Thursday, May 15, 2014

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Litany in honor of St. Isidore the Farmer
patron of farmers & workers

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of heaven,
have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost,
have mercy on us.

Holy Mary,
pray for us.

St. Isidore,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, patron of farmers,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, illustrious tiller of the soul,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, model of laborers,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, devoted to duty,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, loaded down with the labors of the field,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, model of filial piety,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, support of family life,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, confessor of the faith,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, example of mortification,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, assisted by angels,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, possessor of the gift of miracles,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, burning with lively faith,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, zealous in prayer,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, ardent lover of the Blessed Sacrament,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, lover of God's earth,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, lover of poverty,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, lover of fellowmen,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, most patient,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, most humble,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, most pure,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, most just,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, most obedient,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, most faithful,
pray for us.
St. Isidore, most grateful,
pray for us.

Jesus, Our Lord:
we beseech You, hear us.
That You would vouchsafe to protect all tillers of the soil:
we beseech You, hear us.
That You would vouchsafe to bring to all a true knowledge of the stewardship of the land...
That You would vouchsafe to preserve and increase our fields and flocks...
That You would vouchsafe to give and preserve the fruits of the earth...
That You would vouchsafe to bless our fields...
That You would vouchsafe to preserve all rural pastors...
That You would vouchsafe to grant peace and harmony in our homes...
That You would vouchsafe to lift up our hearts to You...

Be merciful,
spare us, O Lord.
Be merciful,
graciously hear us, O Lord.

From lightning and tempest:
deliver us, O Lord.
From pestilence and floods...
From winds and drouth...
From hail and storm...
From the scourge of insects...
From the spirit of selfishness...

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world:
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world:
graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world:
have mercy on us.

Christ,
hear us.
Christ,
graciously hear us.

Let Us Pray:

Grant, O Lord,
that through the intercession of Blessed Isidore,
the husbandman,
we may follow his example of patience and humility,
and so walk faithfully in his footsteps
that in the evening of life we may be able to present to You an abundant harvest of merit and good works,
Who lives and reigns world without end.
Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Reading
ACTS 13:13-25

From Paphos, Paul and his companions
set sail and arrived at Perga in Pamphylia.
But John left them and returned to Jerusalem.
They continued on from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia.
On the sabbath they entered into the synagogue and took their seats.
After the reading of the law and the prophets,
the synagogue officials sent word to them,
“My brothers, if one of you has a word of exhortation
for the people, please speak.”

So Paul got up, motioned with his hand, and said,
“Fellow children of Israel and you others who are God-fearing, listen.
The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors
and exalted the people during their sojourn in the land of Egypt.
With uplifted arm he led them out,
and for about forty years he put up with them in the desert.
When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan,
he gave them their land as an inheritance
at the end of about four hundred and fifty years.
After these things he provided judges up to Samuel the prophet.
Then they asked for a king.
God gave them Saul, son of Kish,
a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
Then he removed him and raised up David as their king;
of him he testified,
I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.
From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel;
and as John was completing his course, he would say,
‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’“


Responsorial Psalm
PS 89:2-3, 21-22, 25 AND 27

R.   For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

The favors of the LORD I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.”

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,
and through my name shall his horn be exalted.
He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’”

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.


Gospel
JN 13:16-20

When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master
nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.
If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.
I am not speaking of all of you.
I know those whom I have chosen.
But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.
From now on I am telling you before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send
receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

May 15

St. Isidore the Farmer (1070-1130)

Isidore has become the patron of farmers and rural communities.
In particular he is the patron of Madrid, Spain, and of the United States National Rural Life Conference.

When he was barely old enough to wield a hoe, Isidore entered the service of John de Vergas, a wealthy landowner from Madrid, and worked faithfully on his estate outside the city for the rest of his life. He married a young woman as simple and upright as himself who also became a saint—Maria de la Cabeza. They had one son, who died as a child.

Isidore had deep religious instincts. He rose early in the morning to go to church and spent many a holiday devoutly visiting the churches of Madrid and surrounding areas. All day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. 
His devotion, one might say, became a problem, 
for his fellow workers sometimes complained that he often showed up late because of lingering in church too long.

He was known for his love of the poor, and there are accounts of Isidore’s supplying them miraculously with food. 
He had a great concern for the proper treatment of animals.

He died May 15, 1130, and was declared a saint in 1622 with Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri. Together, the group is known in Spain as “the five saints.”


OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim Your Praise!

