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Pope sends moving message to funeral of “martyr of charity”

raphael

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September 22, 2020

Pope sends moving message to funeral of “martyr of charity”

Using a prayer beloved by Mother Theresa, cardinal assures that someone will take Father Malgesini’s place in serving the poor.

Many of you saw the news of the slaying of Father Roberto Malgesini last week. The young Italian priest was stabbed repeatedly by a mentally ill homeless man, a person he had helped.The pope spoke of the priest the day after his death in the Wednesday general audience:

On Saturday, the Holy Father continued reflecting on the testimony of charity, by sending the cardinal who oversees his charity projects to the funeral.

Vatican News reported the pope’s moving reflection:

Bishop Oscar Cantoni celebrated the Mass and Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner, represented Pope Francis and concelebrated. At the end of the Mass, the Cardinal spoke on behalf of Pope Francis. The offerings collected during and after the Mass will be used in the charities sustained by Pope Francis as well as by the poor of the Diocese of Como.

“I bring you the Holy Father’s greetings and fraternal embrace,” Cardinal Krajewski said at the end of the funeral Mass for Father Roberto Malgesini. “He is with us. He is united with us in prayer.”

He then related that as soon as Pope Francis heard the news of Father Malgesini’s death, he picked up the words of Como’s Bishop during the General Audience on Wednesday.

“I give praise to God for the witness, that is, for the martyrdom of this witness of charity toward the poorest.”

The Cardinal repeated other words Pope Francis said during the audience: “Pope Francis is with us and is united to the pain and prayers of Father Robert’s relatives…. He is united with the faithful of his Parish, to the needy whom he served with all of his heart until that last morning, and with the entire community in Como.”

“Father Roberto is dead, therefore, he is alive. Love never dies, not even with death,” the Cardinal continued.

He then called to mind a Gospel passage that Father Roberto’s death incarnates: “Greater love than this has no one than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Commenting on this passage, Cardinal Krajewski said, “One cannot be a true Christian if we do not make this page our own.”

To the question, “why did this happen to Father Roberto and not to me?” the Cardinal responded he does not know. However, one thing is certain, Krejewski added, “in his life, he incorporated Jesus’s prayer: ‘Our Father, your will be done, not mine; hallowed by thy name, not mine; thy kingdom come, not mine.”

That page, the Cardinal reflected, “refers particularly to us priests, who need to live the Gospel in its purity, we who need to spread Jesus’s perfume everywhere we go.”

This is the sentiment expressed in a prayer written by Saint John Henry Newman and left by Mother Teresa as a legacy to her sisters in their daily service to the poor:

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.

Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,

That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me

That every soul I come in contact with

May feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,

So to shine as to be a light to others;

The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;

It will be you, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,

By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,

The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

Then turning to the Bishop of Como, Oscar Cantoni, Cardinal Krajewski concluded, by saying:

“I am sure that there are many priests and lay faithful who want to pick up Father Roberto’s evangelical work because this path is the true Gospel in action. If by any chance no one comes forward, I will come to you.”

PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22)

raphael

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September 22, 2020

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PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22)

Prayer for the Morning

God’s people shall be filled with his blessings:

let us give thanks and praise!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!

HYMN

Lord, who at thy first Eucharist did pray

That all thy Church might be forever one,

Grant us at every Eucharist to say

With longing heart and soul, “thy will be done.”

O may we all one bread, one body be,

Through this blest Sacrament of unity.

For all thy Church, O Lord, we intercede;

Make thou our sad divisions soon to cease;

Draw us the nearer each to each, we plead,

By drawing all to thee, O Prince of peace;

Thus may we all one bread, one body be,

Through this blest Sacrament of unity.

We pray thee, too, for wand’rers from thy fold;

O bring them back, good Shepherd of the sheep,

Back to the faith which saints believed of old,

Back to the Church which still that faith doth keep;

Soon may we all one bread, one body be,

Through this blest Sacrament of unity.

So, Lord, at length when sacraments shall cease,

May we be one with all thy Church above,

One with thy saints in one unbroken peace,

One with thy saints in one unbounded love;

More blessèd still, in peace and love to be

One with the Trinity in Unity.

PSALM 22:24-32

Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God. (cf. Jn 11:51-52)

The unity for which Christ lived and died is not an abstract ideal. It is the result of hard work: suspending judgment, choosing others before self, forgiving, seeking reconciliation rather than nursing hurt pride. In other words, it requires that we die to self in Christ. The fruit? The blessing of God’s peace!

