SAINT SCHOLASTICA, VIRGIN
Psalter I | WHITE
“She was born in Nursia in about 480, the twin sister of St Benedict. She was dedicated to God from an early age and followed her brother to Cassino, where she died in about 547.”
Entrance Antiphon
Here is a wise virgin, from among the number of the prudent, who went forth with lighted lamp to meet Christ.
Collect
As we celebrate anew the Memorial of the Virgin Saint Scholastica, we pray, O Lord, that, following her example, we may serve you with pure love and happily receive what comes from loving you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
First reading: 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole community of Israel, and stretching forth his hands toward heaven, he said, “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart. “Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built! Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O Lord, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you this day. May your eyes watch night and day over this temple, the place where you have decreed you shall be honored; may you heed the prayer which I, your servant, offer in this place. Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel which they offer in this place. Listen from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon.”
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 84:3, 4, 5 and 10, 11
R/ How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
- My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young— Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God!
- Blessed they who dwell in your house! continually they praise you. O God, behold our shield, and look upon the face of your anointed.
- I had rather one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
Gospel Acclamation: Psalm 119:36, 29
Alleluia, alleluia. Incline my heart, O God, to your decrees; and favor me with your law. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Mark 7:1-13
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban” (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”
Prayer over the Offerings
As we proclaim your wonders, O Lord, in the Virgin blessed N., we humbly implore your majesty that, as her merits are pleasing to you, so, too, our dutiful service may find favour in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Cf. Mt 25: 6
Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; come out to meet Christ the Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Renewed by partaking of this divine gift, we pray, O Lord our God, that by the example of the blessed N., bearing in our body the Death of Jesus, we may strive to hold fast to you alone. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
“You nullify the word of God in favour of your tradition.” We all belong to a culture, and every culture contains tradition, that is, a body of ideas and practices that define our behaviour and are handed down from one generation to the next. Christianity does not require us to renounce our culture, but to purify it by eliminating those elements in it that contradict Christian values. The Pharisees stuck to their tradition to the point of neglecting core values such as honouring one’s parents, charity and justice, and it was this attitude that Jesus condemned. If we examine our traditions, we will see that some of the practices we stick to are not compatible with the Christian faith we profess. Let us look at the way our culture treats women, children, widows and orphans; let us look at our cultural perception of money, inheritance, succession, sexuality and marriage, just to name these; we will realise that in many ways our tradition leads us to nullify God’s word. Today’s Gospel is an invitation to allow the Word of God to purify our traditions.