PRAYER OF THE DAY

Prayer of Intercession to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

V. O God, come unto my assistance;

R. O Lord, make haste to help me.

V. Glory be to the Father, etc.

R. As it was, etc.

I. Immaculate Virgin, who being conceived without sin, didst direct every movement of thy most pure heart toward God, and wast always submissive to His divine will; obtain for me the grace to hate sin with all my heart and to learn from thee to live in perfect resignation to the will of God.

Our Father once and Hail Mary seven times.

II. O Mary, I wonder at that profound humility, which troubled thy blessed heart at the message of the Angel Gabriel, that thou hadst been chosen to be the Mother of the Son of the most high God, the while thou didst profess thyself His lowly handmaiden; ashamed at the sight of my own pride, I beg of thee the grace of a contrite and humble heart, so that, acknowledging my misery, I may come to attain the glory promised to those who are truly humble of heart.

Our Father once and Hail Mary seven times.

III. Blessed Virgin, who didst keep in thy heart the precious treasure of the words of Jesus thy Son and, pondering over the sublime mysteries therein contained, couldst live only for God, how am I confounded by the coldness of my heart! Ah, dear Mother, obtain for me the grace of meditating always on the holy law of God, and of seeking to follow thine example in the fervent practice of all the Christian virtues.

Our Father once and Hail Mary seven times.

IV. O glorious Queen of Martyrs, whose sacred heart, in the Passion of thy Son, was cruelly pierced by the sword foretold by the holy and aged Simeon; obtain for my heart true courage and holy patience to bear well the tribulations and trials of this wretched life; may I show myself to be thy true child by crucifying my flesh and all its desires in following the mortification of the Cross.

Our Father once and Hail Mary seven times.

V. O Mary, mystic rose, whose lovable heart, burning with the living fire of love, adopted us as thy children at the foot of the Cross, becoming thus our most tender Mother, make me experience the sweetness of thy motherly heart and the power of thine intercession with Jesus, in all the dangers that beset me during life, and especially at the dread hour of my death; in such wise may my heart be ever united to thine, and love Jesus both now and through endless ages. Amen.

Our Father once and Hail Mary seven times.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading

Ez 1:2-5, 24-28c

On the fifth day of the fourth month of the fifth year,

that is, of King Jehoiachin's exile,

The word of the LORD came to the priest Ezekiel,

the son of Buzi,

in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.--

There the hand of the LORD came upon me.

As I looked, a stormwind came from the North,

a huge cloud with flashing fire enveloped in brightness,

from the midst of which (the midst of the fire)

something gleamed like electrum.

Within it were figures resembling four living creatures

that looked like this: their form was human.

Then I heard the sound of their wings,

like the roaring of mighty waters,

like the voice of the Almighty.

When they moved, the sound of the tumult was like the din of an army.

And when they stood still, they lowered their wings.

Above the firmament over their heads

something like a throne could be seen,

looking like sapphire.

Upon it was seated, up above, one who had the appearance of a man.

Upward from what resembled his waist I saw what gleamed like electrum;

downward from what resembled his waist I saw what looked like fire;

he was surrounded with splendor.

Like the bow which appears in the clouds on a rainy day

was the splendor that surrounded him.

Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14

R. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

praise him in the heights;

Praise him, all you his angels;

praise him, all you his hosts.

R. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,

the princes and all the judges of the earth,

Young men too, and maidens,

old men and boys,

R. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Praise the name of the LORD,

for his name alone is exalted;

His majesty is above earth and heaven.

R. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.

or:

R. Alleluia.

And he has lifted up the horn of his people.

Be this his praise from all his faithful ones,

from the children of Israel, the people close to him.

Alleluia.

R. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 17:22-27

As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee,

Jesus said to them,

"The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,

and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."

And they were overwhelmed with grief.

When they came to Capernaum,

the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said,

"Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?"

"Yes," he said.

When he came into the house, before he had time to speak,

Jesus asked him,

"What is your opinion, Simon?

From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?

From their subjects or from foreigners?"

When he said, "From foreigners," Jesus said to him,

"Then the subjects are exempt.

But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,

and take the first fish that comes up.

Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.

Give that to them for me and for you."

SAINT OF THE DAY

August 13

Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus  (d. 235)

Two men died for the faith after harsh treatment and exhaustion in the mines of Sardinia. One had been pope for five years, the other an antipope for 18. They died reconciled.

Pontian. Pontian was a Roman who served as pope from 230 to 235. During his reign he held a synod which confirmed the excommunication of the great theologian Origen in Alexandria. Pontian was banished to exile by the Roman emperor in 235, and resigned so that a successor could be elected in Rome. He was sent to the “unhealthy” island of Sardinia, where he died of harsh treatment in 235. With him was Hippolytus (see below) with whom he was reconciled. The bodies of both martyrs were brought back to Rome and buried with solemn rites as martyrs.

Hippolytus. As a presbyter in Rome, Hippolytus (the name means “a horse turned loose”) was at first “holier than the Church.” He censured the pope for not coming down hard enough on a certain heresy—calling him a tool in the hands of one Callistus, a deacon—and coming close to advocating the opposite heresy himself. When Callistus was elected pope, Hippolytus accused him of being too lenient with penitents, and had himself elected antipope by a group of followers. He felt that the Church must be composed of pure souls uncompromisingly separated from the world, and evidently thought that his group fitted the description. He remained in schism through the reigns of three popes. In 235 he was also banished to the island of Sardinia. Shortly before or after this event, he was reconciled to the Church, and died with Pope Pontian in exile.

