Blessed Junipero Serra (1713 – 1784)
Psalter: Week I
Green
He was born on the Spanish island of Mallorca, and became a Franciscan. Over a period of fifteen years he founded nine missions with about six thousand converts. He frequently came into conflict with the authorities over their treatment of the native population, but nevertheless, when he died, he was buried with full military honours. He was beatified in 1988.
Entrance Antiphon : Ps 46: 2
All peoples, clap your hands. Cry to God with shouts of joy!
Collect
O God, who through the grace of adoption, chose us to be children of light; grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth. 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: Genesis 19:15-29
The angels urged Lot, ‘Come, take your wife and these two daughters of yours, or you will be overwhelmed in the punishment of the town.’ And as he hesitated, the men took him by the hand, and his wife and his two daughters, because of the pity the Lord felt for him. They led him out and left him outside the town. As they were leading him out he said, ‘Run for your life. Neither look behind you nor stop anywhere on the plain. Make for the hills if you would not be overwhelmed.’ ‘No, I beg you, my lord,’ Lot said to them ‘your servant has won your favour and you have shown great kindness to me in saving my life. But I could not reach the hills before this calamity overtook me, and death with it. The town over there is near enough to flee to, and is a little one. Let me make for that – is it not little? – and my life will be saved.’ He answered, ‘I grant you this favour too, and will not destroy the town you speak of. Hurry, escape to it, for I can do nothing until you reach it.’ That is why the town is named Zoar. As the sun rose over the land and Lot entered Zoar, the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord. He overthrew these towns and the whole plain, with all the inhabitants of the towns, and everything that grew there. But the wife of Lot looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt. Rising early in the morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the Lord, and looking towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and across all the plain, he saw the smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. Thus it was that when God destroyed the towns of the plain, he kept Abraham in mind and rescued Lot out of disaster when he overwhelmed the towns where Lot lived.
Responsorail Psalm: Psalm 25(26):2-3,9-12
R/ Your love, O Lord, is before my eyes.
Examine me, Lord, and try me;O test my heart and my mind,for your love is before my eyesand I walk according to your truth.
Do not sweep me away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty menin whose hands are evil plots, whose right hands are filled with gold.
As for me, I walk the path of perfection. Redeem me and show me your mercy.My foot stands on level ground: I will bless the Lord in the assembly.
Gospel Acclamation: Ps147:12,15
Alleluia, alleluia! O praise the Lord, Jerusalem! He sends out his word to the earth. Alleluia!
Gospel: Matthew 8:23-27
Jesus got into the boat followed by his disciples. Without warning a storm broke over the lake, so violent that the waves were breaking right over the boat. But he was asleep. So they went to him and woke him saying, ‘Save us, Lord, we are going down!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened, you men of little faith?’ And with that he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and all was calm again. The men were astounded and said, ‘Whatever kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him.’
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who graciously accomplish the effects of your mysteries, grant, we pray, that the deeds by which we serve you may be worthy of these sacred gifts. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 102: 1
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name.
Prayer after Communion
May this divine sacrifice we have offered and received fill us with life, O Lord, we pray, so that, bound to you in lasting charity, we may bear fruit that lasts forever. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
While in the boat with His disciples, Jesus calms the stormy sea and their fear. He also rebukes their lack of faith. Hence, the biblical scholar Donald Arthur Carson attests that “faith drives out fear, and fear drives out faith.” Indeed, we all profess that Jesus is God, but do we live each day believing and trusting that Jesus is truly in charge of every circumstance in our lives? So often, we call to God for help in times of trouble, and if we feel that He is not responding swiftly, we tend to say, “Jesus has abandoned us”; we think that Jesus is asleep during our tribulations. Can we trust Him to guide us through every step of our life journey, much like a skilled driver who knows the best routes to take?