by L'équipe de publication | Oct 26, 2023 | Evangelium
SAINT Otteran
He was abbot of Meath and later came to Iona. He died in 548 and his grave on Iona was greatly revered. As a result the Vikings chose Otteran, the titular guardian of their ancestors’ ashes, as patron of the city of Waterford in 1096. He is now patron saint of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore..
Entrance Antiphon: Ps 16: 6, 8
To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. 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: Romans 7:18-25
I know of nothing good living in me – living, that is, in my unspiritual self – for though the will to do what is good is in me, the performance is not, with the result that instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want. When I act against my will, then, it is not my true self doing it, but sin which lives in me. In fact, this seems to be the rule, that every single time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to hand. In my inmost self I dearly love God’s Law, but I can see that my body follows a different law that battles against the law which my reason dictates. This is what makes me a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Psalm 118 (119): 66, 68, 76-77, 93-94
R/ Lord, teach me your statutes.
Teach me discernment and knowledge for I trust in your commands. You are good and your deeds are good; teach me your statutes.
Let your love be ready to console me by your promise to your servant. Let your love come and I shall live for your law is my delight.
I will never forget your precepts for with them you give me life. Save me, for I am yours since I seek your precepts.
Gospel Acclamation: Ps94:8
Alleluia, alleluia! Harden not your hearts today, but listen to the voice of the Lord. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 12:54-59
Jesus said to the crowds: “When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it will be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times? Why not judge for yourselves what is right? For example: when you go to court with your opponent, try to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the bailiff and the bailiff have you thrown into prison. I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the very last penny.”
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant us, Lord, we pray, a sincere respect for your gifts, that, through the purifying action of your grace, we may be cleansed by the very mysteries we serve. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 32: 18-19
Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, who hope in his merciful love, to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, O Lord, we pray, that, benefiting from participation in heavenly things, we may be helped by what you give in this present age and prepared for the gifts that are eternal. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
We can be sure that men were already talking about time and the weather in Jesus’ time, just as in all ages! But the flaw in this subject remains the same: instead of welcoming what is offered, the present time, we are interested in what will happen, the future time. Jesus calls us to be aware that God is with us in the present, and that it is urgent not to postpone reconciliation to an uncertain and improbable time. Jesus’ point is more relevant than ever. Indeed, while we have an unprecedented ability to understand the economic and social realities of a country, we often have great difficulty in understanding what God wants to tell us. Yet, today as much as yesterday, the Lord speaks to us. The more we are open and available to what he wants to tell us, the better we will be able to discern the signs of the times.
by L'équipe de publication | Oct 25, 2023 | Evangelium
SAINT Chad
He became abbot of Lastingham and was chosen to be bishop of Northumbria, but St Wilfrid contested his appointment, and Chad obediently withdrew. He was then sent as bishop to Mercia, He died at Lichfield on 2 March 672 and was immediately revered as a saint because of the holiness of his life, his outstanding
Entrance Antiphon: Ps 16: 6, 8
To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. 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: Romans 6:19-23
If I may use human terms to help your natural weakness: as once you put your bodies at the service of vice and immorality, so now you must put them at the service of righteousness for your sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness, and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behaviour ends in death. Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Psalm 1: 1-4, 6
R/ Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night.
He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.
Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind: for the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Gospel Acclamation : Jn 8:12
Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; anyone who follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over! Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant us, Lord, we pray, a sincere respect for your gifts, that, through the purifying action of your grace, we may be cleansed by the very mysteries we serve. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 32: 18-19
Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, who hope in his merciful love, to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, O Lord, we pray, that, benefiting from participation in heavenly things, we may be helped by what you give in this present age and prepared for the gifts that are eternal. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
This is a very difficult Gospel passage! We are meet Jesus as a source of conflict and division in families. In fact, experience shows us how often this passage is true. Indeed, the involvement of members of even practising families in religious life, almost always gives rise to strong tensions. In order to follow Christ, we have to make choices that are sometimes radical, and that hurts. We are then obliged to distance ourselves from those we love, for a time, only to find them again later, in another way. The Word of God is also a devouring fire that can burn and hurt before it makes our lives fruitful. Today the Lord comes to us to offer us the fire of his love; what do we want to respond to him?
by L'équipe de publication | Oct 24, 2023 | Evangelium
SAINTS Chrysanthus and Daria
They are Roman martyrs, buried on the Via Salaria Nova. The feast of these saints stands in the Roman martyrology on the 25th of October, dating from the seventh century.
