Saint Thomas the Apostle; Ember Saturday in Advent

SAINT THOMAS
Apostle

EMBER SATURDAY IN ADVENT

DOUBLE, SECOND CLASS / RED

When Jesus was about to go to Judea where He was in mortal danger from His enemies, intense love for his Master made St. Thomas say, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him" (John 11:8-16). As Christ said farewell to His disciples on the eve of His Passion, Thomas wanted to know the way to reunion with his Lord. Jesus said to him and to us, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:2-6). After the Resurrection, he sought the reassurance of feeling the wounds of the risen Savior (John 20:24-29). His short-lived but agonized incredulity has served through the centuries to strengthen Christian faith in the Resurrection, and his impulsive exclamation, "My Lord and my God!" is repeated by every Christian at the elevation of the Sacred Host.
According to the martyrology, after Pentecost Thomas preached the Gospel to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, and Hyrcanians, and finally evangelized India, where he was martyred. There is in India today, in the region called Malabar Coast, a Christian community of Syriac Rite which claims that its ancestors were baptized by Thomas himself.

INTROIT Ps. 138:17 
Your friends are greatly honored by me, O God; their pre-eminence is definitely established.
Ps. 138:1-2. O Lord, You have proved me and You know me; You know when I sit and when I stand.
V. Glory be . . .

GLORIA

COLLECT
O Lord, may we so celebrate the solemn feast of Your apostle Thomas that we may be aided by his prayers to imitate his faith in our lives at all times. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of EMBER SATURDAY IN WINTER 
O God, who seest that we are afflicted because of our iniquity, mercifully grant that we may be comforted by Thy visitation: Who livest . . .

EPISTLE Eph. 2:19-22
Brethren: Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners: but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone: In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord. in whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit.

GRADUAL (Ps. 138:17-18)
Your friends are greatly honored, O God; their pre-eminence is definitely established.V. Were I to try to count them, they would be more numerous than the sands.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 32:1.
Rejoice in the Lord, you just; praise befits the upright.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL John 20:24-29
At that time, Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them: "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said: "Peace be to you." Then he said to Thomas: "Put in thy finger hither and see my hands. And bring hither the hand and put it into my side. And be not faithless, but believing." Thomas answered and said to him: "My Lord and my God." Jesus saith to him: "Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen and have believed."

CREED

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 18:5
Their voice has gone forth through all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

SECRET
We worship You, O Lord, as it is our duty. Guard over the gifts You have bestowed upon us through the prayers of Your blessed apostle Thomas, whose faith we honor by offering You this sacrifice of praise. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of EMBER SATURDAY 
O Lord, we beseech Thee, look down favorably upon these present Sacrifices: that they may profit us unto both devotion and salvation. Through our Lord . . .

COMMUNION ANTIPHON John 20:27
Bring here thy hand and feel the place of the nails. and be not unbelieving, but believing.

POSTCOMMUNION
Be close to us, O merciful God, and through the prayers of Your blessed apostle Thomas, watch over the Gifts You have given us. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of EMBER SATURDAY 
We beseech Thee, O Lord, our God, that the most holy Mysteries, which Thou hast given us for a safeguard of our renewal, may become our remedy both now and for time to come. Through our Lord . . .