PENTECOST
Confessor
God's way to heaven's peace is as clear and impelling as the life and teaching of Christ. His way is a sharply outlined path -- a path trod by His saints up the hill of history; and His way is marked out also in our ordinary streets and in our homes. God's grace suffices for the willing.
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
Forgive the offenses of Your people, O Lord, so that through Your merciful goodness we may be freed from the bondage of sin into which we were led by our own weakness. Through Our Lord . . .
Commemoration of SAINT DIDACUS
Almighty and eternal God, Your wondrous providence has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the strong. Hear our humble prayer and grant that the prayers of Your blessed confessor Didacus may make us worthy of eternal glory in heaven. Through Our Lord . . .
EPISTLE Philipp. 3:17-21; 4:1-3
Brethren:
Be ye followers of me, and mark those who walk after the pattern you
have in us. For many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell
you weeping) that they are enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is
destruction: whose God is their belly: and whose glory is in their
shame: who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in heaven: from
whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will
reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory,
according to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue all things
unto himself. Therefore my dearly
beloved brethren and most desired, my joy and my crown: so stand fast
in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beg of Evodia and I beseech Syntyche
to be of one mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, my sincere
companion, help those women who have labored with me in the gospel, with
Clement and the rest of my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book
of life.
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
Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer!
Alleluia!
GOSPEL Matt. 9:18-26
At that time, as Jesus was speaking these things unto them, behold a certain
ruler came up, and adored him, saying: "Lord, my daughter is even now
dead; but come, lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live." And Jesus
rising up followed him, with his disciples.
And behold a
woman who was troubled with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind
him, and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself:
"If I shall touch only his garment, I shall be healed." But Jesus
turning and seeing her, said: "Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole." And
the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus was come into
the house of the ruler, and saw the minstrels and the multitude making a
rout, He said: "Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth." And they laughed him to scorn.
And
when the multitude was put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand.
And the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that
country.
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
We
offer this sacrifice of praise, O Lord, to fulfill our debt of service
to You. May Your blessings which we cannot merit, continue to reach us
through Your boundless mercy. Through Our Lord . . .
Commemoration of SAINT DIDACUS
Accept
this offering which we humbly present in honor of Your Saints, O God,
and through it purify our bodies and our souls. 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
You have given us the happiness of participating in this Heavenly Banquet, O Almighty God. Let us not now fall victim to any human danger. Through Our Lord . . .
Saint Stanislaus Kostka was born in Poland in 1550, of a noble Polish family. At the age of
fourteen he was sent with his older brother Paul to study at the Jesuit College in Vienna.
Twice a day he would pray at length in the chapel, and he never failed to recite a crown of the
Rosary. He avoided the company of students too free in their speech and behavior, and often
fasted and inflicted on himself a rude discipline. His love for God did not cease to augment
with these practices, and he decided to make a vow to enter the Company of Jesus. He told
his confessor of it only six months later, as he wanted it to remain unknown until he would be
in a position to carry it out.
He fell ill, and the demon appeared in his room under the form of a black dog which lunged at
his throat. The young Saint drove him away with the sign of the Cross; but his illness was
growing worse. He was lodged in the residence of a Protestant who would not permit the
Blessed Sacrament to be brought to him. Saint Stanislaus remembered having read that those
who invoked Saint Barbara never died without the Sacraments, and he begged that she would
assist him in his danger and not permit that he die without the Viaticum. His prayer was
answered; one night, when his life was despaired of, he saw this beautiful virgin-martyr,
accompanied by two Angels, enter his room with the Blessed Sacrament. He was greatly
consoled by this favor and another which immediately followed it; the Blessed Virgin also
appeared and assured him that God wanted him to enter the Jesuit Society. Soon he felt better
and was restored to complete health.
He was still too young to enter the Order in Vienna without his parents’ permission; he
therefore determined to go to another province where it might be possible. Stanislaus had
always been gentle and cheerful, and his sanctity was felt as a reproach by his brother Paul,
who had been surveying him constantly and often spoke rudely to him, even going so far as to
strike him. Stanislaus nonetheless succeeded in evading him when he left for Augsbourg,
dressed as a beggar, to go to Father Peter Canisius, Provincial of Upper Germany, with letters
of recommendation he had received from a Father of the Company. His brother, when he
realized he had left, pursued him, but even though Stanislaus was on foot, passed him by
without recognizing him. A little farther on, Paul’s horses refused to advance and he was
obliged to return to Vienna.
Saint Peter sent Stanislaus to Rome, a very long distance in those days, over a rugged and
dangerous road, where rocks, mountains and rivers made the journey very difficult. Saint
Francis of Borgia received him in Rome as a treasure sent by God, and he was clothed in the
Jesuit habit in October 1567. His father was very irritated, but the son answered his letters
with modesty and firmness, and continued to apply himself to every practice that might lead
him closer to God and religious perfection. In ten months it is said that he advanced more
than many do over a period of fifty or sixty years. During those ten short months he always
had Our Lady in his mind, in his heart and on his lips. A custom was introduced for the
novices during his sojourn in Rome; they would turn toward Her church of Saint Mary Major
and ask, kneeling, for Her benediction; this practice has been conserved in the Roman novitiate
ever since that time.
The fervent novice ardently desired to be in heaven on the feast of Her Assumption; he fell ill
of a fever on the 9th of August, and it was revealed to him that his desire would be fulfilled.
In effect, his holy soul departed to rejoin His Heavenly Mother, when She came to claim him
at a little after 3 o’clock on the morning of the 15th of August, 1568. He was eighteen years
old. We often see him with the Infant Jesus in his arms, because when Our Lady came to cure
him in Vienna with Her Divine Treasure in Her arms, She had placed the Infant Saviour on his
bed. Many illnesses were cured at his tomb, and his body was found incorrupt three years
after his death. He was soon considered as a Saint in Italy and Poland; in 1604 he was
declared Blessed and was canonized in 1726. Paul Kostka wept for long years over his
mistreatment of his younger brother, and was about to enter the Society of Jesus himself in
1607, when he died suddenly on November 13th, anniversary of the discovery of the incorrupt remains of Saint Stanislaus.
Sources: Petite vie illustrée de Saint Stanislas Kostka (Éditions F. Paillart: Abbéville, 1925);
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13. | |||
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