Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion
(d. 287)
Psalter: Week I
Green
Maurice was a native of Egypt. He was conscripted into the Roman army. The emperor ordered his soldiers to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods but the Theban Legion, headed by Maurice, refused. Their allegiance to Christ earned them the crown of martyrdom in the year 287.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Sir 36: 18
I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.
Collect
O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbour, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life. 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 : Ezra 1:1-6
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 to Jerusalem in Judah to build the Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, wherever he lives, be helped by the people of that place with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, as well as voluntary offerings for the Temple of God which is in Jerusalem.”’ Then the heads of families of Judah and of Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, in fact all whose spirit had been roused by God, prepared to go and rebuild the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem; and all their neighbours gave them every assistance with silver, gold, goods, cattle, quantities of costly gifts and with voluntary offerings of every kind.
Responsorial Psalm : psalm 125(126)
R/ What marvels the Lord worked for us.
When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage, it seemed like a dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, on our lips there were songs.
The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels the Lord worked for them!’ What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage as streams in dry land. Those who are sowing in tearswill sing when they reap.
They go out, they go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing: they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves.
Gospel Acclamation : James1:18
Alleluia, alleluia! By his own choice the Father made us his children by the message of the truth,
so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all that he created. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 8:16-18
Jesus said to the crowds: ‘No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. No, he puts it on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in. For nothing is hidden but it will be made clear, nothing secret but it will be known and brought to light. So take care how you hear; for anyone who has will be given more; from anyone who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Receive with favour, O Lord, we pray, the offerings of your people, that what they profess with devotion and faith may be theirs through these heavenly mysteries. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Ps 118: 4-5
You have laid down your precepts to be carefully kept; may my ways be firm in keeping your statutes.
Prayer after Communion
Graciously raise up, O Lord, those you renew with this Sacrament, that we may come to possess your redemption both in mystery and in the manner of our life.Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
“So take care how you hear”, says Jesus. This admonition prompts my thoughts toward the Use of Time. If I lived to be 70 years old, that is a total of about 25,600 days, and each day has 24 hours or 1,440 minutes! In contemplating this, I reflect on how many of these precious minutes I dedicate to listening to God and, equally important, how engaged I am in the act of listening.