Monday 17 th october 2022
St. Ignatius of Antioch
Bishop, Martyr
(- 107)
He was the second bishop of Antioch after St Peter. He was arrested, condemned to death and transported to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. He was martyred in 107 and his feast was already being celebrated on this day in fourth-century Antioch.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Gal 2: 19-20
I am crucified with Christ, yet I live; no longer I, but Christ lives in me. I live by faith in the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself up for me.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, who adorn the sacred body of your Church with the confessions of holy Martyrs, grant, we pray, that, just as the glorious passion of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, which we celebrate today, brought him eternal splendour, so it may be for us unending protection. 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 : Ephesians 2:1-10
You were dead through the crimes and the sins in which you used to live when you were following the way of this world, obeying the ruler who governs the air, the spirit who is at work in the rebellious. We all were among them too in the past, living sensual lives, ruled entirely by our own physical desires and our own ideas; so that by nature we were as much under God’s anger as the rest of the world. But God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus. This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.
Psalm 99:1-5
R/ He made us, we belong to him.
- 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.
Gospel Acclamation : Ps24:4,5
Alleluia, alleluia! Teach me your paths, my God, make me walk in your truth. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 12:13-21
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?.” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’
Prayer over the Offerings
May this oblation and our homage be pleasing to you, O Lord, just as you accepted Saint Ignatius, the wheat of Christ, made pure bread through his martyrdom and passion. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon
I am the wheat of Christ to be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found to be pure bread.
Prayer after Communion
May the heavenly Bread we have received, O Lord, on the feast day of Saint Ignatius renew us, we pray, and make us Christians in name and in deed. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Jesus does not find fault with being industrious but with egoism and self-centredness. Today’s parable is a warning against covetousness. We must set our heart not on worldly things but on the highest spiritual treasure. We can get caught by our possessions to the extent that it takes over us and leads us away from God. The rich farmer in today’s gospel plans everything except his reckoning with God. Jesus describes him as a fool not because he is wealthy or because he saves for the future, but because he appears to live only for himself, and because he believes that he can secure his life with his abundant possessions. No amount of wealth can secure our lives with God; only a healthy relationship with Him can.