Saint John Baptist de Rossi
Green
He became a priest in the 1720s and worked tirelessly in Rome on behalf of homeless women, the sick, prisoners and workers, becoming a very popular confessor. Owing to his selfless desire to assist the needy and downtrodden, he eventually succumbed to illness and died on May 23, 1764.
Entrance Antiphon: Ps 12: 6
O Lord, I trust in your merciful love. My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord who has been bountiful with me.
Collect
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, always pondering spiritual things, we may carry out in both word and deed that which is pleasing to you. 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 James: 5:1-6
An answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body. It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them – listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them; they offered you no resistance.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
48(49):14-20
R/ How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This is the lot of those who trust in themselves, who have others at their beck and call. Like sheep they are driven to the grave, where death shall be their shepherd and the just shall become their rulers.
With the morning their outward show vanishes and the grave becomes their home. But God will ransom me from death and take my soul to himself.
Then do not fear when a man grows rich, when the glory of his house increases. He takes nothing with him when he dies, his glory does not follow him below.
Though he flattered himself while he lived: ‘Men will praise me for all my success, yet he will go to join his fathers, who will never see the light any more.
Gospel Acclamation: cf.Lk8:15
Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are those who, with a noble and generous heart, take the word of God to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance. Alleluia!
Gospel: Mark 9:41-50
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward. ‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you season it again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’
Prayer over the Offerings
As we celebrate your mysteries, O Lord, with the observance that is your due, we humbly ask you, that what we offer to the honour of your majesty may profit us for salvation. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 9: 2-3
I will recount all your wonders, I will rejoice in you and be glad, and sing psalms to your name, O Most High.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we may experience the effects of the salvation which is pledged to us by these mysteries. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
In today’s society, the worth of something is determined by how it compares to other goods of the same kind: stocks, food, clothing, and even music and films. However, certain things have absolute worth: the value of a soul. Nothing comes close! Jesus depicts this utter lack of comparison by cutting off whatever becomes an impediment. You are so precious that you must be willing to refuse, submit, mute, and even sacrifice your own body or any of its members to save your soul. Do I cherish my immortal soul, my call to everlasting life? If so, do I demonstrate this by the self-denial I exercise in managing what causes me (and, eventually, others through me) to stumble? How often do I prefer my «things» over the loved ones who rely on my Christian example? How daring is my faith?