations and defiling the Temple that the Lord had consecrated for himself in Jerusalem. The Lord, the God of their ancestors, tirelessly sent them messenger after messenger, since he wished to spare his people and his house. But they ridiculed the messengers of God, they despised his words, they laughed at his prophets, until at last the wrath of the Lord rose so high against his people that there was no further remedy. They burned down the Temple of God, demolished the walls of Jerusalem, set fire to all its palaces, and destroyed everything of value in it. The survivors were deported by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon; they were to serve him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. This is how the word of the Lord was fulfilled that he spoke through Jeremiah, ‘Until this land has enjoyed its sabbath rest, until seventy years have gone by, it will keep sabbath throughout the days of its desolation.’ And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfil the word of the Lord that was spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue a proclamation and to have it publicly displayed throughout his kingdom: ‘Thus speaks Cyrus king of Persia, “the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; he has ordered me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him! Let him go up.”’
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 136(137):1-6
R/ O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!
By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, remembering Zion;
on the poplars that grew there we hung up our harps.
For it was there that they asked us, our captors, for songs, our oppressors, for joy. ‘Sing to us,’ they said, ‘one of Zion’s songs.’
O how could we sing the song of the Lord on alien soil? If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not, if I prize not Jerusalem above all my joys!
Second reading: Ephesians 2:4-10
God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus. This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.
Gospel Acclamation: Jn3:16
Glory and praise to you, O Christ! God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son: everyone who believes in him has eternal life. Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Gospel: John 3:14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son. On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.’
Prayer over the Offerings
We place before you with joy these offerings, which bring eternal remedy, O Lord, praying that we may both faithfully revere them and present them to you, as is fitting, for the salvation of all the world. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon
Jerusalem is built as a city bonded as one together. It is there that the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord.
Prayer after Communion
O God, who enlighten everyone who comes into this world, illuminate our hearts, we pray, with the splendour of your grace, that we may always ponder what is worthy and pleasing to your majesty and love you in all sincerity. Through Christ our Lord.
Prayer over the People
Look upon those who call to you, O Lord, and sustain the weak; give life by your unfailing light to those who walk in the shadow of death, and bring those rescued by your mercy from every evil to reach the highest good. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
The Gospel of this day recalls the disobedience of the thirsty people of God to Moses and consequently to God during their sojourning. God sent venomous serpents to bite them, and many died. The Lord asked Moses to make a bronze serpent which he lifted up so that anyone who looked at it would find life again. This serpent is a prefiguration of Jesus, who comes to save men from sin and death. We, too, sometimes act like these people; we recriminate against God in the face of difficulty, forgetting everything God has done for us. We must remain faithful to God and gaze on the crucified Jesus Christ. The cross is the sign of salvation; it is the place of the manifestation of the infinite love of God for humanity.