THURSDAY OF PASSION WEEK; SAINT FRANCIS OF PAULA (1507 A.D.) Hermit

THURSDAY OF PASSION WEEK

SAINT FRANCIS OF PAULA
Confessor

SIMPLE / PURPLE
Only man can freely provide the right disposition for grace. Only God can give grace: either actual grace as a passing help to right dispositions and actions, or sanctifying grace as a sharing of His divine life. Grace perfects the best in man and leads to final perfection in God. It is by love that man seeks perfection. Because he loves God, he does what God wishes and unites himself with God in everything. Love is the law of life, the bond of perfection, the fountain of joy. One who is separated from God by sin can return to Him through sorrow, penance, prayer, charity. United to God, man finds his love blossoming in joy, delight, rest, peace.

INTROIT (Dan. 3:31, 29, 43, 42)
All that You have done to us, O Lord, You have done in just judgment, because we have sinned against You and disobeyed Your commandments; but give glory to Your own name and deal with us in accord with Your bounteous mercy.
Ps. 118:1. Blessed are they who are undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. All that You . . .

COLLECT
O Almighty God, the dignity of our human nature has been undermined by self-indulgence. Strengthen it again through the practice of salutary self-denial. through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT FRANCIS PAULA
When Francis left home in the 15th-century Paula (Italy) to live as a hermit, disciples soon gathered round him, to form an austere religious order, the Minim Friars, or Minims. Francis had the gifts of miracles and prophecy, and led many sinners to repentance. When Louis XI, the "Spider King" of France, was dying, he sent for Francis to cure him. Francis did not save his life, but wrought a profound change of heart in him, and Louis died in his arms. In gratitude his son Charles VIII honored and consulted him, and generously supported the order.

O God, You are the reward of the humble; You crowned the blessed confessor Francis with the glory of sainthood. Through his merits and prayers let us obtain the happiness You promised to those who are humble of heart. Through Our Lord . . .

LESSON (Dan. 3:25, 34-45)
In those days, Azarias standing up, prayed in this manner, and opening his mouth in the midst of the fire, he said: "Deliver us not up for ever, we beseech thee, for thy name's sake, and abolish not thy covenant. And take not away thy mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, thy beloved, and Isaac, thy servant, and Israel, thy holy one: To whom thou hast spoken, promising that thou wouldst multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea shore.
"For we, O Lord, are diminished more than any nation, and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins. Neither is there at this time prince, or leader, or prophet, or holocaust, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place of first fruits before thee, That we may find thy mercy: nevertheless, in a contrite heart and humble spirit let us be accepted. As in holocausts of rams, and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be made in thy sight this day, that it may please thee: for there is no confusion to them that trust in thee.
"And now we follow thee with all our heart, and we fear thee, and seek thy face. Put us not to confusion, but deal with us according to thy meekness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies. And deliver us, according to thy wonderful works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord:
And let all them be confounded that shew evils to thy servants, let them be confounded in all thy might, and let their strength be broken: And let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, and glorious over all the world. O Lord our God."

GRADUAL (Ps. 95:8-9; 28:9)
Bring offerings, and enter His courts; worship the Lord in His holy Temple. V. The Lord lays the forests bare, and in His temple all shall proclaim His glory.

GOSPEL (Luke 7:36-50)
At that time, one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him. And he went into the house of the Pharisee and sat down to meat. And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. And standing behind at his feet. she began to wash his feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
And the Pharisee, who had invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: "This man, if he were if a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner." And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, "I have somewhat to say to thee." But he said: "Master, say it." "A certain creditor had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which therefore of the two loveth him most?" Simon answering, said: "I suppose that he to whom he forgave most." And he said to him: "Thou hast judged rightly."
And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: "Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house: thou gavest me no water for my feet. But she with tears hath washed my feet; and with her hairs hath wiped them. Thou gavest me no kiss. But she, since she cane in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint. But she with ointment hath anointed my feet. Wherefore, I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less." And he said to her: "Thy sins are forgiven thee." And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves: "Who is this that forgiveth sins also?"
And he said to the woman: "Thy faith hath made thee safe. Go in peace."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON (Ps. 136:1)
By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered you, O Sion.

SECRET
O Lord our God, You created these material things to support our weak human bodies, and chose that we should offer these same things to You in sacrifice to Your name. May they nourish us in this life and be a pledge of our eternal happiness. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT FRANCIS OF PAULA
O Lord, may these gifts, which Your devoted people have placed upon Your altar, please You through the merits of blessed Francis. Mercifully grant that they may aid our salvation. Through Our Lord . . .

COMMUNION ANTIPHON (Ps. 118:49-50)
Remember Your promise to Your servant, by which You have given me hope. This is my solace in my affliction.

POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, may we cherish with pure hearts this spiritual Food that we have taken with our lips, and may this Gift that we received on earth become for us an everlasting remedy. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT FRANCIS OF PAULA
O Lord, may this sacrament of Heaven which we have received help us in this life and in the life to come through the intercession of Your blessed confessor Francis. Through Our Lord . . .

PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE
Be merciful to Your people, O Lord. May they despise the things that displease You and find their joy in keeping Your commandments. Through our Lord Jesus Christ . . .