FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER; SAINT RITA OF CASCIA, Widow (1457 A.D.)

 

 

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

 

SAINT RITA OF CASCIA

Widow

 

DOUBLE / WHITE
INTROIT Isa. 48:20
Declare it with the voice of joy and let it be heard, alleluia! Announce it to th eends of the earth: the Lord has delivered His people, alleluia, alleluia!
Ps. 65:1-2. Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; sing a psalm to the glory of His name; proclaim His glorious praise.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O God, the source of all good, grant us Your inspiration that we may have proper thoughts, and Your guidance that we may carry them into practice. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT RITA

St. Rita died on May 22, 1457 at the age of 76. People flocked to the convent to pay their last respects. Innumerable miracles took place through her intercession, and devotion to her spread far and wide.

St. Rita's body was preserved perfectly incorrupt for several centuries, and at times it gave off a sweet fragrance. At the beatification ceremony, the body of the Saint raised itself up and opened its eyes.

 

O God, Who didst vouchsafe to confer on St. Rita so great grace that she loved her enemies and bore in her heart and on her brow the stigmata of Thy love and Passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, by her intercession and merits, so to spare our enemies and to meditate on the pains of Thy Passion that we may obtain the rewards promised to the meek and to them that mourn. Through Our Lord . . .

EPISTLE James 1:22-27
Beloved: But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass. For he beheld himself and went his way and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work: this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.

Alleluia, alleluia!
V. Christ has risen and has given light to us, whom He redeemed with His Blood. Alleluia!
V. John 16:28. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again I leave the world and go to the Father. Alleluia!

GOSPEL John 16:23-30
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: "Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto, you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full. "These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will shew you plainly of the Father. In that day, you shall ask in my name: and I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father and am come into the world: again I leave the world and I go to the Father." 
His disciples say to him: "Behold, now thou speakest plainly and speakest no proverb. Now we know that thou knowest all things and thou needest not that any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 65:8-9, 20
Bless the Lord our God, you nations; loudly sound His praise. he has given life to my soul, and has not let my feet falter. Blessed be the Lord who has not refused my prayer nor His mercy to me, alleluia!

SECRET 
Accept the prayers and offering of the faithful, O Lord, and let our love and devotion lead us to the glory of heaven. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT RITA
Pierce our hearts, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the merits of St. Rita, with the thorn of that sorrow which is from heaven that, being delivered by Thy grace from all sins, we may be able to offer to Thee the sacrifice of praise with pure hearts. Through our Lord . . . 

COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps. 95:2
Sing to the Lord, alleluia! Sing to the Lord, and bless His name; announce His salvation day after day, alleluia, alleluia!

POSTCOMMUNION 
Grant that we, who have been fed at Your Heavenly Banquet, O Lord, may desire only what is right and that we may fulfill these holy desires. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT RITA

Regaled with heavenly delights, O Lord, we humbly entreat Thee that, by the intercession of St. Rita, we may bear in our souls the marks of Thy love and Thy Passion and constantly enjoy the fruit of perpetual peace. Through our Lord . . .