“You who fear the Lord, give him praise;

all sons of Jacob, give him glory.

Revere him, Israel’s sons.

For he has never despised

nor scorned the poverty of the poor.

From him he has not hidden his face,

but he heard the poor man when he cried.”

You are my praise in the great assembly.

My vows I will pay before those who fear him.

The poor shall eat and shall have their fill.

They shall praise the Lord, those who seek him.

May their hearts live for ever and ever!

All the earth shall remember and return to the Lord,

all families of the nations worship before him

for the kingdom is the Lord’s; he is ruler of the nations.

They shall worship him, all the mighty of the earth;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust.

And my soul shall live for him, my children serve him.

They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come,

declare his faithfulness to peoples yet unborn:

“These things the Lord has done.”

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Ephesians 2:13-18)

In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

May all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. (cf. Jn 17:21)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. (Jn 17:11)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;

he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior,

born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old

that he would save us from our enemies,

from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

free to worship him without fear,

holy and righteous in his sight

all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet

of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

to give his people knowledge of salvation

by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

to shine on those who dwell in darkness

and the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father…

INTERCESSIONS

Let us pray according to Christ’s will:

R/Make us one in mind and heart.

For all the Church:

– in the midst of difference and diversity: R/

For all who believe in your name:

– in the midst of our divisions: R/

For all who live in opposition to one another:

– in the midst of our conflicts and misunderstandings: R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

O God, you are one God in three Persons, and you have made us in your image. Bring us into the unity for which Christ lived and prayed and died, that we may give glory to your name through him, Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22)

raphael

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September 21, 2020

0

Prayer for the Evening

The word of the Lord is faithful/ and all his works

to be trusted: let us give him thanks and praise!

(cf. Ps 33:4)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!

HYMN

He sat to watch o’er customs paid,

A man of scorned and hardening trade;

Alike the symbol and the tool

Of foreign masters’ hated rule.

But grace within his breast had stirred;

There needed but the timely word:

It came, true Lord of souls, from thee

That royal summons, “Follow me.”

Enough, when thou were passing by,

To hear thy voice, to meet thine eye:

He rose, responsive to the call,

And left his task, his gains, his all.

Who keep thy gifts, O bid them claim

The steward’s, not the owner’s name;

Who yield up all for thy dear sake,

Let them of Matthew’s wealth partake.

PSALM 19:8-11, 15

You have the words of eternal life. (Jn 6:68)

In response to Jesus’ call, Matthew left his tax collector’s table for the table to which Jesus called sinners. He exchanged the gold of this world for the gold of God’s word. May we learn from him to lay up treasures in heaven by storing in our hearts the treasures of the Gospel.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

it revives the soul.

The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,

it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

they gladden the heart.

The command of the Lord is clear,

it gives light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is holy,

abiding for ever.

The decrees of the Lord are truth

and all of them just.

They are more to be desired than gold,

than the purest of gold,

and sweeter are they than honey,

than honey from the comb.

May the spoken words of my mouth,

the thoughts of my heart,

win favor in your sight, O Lord,

my rescuer, my rock!

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Sirach 24:18-19, 21)

Come to me, all you that yearn for me,/ and be filled with my fruits;/ You will remember me as sweeter than honey,/ better to have than the honeycomb./ He who obeys me will not be put to shame,/ he who serves me will never fail.

Taste and see how sweet the Lord is!

(cf. Ps 34:9)

CANTICLE OF MARY

But Israel I would feed with finest wheat/ and fill them with honey from the rock. (Ps 81:17)

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father…

INTERCESSIONS

O Lord, you feed us on the Word of life. Through the intercession of Saint Matthew, we pray:

R/Jesus, we are hungry; give us this day our daily bread at the table of your Word.

O Lord, your Word gives wisdom to the simple:

– nourish in us simplicity of heart. R/

O Lord, your Word is sweet to the taste:

– grant us the discernment to prefer its taste to any empty words we may hear this evening. R/

O Lord, your Word is steadfast, abiding for ever:

– strengthen us to walk firmly on the path to everlasting life. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

May the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and bring us to life everlasting! Amen. (cf. Col 3:16)

MARIAN ANTIPHON

Antiphon for the Feast of the Nativity

of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

8 September

With joy let us celebrate the nativity of blessed Mary,

that she may intercede for us

before the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;

vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae.

Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes

in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia ergo, advocata nostra,

illos tuos misericordes oculos

ad nos converte.

Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,

nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy,

our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To you do we cry,

poor banished children of Eve.

To you do we send up our sighs,

mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, O most gracious advocate,

your eyes of mercy toward us,

and after this our exile

show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V/ Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

R/ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

AND TODAY WE CELEBRATE… The Feast of Saint Matthew the Apostle (MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21)

raphael

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September 21, 2020

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AND TODAY WE CELEBRATE… The Feast of Saint Matthew the Apostle (MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21)

The tax collector called to be an Apostle (First Century)

His story

+ Honored as the author of the Gospel that bears his name, Matthew was born in Capernaum and is listed as one of the Twelve Apostles.

+ Called “Levi” by both Mark and Luke, the Gospels tell us that he was a tax collector before choosing to follow Christ.

+ Although we know nothing certain about his ministry after Pentecost, tradition relates that he preached the Gospel in Judea and later traveled Ethiopia or Persia.

+ The Roman Martyrology states that Matthew was martyred in Persia and his relics were transferred to Salerno, Italy, in the tenth century.

+ Saint Matthew is honored as the patron saint of accountants, bankers, and bookkeepers.

+ The Gospel of Matthew was composed for a community that included many Jewish Christians. And so, in this gospel we find many references to the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the many ways Jesus fulfills the promises and prophecies found there. What we now know as the Gospel of Matthew was composed around the year 85 and incorporates material from the older Gospel of Mark and other oral traditions about Jesus.

For prayer and reflection

“Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me… [Jesus] saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: Follow me. This following meant imitating the pattern of his life – not just walking after him.”—Saint Bede the Venerable

Prayer

O God, who with untold mercy

were pleased to choose as an Apostle

Saint Matthew, the tax collector,

grant that, sustained by his example and intercession,

we may merit to hold firm in following you.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

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

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.

PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21)

raphael

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September 21, 2020

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PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21)

Saint Matthew

Prayer for the Morning

The word goes out to all the earth:

let us give thanks and praise!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!

HYMN

The glory that surrounds your name,

O blessed Levi, is a proof

Of God’s all-loving clemency

Besides a sign of hope for us.

The life the Son of David led,

The words he spoke, you stored as gold,

Which, handed down the centuries,

Have fed and taught the Christian world.

You spread the Gospel fearlessly;

Until at last you shed your blood,

In witness to your faith in Christ

And pledge of your undying love.

Apostle and evangelist

With martyrdom as final crown,

Bring us to heaven, that with you

God’s praises we may ever sing.

PSALM 19:2-7

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit. (Mt 28:19)

We who take access to words for granted should pause to be grateful to those who preserved the Gospel words so carefully and spread them to the utmost bounds of the world without benefit of the printing press or instantaneous media.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God

and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.

Day unto day takes up the story

and night unto night makes known the message.

No speech, no word, no voice is heard

yet their span extends through all the earth,

their words to the utmost bounds of the world.

There he has placed a tent for the sun;

it comes forth like a bridegroom coming from his tent,

rejoices like a champion to run its course.

At the end of the sky is the rising of the sun;

to the furthest end of the sky is its course.

There is nothing concealed from its burning heat.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

We too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.

Repent, and believe in the gospel.

(Mk 1:15)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you. (1 Cor 11:23)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;

he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior,

born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old

that he would save us from our enemies,

from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

free to worship him without fear,

holy and righteous in his sight

all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet

of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

to give his people knowledge of salvation

by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

to shine on those who dwell in darkness

and the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father…

INTERCESSIONS

In gratitude for the Gospel given to us through the faithful ministry of the Evangelists and their hearers, let us pray:

R/Plant in every place the seed of your Gospel.

For the literate and those who have easy access to many media:

– grant us the reverence of former ages for the sacredness of your Word. R/

For the illiterate:

– send preachers and teachers to open for them the riches of your Word. R/

For those who live in places where your Word is banned:

– bless the efforts of societies and individuals who seek ways to carry the Good News to them. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

Lord Jesus Christ, you changed Matthew’s life by the Good News you entrusted to him. May we receive the Gospel with reverence, live it in faith, and hand it on in love. Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20)

raphael

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September 21, 2020

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PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20)

Prayer for the Evening

God is the giver of all good gifts:

let us give thanks and praise!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!

