dismissal

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(Usus Antiquior) Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (II Classis) – Sunday, 4 January 2015 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : White

Offertory

Psalm 85 : 12, 5

Confitebor tibi, Domine, Deus meus, in toto corde meo, et glorificabo Nomen Tuum in aeternum : quoniam Tu, Domine, suavis et mitis es : et multae misericordiae omnibus invocantibus Te, Alleluja.

English translation

I will praise You, o Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify Your Name forever. For You, o Lord, are sweet and mild, and plentiful in mercy to all who call upon You. Alleluia.

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Benedictio Tua, clementissime Deus, qua omnis viget creatura, sanctificet, quaesumus, hoc sacrificium nostrum, quod ad gloriam Nominis Filii Tui, Domini nostri Jesu Christi, offerimus tibi ut majestati Tuae placere possit ad laudem, et nobis proficere ad salutem. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

English translation

May Your blessing, o most merciful God, by which the whole creation had life, sanctify this our sacrifice, which we offer You to the glory of the Name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that it may be pleasing to Your majesty as an act of praise and be profitable to us for our salvation. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Preface of the Nativity

Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere : Domine, Sancte Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus : Quia per incarnati Verbi mysterium nova mentis nostrae oculis lux Tuae claritatis infulsit : ut, dum visibiliter Deum cognoscimus, per hunc in invisibilium amorem rapiamur. Et ideo cum Angelis et Archangelis, cum Thronis et Dominationibus cumque omni militia caelestis exercitus hymnum gloriae Tuae canimus, sine fine dicentes :

English translation

It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always and in all places give thanks to You, o Holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God, because by the mystery of the Word made flesh, from Your brightness a new Light had risen to shine on the eyes of our souls, in order that, God becoming visible to us, we may be borne upward to the love of things invisible. And therefore with the Angels and Archangels, with the Dominions and Powers, with all the hosts of the heavenly army, we sing of Your glory without end saying :

Communion

Psalm 85 : 9-10

Omnes gentes, quascumque fecisti, venient et adorabunt coram Te, Domine, et glorificabunt Nomen Tuum : quoniam magnus es Tu et faciens mirabilia : Tu es Deus solus, Alleluja.

English translation

All the nations You have made shall come and adore before You, o Lord, and they shall glorify Your Name. For You are great, and had done wonderful things. You are God alone. Alleluia.

Post-Communion Prayer

Omnipotens aeternae Deus, qui creasti et redemisti nos, respice propitius vota nostra : et sacrificium salutaris hostiae, quod in honorem Nominis Filii Tui, Domini nostri Jesu Christi, majestati Tuae obtulimus, placido et benigno vultu suscipere digneris; ut gratia Tua nobis infusa, sub glorioso Nomine Jesu, aeternae praedestinationis titulo gaudeamus nomina nostra scripta esse in caelis. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

English translation

Almighty, eternal God, who had created and redeemed us, graciously regard our desires, and deign to receive with kind and peaceful countenance the sacrifice of the saving Victim, which we have offered to Your majesty, in honour of the Name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that Your grace being poured out upon us, we may rejoice in the glorious Name of Jesus, the title of eternal predestination, because our names are written in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

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(Usus Antiquior) Second Sunday of Advent and Feast of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (I Classis) – Sunday, 7 December 2014 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Offertory

Psalm 84 : 7-8

Deus, Tu conversus vivificabis nos, et plebs Tua laetabitur in Te : ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam Tuam, et salutare Tuum da nobis.

English translation

O God, turning, You will bring us life, and Your people shall rejoice in You. Show us, o Lord, Your mercy, and grant us Your salvation.

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Placare, quaesumus, Domine, humilitatis nostrae precibus et hostiis : et, ubi nulla suppetunt suffragia meritorum, Tuis nobis succurre praesidiis. Per Dominum…

English translation

Be appeased, we beseech You, o Lord, by the prayers and offerings of our lowliness, and where no support of merits is at hand, do You hasten to us with Your aid. Through our Lord…

Communion

Baruch 5 : 5 and Baruch 4 : 36

Jerusalem, surge et sta in excelso, et vide jucunditatem, quae veniet tibi a Deo tuo.

English translation

Arise, o Jerusalem, and stand on high, and behold the joy that comes to you from your God.

