PRAYER OF THE DAY

For the Grace of Love

O Mary, my dear Mother, how much I love thee! And yet in reality how little! Thou dost teach me what I ought to know, for thou teachest me what Jesus is to me and what I ought to be for Jesus. Dearly beloved Mother, how close to God thou art, and how utterly filled with Him! In the measure that we know God, we remind ourselves of thee. Mother of God, obtain for me the grace of loving my Jesus; obtain for me the grace of loving thee!

Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930)

Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn, 

priest and martyr and Saint Paul Chŏng Hasang, martyr, 

and their companions, martyrs

Reading

1 Cor 15:1-11

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,

of the Gospel I preached to you,

which you indeed received and in which you also stand.

Through it you are also being saved,

if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,

unless you believed in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;

that he was buried;

that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures;

that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once,

most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

After that he appeared to James,

then to all the Apostles.

Last of all, as to one born abnormally,

he appeared to me.

For I am the least of the Apostles,

not fit to be called an Apostle,

because I persecuted the Church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am,

and his grace to me has not been ineffective.

Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;

not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.

Therefore, whether it be I or they,

so we preach and so you believed.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 118:1b-2, 16ab-17, 28

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his mercy endures forever.

Let the house of Israel say,

"His mercy endures forever."

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

"The right hand of the LORD is exalted;

the right hand of the LORD has struck with power."

I shall not die, but live,

and declare the works of the LORD.

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

You are my God, and I give thanks to you;

O my God, I extol you.

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Gospel

Lk 7:36-50

A certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him,

and he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at table.

Now there was a sinful woman in the city

who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee.

Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,

she stood behind him at his feet weeping

and began to bathe his feet with her tears.

Then she wiped them with her hair,

kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself,

"If this man were a prophet,

he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him,

that she is a sinner."

Jesus said to him in reply,

"Simon, I have something to say to you."

"Tell me, teacher," he said.

"Two people were in debt to a certain creditor;

one owed five hundred days' wages and the other owed fifty.

Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both.

Which of them will love him more?"

Simon said in reply,

"The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven."

He said to him,

"You have judged rightly."

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon,

"Do you see this woman?

When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet,

but she has bathed them with her tears

and wiped them with her hair.

You did not give me a kiss,

but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.

You did not anoint my head with oil,

but she anointed my feet with ointment.

So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven;

hence, she has shown great love.

But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."

He said to her,

"Your sins are forgiven."

The others at table said to themselves,

"Who is this who even forgives sins?"

But he said to the woman,

"Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

SAINT OF THE DAY

September 20

Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Companions (1821-1846)

This first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After Baptism at the age of 15, Andrew traveled 1,300 miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and married man, aged 45.

Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for bringing taxes to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883.

When Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984 he canonized, besides Andrew and Paul, 98 Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and priests, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47 women, 45 men.

Among the martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison, pierced with hot tools and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned criminals, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the indignity, no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded. A boy of 13, Peter Ryou, had his flesh so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong, a 41-year-old noble, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was tortured to death.

Today, there are almost 4.7 million Catholics in Korea.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips.

And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 94 (95)

Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

Come, let us rejoice in the Lord,

let us acclaim God our salvation.

Let us come before him proclaiming our thanks,

let us acclaim him with songs.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

For the Lord is a great God,

a king above all gods.

For he holds the depths of the earth in his hands,

and the peaks of the mountains are his.

For the sea is his: he made it;

and his hands formed the dry land.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

Come, let us worship and bow down,

bend the knee before the Lord who made us;

for he himself is our God and we are his flock,

the sheep that follow his hand.

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

If only, today, you would listen to his voice:

“Do not harden your hearts

as you did at Meribah,

on the day of Massah in the desert,

when your fathers tested me –

they put me to the test,

although they had seen my works.”

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

“For forty years they wearied me,

that generation.

I said: their hearts are wandering,

they do not know my paths.

I swore in my anger:

they will never enter my place of rest.”

– Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of martyrs.

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 the Lord, the King of martyrs.

Hymn

Where true love is dwelling, God is dwelling there:

Love’s own loving Presence love does ever share.

Love of Christ has made us out of many one;

In our midst is dwelling God’s eternal Son.

Give him joyful welcome, love him and revere:

Cherish one another with a love sincere.

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.

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.

Psalm 43 (44)

If you return to the Lord, 

then he will not hide his face from you.

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.

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.

