Saint Colman MacDuagh (632)
Green
He was the son of an Irish chieftain. He was educated at Saint Enda’s monastery in the Aran Islands. Thereafter he was a recluse, living in prayer fasting. With the King of Connaught he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh which he governed as abbot-bishop.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Ps 104: 3-4
Let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice; turn to the Lord and his strength; constantly seek his face.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, increase our faith, hope and charity, and make us love what you command, so that we may merit what you promise. 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 : Ephesians 5:21-33
Give way to one another in obedience to Christ. Wives should regard their husbands as they regard the Lord, since as Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband the head of his wife; and as the Church submits to Christ, so should wives to their husbands, in everything. Husbands should love their wives just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her to make her holy. He made her clean by washing her in water with a form of words, so that when he took her to himself she would be glorious, with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless. In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies; for a man to love his wife is for him to love himself. A man never hates his own body, but he feeds it and looks after it; and that is the way Christ treats the Church, because it is his body – and we are its living parts. For this reason, a man must leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one body. This mystery has many implications; but I am saying it applies to Christ and the Church. To sum up; you too, each one of you, must love his wife as he loves himself; and let every wife respect her husband.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 127:1-5
R/ O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
O blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways! By the labour of your hands you shall eat. You will be happy and prosper.
Your wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house; your children like shoots of the olive, around your table.
Indeed thus shall be blessed the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion all the days of your life!
Gospel Acclamation : Jn15:15
Alleluia, alleluia! I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 13:18-21
Jesus said, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.’ Another thing he said, ‘What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Look, we pray, O Lord, on the offerings we make to your majesty, that whatever is done by us in your service may be directed above all to your glory. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 19: 6
We will ring out our joy at your saving help and exult in the name of our God.
Prayer after Communion
May your Sacraments, O Lord, we pray, perfect in us what lies within them, that what we now celebrate in signs, we may one day possess in truth. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
When Jesus handed over the Spirit to the Church it was not simply to save our souls but to set in motion the transformation of creation with the gospel values. This means that every Christian has a responsibility and an obligation to bring others to the faith. The Spirit is working in every human being especially in the baptised. It gives us the hope that the kingdom of God, which began “like a grain of mustard seed” will one day spread throughout the world. The kingdom of God produces a transformation in those who receive the new life which Jesus Christ offers. When we yield to Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Paul the Apostle says, «we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us» (2 Cor. 4:7). If we are not yet burning with the fire to bring the goodness to others then we have not received it ourselves.