HYMN

Alas! and did my Savior bleed

And did my Sovereign die?

Would he devote that sacred Head

For sinners such as I?

Was it for crimes that I had done

He groaned upon the tree?

Amazing pity! grace unknown!

And love beyond degree!

Thus might I hide my blushing face

While his dear cross appears,

Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,

And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay

The debt of love I owe:

Here, Lord, I give my self away

’Tis all that I can do.

PSALM 112:5-9

Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share. (1 Tm 6:18)

Just as God’s own love is without measure, so must be our love for one another and for all. To be sure, our own store of love is too small to match Christ’s generosity, but we are stewards of Christ’s bountiful love, as members of his body. Our very lives are at the service of the Gospel, as was Saint Paul’s.

The good man takes pity and lends,

he conducts his affairs with honor.

The just man will never waver:

he will be remembered for ever.

He has no fear of evil news;

with a firm heart he trusts in the Lord.

With a steadfast heart he will not fear;

he will see the downfall of his foes.

Open-handed, he gives to the poor;

his justice stands firm for ever.

His head will be raised in glory.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (James 1:17)

All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.

I will be more generous to you than in the beginning; thus you shall know that I am the Lord.

(cf. Ez 36:11)

CANTICLE OF MARY

I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me. (Gal 2:20)

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father…

INTERCESSIONS

God has given us all good gifts without stinting, even to giving us the gift of his Son for our salvation. In gratitude we pray:

R/We praise you, Lord our God!

For the gift of life: R/

For the gift of Jesus Christ, our salvation: R/

For the promise of life without end: R/

Personal intentions

Our Father….

May we live for ever in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

MARIAN ANTIPHON

Antiphon for the Feast of the Nativity

of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

8 September

With joy let us celebrate the nativity of blessed Mary,

that she may intercede for us

before the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;

vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae.

Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes

in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia ergo, advocata nostra,

illos tuos misericordes oculos

ad nos converte.

Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,

nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy,

our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To you do we cry,

poor banished children of Eve.

To you do we send up our sighs,

mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, O most gracious advocate,

your eyes of mercy toward us,

and after this our exile

show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V/ Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

R/ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20)

raphael

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September 20, 2020

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PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20)

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prayer for the Morning

How good is the Lord! Come, let us adore!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!

HYMN

Praise to the Holiest in the height,

And in the depth be praise;

In all his words most wonderful,

Most sure in all his ways.

O loving wisdom of our God!

When all was sin and shame,

A second Adam to the fight

And to the rescue came.

O wisest love! that flesh and blood,

Which did in Adam fail,

Should strive afresh against the foe,

Should strive and should prevail.

And that a higher gift than grace

Should flesh and blood refine,

God’s Presence and his very Self,

And Essence all divine.

O generous love! that he, who smote,

In Man for man the foe,

The double agony in Man

For man should undergo.

And in the garden secretly,

And on the Cross on high,

Should teach his brethren, and inspire

To suffer and to die.

PSALM 100

Are you envious because I am generous? (Mt 20:15)

God’s measureless generosity is a reason not for envy but for praise. All of us, great and small, belong to the flock he leads to safe and plentiful pastures of peace through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness.

Come before him, singing for joy.

Know that he, the Lord, is God.

He made us, we belong to him,

we are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Go within his gates, giving thanks.

Enter his courts with songs of praise.

Give thanks to him and bless his name.

Indeed, how good is the Lord,

eternal his merciful love.

He is faithful from age to age.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Malachi 3:10)

Bring the whole tithe/ into the storehouse,/ That there may be food in my house,/ and try me in this, says the Lord of hosts:/ Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven,/ to pour down blessing upon you without measure?

Grace was given to each of us according

to the measure of Christ’s gift.

(Eph 4:7)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Who can measure his majestic power,/ or exhaust the tale of his mercies? (Sir 18:3)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;

he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior,

born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old

that he would save us from our enemies,

from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

free to worship him without fear,

holy and righteous in his sight

all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet

of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

to give his people knowledge of salvation

by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

to shine on those who dwell in darkness

and the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father…

INTERCESSIONS

As we have received God’s bounty, so let us give him our praise!

R/Eternal is your merciful love!

You have poured upon us love without measure:

– grant that we may serve you with generosity. R/

You have rewarded all humanity for the saving work done by Christ:

– grant us grateful and giving hearts. R/

You have promised us life eternal:

– grant us unwavering hope and faith in you. R/

Personal intentions

Our Father….

