SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY
AFTER PENTECOST

SAINT JOHN LEONARDI
Confessor

SAINTS DENIS, RUSTICUS, AND ELEUTHERIUS
Martyrs

DOUBLE / GREEN
ENTRANCE HYMN Ps. 118:137, 124
You are just, O Lord, and Your judgment is right. Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy.
Ps. 118:1. Blessed are they who are undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O Lord, keep Your people from falling under the influence of the devil, and let our hearts follow You, our only God, that they may remain pure. Through our Lord . . .


Commemoration of SAINT JOHN LEONARDI
ohn Leonardi (1543-1609), a zealous Italian apostle, founded the congregation of the Mother of God, whose priest-members traveled throughout Tuscany urging the people to a stronger interest in their religion. Father John Leonardi longed to convert pagans, but his spiritual director, St. Philip Neri, told him to remain in Italy. So instead he founded in Rome a seminary to train for the priesthood young men from all the mission lands. This seminary developed into the Urban College of Propaganda, which has during succeeding centuries sent forth thousands of priests of all nationalities, to carry the Gospel to their own peoples.

O God, You filled the blessed confessor John with a wondrous zeal to spread the faith among pagans, and through him You established in Your Church a new congregation to instruct the faithful. Grand that his teachings may lead us, Your servants, to the reward of eternal life.

Commemoration of SAINTS DENIS, RUSTICUS, AND ELEUTHERIUS
Denis, a third-century apostle of God, and now one of the "auxiliary saints," became first bishop of Paris. He suffered martyrdom there, together with his priest Rusticus and his deacon Eleutherius.

O God, You sent Rusticus and Eleutherius to join blessed Denis in preaching Your glorious name to the pagans, and on this day You so strengthened this martyr bishop in virtue that he was able to endure martyrdom courageously. May we follow the example of Your saints for love of You and spurn the pleasures of the world, without fearing to face any of its trials. Through our Lord . . .
 
EPISTLE Eph. 4:1-6
Brethren: I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called: With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all, who is blessed forever and ever. Amen.

GRADUAL Ps. 32:12, 6
Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen for His inheritance!
V. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all the celestial bodies thereof were created.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 101:2
O Lord, hear my prayer and let my cry come unto You. Alleluia!

GOSPEL Matt. 22:34-46
At that time, the Pharisees, hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, came together. And one of them, a doctor of the law, asked him, tempting him: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?"
Jesus said to him: " 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind.' This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets."
And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying: "What think you of Christ? Whose son is he?" They say to him: "David's." He saith to them: "How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool?' If David then call him 'Lord,' how is he his son?" And no man was able to answer him a word: neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Dan. 9:17, 18, 19
I, Danial, prayed to my God, saying, "Hear, O Lord, the prayers of Your servant; show Your face upon Your sanctuary, and look down favorably upon this people upon whom Your name is invoked, O God."

SECRET
We humbly implore Your majesty, O Lord, to grant us, through the sacred rite that we here celebrate, pardon for our sins of the past and preservation from sin in the future. Through our Lord . . .


Commemoration of SAINT JOHN LEONARDI
Accept the offering of this pure host of salvation, O Lord. May this Sacrifice be presented to You unceasingly throughout the world through the intercession of Your blessed confessor John.

Commemoration of SAINT DENIS AND HIS COMPANIONS
O Lord, graciously accept these gifts which Your people offer in honor of Your saints, that we may be sanctified through their intercession. Through our Lord . . .

COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps. 75:12-13
Make vows and fulfill them to the Lord your God, all you round about Him who bring gifts; to the awesome God who destroys the pride of princes, to Him who is awesome among all the kings of the earth.

POSTCOMMUNION
Almighty God, may the grace of this Sacrament cure our sinfulness and be an everlasting remedy for our weakness. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT JOHN LEONARDI
We are refreshed, O Lord, by the Sacrament of Your precious Body and Blood. May we imitate Your blessed confessor John, and profess what he believed and practice what he taught.

Commemoration of SAINT DENIS AND HIS COMPANIONS
O Lord, may the reception of Your Sacrament bring us ever nearer to our eternal redemption through the prayers of Your blessed martyrs Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius. Through our Lord . . .