Day: September 10, 2015

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 27-35

At that time, Jesus set out with His disciples for the villages around Caesarea Philippi : and on the way He asked them, “Who do people say I am?” And they told Him, “Some say You are John the Baptist; others say You are Elijah or one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus asked them, “But You, who do You say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And He ordered them not to tell anyone about Him. Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed, and after three days rise again.

Jesus said all this quite openly, so that Peter took Him aside and began to protest strongly. But Jesus turned around, and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”

Then Jesus called the people and His disciples, and said, “If you want to follow Me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you lose your life for My sake and for the sake of the Gospel, you will save it.”

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 2 : 14-18

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith without showing works? Such faith has no power to save you. If a brother or sister is in need of clothes or food and one of you says, “May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied,” without attending to their material needs, what good is that? So it is for faith without deeds : it is totally dead.

Say to whoever challenges you, “You have faith and I have good deeds, show me your faith apart from actions and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act.”

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 114 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

Alleluia! I am pleased that the Lord has heard my voice in supplication, that He has not been deaf to me, the day I called on Him.

When the cords of death entangled me, the snares of the grave laid hold of me, I called upon the Name of the Lord : “O Lord, save my life!”

Gracious and righteous is the Lord; full of compassion is our God. The Lord protects the simple : He saved me when I was humbled.

He has freed my soul from death, my eyes from weeping, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 50 : 5-9a

The Lord YHVH has opened My ear. I have not rebelled, nor have I withdrawn. I offered My back to those who strike Me, My cheeks to those who pulled My beard; neither did I shield My face from blows, spittle and disgrace.

I have not despaired, for the Lord YHVH comes to My help. So, like a flint I set My face, knowing that I will not be disgraced. He who avenges Me is near. Who then will accuse Me? Let us confront each other. Who is now My accuser? Let him approach. If the Lord YHVH is My help, who will condemn Me?

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : Green

Offertory

Psalm 39 : 14, 15

Domine, in auxilium meum respice : confundantur et reverantur, qui quaerunt animam meam, ut auferant eam : Domine, in auxilium meum respice.

English translation

Look down, o Lord, to help me, let them be confounded and ashamed, those who seek after my soul to take it away, look down, o Lord, to help me.

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Munda nos, quaesumus, Domine, sacrificii praesentis effectu : et perfice miseratus in nobis; ut ejus mereamur esse participes. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Cleanse us, we beseech You, o Lord, by the effect of the present sacrifice, and in Your mercy bring to pass in us that we may deserve to be partakers of it. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

Communion

Psalm 70 : 16-17, 18

Domine, memorabor justitiae Tuae solius : Deus, docuisti me a juventute mea : ut usque in senectam et senium, Deus, ne derelinquas me.

English translation

O Lord, I will be mindful of Your justice alone. You have taught me, o God, from my youth, and unto old age and gray hairs, o God, do not forsake me.

Post-Communion Prayer

Purifica, quaesumus, Domine, mentes nostras benignus, et renova caelestibus sacramentis : ut consequenter et corporum praesens pariter et futurum capiamus auxilium. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

In Your loving kindness, purify our souls, we beseech You, o Lord, and renew them with the heavenly sacrament, that we may receive bodily assistance thereby, both for this life and for the life to come. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Holy Gospel

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam – Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

Luke 14 : 1-11

In illo tempore : Cum intraret Jesus in domum cujusdam principis pharisaeorum sabbato manducare panem, et ipsi observabant eum. Et ecce, homo quidam hydropicus erat ante illum. Et respondens Jesus dixit ad legisperitos et pharisaeos, dicens : Si licet sabbato curare? At illi tacuerunt. Ipse vero apprehensum sanavit eum ac dimisit.

Et respondens ad illos, dixit : Cujus vestrum asinus aut bos in puteum cadet, et non continuo extrahet illum die sabbati? Et non poterant ad haec respondere illi. Dicebat autem et ad invitatos parabolam, intendens, quomodo primos accubitus eligerent, dicens ad illos : Cum invitatus fueris ad nuptias, non discumbas in primo loco, ne forte honoratior te sit invitatus ab illo, et veniens is, qui Te et illum vocavit, dicat tibi : Da huic locum : et tunc incipias cum rubore novissimum locum tenere.

Sed cum vocatus fueris, vade, recumbe in novissimo loco : ut, cum venerit, qui te invitavit, dicat tibi : Amice, ascende superius. Tunc erit tibi gloria coram simul discumbentibus : quia omnis, qui se exaltat, humiliabitur : et qui se humiliat, exaltabitur.

English translation

At that time, when Jesus went into the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees on the sabbath day to eat bread, they watched Him. And behold, there was a certain man before Him that had the dropsy, and Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?” But they held their peace, but He took him, healed him and sent him away.

And answering them, He said, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him out on the sabbath day?” And they could not answer Him these things. And He spoke a parable also to those who were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them, “When you are invited to a wedding, do not sit down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honourable than you be invited by him, and he who invited you and him, come and say to you, ‘Give this man place,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.”

“But when you are invited, go, sit down in the lowest place, that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher,’ then you shall have glory before those who sit at table with you, because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.”

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Gradual and Alleluia

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 101 : 16-17 and Psalm 97 : 1

Timebunt gentes Nomen Tuum, Domine, et omnes reges terrae gloriam Tuam.

Priest : Quoniam aedificavit Dominus Sion, et videbitur in majestate Sua.

Alleluja, Alleluja.

Priest : Cantate Domino canticum novum : quia mirabilia fecit Dominus. Alleluja.

English translation

The Gentiles shall fear Your Name, o Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory.

