THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mother of the Church

Antiphon

Cf. Acts 1:14

 

The disciples devoted themselves with one accord to prayer

with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

Collect

O God, Father of mercies,

whose Only Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross,

chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother,

to be our Mother also,

grant, we pray, that with her loving help

your Church may be more fruitful day by day

and, exulting in the holiness of her children,

may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity

of the Holy Spirit,

God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Reading

Gn 3:9-15, 20

After Adam had eaten of the tree,

            the LORD God called to him and asked him, 

“Where are you?”

He answered, 

“I heard you in the garden;

            but I was afraid, because I was naked,

            so I hid myself.”

Then he asked, 

“Who told you that you were naked?

You have eaten, then,

            from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”

The man replied, 

“The woman whom you put here with me—

            she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”

The LORD God then asked the woman,

            “Why did you do such a thing?”

The woman answered, 

“The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the serpent:

            “Because you have done this, you shall be banned

                        from all the animals

                        and from all the wild creatures;

            On your belly shall you crawl,

                        and dirt shall you eat

                        all the days of your life.

            I will put enmity between you and the woman,

                        and between your offspring and hers;

            He will strike at your head,

                        while you strike at his heel.”

The man called his wife Eve,

            because she became the mother of all the living.

 

Responsorial Psalm

87:1-2, 3 and 5, 6-7

R. Glorious things are said of you, O city of God!

His foundation upon the holy mountains

            the LORD loves:

The gates of Zion,

            more than any dwelling of Jacob.

R. Glorious things are said of you, O city of God!

Glorious things are said of you,

            O city of God!

And of Zion they shall say:

            “One and all were born in her;

And he who has established her

            is the Most High LORD.”

R. Glorious things are said of you, O city of God!

They shall note, when the peoples are enrolled:

            “This man was born there.”

And all shall sing, in their festive dance:

            “My home is within you.”

R. Glorious things are said of you, O city of God!

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

O joyful Virgin, who gave birth to the Lord;

O blessed Mother of the Church,

who nurture in us the Spirit

of your Son Jesus Christ!

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Jn 19:25-34

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother

            and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,

            and Mary of Magdala.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,

            he said to his mother, 

“Woman, behold, your son.”

Then he said to the disciple,

            “Behold, your mother.”

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

After this, aware that everything was now finished,

            in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,

            Jesus said, 

“I thirst.”

There was a vessel filled with common wine.

So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop

            and put it up to his mouth.

When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,

            “It is finished.”

And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Now since it was preparation day,

            in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,

            for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,

            the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken

            and they be taken down.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first

            and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,

            they did not break his legs,

            but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,

            and immediately Blood and water flowed out.

SAINT OF THE DAY

May 20

Saint Bernardine of Siena

(1380 - 1444)

He was the greatest preacher of his time, journeying across Italy, calming strife-torn cities, attacking the paganism he found rampant, attracting crowds of 30,000, following Saint Francis of Assisi’s admonition to preach about “vice and virtue, punishment and glory.”

Compared with Saint Paul by the pope, Bernardine had a keen intuition of the needs of the time, along with solid holiness and boundless energy and joy. He accomplished all this despite having a very weak and hoarse voice, miraculously improved later because of his devotion to Mary.

When he was 20, the plague was at its height in his hometown of Siena. Sometimes as many as 20 people died in one day at the hospital. Bernardine offered to run the hospital and, with the help of other young men, nursed patients there for four months. He escaped the plague, but was so exhausted that a fever confined him for several months. 

He spent another year caring for a beloved aunt whose parents had died when he was a child, and at her death began to fast and pray to know God’s will for him.

At 22, he entered the Franciscan Order and was ordained two years later. For almost a dozen years he lived in solitude and prayer, but his gifts ultimately caused him to be sent to preach. He always traveled on foot, sometimes speaking for hours in one place, then doing the same in another town.

Especially known for his devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, Bernardine devised a symbol—IHS, the first three letters of the name of Jesus in Greek—in Gothic letters on a blazing sun. This was to displace the superstitious symbols of the day, as well as the insignia of factions: for example, Guelphs and Ghibellines. The devotion spread, and the symbol began to appear in churches, homes and public buildings. Opposition arose from those who thought it a dangerous innovation. Three attempts were made to have the pope take action against him, but Bernardine’s holiness, orthodoxy, and intelligence were evidence of his faithfulness.

General of the Friars of the Strict Observance, a branch of the Franciscan Order, Bernardine strongly emphasized scholarship and further study of theology and canon law. When he started there were 300 friars in the community; when he died there were 4,000. He returned to preaching the last two years of his life, dying while traveling.

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

01/24/24