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(Usus Antiquior) Fifth Sunday after Easter (II Classis) – Sunday, 9 May 2021 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : White


Offertory

Psalm 65 : 8-9, 26


Benedicite, gentes, Dominum, Deum nostrum, et obaudite vocem laudis ejus : qui posuit animam meam ad vitam, et non dedit commoveri pedes meos : benedictus Dominus, qui non amovit deprecationem meam et misericordiam suam a me, Alleluja.

English translation


O bless the Lord our God, you Gentiles, and make the voice of His praise to be heard, who had set my soul to live, and had not suffered my feet to be moved. Blessed be the Lord, who had not turned away my prayer, and His mercy from me, Alleluia.

Secret Prayer of the Priest


Suscipe, Domine, fidelium preces cum oblationibus hostiarum : ut, per haec piae devotionis officia, ad caelestem gloriam transeamus. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation


Receive, o Lord, the prayers of the faithful, with offerings of sacrifices, that through these offices of pious devotion we may pass to heavenly glory. 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 95 : 2


Cantate Domino, Alleluja : Cantate Domino et benedicite Nomen Ejus : bene nuntiate de die in diem salutare Ejus, Alleluja, Alleluja.

English translation


Sing all of you to the Lord, Alleluia. Sing all of you to the Lord, and bless His Name. Show forth His salvation from day to day, Alleluia, Alleluia.

Post-Communion Prayer


Tribue nobis, Domine, caelestis mensae virtute satiatis : et desiderare, quae recta sunt, et desiderata percipere. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation


Grant, o Lord, unto us, who have been regaled with the virtue of the heavenly table, both to desire what is right and to obtain what we desire. 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) Fifth Sunday after Easter (II Classis) – Sunday, 9 May 2021 : Holy Gospel

Liturgical Colour : White


Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem – Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. John

John 16 : 23-30


In illo tempore : Dixit Jesus discipulis suis : Amen, amen, dico vobis : si quid petieritis Patrem in Nomine Meo, dabit vobis. Usque modo non petistis quidquam in Nomine Meo : Petite, et accipietis, ut gaudium vestrum sit plenum.

Haec in proverbiis locutus sum vobis. Venit hora, cum jam non in proverbiis loquar vobis, sed palam de Patre annuntiabo vobis. In illo die in Nomine Meo petetis : et non dico vobis, quia ego rogabo Patrem de vobis : ipse enim Pater amat vos, quia vos me amastis, et credidistis quia ego a Deo exivi.

Exivi a Patre et veni in mundum : iterum relinquo mundum et vado ad Patrem. Dicunt ei discipuli ejus : Ecce, nunc palam loqueris et proverbium nullum dicis. Nunc scimus, quia scis omnia et non opus est tibi, ut quis te interroget : in hoc credimus, quia a Deo existi.

English translation


At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in My Name, He will give it to you. Hitherto you have not asked anything in My Name, ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

“These things I have spoken to you in proverbs, the hour comes when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father. In that day, you shall ask in My Name; and I do not say that I will ask the Father for you, for the Father Himself loved you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God.”

“I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world, and again I leave the world, and go to the Father.” His disciples said to Him, “Behold, now You speak plainly, and does not speak in proverbs. Now we know that You know all things, and You do not need that any man should ask You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.”

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(Usus Antiquior) Fifth Sunday after Easter (II Classis) – Sunday, 9 May 2021 : Alleluia

Liturgical Colour : White


Tradition of the Faith and John 16 : 28

Alleluja, Alleluja.

Response : Surrexit Christus, et illuxit nobis, quos redemit sanguine suo.

Alleluja.

Response : Exivi a Patre, et veni in mundum : iterum relinquo mundum, et vado ad Patrem. Alleluja.

English translation


Alleluia, Alleluia.

Response : Christ is risen, and had shone His light upon us whom He had redeemed with His blood.

Alleluia.

Response : I went out from the Father and came into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father. Alleluia.

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(Usus Antiquior) Fifth Sunday after Easter (II Classis) – Sunday, 9 May 2021 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : White
Lectio Epistolae Beati Jacobi Apostoli – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed James the Apostle


James 1 : 22-27


Carissimi : Estote factores verbi, et non auditores tantum : fallentes vosmetipsos. Quia si quis auditor est verbi et non factor : hic comparabitur viro consideranti vultum nativitatis suae in speculo : consideravit enim se et abiit, et statim oblitus est, qualis fuerit.

Qui autem perspexerit in legem perfectam libertatis et permanserit in ea, non auditor obliviosus factus, sed factor operis : hic beatus in facto suo erit. Si quis autem putat se religiosum esse, non refrenans linguam suam, sed seducens cor suum, hujus vana est religio.

Religio munda et immaculata apud Deum et Patrem haec est : Visitare pupillos et viduas in tribulatione eorum, et immaculatum se custodire ab hoc saeculo.

English translation


Dearly beloved, all of you must do the word, and not as hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word, and does not do it, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass. For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was.

