PRAYER OF THE DAY

NOVENA TO

SAINT ANTHONY MARY CLARET

St. Anthony Mary Claret,

during your life on earth

you often comforted the afflicted

and showed such tender love

and compassion for the sick and sinful.

Intercede for me now

that you rejoice in the reward

of your virtues in heavenly glory.

Look with pity on me

(or on the person afflicted or whose conversion is desired)

and grant my prayer,

if such be the will of God.

Make my troubles your own.

Speak a word for me

to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

to obtain by her powerful intercession

the grace I yearn for so ardently,

and a blessing to strengthen me during life,

assist me at the hour of death,

and lead me to a happy eternity.

Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading

ROM 6:19-23

Brothers and sisters:

I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature.

For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity

and to lawlessness for lawlessness,

so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.

But what profit did you get then

from the things of which you are now ashamed?

For the end of those things is death.

But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God,

the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,

and its end is eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 1:1-2, 3, 4 AND 6

R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Blessed the man who follows not

the counsel of the wicked

Nor walks in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the company of the insolent,

But delights in the law of the LORD

and meditates on his law day and night.

R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

He is like a tree

planted near running water,

That yields its fruit in due season,

and whose leaves never fade.

Whatever he does, prospers.

R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Not so the wicked, not so;

they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

For the LORD watches over the way of the just,

but the way of the wicked vanishes.

R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Gospel

LK 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:

“I have come to set the earth on fire,

and how I wish it were already blazing!

There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,

and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

From now on a household of five will be divided,

three against two and two against three;

a father will be divided against his son

and a son against his father,

a mother against her daughter

and a daughter against her mother,

a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

October 24

St. Anthony Claret (1807-1870)

The "spiritual father of Cuba" was a missionary, religious founder, social reformer, queen’s chaplain, writer and publisher, archbishop and refugee. He was a Spaniard whose work took him to the Canary Islands, 

Cuba, Madrid, Paris and to the First Vatican Council.

In his spare time as weaver and designer in the textile mills of Barcelona, he learned Latin and printing: The future priest and publisher was preparing. Ordained at 28, he was prevented by ill health from entering religious life as a Carthusian or as a Jesuit, but went on to become one of Spain’s most popular preachers.

He spent 10 years giving popular missions and retreats, always placing great emphasis on the Eucharist and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Her rosary, it was said, was never out of his hand. At 42, 

beginning with five young priests, he founded a religious institute of missionaries, known today as the Claretians.

He was appointed to head the much-neglected archdiocese of Santiago in Cuba. He began its reform by almost ceaseless preaching and hearing of confessions, and suffered bitter opposition mainly for opposing concubinage and giving instruction to black slaves. A hired assassin (whose release from prison Anthony had obtained) slashed open his face and wrist. Anthony succeeded in getting the would-be assassin’s death sentence commuted to a prison term. His solution for the misery of Cubans was family-owned farms producing a variety of foods for the family’s own needs and for the market. This invited the enmity of the vested interests who wanted everyone to work on a single cash crop—sugar. Besides all his religious writings are two books he wrote in Cuba: Reflections on Agriculture and Country Delights.

He was recalled to Spain for a job he did not relish—being chaplain for the queen. He went on three conditions: He would reside away from the palace, he would come only to hear the queen’s confession and instruct the children and he would be exempt from court functions. In the revolution of 1868, he fled with the queen’s party to Paris, 

where he preached to the Spanish colony.

All his life Anthony was interested in the Catholic press. He founded the Religious Publishing House, 

a major Catholic publishing venture in Spain, and wrote or published 200 books and pamphlets.

At Vatican I, where he was a staunch defender of the doctrine of infallibility, he won the admiration of his fellow bishops. Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore remarked of him, "There goes a true saint." 

At the age of 63, he died in exile near the border of Spain.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will proclaim your praise!

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 66 (67)

Come, let us adore the Lord,

for he is our God.

O God, take pity on us and bless us,

and let your face shine upon us,

so that your ways may be known across the world,

and all nations learn of your salvation.

Come, let us adore the Lord,

for he is our God.

Let the peoples praise you, O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and rejoice,

for you judge the peoples with fairness

and you guide the nations of the earth.

Come, let us adore the Lord,

for he is our God.

Let the peoples praise you, O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has produced its harvest:

may God, our God, bless us.

May God bless us,

may the whole world revere him.

Come, let us adore the Lord,

for he is our 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.

Come, let us adore the Lord,

for he is our God.

Hymn

Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal

Eternal Father, through your Word

You gave new life to Adam’s race,

And call us now to live in light,

New creatures by your saving grace.

To you who stooped to all who sin

We render homage and give praise:

To Father, Son and Spirit blest

Whose loving gift is endless days.

Psalm 17 (18)

Thanksgiving

The word of the Lord is a shield 

for all who make him their refuge.

The Lord’s ways are pure;

the words of the Lord are refined in the furnace;

the Lord protects all who hope in him.

For what God is there, but our Lord?

What help, but in the Lord our God?

God, who has wrapped me in his strength

and set me on the perfect path,

who has made my feet like those of the deer,

who has set me firm upon the heights,

who trains my hands for battle,

teaches my arms to bend a bow of bronze.

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 word of the Lord is a shield 

for all who make him their refuge.

Psalm 17 (18)

Lord, your right hand upheld me.

You have given me the shield of your salvation;

your right hand holds me up;

by answering me, you give me greatness.

You have stretched the length of my stride,

my feet do not weaken.

I pursue my enemies and surround them;

I do not turn back until they are no more.

I smash them to pieces, they cannot stand,

they fall beneath my feet.

You have wrapped me round with strength for war,

and made my attackers fall under me.

You turned my enemies’ backs on me,

you destroyed those who hated me.

