PRAYER OF THE DAY

Aspiration to Mary

O Mary,

conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to thee.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Monday of the First Week of Advent

Reading

IS 4:2-6

On that day,

The branch of the LORD will be luster and glory,

and the fruit of the earth will be honor and splendor

for the survivors of Israel.

He who remains in Zion

and he who is left in Jerusalem

Will be called holy:

every one marked down for life in Jerusalem.

When the LORD washes away

the filth of the daughters of Zion,

And purges Jerusalem’s blood from her midst

with a blast of searing judgment,

Then will the LORD create,

over the whole site of Mount Zion

and over her place of assembly,

A smoking cloud by day

and a light of flaming fire by night.

For over all, the LORD’s glory will be shelter and protection:

shade from the parching heat of day,

refuge and cover from storm and rain.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 122:1-2, 3-4B, 4CD-5, 6-7, 8-9

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

I rejoiced because they said to me,

“We will go up to the house of the LORD."

And now we have set foot

within your gates, O Jerusalem.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Jerusalem, built as a city

with compact unity.

To it the tribes go up,

the tribes of the LORD.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

According to the decree for Israel,

to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

In it are set up judgment seats,

seats for the house of David.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

May those who love you prosper!

May peace be within your walls,

prosperity in your buildings.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Because of my relatives and friends

I will say, “Peace be within you!"

Because of the house of the LORD, our God,

I will pray for your good.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Gospel

MT 8:5-11

When Jesus entered Capernaum,

a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,

“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.”

He said to him,

“I will come and cure him.”

The centurion said in reply,

“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;

only say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man subject to authority,

with soldiers subject to me.

And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes;

and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes;

and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,

“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.

I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,

and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

December 2

Blessed Rafal Chylinski (1694-1741)

Born near Buk in the Poznan region of Poland, Melchior showed early signs of religious devotion; family members nicknamed him "the little monk." After completing his studies at the Jesuit college in Poznan, 

Melchior joined the cavalry and was promoted to the rank of officer within three years.

Against the urgings of his military comrades, in 1715 Melchior joined the Conventual Franciscans in Kraków, receiving the name Rafal, and was ordained two years later. After pastoral assignments in nine cities, he came to Lagiewniki (central Poland), where he spent the last 13 years of his life, except for 20 months ministering to flood and epidemic victims in Warsaw. In all these places, Rafal was known for his simple and candid sermons, 

for his generosity as well as his ministry in the confessional. 

People of all levels of society were drawn to the self-sacrificing way he lived out his religious profession 

and priestly ministry.

Rafal played the harp, lute and mandolin to accompany liturgical hymns. 

In Lagiewniki he distributed food, supplies and clothing to the poor. 

After his death, the Conventual church in that city became a place of pilgrimage for people throughout Poland. 

He was beatified in Warsaw in 1991.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will proclaim Your Praise!

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 94 (95)

Let us adore the Lord,

the King who is to come.

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.

Let us adore the Lord,

the King who is to come.

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.

Let us adore the Lord,

the King who is to come.

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.

Let us adore the Lord,

the King who is to come.

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.”

Let us adore the Lord,

the King who is to come.

“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.”

Let us adore the Lord,

the King who is to come.

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 adore the Lord,

the King who is to come.

Hymn

The Advent of our God

With eager prayers we greet

And singing haste up on the road

His glorious gift to meet.

The everlasting Son

Scorns not a Virgin’s womb;

That we from bondage may be won

He bears a bondsman’s doom.

Daughter of Zion, rise

To meet thy lowly King;

Let not thy stubborn heart despise

The peace he deigns to bring.

In clouds of awful light,

As Judge he comes again,

His scattered people to unite,

With them in heaven to reign.

Let evil flee away

Ere that dread hour shall dawn.

Let this old Adam day by day

God’s image still put on.

Praise to the Incarnate Son,

Who comes to set us free,

With God the Father, ever One,

To all eternity.

Psalm 6

A prayer for relief from affliction

Lord, save me in your merciful love.

Lord, do not condemn me in your fury:

do not destroy me in your anger.

Take pity on me, Lord, for I am sick;

heal me, Lord, for my bones are in disarray.

My spirit is deeply disturbed,

and you, Lord – how long?

Turn to me, Lord, rescue my spirit:

in your pity, save me.

If I die, how can I praise you?

Can anyone in the underworld proclaim your name?

I struggle and groan,

soak my bed with weeping night after night;

my eyes are troubled with sadness:

I grow older as my enemies watch.

Leave me, all who do evil,

for the Lord has heard my voice as I wept.

The Lord listened to my prayer,

granted me what I asked.

Let my enemies be ashamed and confounded:

let shame and confusion overtake them soon.

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, save me in your merciful love.

Psalm 9A (9)

Thanksgiving for victory

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed in times of distress.

I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of your wonders.

I will rejoice in you and triumph,

make music to your name, O Most High.

Because my enemies are in full retreat;

they stumble and perish at your presence.

For you have given judgement in my favor,

upheld my case,

taken your seat on the throne of judgement.

