Saint Paternus
White
He is the first saint of the 5th century. He followed his father’s path by becoming a hermit in Wales. He was known for his preaching, charity and mortifications.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Sir 15: 5
In the midst of the Church he opened his mouth, and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding and clothed him in a robe of glory, alleluia.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius as an outstanding champion of your Son’s divinity, mercifully grant, that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection, we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of 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.
First reading : Acts 6:8-15
Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. So they procured some men to say, ‘We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God.’ Having in this way turned the people against him as well as the elders and Scribes, they took Stephen by surprise, and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin. There they put up false witnesses to say, ‘This man is always making speeches against this Holy Place and the Law. We have heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene is going to destroy this Place and alter the traditions that Moses handed down to us.’ The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118:23-24,26-27,29-30
R/ They are happy whose life is blameless.
I ponder on your statutes. Your will is my delight; your statutes are my counsellors.
I declared my ways and you answered; teach me your statutes. Make me grasp the way of your precepts and I will muse on your wonders.
Keep me from the way of error and teach me your law. I have chosen the way of truth with your decrees before me.
Gospel Acclamation : Jn20:29
Alleluia, alleluia! ‘You believe, Thomas, because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe. Alleluia!
Gospel : John 6:22-29
After Jesus had fed the five thousand, his disciples saw him walking on the water. Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves. Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten. When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered: ‘I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat. Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Look, O Lord, upon the offerings we present to you in commemoration of Saint Athanasius, and may witnessing to your truth bring salvation to those who profess the same unblemished faith as him. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : 1 Cor 3: 11
No one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ, alleluia.
Prayer after Communion
Grant us, we pray, almighty God, that the true divinity of your Only Begotten Son, which we firmly profess with Saint Athanasius, may, through this Sacrament, ever give us life and protection. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
“…you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat…”. Jesus is inviting us to strive for higher realities. He insists: “Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life…” The invitation to strive for higher realities is constant in practically all religions. Christianity captures this in the Sermon on the Mount: “Seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given you besides” (Matt 6:33). We are constantly advised to desire and work for things that truly count. This is part of the genuine wisdom throughout human history. Plato urged his disciples to love the “eternal ideas” and to reject mere shadows. In decadent times people prefer only entertainment and light literature. In the Church, we should weep when preachers use the pulpit only to entertain, gauging the “success” of the homily by the number of times the people laugh. “Work for food…that endures to eternal life.”