They cried out, but there was no-one to save them;

they cried to the Lord, but he did not hear.

I have ground them up until they are dust in the wind,

trodden them down like the mud of the street.

You have delivered me from the murmurings of the people

and placed me at the head of the nations.

A people I do not even know serves me –

at a mere rumor of my orders, they obey.

The children of strangers beg for my favor;

they hide away and tremble where they hide.

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.

Lord, your right hand upheld me.

Psalm 17 (18)

Long life to the Lord!

Praised be the God who saves me.

The Lord lives, my blessed Helper.

Let the God of my salvation be exalted.

God, you give me my revenge,

you subject peoples to my rule,

you free me from my enraged enemies.

You raise me up from those who attack me,

you snatch me from the grasp of the violent.

And so I will proclaim you among the nations, Lord,

and sing to your name.

Time and again you save your king,

you show your loving kindness to your anointed,

to David and his descendants for ever.

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.

Long life to the Lord!

Praised be the God who saves me.

Uncover my eyes, Lord,

– and I will consider the wonders of your Law.

First Reading

Esther 5:1-8,7:1-10

On the third day, Esther, dressed in her royal robes, presented herself in the inner court of the palace, which was in front of the king’s apartments. He was seated on the royal throne in the Royal Hall, facing the door. No sooner had he seen Queen Esther standing in his court than she won his favor and he held out the golden scepter he had in his hand to her. Esther approached and touched the end of it.

‘What is the matter, Queen Esther?’ the king said. ‘Tell me what you desire; even if it is half my kingdom, I grant it you.’ ‘Would the king be pleased’ Esther replied ‘to come with Haman today to the banquet I have prepared for him?’ 

The king said, ‘Tell Haman to come at once, so that Esther may have her wish.’

When the king and Haman were seated at the banquet with Queen Esther this second day, the king again said to Esther as they drank their wine, ‘Tell me what you request, Queen Esther? I grant it to you. Tell me what you desire; even if it is half my kingdom, it is yours for the asking.’ ‘If I have found favor in your eyes, O king,’ Queen Esther replied ‘and if it please your majesty, grant me my life – that is what I request; and the lives of my people – that is what I desire. For we are doomed, I and my people, to destruction, slaughter and annihilation; if we had merely been condemned to become slaves and servant-girls, I would have said nothing; but as things are, it will be beyond the means of the persecutor to make good the loss that the king is about to sustain.’ King Ahasuerus interrupted Queen Esther, ‘Who is this man?’ he exclaimed. ‘Where is he, the schemer of such an outrage?’ Esther replied, ‘The persecutor, the enemy? 

Why, this wretch Haman!’ Haman quaked with terror in the presence of the king and queen.

In a rage the king rose and left the banquet to go into the palace garden; while Haman, realizing that the king was determined on his ruin, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. When the king returned from the palace garden into the banqueting hall, he found Haman huddled across the couch where Esther was reclining. ‘What!’ the king exclaimed. ‘Is he going to rape the queen before my eyes in my own palace?’ The words were scarcely out of his mouth than a veil was thrown over Haman’s face. Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, was present. He said, ‘How convenient! There is that fifty-cubit gallows which Haman ran up for Mordecai, whose report saved the king’s life. 

It is all ready at his house.’ ‘Hang him on it’ said the king. 

So Haman was hanged on the gallows which he had erected for Mordecai, and the king’s wrath subsided.

Responsory

Israel cried out to the Lord and he saved his people;

he delivered them from all evil.

The Lord worked wonders for Israel among the nations.

Declare this with cries of joy:

The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.

The Lord worked wonders for Israel among the nations.

Second Reading

St Augustine's letter to Proba

We do not know how to pray as we ought

Perhaps you may still ask why St Paul said when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, 

since it is impossible that he or those to whom he wrote should not have known the Lord’s Prayer.

Yet Paul himself was not exempt from such ignorance. When, to prevent him from becoming swollen-headed over the greatness of the revelations that had been given to him, he was given in addition a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, he asked the Lord three times to take it away from him. Surely that was not knowing to pray as he ought? For in the end he heard the Lord’s reply, telling him why even such a great saint’s prayer had to be refused: 

My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.

So when we are suffering afflictions that might be doing us either good or harm, we do not to know how to pray as we ought. But because they are hard to endure and painful, because they are contrary to our nature (which is weak) we, like all mankind, pray to have our afflictions taken from us. At least, though, we owe this much respect to the Lord our God, that if he does not take our afflictions away we should not consider ourselves ignored and neglected, but should hope to gain some greater good through the patient acceptance of suffering. For my power is at its best in weakness.

Scripture says this so that we should not be proud of ourselves if our prayer is heard, when we ask for something it would be better for us not to get; and so that we should not become utterly dejected if we are not given what we ask for, despairing of God’s mercy towards us: it might be that what we have been asking for could have brought us some still greater affliction, or it could have brought us the kind of good fortune that brings corruption and ruin. 

In such cases, it is clear that we cannot know how to pray as we ought.

Hence if anything happens contrary to our prayer, we ought to bear the disappointment patiently, give thanks to God, and be sure that it was better for God’s will to be done than our own. The Mediator himself has given us an example of this. When he had prayed, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by, he transformed the human will that was in him because he had assumed human nature and added Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it. 

Thus, truly, By the obedience of one man many have been made righteous.

Responsory

Ask and you will receive;

for everyone who asks receives,

and he who seeks finds,

and to him who knocks it will be opened.

The Lord is near to all who call upon him,

who call upon him from their hearts;

for everyone who asks receives,

and he who seeks finds,

and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Let us pray.

Almighty, ever-living God,

make us ever obey you willingly and promptly.

Teach us how to serve you

with sincere and upright hearts

in every sphere of 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 praise the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.