SAINT VICTOR
Victor, an African by birth, was elected pope in 189. During his pontificate, which lasted until 198, he settled the controversy over the date of Easter. After much consultation and discussion, the decision was taken to celebrate it on Sunday throughout the Church. He was the first pope from Africa.
Entrance Antiphon: Ps 53: 6, 8
See, I have God for my help. The Lord sustains my soul. I will sacrifice to you with willing heart, and praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.
Collect
Show favour, O Lord, to your servants and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace, that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity, they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands. 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: Exodus 20:1-17
God spoke all these words. He said, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no gods except me. You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not utter the name of the Lord your God to misuse it, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath for the Lord your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it sacred. Honour your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God has given to you. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.”
Psalm 18(19):8-11
R/ Lord, you have the message of eternal life.
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.
Gospel Acclamation: Jm1:21
Alleluia, alleluia! Accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls. Alleluia!
Gospel: Matthew 13:18-23
Jesus said to his disciples: “You are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once. The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing. And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.”
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who in the one perfect sacrifice brought to completion varied offerings of the law, accept, we pray, this sacrifice from your faithful servants and make it holy, as you blessed the gifts of Abel, so that what each has offered to the honour of your majesty may benefit the salvation of all. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 110: 4-5
The Lord, the gracious, the merciful, has made a memorial of his wonders; he gives food to those who fear him.
Prayer after Communion
Graciously be present to your people, we pray, O Lord, and lead those you have imbued with heavenly mysteries to pass from former ways to newness of life. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Brothers and sisters, on this day the Lord gives us his commandments. He gives them to us so that we may live a harmonious life with him and with our neighbour, not to lay a burden upon us. However, only a proper understanding of these commandments will help us to bear the fruit that only those who live by the word can bear. Getting to this point entails struggling with many obstacles; struggles against the devil, against the cares of the world and against the enthusiasm of the moment. Lord, open us to the understanding and living of your word.