O God of all goodness, your ways are not our ways. You treat us with a love we could never have deserved. You grant us a salvation we could never have imagined through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we celebrate on this holy day. Make us faithful agents of your bounty to all peoples, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19)

raphael

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September 19, 2020

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PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19)

Prayer for the Evening

Vigil of the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let us give praise to God, who loves justice and right!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!

HYMN

To Jesus Christ, our Sov’reign King,

Who is the world’s salvation,

All praise and homage do we bring,

And thanks and adoration.

R/ Christ Jesus, Victor! Christ Jesus, Ruler!

Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

Thy reign extend, O King benign,

To ev’ry land and nation,

For in thy kingdom, Lord divine,

Alone we find salvation. R/

To thee and to thy Church, great King,

We pledge our hearts’ oblation,

Until before thy throne we sing,

In endless jubilation. R/

PSALM 99:1-5

My thoughts are not your thoughts,/ nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. (Is 55:8)

We often praise God’s justice, but we do not understand it. We try to narrow God’s gracious bounty down to our own narrow sense of retribution, God’s generosity to the size of our own. Tomorrow’s readings warn us that, fortunately for us, God’s ways are not ours.

The Lord is king; the peoples tremble.

He is throned on the cherubim; the earth quakes.

The Lord is great in Zion.

He is supreme over all the peoples.

Let them praise his name, so terrible and great.

He is holy, full of power.

You are a king who loves what is right;

you have established equity, justice and right;

you have established them in Jacob.

Exalt the Lord our God;

bow down before Zion, his footstool.

He the Lord is holy.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Titus 3:4-7)

When the kindness and generous love/ of God our savior appeared,/ not because of any righteous deeds we had done/ but because of his mercy,/ he saved us through the bath of rebirth/ and renewal by the holy Spirit,/ whom he richly poured out on us/ through Jesus Christ our savior,/ so that we might be justified by his grace/ and become heirs in hope of eternal life.

He will be gracious to you when you cry out,/

as soon as he hears he will answer you.

(Is 30:19)

CANTICLE OF MARY

Gracious and merciful is God! (cf. Jl 2:13b)

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father…

INTERCESSIONS

With grateful hearts, we pray:

R/You are good to all, compassionate toward all your works!

You have poured out upon a sinful world the gracious gift of your mercy in Jesus Christ:

– grant us a grateful spirit. R/

You have rewarded our small service to you with unimaginable blessings:

– grant us the humility to receive them with thanks. R/

You raise the dead to life:

– grant us the hope to trust in your generosity rather than our own merits. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

May the Lord be with us and bless us! Amen.

MARIAN ANTIPHON

Antiphon for the Feast of the Nativity

of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

8 September

With joy let us celebrate the nativity of blessed Mary,

that she may intercede for us

before the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;

vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae.

Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes

in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia ergo, advocata nostra,

illos tuos misericordes oculos

ad nos converte.

Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,

nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy,

our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To you do we cry,

poor banished children of Eve.

To you do we send up our sighs,

mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, O most gracious advocate,

your eyes of mercy toward us,

and after this our exile

show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V/ Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

R/ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

St. Januarius’ blood liquifies in Naples

raphael

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September 19, 2020

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St. Januarius’ blood liquifies in Naples

Rome Newsroom, Sep 19, 2020 / 05:59 am MT (CNA). – The blood of early Church martyr St. Januarius liquified in Naples Saturday, repeating a miracle dating at least to the 14th century.

The blood was declared to have turned from solid to liquid at 10:02 am in the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary Sept. 19, the feast of St. Januarius.

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, archbishop of Naples, announced the news to a mostly empty cathedral, due to coronavirus restrictions.

“Dear friends, dear all the faithful, once again with joy and emotion I inform you that the blood of our holy martyr and patron St. Januarius has liquefied,” Sepe said.

His words were received by an applause from those present inside and outside the cathedral.

Sepe added that the blood had “completely liquefied, without any clots, which has happened in past years.”

The miracle is “a sign of God’s love, goodness, and mercy, and of the closeness, the friendship, the fraternity of our St. Januarius,” the cardinal stated, adding “Glory be to God and veneration to our saint. Amen.”

St. Januarius, or San Gennaro in Italian, is the patron saint of Naples. He was bishop of the city in the third century, and his bones and blood are preserved in the cathedral as relics. He is believed to have been martyred during the Christian persecution of Emperor Diocletian.

