15th Sunday after Pentecost, Saint Peter Claver, Saint Gorgonius

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

SAINT PETER CLAVER
Confessor

SAINT GORGONIUS
Martyr

DOUBLE / GREEN
INTROIT Ps. 85:1, 2-3
Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me. Save Your servant who trusts in You. Have pity on me, O Lord, for to You I call all the day.
Ps. 85:4. Gladden the soul of Your servant, for I have lifted up my soul to You, O Lord.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O Lord, let Your abiding mercy purify and defend the Church. Govern her always by Your care, for without Your assistance she cannot remain safe. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT PETER CLAVER
Cartagena, in Columbia, was the central slave mart of Spanish America. Transported on filthy ships like animals, the hapless Africans were forgotten men. A young Spanish Jesuit named Peter Claver appeared providentially in Cartagena in 1610, and until his death in 1654, he cared with the tenderness of Christ for the wracked bodies and tortured souls of the slaves. During his long apostolate he baptized some three hundred thousand Negro children of God. The Church has designated him the special patron of all Catholic missioners working among the Negroes.

O God, in order to bring the enslaved Negroes the knowledge of Your holy name, You gave blessed Peter the strength to help them through a wondrous love and patience. May we all seek the things that belong to Jesus and in doing so love our neighbors in truth and in deed through the intercession of Your saint.

Commemoration of SAINT GORGONIUS
During the early years of the fourth century, Gorgonius, with the help of his ally Dorotheus, both Christian freedmen in the palace of Diocletian at Nicomedia, had managed to convert almost the whole imperial household. When they saw another servant, Peter, tortured for having borne witness to Jesus, they protested to the Emperor. Diocletian promptly condemned them to severe tortures, and then to death by strangulation.

O Lord, may the intercession of saint Gorgonius fill us with joy and may his holy feast be the occasion of happiness for us. Through our Lord . . .

EPISTLE Gal. 5:25-26; 6:1-10
Brethren: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be made desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Brethren, and if a man be overtaken in any fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens: and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ. For if any man think himself to be some thing, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every one prove his own work: and so he shall have glory in himself only and not in another. For every one shall bear his own burden.
And let him that is instructed in the word communicate to him that instructeth him, in all good things. Be not deceived: God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

GRADUAL Ps. 91:2-3
It is good to praise the Lord, and to sing to Your name, O Most high.
V. To proclaim Your mercy in the morning and Your truth throughout the night.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 94:3
For the Lord is a great God, and a great king over all the earth. Alleluia!

GOSPEL Luke 7:11-16
At that time, Jesus went into a city that is called Naim: and there went with him his disciples and a great multitude. And when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold a dead man was carried out, the only son of his mother: and she was a widow. And a great multitude of the city was with her. Whom when the Lord had seen, being moved with mercy towards her, he said to her: "Weep not." And he came near and touched the bier. And they that carried it stood still. And he said: "Young man, I say to thee, arise." And he that was dead sat up and begun to speak. And he gave him to his mother. And there came a fear upon them all: and they glorified God saying: "A great prophet is risen up among us: and, God hath visited his people."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 39:2, 3, 4
I have waited and waited for the Lord, and He inclined toward me and heard my cry. And He out a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.

SECRET
O Lord, may Your Sacrament safeguard and defend us always against the attacks of the devil. through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT PETER CLAVER
O Lord, may the Victim of love which we offer here in sacrifice obtain mercy for us; and may the prayers and merits of blessed Peter help us toward salvation by making us more patient and charitable.

Commemoration of SAINT GORGONIUS
Be pleased, O Lord, by the offering which we, Your servants, make to You through the intercession of the blessed martyr Gorgonius. Through our Lord . . .

COMMUNION ANTIPHON John 6:52
The Bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.

POSTCOMMUNION
Let the grace of your Heavenly gift rule our minds and bodies, O Lord, that we may overcome the unruly impulses of our nature. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT PETER CLAVER
Increase in us the effects of Your life-giving love, O Lord, so that after being refreshed by the Food of Heaven we may come to the reward of everlasting life through the intercession of blessed Peter.

Commemoration of SAINT GORGONIUS
Let the everlasting sweetness of the Sacrifice fill Your household and bring it to new life, O Lord, so that through Your martyr Gorgonius we may always be refreshed by the fragrance of Christ, Your Son; who lives and rules with You . . .