THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Memorial of Saint John Vianney

Priest

Antiphon

O God, come to my assistance;

O Lord, make haste to help me!

You are my rescuer, my help;

O Lord, do not delay.

Collect

Almighty and merciful God,

who made the Priest Saint John Vianney

wonderful in his pastoral zeal,

grant, we pray,

that through his intercession and example

we may in charity win brothers and sisters for Christ

and attain with them eternal glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Reading

Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35

The LORD said to Moses
[in the desert of Paran,]

“Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan,

which I am giving the children of Israel.

You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe,

all of them princes.”

After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned,

met Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the children of Israel

in the desert of Paran at Kadesh,

made a report to them all,

and showed the fruit of the country

to the whole congregation.

They told Moses:  “We went into the land to which you sent us.

It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit.

However, the people who are living in the land are fierce,

and the towns are fortified and very strong.

Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there.

Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb;

Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the highlands,

and Canaanites along the seacoast and the banks of the Jordan.”

Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said,

“We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so.”

But the men who had gone up with him said,

“We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us.”

So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel

about the land they had scouted, saying,

“The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants.

And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants

(the Anakim were a race of giants);

we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”

At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries,

and even in the night the people wailed.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

“How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me?

I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel against me.

Tell them: By my life, says the LORD,

I will do to you just what I have heard you say.

Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall.

Forty days you spent in scouting the land;

forty years shall you suffer for your crimes:

one year for each day.

Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.

I, the LORD, have sworn to do this

to all this wicked assembly that conspired against me: 

here in the desert they shall die to the last man.”

Responsorial Psalm

106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23

R.    Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

We have sinned, we and our fathers;

    we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.

Our fathers in Egypt

    considered not your wonders.

R.    Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

But soon they forgot his works;

    they waited not for his counsel.

They gave way to craving in the desert

    and tempted God in the wilderness.

R.    Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

They forgot the God who had saved them,

    who had done great deeds in Egypt,

Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,

    terrible things at the Red Sea.

R.    Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,

    but Moses, his chosen one, 

Withstood him in the breach

    to turn back his destructive wrath.

R.    Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Alleluia

Lk 7:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

A great prophet has arisen in our midst

and God has visited his people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 15: 21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!

My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But he did not say a word in answer to her.

His disciples came and asked him,

“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

He said in reply,

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But the woman came and did him homage, saying, 

“Lord, help me.”

He said in reply,

“It is not right to take the food of the children

and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, 

“Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps

that fall from the table of their masters.”

Then Jesus said to her in reply,

“O woman, great is your faith!

Let it be done for you as you wish.”

And her daughter was healed from that hour.

SAINT OF THE DAY

August 4

Saint John Vianney

(1786 - 1859)

A man with vision overcomes obstacles and performs deeds that seem impossible. John Vianney was a man with vision: He wanted to become a priest. But he had to overcome his meager formal schooling, which inadequately prepared him for seminary studies.

His failure to comprehend Latin lectures forced him to discontinue. But his vision of being a priest urged him to seek private tutoring. After a lengthy battle with the books, John was ordained.

Situations calling for “impossible” deeds followed him everywhere. As pastor of the parish at Ars, John encountered people who were indifferent and quite comfortable with their style of living. His vision led him through severe fasts and short nights of sleep.

With Catherine Lassagne and Benedicta Lardet, he established La Providence, a home for girls. Only a man of vision could have such trust that God would provide for the spiritual and material needs of all those who came to make La Providence their home.

His work as a confessor is John Vianney’s most remarkable accomplishment. In the winter months he was to spend 11 to 12 hours daily reconciling people with God. In the summer months this time was increased to 16 hours. Unless a man was dedicated to his vision of a priestly vocation, he could not have endured this giving of self day after day.

Many people look forward to retirement and taking it easy, doing the things they always wanted to do but never had the time. But John Vianney had no thoughts of retirement. As his fame spread, more hours were consumed in serving God’s people. Even the few hours he would allow himself for sleep were disturbed frequently by the devil.

In 1929, Pope Pius XI named him the patron of parish priests worldwide.

THE LITURGY OF HOURS

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or the Work of God (Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Church, marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer.  The Hours are a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer.  At times the dialogue is between the Church or individual soul and God; at times it is a dialogue among the members of the Church; and at times it is even between the Church and the world.  The Divine Office "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father." (SC 84)  The dialogue is always held, however, in the presence of God and using the words and wisdom of God.  Each of the five canonical Hours includes selections from the Psalms that culminate in a scriptural proclamation.  The two most important or hinge Hours are Morning and Evening Prayer. These each include a Gospel canticle:  the Canticle of Zechariah from Luke 1:68-79 for Morning Prayer (known as the Benedictus), and the Canticle of Mary from Luke 1:46-55 for Evening Prayer (known as the Magnificat). The Gospel canticle acts as a kind of meditative extension of the scriptural proclamation in light of the Christ event.  Morning and Evening Prayer also include intercessions that flow from the scriptural proclamation just as the Psalms prepare for it.