Hippolytus was a rigorist, a vehement and intransigent man for whom even orthodox doctrine and practice were not purified enough. He is, nevertheless, the most important theologian and prolific religious writer before the age of Constantine. His writings are the fullest source of our knowledge of the Roman liturgy and the structure of the Church in the second and third centuries. His works include many Scripture commentaries, polemics against heresies and a history of the world. A marble statue, dating from the third century, representing the saint sitting in a chair, was found in 1551. On one side is inscribed his table for computing the date of Easter, on the other a list of how the system works out until the year 224. Pope John XXIII installed the statue in the Vatican library.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips.

And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 23 (24)

Let us come before the Lord and proclaim our thanks.

– Let us come before the Lord and proclaim our thanks.

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.

– Let us come before the Lord and proclaim our thanks.

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.

– Let us come before the Lord and proclaim our thanks.

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.

– Let us come before the Lord and proclaim our thanks.

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.

– Let us come before the Lord and proclaim our thanks.

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.

– Let us come before the Lord and proclaim our thanks.

Hymn

Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal

O God of truth, prepare our minds

To hear and heed your holy word;

Fill every heart that longs for you

With your mysterious presence, Lord.

Almighty Father, with your Son

And blessed Spirit, hear our prayer:

Teach us to love eternal truth

And seek its freedom everywhere.

Psalm 49 (50)

True reverence for the Lord

Our God comes openly, he keeps silence no longer.

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.

Psalm 49 (50)

Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.

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.

Psalm 49 (50)

I want love, not sacrifice; 

knowledge of God, not holocausts.

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.

Listen, my people, and I shall speak.

– I am God, your God.

Reading

Hosea 14:2-10

The Lord says this:

Israel, come back to the Lord your God;

your iniquity was the cause of your downfall.

Provide yourself with words

and come back to the Lord.

Say to him, ‘Take all iniquity away

so that we may have happiness again

and offer you our words of praise.

Assyria cannot save us,

we will not ride horses any more,

or say, “Our God!” to what our own hands have made,

for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.’

– I will heal their disloyalty,

I will love them with all my heart,

for my anger has turned from them.

I will fall like dew on Israel.

He shall bloom like the lily,

and thrust out roots like the poplar,

his shoots will spread far;

he will have the beauty of the olive

and the fragrance of Lebanon.

They will come back to live in my shade;

they will grow corn that flourishes,

they will cultivate vines

as renowned as the wine of Helbon.

What has Ephraim to do with idols any more

when it is I who hear his prayer and care for him?

I am like a cypress ever green,

all your fruitfulness comes from me.

Let the wise man understand these words.

Let the intelligent man grasp their meaning.

For the ways of the Lord are straight,

and virtuous men walk in them,

but sinners stumble.

Responsory

I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them with all my heart, 

for my anger has turned from them.

I will pardon the blood-guilt yet to be pardoned, says the Lord, and here in Zion the Lord will have his dwelling-place, 

for my anger has turned from them.

Reading

From a treatise On the Incarnation of the Lord 

by Theodoret of Cyr, bishop

I will heal their wounds

Of his own free will Jesus ran to meet those sufferings that were foretold in the Scriptures concerning him. He had forewarned his disciples about them several times; he had rebuked Peter for being reluctant to accept the announcement of his passion, and he had made it clear that it was by means of his suffering that the world’s salvation was to be accomplished. This was why he stepped forward and presented himself to those who came in search of him, saying: I am the one you are looking for. For the same reason he made no reply when he was accused, and refused to hide when he could have done so; although in the past he had slipped away on more than one occasion when they had tried to apprehend him.

Jesus also wept over Jerusalem because by her unwillingness to believe she was bent on her own ruin, and upon the temple, once so renowned, he passed sentence of utter destruction. Patiently he put up with being struck in the face by a man who was doubly a slave, in body and in spirit. He allowed himself to be slapped, spat upon, insulted, tortured, scourged and finally crucified. He accepted two robbers as his companions in punishment, on his right and on his left. He endured being reckoned with murderers and criminals. He drank the vinegar and the bitter gall yielded by the unfaithful vineyard of Israel. He submitted to crowning with thorns instead of with vine twigs and grapes; he was ridiculed with the purple cloak, holes were dug in his hands and his feet, and at last he was carried to the grave.

All this he endured in working out our salvation. For since those who were enslaved to sin were liable to the penalties of sin, he himself, exempt from sin though he was and walking in the path of perfect righteousness, underwent the punishment of sinners. By his cross he blotted out the decree of the ancient curse: for, as Paul says: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us; for it is written: “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree.” And by his crown of thorns he put an end to that punishment meted out to Adam, who after his sin had heard the sentence: Cursed is the ground because of you; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth for you.

In tasting the gall Jesus took on himself the bitterness and toil of man’s mortal, painful life. By drinking the vinegar he made his own the degradation men had suffered, and in the same act gave us the grace to better our condition. By the purple robe he signified his kingship, by the reed he hinted at the weakness and rottenness of the devil’s power. By taking the slap in the face, and thus suffering the violence, corrections and blows that were due to us, he proclaimed our freedom.

His side was pierced as Adam’s was; yet there came forth not a woman who, being beguiled, was to be the death-bearer, but a fountain of life that regenerates the world by its two streams: the one to renew us in the baptismal font and clothe us with the garment of immortality, the other to feed us, the reborn, at the table of God, just as babes are nourished with milk.

Responsory

He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, 

and by his wounds we are healed.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live for holiness, 

and by his wounds we are healed.

Let us pray.

Almighty, ever-living God,

we confidently call you Father as well as Lord.

Renew your Spirit in our hearts:

make us ever more perfectly your children,

so that we may enter upon the inheritance you have promised us.

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.