Saint Antony the Abbot (356 A.D.)

 

SAINT ANTONY

Abbot

DOUBLE / WHITE

Antony was born in Egypt of wealthy Christian parents at about the middle of the third century. After the death of his parents, he left the world and sought the solitude of the desert. Although Antony undertook severe mortifications to overcome the ceaseless temptations he endured, yet he saw the secret of Christian sanctity not in bodily chastisement but in love of God. So many disciples followed him that he founded two monasteries on the bank of the Nile, and directed the lives of his monks according to the Gospel precept of perfection. This patriarch of all monks died in the year 356 in a cave near the Red Sea, at the age of 105.

Mass of an Abbot, except

Introit
Ps 36:30-31
The mouth of the just man tells of wisdom, and his tongue utters what is right. The law of his God is in his heart.
Ps 36:1
Be not vexed over evildoers, nor jealous of those who do wrong.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
The mouth of the just man tells of wisdom, and his tongue utters what is right. The law of his God is in his heart.

COLLECT

Let the Blessed Abbot Antony intercede for us, O Lord. May his prayers win us Your help, since our own actions cannot merit it. Through Our Lord . . .

Lesson
Lesson from the book of Ecclesiasticus
Ecclus 45:1-6
Beloved of God and men, whose memory is held in benediction. He made him like the Saints in glory, and magnified him in the fear of his enemies, and with his words He made prodigies to cease. He glorified him in the sight of kings, and gave him Commandments in the sight of his people, and revealed to him His glory. He sanctified him in his faith and meekness, and chose him out of all flesh. For He heard him and his voice, and brought him into a cloud. And, face to face, He gave him the Commandments, the law of life and understanding.

Gradual
Ps 20:4-5
O Lord, You welcomed him with goodly blessings, You placed on his head a crown of pure gold.
V. He asked life of You: You gave him length of days forever and ever. Alleluia, alleluia.
Ps 91:13
The just man shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow. Alleluia. 

GOSPEL Luke 12:35-40

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, "Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands. And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you that he will gird himself and make them sit down to meat and passing will minister unto them. And if he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants. But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Be you then also ready: for at what hour you think not the Son of man will come."

SECRET

May the offerings we lay upon Your sacred altar, O Lord, bring us closer to our salvation through the intercession of the blessed abbot Antony. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and rules with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Communion
Luke 12:42
Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, he will set him over all his goods.

POSTCOMMUNION

May the Sacrament we have received and the prayers of the blessed abbot Antony protect us, O Lord. Grant also that we may imitate the virtues of this saint who is our intercessor with You in Heaven. Through Our Lord . . .