EMBER FRIDAY

SAINT UBALDUS
Bishop and Confessor

DOUBLE / RED
INTROIT Ps. 70:8, 23
Let my mouth be filled with Your praise, alleluia! that I may sing Your glory, alleluia! My lips shall shout for joy as I sing to You, alleluia, alleluia!
Ps. 70:1-2. In You, O Lord, have I placed my trust; let me never be put to shame. deliver me in Your justice and rescue me.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O merciful God, may Your Church, which owes its unity to the Holy Spirit, never be troubled by the attacks of her enemies. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT UBALDUS
After being consecrated bishop of Gubbio, Italy, in 1129, Ubaldus Baldassini served his flock for more than 30 years with the firm justice, the mildness, and the patience of a true father in Christ. He was revered especially as a peacemaker. On an occasion when rival factions were rioting in the streets of Gubbio, Ubaldus threw himself between the combatants and they laid down their arms at once, for fear of wounding their bishop. At another time, when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was about to sack Gubbio, Bishop Ubaldus met the Emperor on the road and persuaded him to spare the city.

Help us, O Lord, and stretch out Your right hand in compassion to save us from the wickedness of the devil, through the intercession of Your blessed confessor bishop Ubaldus. Through Our Lord . . .

LESSON Joel 2:23-24, 26-27
Thus says the Lord God: "O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning. And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overfiow with wine, and oil. And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God; who hath done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded for ever. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord yonr God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded forever," says the Lord almighty.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. Sap. 12:1
O how good and sweet is Your Spirit within us, O Lord! Alleluia! (Here all kneel.) V. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.

SEQUENCE
Holy Spirit, come and shine
On our souls with beams divine
Issuing from your radiance bright.
Come, O Father of the poor,
Ever bounteous of your store,
Come, our heart's unfailing light.

Come, Consoler, kindest, best,
Come our bosom's dearest guest,
Sweet refreshment, sweet repose.
Rest in labor, coolness sweet,
Tempering the burning heat,
Truest comfort of our woes.

O divinest light, impart
Unto every faithful heart
Plenteous streams from love's bright flood.
But for your blest Deity,
Nothing pure in man could be;
Nothing harmless, nothing good.

Wash away each sinful stain;
Gently shed your gracious rain
On the dry and fruitless soul.
Heal each wound and bend each will,
Warm our hearts benumbed and chill,
All our wayward steps control.

Unto all your faithful just,
Who in you confide and trust,
Deign the sevenfold gift to send.
Grant us virtue's blest increase,
Grant a death of hope and peace,
Grant the joys that never end.
Amen. Alleluia!

GOSPEL Luke 5:17-26
And it came to pass on a certain day, as he sat teaching, that there were also Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, that were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was to heal them. And behold, men brought in a bed a man who had the palsy: and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, they went up upon the roof and let him down through the tiles with his bed into the midst before Jesus. Whose faith when he saw, he said: "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee."And the scribes and Pharisees began to think, saying: "Who is this who speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" And when Jesus knew their thoughts, answering he said to them: "What is it you think in your hearts? Which is easier to say: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man hath the power on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick of the palsy), I say to thee to: Arise, take up thy bed and go into thy house." And immediately rising up before them, he took up the bed on which he lay: and he went away to his own house, glorifying God. And all were astonished: and they glorified God. And they were filled with fear, saying: "We have seen wonderful things to-day."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 145:2
Praise the Lord, O my soul; I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live, alleluia!

SECRET
We offer this Sacrifice before You, O Lord. Let it be consumed by the divine fire of the Holy Spirit which enkindled the hearts of the disciples of Christ, Your Son. Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT UBALDUS
May Thy Saints, we beseech Thee, O Lord, in all places bring us joy; that while we recall their merits, we may experience their patronage. Through our Lord . . .

COMMUNION ANTIPHON John 14:18
I will not leave you orphans; I will come again to you, alleluia! and your heart shall be joyful, alleluia!

POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, we have received the gift of Your Blessed Sacrament. we now humbly ask that this Sacrifice, which You bid us offer in Your memory, may give us strength against our weakness; who lives and rules with God the Father . . .

Commemoration of SAINT UBALDUS
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that, we who give thanks for the gifts we have received, may through the intercession of blessed Ubaldus, Thy Confessor and Bishop, obtain still greater blessings. Through our Lord . . .