Monday, May 21, 2012

PRAYER OF THE DAY

To the Queen of Martyrs

Mary, 
most holy Virgin and Queen of Martyrs, 
accept the sincere homage of my filial affection. 
Into thy heart, 
pierced by so many swords, 
do thou welcome my poor soul. 
Receive it as the companion of thy sorrows at the foot of the Cross, 
on which Jesus died for the redemption of the world. 
With thee, 
O sorrowful Virgin, 
I will gladly suffer all the trials, 
contradictions, 
and infirmities which it shall please our Lord to send me. 
I offer them all to thee in memory of thy sorrows, 
so that every thought of my mind, 
and every beat of my heart may be an act of compassion and of love for thee. 
And do thou, 
sweet Mother, 
have pity on me, 
reconcile me to thy divine Son Jesus, 
keep me in His grace, 
and assist me in my last agony, 
so that I may be able to meet thee in heaven and sing thy glories.

Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS


Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Reading 
Acts 19:1-8

While Apollos was in Corinth,
Paul traveled through the interior of the country
and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples.
He said to them,
"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?"
They answered him,
"We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
He said, "How were you baptized?"
They replied, "With the baptism of John."
Paul then said, "John baptized with a baptism of repentance,
telling the people to believe in the one 
who was to come after him,
that is, in Jesus."
When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul laid his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came upon them,
and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Altogether there were about twelve men.

He entered the synagogue, 
and for three months debated boldly
with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.


Responsorial Psalm 
Ps 68:2-3ab, 4-5acd, 6-7ab

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

God arises; his enemies are scattered,
and those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is driven away, so are they driven;
as wax melts before the fire.

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

But the just rejoice and exult before God;
they are glad and rejoice.
Sing to God, chant praise to his name;
whose name is the LORD.

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

The father of orphans and the defender of widows
is God in his holy dwelling.
God gives a home to the forsaken;
he leads forth prisoners to prosperity.

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.


Gospel 
Jn 16:29-33

The disciples said to Jesus,
"Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech.
Now we realize that you know everything
and that you do not need to have anyone question you.
Because of this we believe that you came from God."

Jesus answered them, 

"Do you believe now?
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that 
you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world."




SAINT OF THE DAY

May 21

St. Eugene de Mazenod (1782-1861)

Born into a noble family in Aix (Provence), Eugene spent part of his childhood in Italy because of the French Revolution. Ordained a priest at Amiens in 1811, he soon organized missionaries to go to rural parts of Provence, instructing the people whose religious training had been disrupted for many years by the French Revolution and its aftermath.

Eugene began the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1816, obtaining papal approval for them 10 years later. From rural preaching, they soon moved into running seminaries to improve the quality of the clergy. Their first foreign mission was in Canada in 1841; soon they were in Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America.

In 1851, Eugene followed his uncle as archbishop of Marseilles; Eugene died in that city 10 years later. He had focused his energies on Church renewal and reform while vigorously defending the Church’s right to spread the Good News.

His congregation has grown to become one of the largest in the Church, serving in over 50 countries, especially in northern and western Canada. Many of its members have become missionary bishops.

At Eugene’s canonization in 1998, Pope John Paul II praised his vision, perseverance and conformity to God’s will.


OFFICE OF READINGS


O Lord, open my lips.
  And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Invitatory Psalm
Psalm 23 (24)

Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, 
who has promised us the Holy Spirit, alleluia.

– Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, 
who has promised us the Holy Spirit, alleluia.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
  the world and all who live in it.
He himself founded it upon the seas
  and set it firm over the waters.

– Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, 
who has promised us the Holy Spirit, alleluia.

Who will climb the mountain of the Lord?
  Who will stand in his holy place?
The one who is innocent of wrongdoing and pure of heart,
  who has not given himself to vanities or sworn falsely.
He will receive the blessing of the Lord
  and be justified by God his saviour.
This is the way of those who seek him,
  seek the face of the God of Jacob.

– Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, 
who has promised us the Holy Spirit, alleluia.

Gates, raise your heads. Stand up, eternal doors,
  and let the king of glory enter.
Who is the king of glory?
The Lord of might and power.
  The Lord, strong in battle.

– Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, 
who has promised us the Holy Spirit, alleluia.

Gates, raise your heads. Stand up, eternal doors,
  and let the king of glory enter.
Who is the king of glory?
The Lord of hosts
 – he is the king of glory.

– Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, 
who has promised us the Holy Spirit, alleluia.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
  as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
  world without end.
Amen.

– Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, 
who has promised us the Holy Spirit, alleluia.


Hymn

Eternal Monarch, King most high,
Whose blood hath brought redemption nigh,
By whom the death of death was wrought,
And conquering grace’s battle fought:
Be thou our joy, O mighty Lord,
As thou will be our great reward;
Earth’s joys to thee are nothing worth,
Thou joy and crown of heaven and earth.
To thee we therefore humbly pray
That thou wouldst purge our sins away,
And draw our hearts by cords of grace
To thy celestial dwelling place.
So when the judgement day shall come,
And all must rise to meet their doom,
Thou wilt remit the debts we owe,
And our lost crowns again bestow.
All glory, Lord, to thee we pay,
Ascending o’er the stars today;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.


Psalm 49 (50)
True reverence for the Lord

Our God comes openly, he keeps silence no longer. Alleluia.