Priest : For the Lord had built up Zion, and He shall be seen in His majesty.

Alleluia, Alleluia.

Priest : Sing all of you to the Lord a new canticle, because the Lord had done wonderful things. Alleluia.

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Green

Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Ephesios – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians

Ephesians 3 : 13-21

Fratres : Obsecro vos, ne deficiatis in tribulationibus meis pro vobis : quae est gloria vestra. Hujus rei gratia flecto genua mea ad Patrem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ex quo omnis paternitas in caelis et in terra nominatur, ut det vobis secundum divitias gloriae Suae, virtute corroborari per Spiritum Ejus in interiorem hominem.

Christum habitare per fidem in cordibus vestris : in caritate radicati et fundati, ut possitis comprehendere cum omnibus sanctis, quae sit latitudo et longitudo et sublimitas et profundum : scire etiam supereminentem scientiae caritatem Christi, ut impleamini in omnem plenitudinem Dei.

Ei autem, qui potens est omnia facere superabundanter, quam petimus aut intellegimus, secundum virtutem, quae operatur in nobis : ipsi gloria in Ecclesia et in Christo Jesu, in omnes generationes saeculi saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Brethren, I pray that you may not faint at my tribulations for you, which are your glory. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom all paternity, in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man.

That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts, that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height and depth. To know also the charity of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.

Now to Him Who is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, unto all generations, world without end. Amen.

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Green

Introit

Psalm 85 : 3, 5, 1

Miserere mihi, Domine, quoniam ad Te clamavi tota die : quia Tu, Domine, suavis ac mitis es, et copiosus in misericordia omnibus invocantibus Te.

Inclina, Domine, aurem Tuam mihi, et exaudi me : quoniam inops, et pauper sum ego.

Priest : Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper : et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Have mercy on me, o Lord, for I have cried to You all the day, for You, o Lord, are sweet and mild, and plenty in mercy to all those who call upon You.

Bow down Your ear to me, o Lord, and hear me, for I am needy and poor.

Priest : 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.

Collect

Tua nos, quaesumus, Domine, gratia semper et praeveniat et sequatur : ac bonis operibus jugiter praestet esse intentos. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Let Your grace, we beseech You, o Lord, ever go before us and follow us, and may it make us to be continually zealous in doing good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 September 2015 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Most Holy Name of Mary)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate another feast honouring the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, after her Nativity just a few days ago, when we celebrated her birth into the world, and then today, we celebrate her Most Holy Name, the name that is the terror of demons and evil. Just as the Name of her Son Jesus is the Name above every other names, the name of Mary is significant and important for us as well.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because at the Name of Jesus, all the devils, all the forces of evil, all those opposed to the Lord, chief of which is Satan, Lucifer, the prince of evil, all these shake in fear and despair, for they know perfectly well, that in Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Saviour of the world, their doom is at hand, and they know perfectly well, their fate of eternal suffering for their wickedness.

They have tried to rise up against the Lord in rebellion and they have failed. They have tried to bring down mankind, God’s most beloved creations, and they have failed as well. They have not been able to do this as they have to face our loving God and Father who cares for the souls of us all. Those who are plotting for our downfall must come to face with the One who cares for us all at every single moment.

And then, what is the significance of Mary in all this? That is because just as they feared and trembled at the Holy Name of Jesus, whenever they hear the Holy Name of Mary uttered in good faith, they too would tremble and hide out of fear, because they also know perfectly well that it was by Mary, her faith and obedience to God and His will, and by the special role she played in God’s plan of salvation.

It is through Mary that the Saviour of this world was born, and through her that salvation was able to come down upon us all. It was her perfect and total obedience to the will of God, that even when she was faced with the daunting task of being the mother of our Saviour, all the uncertainties, doubts and fears accompanying that, and yet she did not give in to her fears, and instead, she faced all of them with faith.

This is why, Mary is an inspiration and example to all of us. It was her dedication and commitment to the mission which God had entrusted her with that had helped us all on the way towards God’s salvation. And even then, she did not end her work and her role there. Even after her Son Jesus had died and risen from the dead, and even after He had ascended in glory to heaven, she continued to be a guide to the early Church, until her own Assumption into glorious heaven.

Mary in her unique position in heaven, as the mother of our Lord and God, has been crowned by her Son as the Queen of the heavenly forces, the angels and the hosts of heaven. And thus, not only that her faith and unfailing dedication commitment to God brought terror to the hearts of Satan and his allies, because they were unable to faze and corrupt her to sin, sinless as she was, is and will always be, but then, she also leads the forces of heaven in the resistance against evil.

We all ought to know that in Mary we have such a great ally against the devil, for she is constantly praying for our sake, beseeching her Son Jesus on our behalf. She leads the angels and the saints in prayer to God, for our intercession. When we sin and fall into darkness and evil, Mary and the angels and the saints led the forces of good in the constant battle and struggle with evil and its forces in the daily and constant spiritual battle for our sake.

Let us all from now on, invoke the holy name of Mary, as well as the Holy Name of her Son, Jesus, with good and genuine faith, so that we may receive her protection through her prayers and intercessions, and as the commander of the forces of heaven, the angels and all fighting to defend us from the evil one, that we may be brought away from the depredations of those seeking our downfall.

May all of us be ever closer to the Lord our God, by showing it through our actions and deeds. Let us all also put our trust in Mary, His mother, who always prays for our sake, and who is the bane of the evil one. Let us ask for her intercession at all times, and promise her that we will draw ever closer to her Son and abandon all of our sinfulness and wickedness. God bless us all. Amen.