But he who had looked into the perfect law of liberty and had continued therein, and not becoming a forgetful hearer, but does the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this : to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation, and to keep one’s self unspotted from this world.

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(Usus Antiquior) Fifth Sunday after Easter (II Classis) – Sunday, 9 May 2021 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : White
Introit

Isaiah 48 : 20 and Psalm 65 : 1-2


Vocem jucunditatis annuntiate, et audiatur, Alleluja : annuntiate usque ad extremum terrae : liberavit Dominus populum suum, Alleluja, Alleluja.

Jubilate Deo, omnis terra, psalmum dicite Nomini Ejus : date gloriam laudi ejus.

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

English translation


Declare the voice of joy, and let it be heard, Alleluia : declare it even unto the ends of the earth; the Lord had delivered His people, Alleluia, Alleluia.

Shout with a joy to God all the earth : sing all of you a psalm to His Name, give glory to His praise.

Response : 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

Deus, a quo bona cuncta procedunt, largire supplicibus Tuis : ut cogitemus, Te inspirante, quae recta sunt; et, Te gubernante, eadam faciamus. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation


O God, from whom all good things come, generously grant to us who beseech You that we may, by Your inspiration, think those things which are right and, that we perform them under Your guidance. 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, 8 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded that while the Church and all of us the faithful people of God will continue to encounter trials and challenges, but we must never lose faith in God and we have to keep on trusting in His providence as He will always be by our side and be our Guide, at all times, all because of the great love that He has always had for each and every one of us. Nothing can change the love that He has for us, and He will always be with us through His Presence in our midst and by the Holy Spirit He has given us to lead us to the right path and to strengthen us.

In our first reading today we heard from the Acts of the Apostles the account of the travels of St. Paul as he continued his missionary journey after having settled the dispute regarding the imposition of Jewish customs and traditions on the converts among the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people. The Apostles sent St. Paul out to continue his mission in evangelising to the many peoples he visited during his missionary works, especially the Gentiles, many of whom became believers of Christ after they had heard St. Paul and witnessed his work and efforts.

St. Paul went from place to place, from town to town, speaking up about the truth of God which he proclaimed to all those whom he visited, in their synagogues, in their public places and places of assembly, in their houses and other locations. Some were willing to listen to him and open their hearts and minds to God’s truth and love, and that was how the seeds of faith were sown among so many people, many of whom eventually accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and sought to be baptised as members of the Church, as God’s own beloved children.

Yet, there were also so many others who rejected St. Paul and also the other Apostles, and more often than not, they had to suffer trials and persecutions, ridicule and attacks even on their own persons for their courageous efforts in speaking the truth and in defending their Christian faith. Many of them had to endure prison and even torture, with quite a few dying as martyrs in the defence of their faith. All of the Apostles themselves save for St. John the Evangelist suffered and died as martyrs at the various stages in the early decades of the Church.

Nonetheless, all of them exhibited great courage and commitment to the mission that has been entrusted to them, to be the faithful witnesses of Christ, His truth and Resurrection among the many people of the world that they had been sent to, and they remained faithful and firmly set on the path that the Lord has set before them. They went forth, fearlessly, with God by their side, speaking the truth and not allowing themselves to be silenced by the opposition they encountered throughout their journey. Instead, they inspired one another and helped the Church to grow as it was, and many people were saved thanks to the courage of these faithful servants of God, our holy predecessors.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, St. Paul and all these inspiring examples of our faith should become our own inspiration in how we live our own faith, as we dedicate ourselves in our own way to serve the Lord in our present world today. We are all called to be His faithful disciples and to be His beloved people, exemplary in our faith and actions, that everyone who sees us, hears us, witnesses our actions and interacts with us will know that we are indeed His people, and that through us, God’s Name will always ever be glorified, and all will come to know Him through us.

Are we all willing to commit ourselves, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing to seek Him with all of our hearts and minds, with all of our strength, and with all of our desires? Are we all ready to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and all those who have gone before us, to be His witnesses and to be His spokespersons before all, not just by our words, but also through our lives and actions, and in everything we say and do, we have to be good role models through which all can see the truth and love of God in all things. And we need to have that courage in us to live faithfully each and every moments of our lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us always remember that God is always with us, by our side, and He will always be there for us, guiding us, just as He has always been with His servants throughout all the time. And even when we have to suffer and endure bitterness and humiliation, remember that the Lord Himself has suffered the very same suffering, bitterness and pain, He has endured the Cross for us, and it is with Him that we suffer now, and in fact, we should rejoice as the Apostles and the martyrs had done, in sharing in the suffering and death of the Lord through their own faithful witness and actions.

Let us all be evangelising and missionary disciples, in our own communities and in whatever the Lord has called us to do. Let us all reach out to our fellow brethren, and bring the light of God’s truth and His ever most wonderful and tender love and compassion to all those whom we encounter daily in life. May God be with us always, and may He remain with us, and bless us in everything we say and do, at all times. Amen.