You have rebuked the nations,

condemned the wicked,

wiped out their name for ever and for ever.

My enemies are no more;

their land is a desert for ever.

You have demolished their cities,

their very memory is wiped away.

But the Lord will reign for ever:

he has made his throne his judgement-seat.

He himself will judge the whole world in justice,

judge the peoples impartially.

The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed,

a refuge in good times and in bad.

Let them put their hope in you, those who know your name;

for you, Lord, have never abandoned those who seek you.

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 is a stronghold for the oppressed in times of distress.

Psalm 9A (9)

I will recount all your praise at the gates of the city of Sion.

Sing to the Lord who dwells in Zion,

proclaim to the nations his loving care.

For he has remembered the poor and avenged them with blood:

he has not forgotten the cry of the weak.

Take pity on me, Lord:

see how my enemies torment me.

You raise me up from the gates of death,

and I will proclaim your praise at the gates of the daughter of Zion;

I will rejoice in your salvation.

The nations have fallen into the pit that they made,

into the very trap that they set: their feet are caught fast.

The Lord’s justice shines forth:

the sinner is trapped by his very own action.

Sinners will go down to the underworld,

and all nations that forget God.

For the weak will not always be forgotten:

the hope of the weak will never perish.

Rise up, Lord, let men not be complacent:

let the nations come before you to be judged.

Put fear into them, Lord:

let them know that they are only men.

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 will recount all your praise at the gates of the city of Sion.

Show us your saving mercy, Lord,

– and give us your saving help.

First Reading

Isaiah 1:21-27,2:1-5

What a harlot she has become,

the faithful city,

Zion, that was all justice!

Once integrity lived there,

but now assassins.

Your silver has turned into dross,

your wine is watered.

Your princes are rebels,

accomplices of thieves.

All are greedy for profit

and chase after bribes.

They show no justice to the orphan,

the cause of the widow is never heard.

Therefore-- it is the Lord, the Lord of Hosts who speaks,

the Mighty One of Israel,

‘Ah, I will outdo my enemies,

avenge myself on my foes.

‘I will turn my hand against you,

I will smelt away your dross in the furnace,

I will remove all your base metal from you.

‘I will restore your judges as of old,

your counsellors as in bygone days.

Then you will be called City of Integrity,

Faithful City.’

Zion will be redeemed by justice,

and her penitents by integrity.

The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In the days to come

the mountain of the Temple of the Lord

shall tower above the mountains

and be lifted higher than the hills.

All the nations will stream to it,

peoples without number will come to it; and they will say:

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the Temple of the God of Jacob

that he may teach us his ways

so that we may walk in his paths;

since the Law will go out from Zion,

and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem.’

He will wield authority over the nations

and adjudicate between many peoples;

these will hammer their swords into plowshares,

their spears into sickles.

Nation will not lift sword against nation,

there will be no more training for war.

O House of Jacob, come,

let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Responsory

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob:

he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths.

The Messiah is coming – he who is called Christ.

When he comes, he will show us all things:

he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths.

Second Reading

A pastoral letter

by St Charles Borromeo

The season of Advent

Beloved, now is the acceptable time spoken of by the Spirit, the day of salvation, peace and reconciliation: the great season of Advent. This is the time eagerly awaited by the patriarchs and prophets, the time that holy Simeon rejoiced at last to see. This is the season that the Church has always celebrated with special solemnity. We too should always observe it with faith and love, offering praise and thanksgiving to the Father for the mercy and love he has shown us in this mystery. In his infinite love for us, though we were sinners, he sent his only Son to free us from the tyranny of Satan, to summon us to heaven, to welcome us into its innermost recesses, to show us truth itself, to train us in right conduct, to plant within us the seeds of virtue, to enrich us with the treasures of his grace, 

and to make us children of God and heirs of eternal life.

Each year, as the Church recalls this mystery, she urges us to renew the memory of the great love God has shown us. This holy season teaches us that Christ’s coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all. We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and the sacraments, 

we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us, and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ.

The Church asks us to understand that Christ, who came once in the flesh, is prepared to come again. When we remove all obstacles to his presence he will come, at any hour and moment, to dwell spiritually in our hearts, 

bringing with him the riches of his grace.

In her concern for our salvation, our loving mother the Church uses this holy season to teach us through hymns, canticles and other forms of expression, of voice or ritual, used by the Holy Spirit. She shows us how grateful we should be for so great a blessing, and how to gain its benefit: our hearts should be as much prepared for the coming of Christ as if he were still to come into this world. The same lesson is given us for our imitation by the words and example of the holy men of the Old Testament.

Responsory

Sound the trumpet in Zion!

Summon the nations,

say to the peoples,

See, our God and Savior is coming!

Tell it, proclaim it;

cry aloud and say,

See, our God and Savior is coming!

Let us pray.

Give us the grace, Lord,

to be ever on the watch for Christ your Son.

When he comes and knocks at our door,

let him find us alert in prayer,

joyfully proclaiming his glory.

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.