Lord, let your face shine on your servant;

– teach me your decrees.

Reading

Ezekiel 12:1-16

The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, you are living with that set of rebels who have eyes and never see, ears and never hear, for they are a set of rebels. You, son of man, pack an exile’s bundle and emigrate by daylight when they can see you, emigrate from where you are to somewhere else while they watch. Perhaps they will admit then that they are a set of rebels. You will pack your baggage like an exile’s bundle, by daylight, for them to see, and leave like an exile in the evening, making sure that they are looking. As they watch, make a hole in the wall, and go out through it. As they watch, you will shoulder your pack and go out into the dark; you will cover your face so that you cannot see the country, since I have made you a symbol for the House of Israel.’

I did as I had been told. I packed my baggage like an exile’s bundle, by daylight; and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with my hand. I went out into the dark and shouldered my pack as they watched.

The next morning the word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, did not the House of Israel, did not that set of rebels, ask you what you were doing? Say, “The Lord says this: This oracle is directed against Jerusalem and the whole House of Israel wherever they are living.” Say, “I am a symbol for you; the thing I have done will be done to them; they will go into exile, into banishment.” Their ruler will shoulder his pack in the dark and go out through the wall; a hole will be made to let him out; he will cover his face rather than see the country, I shall throw my net over him and catch him in my mesh; I shall take him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldaeans, though he will not see it; and there he will die. And all those who form his court, his guards and all his troops, I shall scatter to all the winds and unsheathe the sword behind them. They will learn that I am the Lord, when I scatter them throughout the nations and disperse them in foreign countries. However, I intend to leave some of them unscathed by sword, famine and plague, to describe all their filthy practices to the peoples among whom they will go, so that these too may learn that I am the Lord.’

Responsory

When I scatter them throughout the nations and disperse them in foreign countries,

then they will learn that I am the Lord.

If they renounce my law and do not observe my commands,

I will punish their disobedience with the rod:

then they will learn that I am the Lord.

Reading

St Augustine's sermon On Pastors

Be a model for the faithful

When the Lord had explained what these bad shepherds seek, he also said what they neglect. The defects of the sheep are widespread. There are a very few healthy, fat sheep – that is, those that are made strong by feeding on the truth, by God’s gift making good use of the pastures – but they are not safe from the bad shepherds. Those shepherds not only do not look after the sick, the weak, the wandering and the lost, but they do as much harm as they can to the strong and sleek among the flock. Those sheep survive – by the mercy of God they survive – but the bad shepherds do what they can to kill them.

You may ask how they do this. By living badly, by setting a bad example. There was a reason why the servants of God, eminent among shepherds, were told In everything you do make yourself an example to them of working for good, and Be a model for the faithful. Often even a strong sheep, seeing its leader living a wicked life, will turn from contemplation of the laws of the Lord to the behaviour of the man and say to itself, “if my leader lives thus, who am I that I should do things differently?” In that way the shepherd is killing the strong sheep: and if the strong, then what of the rest? Even if their strength did not come from his care – even if they were strong and healthy before he saw them – still he is killing him by his evil life.

I say this to your loving kindness, I say it again: even if the sheep are living strong in the word of the Lord, even if they follow what their Lord has told them: Do what they say; but what they do, do not do yourselves, whoever lives wickedly in the sight of the people is a murderer in so far as he is able. Let him not flatter himself that his victim is not dead. The victim is not dead but the man is still a murderer. When a man lusts after a woman then even if she remains chaste he is still an adulterer. The Lord’s judgement is clear and true: If a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. He has not come to her in his bedroom but in the interior bedroom of his heart he is already in the throes of passion with her.

And so it is that anyone who lives wickedly in the sight of those over whom he has authority is killing them, even the strong ones, as far as he is able. Whoever imitates him dies and whoever does not imitate him lives, but as far as he himself is concerned he is killing them all. As the Lord says, You are killing the fattest sheep but you do not feed my flock.

Responsory

Much will be asked of those to whom much has been given;

more will be expected of them,

because they were entrusted with more.

Severe judgement fall on those in high places:

more will be expected of them,

because they were entrusted with more.

Let us pray.

O God, you have created all nations and you are their salvation.

In the land of Korea your call to Catholic faith formed a people of adoption,

whose growth you nurtured by the blood of Andrew, Paul and their companions.

Through their martyrdom and their intercession

grant us strength

that we too may remain faithful to your commandments even until death.

We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.

Let us bless the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.