The Lord, the God of gods has spoken:
  he has summoned the whole earth, from east to west.
God has shone forth from Zion in her great beauty.
  Our God will come, and he will not be silent.
Before him, a devouring fire;
  around him, a tempest rages.
He will call upon the heavens above, and on the earth, to judge his people.
“Bring together before me my chosen ones, who have sealed my covenant with sacrifice.”
The heavens will proclaim his justice; 
for God is the true judge.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
  as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
  world without end.
Amen.

Our God comes openly, he keeps silence no longer. Alleluia.


Psalm 49 (50)

Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, alleluia.

Listen, my people, and I will speak;
  Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
I will not reproach you with your sacrifices,
  for your burnt offerings are always before me.
But I will not accept calves from your houses,
  nor goats from your flocks.
For all the beasts of the forests are mine,
  and in the hills, a thousand animals.
All the birds of the air – I know them.
  Whatever moves in the fields – it is mine.
If I am hungry, I will not tell you;
  for the whole world is mine, and all that is in it.
Am I to eat the flesh of bulls,
  or drink the blood of goats?
Offer a sacrifice to God – a sacrifice of praise;
  to the Most High, fulfil your vows.
Then you may call upon me in the time of trouble:
  I will rescue you, and you will honour me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
  as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
  world without end.
Amen.

Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, alleluia.


Psalm 49 (50)

I want love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts. Alleluia.

To the sinner, God has said this:
Why do you recite my statutes?
  Why do you dare to speak my covenant?
For you hate what I teach you,
  and reject what I tell you.
The moment you saw a thief, you joined him;
  you threw in your lot with adulterers.
You spoke evil with your mouth,
  and your tongue made plans to deceive.
Solemnly seated, you denounced your own brother;
  you poured forth hatred against your own mother’s son.
All this you did, and I was silent;
  so you thought that I was just like you.
But I will reprove you –
  I will confront you with all you have done.
Understand this, you who forget God;
  lest I tear you apart, with no-one there to save you.
Whoever offers up a sacrifice of praise gives me true honour;
  whoever follows a sinless path in life will be shown the salvation of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
  as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
  world without end.
Amen.

I want love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts. Alleluia.


My heart and my flesh, alleluia,
– shout joy to the living God, alleluia.


Reading
1 John 4:1-10 

It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust;
test them, to see if they come from God,
there are many false prophets, now, in the world.
You can tell the spirits that come from God by this:
every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh
is from God;
but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus
is not from God,
but is the spirit of Antichrist,
whose coming you were warned about.
Well, now he is here, in the world.
Children,
you have already overcome these false prophets,
because you are from God and you have in you
one who is greater than anyone in this world;
as for them, they are of the world,
and so they speak the language of the world
and the world listens to them.
But we are children of God,
and those who know God listen to us;
those who are not of God refuse to listen to us.
This is how we can tell
the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.
My dear people,
let us love one another
since love comes from God
and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,
because God is love.
God’s love for us was revealed
when God sent into the world his only Son
so that we could have life through him;
this is the love I mean:
not our love for God,
but God’s love for us when he sent his Son
to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.


Responsory

God’s love for us was revealed when he sent his only Son into the world, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life, alleluia.

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life, alleluia.


Reading
St Cyril of Jerusalem

The living water of the Holy Spirit

The water I shall give him will become in him a fountain of living water, welling up into eternal life. This is a new kind of water, a living, leaping water, welling up for those who are worthy. But why did Christ call the grace of the Spirit water? Because all things are dependent on water; plants and animals have their origin in water. Water comes down from heaven as rain, and although it is always the same in itself, it produces many different effects, one in the palm tree, another in the vine, and so on throughout the whole of creation. It does not come down, now as one thing, now as another, but while remaining essentially the same, it adapts itself to the needs of every creature that receives it.

  In the same way the Holy Spirit, whose nature is always the same, simple and indivisible, apportions grace to each man as he wills. Like a dry tree which puts forth shoots when watered, the soul bears the fruit of holiness when repentance has made it worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit. Although the Spirit never changes, the effects of his action, by the will of God and in the name of Christ, are both many and marvelous.

  The Spirit makes one man a teacher of divine truth, inspires another to prophesy, gives another the power of casting out devils, enables another to interpret holy Scripture. The Spirit strengthens one man’s self-control, shows another how to help the poor, teaches another to fast and lead a life of asceticism, makes another oblivious to the needs of the body, trains another for martyrdom. His action is different in different people, but the Spirit himself is always the same. In each person, Scripture says, the Spirit reveals his presence in a particular way for the common good.

  The Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance. He is not felt as a burden, for he is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as he approaches. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console. The Spirit comes to enlighten the mind first of the one who receives him, and then, through him, the minds of others as well.

  As light strikes the eyes of a man who comes out of darkness into the sunshine and enables him to see clearly things he could not discern before, so light floods the soul of the man counted worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit and enables him to see things beyond the range of human vision, things hitherto undreamed of.


Responsory

There are many forms of work, but all of them, in all men, are the work of the same God. In each of us the Spirit is manifested in one particular way, for some useful purpose, alleluia.

You are Christ’s body, and each of you a limb or organ of it. In each of us the Spirit is manifested in one particular way, for some useful purpose, alleluia.

Let us pray.

Lord God,
  let the grace of the Holy Spirit come upon us,
so that we may hold fast to your will with fidelity
  and show it forth in a holy life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
  who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
  one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.