The liquefaction of St. Januarius’ blood happens at least three times per year: the saint’s feast day of Sept. 19, the Saturday before the first Sunday of May, and Dec. 16, which is the anniversary of the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

The reputed miracle has not been officially recognized by the Church, but is known and accepted locally and is considered to be a good sign for the city of Naples and its region of Campania.

In contrast, he failure of the blood to liquefy is believed to signal war, famine, disease, or other disaster.

When the miracle occurs, the dried, red-colored mass of blood one one side of the reliquary becomes a liquid covering nearly the entire glass.

The last time the blood did not liquefy was in December 2016.

The miracle did occur while Naples was under lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic on May 2. Cardinal Sepe offered Mass via livestream and blessed the city with the relic of the liquefied blood.

“Even in this time of coronavirus, the Lord through the intercession of St. Januarius has liquified the blood!” Sepe declared.

This could be the last time Sepe offers the feast day Mass and confirms the miracle of St. Januarius. Pope Francis is expected to soon name a successor to Sepe, who is 77 years old, in what is considered a very important archdiocese for Italy.

Cardinal Sepe has been archbishop of Naples since July 2006.

In his homily at Mass Sept. 19, the archbishop condemned the “virus” of violence and those who take advantage of others through money lending or stealing funds intended for economic recovery in the pandemic’s wake.

“I think of violence, a virus that continues to be practiced with lightness and cruelty, whose roots go beyond the accumulation of social evils that favor its explosion,” he said.

“I think of the danger of interference and pollution of the common and organized underworld, which tries to grab resources for economic recovery, but also tries to hire proselytes through criminal assignments or money lending,” he continued.

The cardinal said he thinks also “of the evil sown by those who continue to chase wealth through illegal actions, profiteering, corruption, scams” and he worries about the tragic consequences for those who are unemployed or underemployed and now are in an even more precarious situation.

“After the lockdown we are realizing that nothing is the same as before,” he stated, and encouraged the community to be sober minded in considering the threats, not only of disease, to daily life in Naples.

Sepe also spoke about young people and the hope they can give, lamenting the discouragement young people face when they cannot find work.

“We all know well that [young people] are the real, great resource of Naples and the South, of our communities and our territories that need, like bread, the freshness of their ideas, their enthusiasm, their cleverness, their optimism, their smile,” he encouraged.

PRAYER TO SAINT JANUARIUS

Oh Gennaro, brave of faith in Jesus Christ, glorious patron of Catholic Naples, looks upon us benignly and accepts our vows, that today we lie at your feet with total confidence in your powerful patronage.

How many times have you run to help your fellow citizens, now stopping in the path of the destructive lava of Vesuvius, and now saving us from plague, earthquakes, famine and many other divine punishments that terrify us.

The perpetual miracle of the liquefaction of your blood is a sure and extremely eloquent sign that you live among us, that you know our needs and that you protect us in a singular way.

Oh, we pray you to pray for us, sure that we will be answered; and saved from all the evils that oppress us from all directions.

Save us from unbelief, and you will see that the faith, by which you have generously sacrificed your life, always, always produces fertile fruits of saints made among us.

Amen.

Novena to Padre Pio: Day 6

raphael

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September 19, 2020

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I cannot not abandon myself to this sweetness …

Padre Pio’s feast is September 23. Let us grow closer to God through the writings and reflections of this great saint.Name your petition for this novena and then consider the following reflection from St. Pio:

There are moments in which the severity of Jesus comes to mind and I find myself becoming distressed. Then I set myself to consider his loving kindness and I am completely consoled. I cannot not abandon myself to this sweetness, this happiness …

What is it, Father, that I feel? I have such confidence in Jesus, that even if I were to see hell open up beneath my feet and find myself on the edge of the abyss, I would not lose faith, I would not despair; I would place my trust in him. Such is the confidence that his gentleness inspires in me.

~ Taken from Words of Light

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Using a prayer beloved by Mother Theresa, cardinal assures that someone will take Father Malgesini’s place in serving the poor.

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The tax collector called to be an Apostle (First Century)

His story

For prayer and reflection

Prayer

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HYMN

PSALM 19:2-7

Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

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INTERCESSIONS

Prayer for the Evening

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INTERCESSIONS

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PRAYER TO SAINT JANUARIUS

I cannot not abandon myself to this sweetness …

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