Invitatory Psalm
Psalm 99 (100)

The Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth,
and serve him with joy.
Exult as you enter his presence.

The Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Know that the Lord is God.
He made us and we are his
– his people, the sheep of his flock.

The Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Cry out his praises as you enter his gates,
fill his courtyards with songs.
Proclaim him and bless his name;
for the Lord is our delight.
His mercy lasts forever,
his faithfulness through all the ages.

The Lord has truly risen, 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.

The Lord has truly risen, alleluia.


Hymn

Love’s redeeming work is done,
fought the fight, the battle won.
Lo, our Sun’s eclipse is o’er!
Lo, he sets in blood no more!
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal!
Christ has burst the gates of hell;
death in vain forbids him rise;
Christ has opened paradise.
Lives again our victorious King;
where, O death, is now thy sting?
Dying once, he all doth save;
where thy victory, O grave?
Soar we now where Christ has led,
following our exalted Head;
made like him, like him we rise,
ours the cross, the grave, the skies.
Hail the Lord of earth and heaven!
Praise to thee by both be given:
thee we greet triumphant now;
hail, the Resurrection thou!


Psalm 43 (44)
In time of defeat

Their own arm did not bring them victory:
this was won by your right hand and the light of your face.
Alleluia.

Our own ears have heard, O God,
and our fathers have proclaimed it to us,
what you did in their days, the days of old:
how with your own hand you swept aside the nations
and put us in their place,
struck them down to make room for us.
It was not by their own swords that our fathers took over the land,
it was not their own strength that gave them victory;
but your hand and your strength,
the light of your face,
for you were pleased in them.
You are my God and my king,
who take care for the safety of Jacob.
Through you we cast down your enemies;
in your name we crushed those who rose against us.
I will not put my hopes in my bow,
my sword will not bring me to safety;
for it was you who saved us from our afflictions,
you who set confusion among those who hated us.
We will glory in the Lord all the day,
and proclaim your name for all ages.

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.

Their own arm did not bring them victory:
this was won by your right hand and the light of your face.
Alleluia.


Psalm 43 (44)

If you return to the Lord,
then he will not hide his face from you.
Alleluia.

But now, God, you have spurned us and confounded us,
so that we must go into battle without you.
You have put us to flight in the sight of our enemies,
and those who hate us plunder us at will.
You have handed us over like sheep sold for food,
you have scattered us among the nations.
You have sold your people for no money,
not even profiting by the exchange.
You have made us the laughing-stock of our neighbours,
mocked and derided by those who surround us.
The nations have made us a by-word,
the peoples toss their heads in scorn.
All the day I am ashamed,
I blush with shame
as they reproach me and revile me,
my enemies and my persecutors.

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.

If you return to the Lord,
then he will not hide his face from you.
Alleluia.


Psalm 43 (44)

Arise, Lord, do not reject us for ever.

All this happened to us,
but not because we had forgotten you.
We were not disloyal to your covenant;
our hearts did not turn away;
our steps did not wander from your path;
and yet you brought us low,
with horrors all about us:
you overwhelmed us in the shadows of death.
If we had forgotten the name of our God,
if we had spread out our hands before an alien god —
would God not have known?
He knows what is hidden in our hearts.
It is for your sake that we face death all the day,
that we are reckoned as sheep to be slaughtered.
Awake, Lord, why do you sleep?
Rise up, do not always reject us.
Why do you turn away your face?
How can you forget our poverty and our tribulation?
Our souls are crushed into the dust,
our bodies dragged down to the earth.
Rise up, Lord, and help us.
In your mercy, redeem us.

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.

Arise, Lord, do not reject us for ever.


God raised the Lord, alleluia,
– and will raise us too by his power, alleluia.


First Reading
Apocalypse 15:5-16:21

After this, in my vision, the sanctuary, the Tent of the Testimony, opened in heaven, and out came the seven angels with the seven plagues, wearing pure white linen, fastened round their waists with golden girdles. One of the four animals gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the anger of God who lives for ever and ever. The smoke from the glory and the power of God filled the temple so that no one could go into it until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Then I heard a voice from the sanctuary shouting to the seven angels, 
‘Go, and empty the seven bowls of God’s anger over the earth.’

The first angel went and emptied his bowl over the earth; at once, on all the people who had been branded with the mark of the beast and had worshipped its statue, there came disgusting and virulent sores.

The second angel emptied his bowl over the sea, and it turned to blood, like the blood of a corpse, 
and every living creature in the sea died.

