FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST; OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA [Historical]

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA
 
[Historical]
(See below) 

DOUBLE / GREEN
God made the human body sacred and beautiful, the procreator with God of new life, the instrument by which Christ redeemed all mankind, the essential implement of zealous apostles, the very temple of the Trinity, destined to be resurrected and glorified. On earth, however, the body is not to be idolized or pampered, not to be served as a domineering tyrant. Left to itself, each bodily instinct seeks its own satisfaction, often to the harm of the whole person. Restraint controls the body and frees the soul for joy in living Christian ideals.

INTROIT Ps. 83:10-11
O God, our Protector, look, and gaze upon the face of Your Christ. Better indeed is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.
Ps. 83:2-3. How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul yearns and faints for the courts of the Lord.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
Keep Your Church, O Lord, in Your everlasting mercy. Without Your assistance our human nature is bound to fall, so help us to shun whatever is harmful and guide us towards those things that will aid our salvation. Through our Lord . . .



EPISTLE Gal. 5:16-24
Brethren: Walk in the Spirit: and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh: For these are contrary one to another: so that you do not the things that you would. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest: which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury,
Idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, Envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, Mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences.


GRADUAL Ps. 117:8-9
It is better to trust in the Lord than to confide in man.
V. It is better to have confidence in the Lord than to rely on princes.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 94:1
Come, let us praise the Lord with joy, let us sing joyfully to God our Saviour. Alleluia!

GOSPEL Matt. 6:24-33
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: "No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. "Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? "And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is to day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith? "Be not solicitous therefore, saying: What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 33:8-9
The Angel of the Lord shall encamp around those who fear him, and shall deliver them. Taste and see how good is the Lord.

SECRET 
O Lord, grant that this offering of the Sacrifice of salvation may take away our sins and appease Your majesty. Through our Lord . . .


COMMUNION ANTIPHON Matt. 6:33
"Seek first the kingdom of God, and all other things shall be given you besides," said the Lord.


POSTCOMMUNION 
May Your Sacrament ever cleanse and strengthen us, O God, and lead us to eternal salvation. Through our Lord . . .

English: The Black Madonna of Czestochowa Polski: Ikona Matki Boskiej z Jasnej Góry w Częstochowie zwana Czarną Madonną (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Feast Day: August 26 - Our Lady of Czestochowa

History:

The origin of this miraculous image in Czestochowa, according to tradition, the painting was a portrait of Our Lady done by St. John sometime after the Crucifixion of Our Lord and remained in the Holy Land until discovered by St. Helena of the Cross in the fourth century. The painting was taken to Constantinople, where St. Helena's son, the Emperor Constantine, erected a church for its enthronement.  During the siege by the Saracens, the invaders became frightened when the people carried the picture in a procession around the city; the infidels fled. Later, the image was threatened with burning by an evil emperor, who had a wife, Irene, who saved it and hid it from harm. The image was in that city for 500 years, until it became part of some dowries, eventually being taken to Russia to a region that later became Poland.

After the portrait became the possession of the Polish prince, St. Ladislaus in the 15th century, it was installed in his castle. Tartar invaders besieged the castle and an enemy arrow pierced Our Lady's image, inflicting a scar. Interestingly, repeated attempts to fix the image, artistically have all failed.

Tradition says that St. Ladislaus determined to save the image from repeated invasions, so he went to his birthplace, Opala, stopping for rest in Częstochowa; the image was brought nearby to Jasna Góra (bright hill")and placed in a small wooden church named for the Assumption. The following morning, after the picture was carefully placed in the wagon, the horses refused to move. St. Ladislaus understood this to be a sign from Heaven that the image should stay in Częstochowa; thus he replaced the painting in the Church of the Assumption, August 26, 1382, a day still observed as the Feast Day. The Saint wished to have the holiest of men guard the painting, so he assigned the church and the monastery to the Pauline Fathers, who have devoutly protected the image for the last six hundred years.

Having survived two attacks upon it, Our Lady's image was next in peril by the Hussites. The Hussites successfully stormed the Pauline monastery in 1430, plundering the sanctuary. Among the items stolen was the image. After putting it in their wagon, the Hussites went a little ways but then the horses refused to go any further. Recalling the former incident that was so similar, the heretics threw the portrait down to the ground, which shattered the image into three pieces. One of the plunderers drew his sword and slashed the image twice, causing two deep gashes; while attempting a third gash, he was overcome with a writhing agony and died.

The two slashes on the cheek of the Blessed Virgin, together with the one on the throat, have always reappeared after artistic attempts to fix them. The portrait again faced danger in 1655 by a Swedish horde of 12,000, which confronted the 300 men guarding the image. The band of 300 routed the 12,000 and the following year, the Holy Virgin was acclaimed Queen of Poland.

Prayer

(to be said each day upon rising)

HOLY MOTHER of Czestochowa, Thou art full of grace,
goodness and mercy. I consecrate to Thee all my thoughts,
words and actions----my soul and body. I beseech Thy
blessings and especially prayers for my salvation.
Today, I consecrate myself to Thee, Good Mother, totally
 ----with body and soul amid joy and sufferings to obtain
for myself and others Thy blessings on this earth and
eternal life in Heaven. Amen.

Imprimatur: Cardinal O' Boyle, Washington, DC