Post-Communion Prayer

Repleti cibo spiritualis alimoniae, supplices Te, Domine, deprecamur : ut, hujus participatione mysterii, doceas nos terrena despicere et amare caelestia. Per Dominum…

English translation

Filled with the food of spiritual nourishing, we humbly beseech You, o Lord, that by our partaking of this mystery You would teach us to condemn earthly and love heavenly things. Through our Lord…

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(Usus Antiquior) Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 19 October 2014 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Offertory

Psalm 137 : 7

Si ambulavero in medio tribulationis, vivificabis me, Domine : et super iram inimicorum meorum extendes manum Tuam, et salvum me faciet dextera Tua.

English translation

If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation. You will quicken me, o Lord, and You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand shall save me.

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Haec munera, quaesumus, Domine, quae oculis Tuae majestatis offerimus, salutaria nobis esse concede. Per Dominum…

English translation

Grant, we beseech You, o Lord, that these gifts, which we offer up in the sight of Your majesty, may be salutary unto us. Through our Lord…

Communion

Psalm 118 : 4, 5

Tu mandasti mandata Tua custodiri nimis : utinam dirigantur viae meae, ad custodiendas justificationes Tuas.

English translation

You had commanded Your commandments to be kept most diligently. O that my ways may be directed to keep Your justifications.

Post-Communion Prayer

Tua nos, Domine, medicinalis operatio, et a nostris perversitatibus clementer expediat, et Tuis semper faciat inhaerare mandatis. Per Dominum…

English translation

Let Your healing power, o Lord, in mercy deliver us from our waywardness and cause us ever to cleave to Your commandments. Through our Lord…

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Friday, 6 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are truly reminded as ever always, that Christ our Lord lies at the very centre of our lives, and that He is what truly matters for us, while other things are often unnecessary and illusory in nature. Nonetheless, we often forget this fact and relegate Christ into a corner rather than embracing and appreciating the central role Christ plays in each of our own lives.

Everything that we have, our lives, our faith, and our very existence owed greatly to the Lord, through whom indeed we were created, given life, and then a new life through salvation of the cross. For Christ is the Word of God, through whom the Lord our Creator had created all of creation including all of us, whom He had given life through the breath of His Mouth.

And even when we had gone astray from Him and be estranged from Him like that of a child estranged from the father, He willed for us to be reconciled to Himself, by the outpouring of His love, through the numerous help He sent us along our journey in this world, through countless messengers and prophets who carried His desire and love for us, the desire to be reunited with us, His lost children.

That even when we had rejected Him by turning a deaf ear to the heedings of His prophets, and even tortured and slaughtered them in cold blood, He did not give up, but in His great and infinite love, He allowed Himself to give the ultimate manifestation of His love, that is to be incarnate through a woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary His mother, to be our Saviour, through which He gathered all people to Himself.

Such great is His love for us, that He even readied Himself to suffer for us, to die for us, all that we who deserved death, will not die an agonising and eternal death, separated from God who loves us. That we may live through His death on the cross which saves, and through His glorious resurrection, through which He brought unto Himself those who had died in Him.

He dedicated Himself so much for us, that He became flesh like us, and through that mystical incarnation of the divine into man, God is united to us in an everlasting bond of love. Yes, brethren, just as Jesus in the Gospel today imagined Himself as the bridegroom in the midst of His beloved, so indeed He is our bridegroom, the divine bridegroom by God made man.

He rebuked the Pharisees not because it is wrong to fast or observe the laws, but precisely because they did not truly love God, and did not have God in their hearts, that God is not at the centre of their lives as He wanted from them. Instead, they allowed their pride, arrogance, selfishness, and human nature to take over them and corrupt them.

They fast for the sake of fasting, and to show the people their great piety, which is indeed evident, but truly empty. Many of them had missed entirely the point of doing things in accordance to the rules of the Lord, and did them not out of love for God, but out of love for themselves and their ‘greatness’ and ‘superior piety and faith’.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, the lessons we had heard and taken into ourselves are truly beneficial for us. Let us make the best use out of them, in order to be able to dedicate ourselves and devote ourselves more to the Lord our God, that no matter whatever we are doing, we always do it for the Lord, and keep Him always at the very centre of our lives, each and every one of us. God bless us all. Amen.