Entrance Antiphon: Ps 16: 6, 8
To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. 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: Romans 6:12-18
You must not let sin reign in your mortal bodies or command your obedience to bodily passions, you must not let any part of your body turn into an unholy weapon fighting on the side of sin; you should, instead, offer yourselves to God, and consider yourselves dead men brought back to life; you should make every part of your body into a weapon fighting on the side of God; and then sin will no longer dominate your life, since you are living by grace and not by law. Does the fact that we are living by grace and not by law mean that we are free to sin? Of course not. You know that if you agree to serve and obey a master you become his slaves. You cannot be slaves of sin that leads to death and at the same time slaves of obedience that leads to righteousness. You were once slaves of sin, but thank God you submitted without reservation to the creed you were taught. You may have been freed from the slavery of sin, but only to become ‘slaves’ of righteousness.
Psalm 123 (124)
R/ Our help is in the name of the Lord.
‘If the Lord had not been on our side,’ this is Israel’s song. ‘If the Lord had not been on our side
when men rose up against us, then would they have swallowed us alive when their anger was kindled.
Then would the waters have engulfed us, the torrent gone over us; over our head would have swept the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord who did not give us a prey to their teeth!
Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler. Indeed, the snare has been broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’
Gospel Acclamation : Jn10:27
Alleluia, alleluia! The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me. Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 12:39-48
Jesus said to his disciples: “You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what hour the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Peter said, “Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?” The Lord replied, “What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you truly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the servant who says to himself, ‘My master is taking his time coming’, and sets about beating the menservants and the maids, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful. The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer strokes. When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him.”
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant us, Lord, we pray, a sincere respect for your gifts, that, through the purifying action of your grace, we may be cleansed by the very mysteries we serve. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 32: 18-19
Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, who hope in his merciful love, to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, O Lord, we pray, that, benefiting from participation in heavenly things, we may be helped by what you give in this present age and prepared for the gifts that are eternal. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Be ready! These words are if great help to us in our daily lives. Of course, we know that Jesus will return, but aren’t we often tempted to live as if he will only return in the distant future, so that we don’t feel challenged, concerned, by his return? But let us go further. The Lord will come back, yes. But today, does he not come to us: through those he puts on our path; through his word addressed to us today and that reaches us where we are; through the sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist – his body given, his blood poured – all out of love for each person? Meditating upon this Gospel is perhaps an opportunity for each of us to ask ourselves to what extent we await the coming of the Lord. In what way can this day be a welcome ceremony I offer to the Lord who never ceases to come to me through various means.
by L'équipe de publication | Oct 23, 2023 | Evangelium
Saint Antony Mary Claret
He was born in 1807 and ordained priest in 1835. His uncompromising preaching raised hostility against him. In 1849 he founded a missionary institute of priests: Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretian Missionaries). He antagonized the slave owners, and attempts were made on his life. In 1868, revolution caused him to go into exile in France, where he died in 1870.
Entrance Antiphon: Ps 16: 6, 8
To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. 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: Romans 5:12,15,17-21
Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned; but the gift itself considerably outweighed the fall. If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift. If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man’s fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous. Again, as one man’s fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified. As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. When law came, it was to multiply the opportunities of failing, but however great the number of sins committed, grace was even greater; and so, just as sin reigned wherever there was death, so grace will reign to bring eternal life thanks to the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 39 (40): 7-10, 17
R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings, but an open ear. You do not ask for holocaust and victim. Instead, here am I.
In the scroll of the book it stands written that I should do your will. My God, I delight in your law in the depth of my heart.
Your justice I have proclaimed in the great assembly. My lips I have not sealed; you know it, O Lord.
O let there be rejoicing and gladness for all who seek you. Let them ever say: ‘The Lord is great’, who love your saving help.
Gospel Acclamation: 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: Luke 12:36-38
Jesus said to his disciples: “See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready.”
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant us, Lord, we pray, a sincere respect for your gifts, that, through the purifying action of your grace, we may be cleansed by the very mysteries we serve. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Cf. Ps 32: 18-19
Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, who hope in his merciful love, to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, O Lord, we pray, that, benefiting from participation in heavenly things, we may be helped by what you give in this present age and prepared for the gifts that are eternal. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
What is our lamp? If not our faith in the risen Jesus Christ! We know that he lives for ever and, as he promised, that he is with us every day; this lamp, even though it may sometimes seem small and fragile, is a great strength for our daily lives. Of course, we all have difficult moments, days when everything seems to fail; in the family or at work… More than ever, it is in these days that it is important for us to remember the Lord’s words: “Keep your lamps burning”. In the end, perhaps we may only need just a little night-light that tells us, reminds us, in the depths of our lives, that the Lord is there and that he will never abandon us, for he is faithful. And Saint Anthony Mary Claret understood this well! Let us pray today through his intercession for the kind of spiritual consciousness that he had in the rather active and difficult world.
by L'équipe de publication | Oct 22, 2023 | Evangelium
SAINT John of Capistrano
He was born in Capistrano in the Abruzzi in 1386. He joined the Friars Minor and was ordained. John preached a crusade against the invading Turks in 1456 and took part in the battles that kept Christian Europe safe from Turkish invasion. He died of the Plague in 1456. He is the patron saint of military chaplains.
Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Ps 16: 6, 8
To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. 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: Romans 4:20-25
Since God had made him a promise, Abraham refused either to deny it or even to doubt it, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God, convinced that God had power to do what he had promised. This is the faith that was “considered as justifying him.” Scripture however does not refer only to him but to us as well when it says that his faith was thus “considered”; our faith too will be “considered” if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised to life to justify us.
Psalm Luke 1:69-75
R/ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour in the house of David his servant, as he promised by the lips of holy men, those who were his prophets from of old.
A saviour who would free us from our foes, from the hands of all who hate us. So his love for our fathers is fulfilled and his holy covenant remembered.
He swore to Abraham our father to grant us that free from fear, and saved from the hands of our foes, we might serve him in holiness and justice all the days of our life in his presence.
Gospel Acclamation: Ps24:4,5
Alleluia, alleluia! Teach me your paths, my God, make me walk in your truth. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.” “My friend,” he replied, “who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?” Then he said to them, “Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.” Then he told them a parable: “There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, ‘What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?’ So, it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.”
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant us, Lord, we pray, a sincere respect for your gifts, that, through the purifying action of your grace, we may be cleansed by the very mysteries we serve. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 32: 18-19
Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, who hope in his merciful love, to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, O Lord, we pray, that, benefiting from participation in heavenly things, we may be helped by what you give in this present age and prepared for the gifts that are eternal. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Happiness seems to be the current quest of a whole part of our world. But where and how do they look for it? The key word could be: possession. To have, to own more and more. Always more efficient. We call this the consumer society. Have we found happiness yet? Faced with such a quest, today’s parable uses only one word: “foolish”. Foolishness is what Scripture most seriously fears: that man will lose his sense, that he will take the wrong direction, that he will cease to depend on his Father to be on his own, his point of view, his horizon, his God. But do we really know towards what or towards whom our life is directed? God, you may say. Looking at our life and our choices, is it so obvious? Jesus directs us when he says: “Seek the Kingdom, and the rest will be given to you in addition”. This should be our true quest.
by L'équipe de publication | Oct 21, 2023 | Evangelium
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Psalter week I
Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Ps 16: 6, 8
To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. 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: Isaiah 45:1,4-6
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom he has taken by his right hand to subdue nations before him and strip the loins of kings, to force gateways before him that their gates be closed no more: ‘It is for the sake of my servant Jacob, of Israel my chosen one, that I have called you by your name, conferring a title though you do not know me. I am the Lord, unrivalled; there is no other God besides me. Though you do not know me, I arm you that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that, apart from me, all is nothing.’
Psalm 95(96):1,3-5,7-10
R/ Give the Lord glory and power.
O sing a new song to the Lord, sing to the Lord all the earth. Tell among the nations his glory and his wonders among all the peoples.
The Lord is great and worthy of praise, to be feared above all gods; the gods of the heathens are naught. It was the Lord who made the heavens,
Give the Lord, you families of peoples, give the Lord glory and power; give the Lord the glory of his name. Bring an offering and enter his courts.
Worship the Lord in his temple. O earth, tremble before him. Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’ He will judge the peoples in fairness.
Second reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
From Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonika which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; wishing you grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ. We know, brothers, that God loves you and that you have been chosen, because when we brought the Good News to you, it came to you not only as words, but as power and as the Holy Spirit and as utter conviction.
Gospel Acclamation: Jn17:17
Alleluia, alleluia! Your word is truth, O Lord: consecrate us in the truth. Alleluia!
Gospel: Matthew 22: 15-21
The Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap Jesus in what he said. And they sent their disciples to him, together with the Herodians, to say, “Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you. Tell us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, “You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.” They handed him a denarius, and he said, “Whose head is this? Whose name?” “Caesar’s”, they replied. He then said to them, “Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.”
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant us, Lord, we pray, a sincere respect for your gifts, that, through the purifying action of your grace, we may be cleansed by the very mysteries we serve. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 32: 18
Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, who hope in his merciful love, to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, O Lord, we pray, that, benefiting from participation in heavenly things, we may be helped by what you give in this present age and prepared for the gifts that are eternal. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Have you noticed how fond we are of trying to separate the different areas of our lives? There is work time and leisure time, secular time and sacred time, in short, there is the realm where we “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s” and the realm where we render “to God what is God’s”, in an almost equitable division between the temporal and the spiritual. But isn’t this a rather quick reading of Christ’s words? The question posed to Jesus only concerns a material aspect. Jesus answers on another level: he brings God into the discussion. So, we should not understand his answer in terms of sharing and hierarchy. Jesus thus tells us that there is only one absolute, God. And if each temporal thing has its place, it acquires it in relation to God who is the absolute. So in our daily dealings, let what is Caesar’s become for us a path to God.
