24th and Last Sunday after Pentecost; Saint John of the Cross; Saint Chrysogonus

TWENTY FOURTH AND LAST
SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

[Commemoration]

SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
Confessor and Doctor of the Church

SAINT CHRYSOGONUS

Martyr 

DOUBLE / GREEN
God so made the human mind that it remembers joys more easily than pains. Man's very destiny is eternal joy, and joy is the life of his hope. But for Christ's members, even pain has a vast meaning and dignity, because it is the price by which Christ opened heaven, and the price He asks every Christian to pay in imitation of Him. The Final Judgement will reveal what use each soul has made of joy and of pain. During the past year  of worship, what increased sorrow for sin, what deepened love for our Lord, and what greater kindness to others, especially the poor and forsaken, have prepared you for the joyous peace of heaven?
 
INTROIT Jer. 29:11, 12, 14
Said the Lord: "I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. You shall call upon me and I will hear you, and I will bring you back from captivity from all places." Ps. 84:2. Lord, You have blessed Your land; You have restored Jacob from captivity.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O Lord, stir up the wills of the faithful that they may be more eager to seek the fruits of divine grace, and to discover in Your mercy greater healing for their sinfulness. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
John of the Cross was born near Avila in Spain in 1542. Educated by the Jesuits, he entered the Carmelite Order at the age of 21. He felt attracted to the life of a Carthusian, but Teresa of Avila asked him to co-operate with her in the restoration of the primitive Carmelite rule. After John established several monasteries of Discalced Carmelites, those opposed to the reform had him imprisoned at Toledo. During the nine months of his imprisonment, he wrote many of the poems and prose works that have made him one of the foremost authorities on mysticism in the West. He had asked God for suffering, and he received an abundance of both physical and spiritual torment right up to his death in 1591.

O God, who blessed the holy confessor and doctor John with a spirit of complete self-denial and a deep love of the cross, grant that we may always follow his example and thus attain to eternal glory. 
 
Commemoration of  SAINT CHRYSOGONUS, MARTYR
Mentioned in the Canon of the Mass, Chrysogonus, a Greek Christian, was martyred under Diocletian at Aquileia at the beginning of the fourth century.

O Lord, hear our humble prayers. May the intercession of Your blessed martyr Chrysogonus free us from the guilt of sin which troubles us. Through Our Lord . . .

EPISTLE Col. 1:9-14
Brethren: Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding: That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God: Strengthened with all might according to the power of his glory, in all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins.

Gradual Ps. 43:8-9
You have freed us from those who afflict us, O Lord, and You have put to shame those who hate us. V. In God we will glory all the day, and praise Your name forever.Alleluia, alleluia! Ps. 129:1-2
V. Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer!
Alleluia!

GOSPEL Matt. 24:15-35
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: "When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand. Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house: And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child and that give suck in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened."Then if any man shall say to you, 'Lo here is Christ,' or 'there': do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand. If therefore they shall say to you, 'Behold he is in the desert': go ye not out. 'Behold he is in the closets': believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the cowling of the Son of man be. Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together."And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. And then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. And he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them.
"And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors. Amen I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass: but my words shall not pass."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 129:1-2
Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer, out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord.

SECRET
O Lord, lend a responsive ear to our petitions. Receive the offerings and prayers of Your people, and turn the hearts of us all towards Yourself, so that we may be drawn from earthly desires to the joys of heaven. Through Our Lord . . .


Commemoration of SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

O Lord, let the blessed confessor and doctor John always help us, and through his intercession accept our offering and pardon our sins. 
 
Commemoration of  SAINT CHRYSOGONUS
O Lord, be moved to compassion by our offerings and shield us from all danger through the prayers of Your holy martyr Chrysologus. Through Our Lord . . .

 COMMUNION ANTIPHON Mark 11:24
Amen I say to you, all things whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come to you.

POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, cure the evil in our hearts by the healing power of the Sacrament we have received. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
O Lord, may this sacrifice bring us closer to our salvation through the intercession of Your blessed confessor and illustrious doctor John. 
 
Commemoration of  SAINT CHRYSOGONUS
O Lord, may the reception of Your Sacrament cleanse us from our hidden faults, and guard us against the deceptions of our enemies. Through Our Lord . . .