The third angel emptied his bowl into the rivers and water-springs and they turned into blood. Then I heard the angel of water say, ‘You are the holy He-Is-and-He-Was, the Just One, and this is a just punishment: they spilt the blood of the saints and the prophets, and blood is what you have given them to drink; it is what they deserve.’ And I heard the altar itself say,
 ‘Truly, Lord God Almighty, the punishments you give are true and just.’

The fourth angel emptied his bowl over the sun and it was made to scorch people with its flames; but though people were scorched by the fierce heat of it they cursed the name of God who had the power to cause such plagues, 
and they would not repent and praise him.

The fifth angel emptied his bowl over the throne of the beast and its whole empire was plunged into darkness. Men were biting their tongues for pain, but instead of repenting for what they had done, 
they cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores.

The sixth angel emptied his bowl over the great river Euphrates; all the water dried up so that a way was made for the kings of the East to come in. Then from the jaws of dragon and beast and false prophet I saw three foul spirits come; they looked like frogs and in fact were demon spirits, able to work miracles, going out to all the kings of the world to call them together for the war of the Great Day of God the Almighty.- This is how it will be: I shall come like a thief. Happy is the man who has stayed awake and not taken off his clothes so that he does not go out naked and expose his shame. 
– They called the kings together at the place called, in Hebrew, Armageddon.

The seventh angel emptied his bowl into the air, and a voice shouted from the sanctuary, ‘The end has come.’ Then there were flashes of lightning and peals of thunder and the most violent earthquake that anyone has ever seen since there have been men on the earth. The Great City was split into three parts and the cities of the world collapsed; Babylon the Great was not forgotten: God made her drink the full wine-cup of his anger. Every island vanished and the mountains disappeared; and hail, with great hailstones weighing a talent each, fell from the sky on the people. They cursed God for sending a plague of hail; 
it was the most terrible plague.


Responsory

If the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming,
he would have watched.
When I come, says the Lord,
I shall come like a thief.
Happy the man who is awake when I come, alleluia.

When people say,
‘There is peace and security,’
then suddenly destruction will come upon them.
When I come, says the Lord,
I shall come like a thief.
Happy the man who is awake when I come, alleluia.


Second Reading
From a treatise on John
by Saint Augustine, bishop

The new commandment

The Lord Jesus declares that he is giving his disciples a new commandment, that they should love one another: 
I give you a new commandment: love one another.

But wasn’t this commandment already part of the ancient law of God, where it is written You shall love your neighbour as yourself? Why, then, is it called a new one by the Lord, when it is really so old? Is it new because he has divested us of our old humanity and clothed us with the new? It is true that love renews those who listen to it 
(or rather, those who act in obedience to it) 
but it is that particular love which the Lord distinguished from all carnal affection by adding love one another as I have loved you.

This is the love that renews us, making us new men, heirs of the New Testament, singers of the new song. It was this love, my beloved brethren, that renewed the patriarchs and prophets of old, and later renewed the blessed apostles. This is the love that is now renewing the nations, and from among the universal race of man, which overspreads the whole world, is making and gathering together a new people, the body of the newly-married spouse of the only-begotten Son of God. Of her the Song of Songs says, Who is she who is coming up, clothed in white? Clothed in white because she has been renewed; 
and how else can she have been renewed but by the new commandment?

Because of this, the members of the people of God have a mutual interest in one another; and if one member suffers then all the members suffer with it; and if one member is honoured then all the members rejoice with it. For this they hear and this they observe: I give you a new commandment: love one another: not as people who pretend to love in order to corrupt one another, nor indeed as people love one another genuinely but in a human way. Rather, they love one another as those who belong to God. All of them are children of the Most High and consequently brethren of his only Son. They share with each other the love with which he leads them to the end that will bring them fulfilment and the true satisfaction of their real desires. For when God is all in all, 
there is no desire that is unfulfilled.

This love is bestowed on us by him who said, Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. He loved us so that we should love one another. By loving us he bound us to one another in mutual love, 
and by this gentle bond united us into the body of which he is the most noble Head.


Responsory

This is the commandment that Christ gave us:
he who loves God must love his brother also, alleluia.

The whole law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets depend on these two commandments:
he who loves God must love his brother also, alleluia.

Let us pray.

Lord God,
you restore our human nature
to a dignity higher than you gave it at creation.
Look with favour on the mystery of your love;
keep your gifts of grace intact
in those whose life you have renewed in baptism,
the sacrament of new birth.
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 praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.