19
November
St. Roque González and his companions (d. 1628)
Green
Saint Roque González de Santa Cruz was born in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, on 17 November 1576. He came from a noble Spanish family but also spoke the local language, Guaraní, from an early age.
Entrance Antiphon : Jer 29: 11, 12, 14
The Lord said: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. You will call upon me, and I will answer you, and I will lead back your captives from every place.
Collect
Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God, the constant gladness of being devoted to you, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good. 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.
First reading : 1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59
Judas and his brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion. On the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on which the pagans had originally profaned it. The whole people fell prostrate in adoration, praising to the skies him who had made them so successful. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts, communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the storerooms and fitted them with doors. There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, and the reproach of the pagans was lifted from them. Judas, with his brothers and the whole assembly of Israel, made it a law that the days of the dedication of the altar should be celebrated yearly at the proper season, for eight days beginning on the twenty-fifth of the month Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness.
Psalm : 1 Chronicles 29:10-12
R/ We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
1. Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, for ever, for ages unending.
2. Yours, Lord, are greatness and power, and splendour and triumph and glory. All is yours, in heaven and on earth.
3. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, you are supreme over all. Both honour and riches come from you.
4. You are the ruler of all, from your hand come strength and power, from your hand come greatness and might.
Gospel Acclamation: 2Tim1:10
Alleluia, alleluia! Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death and he has proclaimed life through the Good News. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 19:45-48
Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling. ‘According to scripture,’ he said, ‘my house will be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’ He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his words.
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant, O Lord, we pray, that what we offer in the sight of your majesty may obtain for us the grace of being devoted to you and gain us the prize of everlasting happiness. Through
Communion Antiphon : Ps 72: 28
To be near God is my happiness, to place my hope in God the Lord.
Prayer after Communion
We have partaken of the gifts of this sacred mystery, humbly imploring, O Lord, that what your Son commanded us to do in memory of him may bring us growth in charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Jesus attacks the vendors who on the esplanade of the temple offer animals for sacrifice. Jesus is not against worship. No! With reference to Isaiah 56:7, Jesus questions the religious authorities who have perverted the purpose of his Father’s house by forgetting that one cannot serve both God and money. Jesus comes today once again to purify our economic relations with our Father. For money without God becomes a source of trouble and clutter. Christ remains the only necessity for us.