THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
OUR LADY, MOTHER OF THE
DIVINE SHEPHERD
OUR LADY, MOTHER OF THE
DIVINE SHEPHERD
Jesus Himself has a limited pilgrimage on earth. Like Him, we are all travelers. Everything is impermanent except heaven. Our happiness and security exist only in loyalty to Christ and to our fellow pilgrims, and in obedience to Christ's represtentatives. Anyone who attempts to limp sorrowfully and independantly along, courts spiritual and eternal disaster. Both sorrow and joy are parts of life, to be taken in stride and consecrated to God. Dedicated grief purifies and redeems. Joy is the overflow of deep, spiritual wellbeing, the mark of the fully developed Christian, the music of virtue, the chant of wise pilgrims pressing homeward to God.
INTROIT Ps. 65:1-2
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth, alleluia, alleluia! Sing a psalm to the glory of His name, Alleluia, Proclaim His glorious praise, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Ps. 65:3. Say to God, "How tremendous are your deeds, O Lord! because of Your great strength Your enemies cringe before You."
V. Glory be . . .
COLLECT
Show us the light of Your truth, O God, which guides the sinner back to th epath of justice. Let those who profess to be Christians avoid whatever will endanger their faith, and follow those things which will help it. Through Our Lord . . .
Commemoration of OUR LADY, MOTHER OF THE DIVINE SHEPHERD
The good Shepherd commended us, the sheep of His flock, to the Virgin Mother, when, dying on the Cross, He said to Mary and to John: "Woman, behold thy son . . . Behold thy mother."
O Lord Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd, who didst give Thy life for Thy sheep and didst on the Cross commend us, Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture, to the Virgin Mother, grant through her prayers that by following thee as our shepherd on earth, we may be brought to the pastures of life eternal in heaven.
Commemoration of SAINTS NEREUS, ACHILLEUS, DOMITILLA, AND PANCRAS
Nereus, Achilleus, and Domitilla were Romans who died for Christ in the first century. Nereus and Achilleus were pretorian soldiers and probably executioners of Christians before their conversion. Domitilla was a great lady, the niece of one of the consuls of Rome at that time. Pancras is believed to have been martyred in about A.D. 304, when he was only 14 years old. Pope Gregory the Great dedicated a monastery in Rome to him, and Augustine of Canterbury, Gregory's missionary, named the first church in Canterbury in his honor, thus beginning a widespread cult of the boy-martyr in England.
O Lord, may the blessed feast of Your martyrs Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras fire us with zeal to serve You more worthily. Through Our Lord . . .
Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the soul, Having your conversation good among the Gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by the good works which they shall behold in you, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God's sake: whether it be to the king as excelling, Or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of the good. For so is the will of God, that by doing well you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free and not as making liberty a cloak for malice, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the forward. For this is thankworthy: if, for conscience towards God, a man endure sorrows, suffering wrongfully.
Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 110:9
The Lord has sent deliverance to His people. Alleluia!
V. Luke 24:26. Thus Christ should suffer and should rise again from the dead and should enter into His glory. Alleluia!
GOSPEL John 16:16-22.
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: "A little while, and now you shall not see Me: and again a little while, and you shall see Me: because I go to the Father." Then some of his disciples said one to another: "What is this that he saith to us: A little while, and you shall not see me: and again a little while, and you shall see me, and, Because I go to the Father?" They said therefore: "What is this that he saith, A little while? We know not what he speaketh."
And Jesus knew that they had a mind to ask him. And he said to them: "Of this do you inquire among yourselves, because I said: A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me? Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labour, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow: but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice. And your joy no man shall take from you."
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
May this sacred rite help us to overcome our earthly desires, O Lord, and teach us to love the things of heaven. Through Our Lord . . .
Commemoration of OUR LADY, MOTHER OF THE DIVINE SHEPHERD
By Thy gracious mercy, O Lord, and the intercession of blessed Mary ever Virgin, may this offering be of avail to us for welfare and peace now and for evermore.
Commemoration of SAINTS NEREUS, ACHILLEUS, DOMITILLA, AND PANCRAS
Be pleased, O Lord, by the witness that the holy martyrs Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras gave to Your holy name. May their deaths make our gifts more acceptable to You and bring us Your unfailing mercy. Through Our Lord . . .
COMMUNION ANTIPHON John 16:16
A little while and you shall see Me no longer, alleluia! and again a little while and you shall see Me, because I go to the Father, alleluia, alleluia!
POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, may the Sacrament which we have received strengthen us in spirit and comfort us in body. Through Our Lord . . .
Commemoration of OUR LADY, MOTHER OF THE DIVINE SHEPHERD
O Lord, grant, we beseech Thee, that we who have received these aids unto salvation, may be always and everywhere protected by the intercession of blessed Mary ever Virgin, in whose honor we offered this Sacrifice to Thy Majesty.
Commemoration of SAINTS NEREUS, ACHILLEUS, DOMITILLA, AND PANCRAS
O Lord, may the holy sacrament that we have received make us more acceptable to You through the prayers of Your blessed martyrs Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras. istThrough Our Lord . . .
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