In the Hours, the royal priesthood of the baptized is exercised, and this sacrifice of praise is thus connected to the sacrifice of the Eucharist, 

both preparing for and flowing from the Mass.

"The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour (with the subsequent responses or troparia) and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for silent prayer." (CCC 1177)

OFFICE OF READINGS

"The office of readings seeks to provide God's people, and in particular those consecrated to God in a special way, with a wider selection of passages from sacred Scripture for meditation, together with the finest excerpts from spiritual writers. Even though the cycle of scriptural readings at daily Mass is now richer, the treasures of revelation and tradition to be found in the office of readings will also contribute greatly to the spiritual life" (General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours [GILH], no. 55).

https://www.universalis.com/0/readings.htm

LAUDS - Morning Prayer

"As is clear from many of the elements that make it up, morning prayer is intended and arranged to sanctify the morning. St. Basil the Great gives an excellent description of this character in these words: "It is said in the morning in order that the first stirrings of our mind and will may be consecrated to God and that we may take nothing in hand until we have been gladdened by the thought of God, as it is written: 'I was mindful of God and was glad' (Ps 77:4 [Jerome's translation from Hebrew]), or set our bodies to any task before we do what has been said: 'I will pray to you, Lord, you will hear my voice in the morning; I will stand before you in the morning and gaze on you' 

(Ps 5:4-5)."

"Celebrated as it is as the light of a new day is dawning, this hour also recalls the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true light enlightening all people (see Jn 1:9) and "the sun of justice" (Mal 4:2), "rising from on high" (Lk 1:78). Hence, we can well understand the advice of St. Cyprian: "There should be prayer in the morning so that the resurrection of the Lord may thus be celebrated" (GILH, no. 38).

https://www.universalis.com/0/lauds.htm

TERCE - Mid-Morning Prayer

"Following a very ancient tradition Christians have made a practice of praying out of private devotion at various times of the day, even in the course of their work, in imitation of the Church in apostolic times. In different ways with the passage of time this tradition has taken the form of a liturgical celebration.

"Liturgical custom in both East and West has retained midmorning, midday, and midafternoon prayer, mainly because these hours were linked to a commemoration of the events of the Lord's passion and of the first preaching of the Gospel" 

(GILH, no. 74-75).

https://www.universalis.com/0/terce.htm

SEXT - Mid-Day Prayer

 https://www.universalis.com/0/sext.htm

NONE - Afternoon Prayer

 https://www.universalis.com/0/none.htm

VESPERS - Evening Prayer

"When evening approaches and the day is already far spent, evening prayer is celebrated in order that 'we may give thanks for what has been given us, or what we have done well, during the day.' We also recall the redemption through the prayer we send up 'like incense in the Lord's sight,' and in which 'the raising up of our hands' becomes 'an evening sacrifice' (see Ps 141:2). This sacrifice 'may also be interpreted more spiritually as the true evening sacrifice that our Savior the Lord entrusted to the apostles at supper on the evening when he instituted the sacred mysteries of the Church or of the evening sacrifice of the next day, the sacrifice, that is, which, raising his hands, he offered to the Father at the end of the ages for the salvation of the whole world.' Again, in order to fix our hope on the light that knows no setting, 'we pray and make petition for the light to come down on us anew; we implore the coming of Christ who will bring the grace of eternal light.' Finally, at this hour we join with the Churches of the East in calling upon the 'joy-giving light of that holy glory, born of the immortal, heavenly Father, the holy and blessed Jesus Christ; now that we have come to the setting of the sun and have seen the evening star, we sing in praise of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…'" 

(GILH, no. 39).

https://www.universalis.com/0/vespers.htm

COMPLINE - Night Prayer

"Night prayer is the last prayer of the day, said before retiring, even if that is after midnight" (GILH, no. 84).The Psalms that are chosen for Night Prayer are full of confidence in the Lord.

https://www.universalis.com/0/compline.htm

ABOUT TODAY

https://www.universalis.com/0/today.htm

IN HONOR OF THE 231st BIRTHDAY OF THE U.S. COAST GUARD

The U.S. Coast Guard Prayer

Almighty and Everlasting God,

Whose hand stills the tumult of the deep,

we offer our prayers for those who serve in our Coast Guard.

We are mindful of their traditions of selfless service

to the seafarers who make their ways to appointed ports.

 

Employ their devotions of good ends

as they track the weather and search for the seas

for those in extremity of storm, shipwreck or battle.

Make their soundings and markings sure that safe passages

may be found by those who go down to the sea in ships.

 

Encourage them, O Lord, as they stand guard over

our coasts and the bulwarks of our freedoms.

Graciously deliver them from threatening calamities

in all their perilous voyages.