saturday 03 October 2020
Saint Thomas Cantilupe (1218-1282)
BVM
Originally from a rich Anglo-Norman family, he was ordained priest in 1245 while taking part in the First Council of Lyons. In 1275 he became Bishop of Hereford, where his austerity and his zeal as a reforming bishop became well known. He died while on a journey to the papal court, and was canonised in 1320.
Green/White
Entrance Antiphon: Dn 3:31, 29, 30, 43, 42
All that you have done to us, O Lord, you have done with true judgement, for we have sinned against you and not obeyed your commandments. But give glory to your name and deal with us according to the bounty of your mercy.
Collect
O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy, bestow, we pray, your grace abundantly upon us, and make those hastening to attain your promises heirs to the treasures of heaven. 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: Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17
This was the answer Job gave to the Lord: I know that you are all-powerful: what you conceive, you can perform. I am the man who obscured your designs with my empty-headed words. I have been holding forth on matters I cannot understand, on marvels beyond me and my knowledge. I knew you then only by hearsay; but now, having seen you with my own eyes, I retract all I have said, and in dust and ashes I repent. The Lord blessed Job’s new fortune even more than his first one. He came to own fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she-donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters; his first daughter he called ‘Turtledove’, the second ‘Cassia’ and the third ‘Mascara.’ Throughout the land there were no women as beautiful as the daughters of Job. And their father gave them inheritance rights like their brothers. After his trials, Job lived on until he was a hundred and forty years old, and saw his children and his children’s children up to the fourth generation. Then Job died, an old man and full of days.
Psalm 118(119):66, 71, 75, 91, 125, 130
R/ Let your face shine on your servant, O Lord.
- Teach me discernment and knowledge for I trust in your commands. It was good for me to be afflicted, to learn your statutes.
- Lord, I know that your decrees are right, that you afflicted me justly. By your decree it endures to this day; for all things serve you.
- I am your servant, give me knowledge; then I shall know your will. The unfolding of your word gives light and teaches the simple.
Gospel Acclamation : Mt 11:25
Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 10:17-24
The seventy-two came back rejoicing. ‘Lord,’ they said ‘even the devils submit to us when we use your name.’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.’ It was then that, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said: ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’ Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them in private, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant us, O merciful God, that this our offering may find acceptance with you and that through it, the wellspring of all blessing may be laid open before us. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Cf. Ps 118: 49-50
Remember your word to your servant, O Lord, by which you have given me hope. This is my comfort when I am brought low.
Prayer after Communion
May this heavenly mystery, O Lord, restore us in mind and body, that we may be coheirs in glory with Christ, to whose suffering we are united whenever we proclaim his Death. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Meditation
Job’s name has become synonymous with suffering, to the point that one tends to forget the happy ending of his story. A preacher once said we could summarise Jobs story in the words “And Job lived happily ever after”. Job is known for his patience, but he should be better known for his hope. If your ten children died in one day, would you have hope? If you went bankrupt and on the same day you lost the person dearest to you, would you let God give you the virtue of hope? If you were diseased and racked with pain, would you be hopeful? Some of us would be like Job’s wife and “curse God and die”. However, Job, with no help from his wife and his friends, had hope. Remember: “Hope will not leave us disappointed” (Rm 5:5). The the 72 Missionary Disciples in the Gospel never had an easy mission. However, with their patience and endurance they recounted their success: “Lord…even the devils submit to us when we use your name.” Their mission was successful, and a big reason why it was successful is that they, like Job, had learned to trust in and depend on the Lord.