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Saturday, 8 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 18-21

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “If the world hates you, remember that the world hated Me before you. This would not be so if you belonged to the world, because the world loves its own. But you are not of the world, since I have chosen you from the world; because of this the world hates you.”

“Remember what I told you : the servant is not greater than his master; if they persecuted Me, they will persecute you, too. If they kept My word, they will keep yours as well. All this they will do to you for the sake of My Name, because they do not know the One Who sent Me.”

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Saturday, 8 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 5

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.

For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.

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Saturday, 8 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 16 : 1-10

Paul travelled on to Derbe and then to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy lived there, whose mother was a believer of Jewish origin but whose father was a Greek. As the believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him, Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. So he took him and, because of the Jews of that place who all knew that his father was a Greek, he circumcised him.

As they travelled from town to town, they delivered the decisions of the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem, for the people to obey. Meanwhile, the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number every day.

They travelled through Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

There one night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and begged him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” When he awoke, he told us of this vision and we understood that the Lord was calling us to give the Good News to the Macedonian people.

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Friday, 7 May 2021 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all reminded of the need for all of us to be constantly filled with God’s love and grace, to be genuine in our faith and devotion to God, and to be sincere in following Him that we all may reflect the fullness of God’s love and compassion in our own lives. God has loved us all so much that He has given us His generous love which He has shown through His Church and by which He has called on all of us to be His disciples so that, as we turn towards Him and enter into His love, we may be saved from everlasting death.

In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles we heard of the conclusion of the First Council of Jerusalem in which the Apostles, led by St. Peter made an important decision on behalf of the entire Church with regards to the issue on whether the Church need to follow and obey the Jewish laws and customs, and whether those laws ought to be imposed on the non-Jewish people or the Gentiles or not. These matters divided the Church and the faithful back then quite bitterly, and the factions were in heated argument between each other.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law among the early converts to the Christian faith were on one side, arguing that all the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people must also follow the entire Jewish laws and customs, such as circumcision and many other rules as established by the Jewish tradition. This would have made it very difficult for the Gentiles to convert and become Christians as some of those regulations and customs were abhorred and found as incompatible by the societies in which the Gentiles came from, such as the Greeks and the Romans among others.

On the other side, St. Paul, St. Barnabas and all others who had ministered to the Gentiles spoke up on their behalf, in insisting that the Jewish laws and customs should not be imposed on all the faithful and the Gentiles should not be forced to do what was really difficult and unnecessary for them to do. After all, the Lord Himself has always criticised the excesses with which the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law enforced their version of the law and the commandments, imposing very heavy demands that the Jews themselves were unable to comply with, and even while followed, but those who followed them did not genuinely believe in God.

That was why, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles and the Council decided that all the faithful had no obligation to obey the full laws, rules and regulations as stipulated in the old laws and rules handed down from Moses and which since then had been heavily modified and expanded, and in the way they were practiced, they had lost their true meaning and purpose. Instead, the Apostles, represented by St. Peter, declared that what was truly necessary for all Christians, be it Jews or Gentiles alike, is to adhere to the core tenets of the faith, that is to act justly, avoid fornication and sinful ways, and to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.

The Lord sent forth His disciples to call all the people therefore to His presence, to turn away from their sins and wicked ways, and embrace wholeheartedly henceforth His ways, His commandments and laws. Just as all had been called to love the Lord, we all have been called to be bearers of this love, to make Him the focus and the centre of our whole life and existence. And we have to live our lives in this way, just as the Lord in our Gospel passage today spoke of the commandment He has entrusted to us, that we all love one another in the same way that we ought to love Him and dedicate ourselves to Him.

Unless we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ, then our faith is empty and meaningless, and no different from the faith of hypocrites. If we love only ourselves and not all our fellow brethren around us, then we should not call ourselves as Christians, because to be Christians means that we believe in Christ, Our Lord and Saviour wholeheartedly and entirely, that we embody His teachings, truth and ways in our every day living. This is what it truly means for us to be Christians, and that just as the Lord loves everyone, every single one of His children without exception, then we should also aspire to love all to the best of our abilities too.

In this season and time of Easter, all of us are called to be courageous in faith, as well as to renew our commitments to the Lord. We are all called to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, in being good role models and guides of our faith, that we may become inspirations for one another, and that we can help strengthen each other in the daily struggles in life we face. This is why we are reminded and called to be good Christians, not just as mere formality only. We must have that strong and ardent desire to seek the Lord and to love Him from now on.

Let us all therefore reach out to our fellow brethren, especially those who need much love, and those who have been ostracised and forgotten, marginalised and oppressed. Let us all bring God’s love, hope and light into their midst, and be the concrete proof of God’s love in our respective communities, that this world will become an ever better place for all of us. Let us all commit the effort, time and attention for this, brothers and sisters, responding to the Lord’s call as best as we can.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He continue to guide us through life, that all of us may grow ever stronger in our love for Him, and that in all things, we may continue to love Him and also our fellow brothers and sisters, as genuine and dedicated Christians, now and always. Amen.