SAINT BLAISE (316 A.D.) Bishop, Martyr; SAINT LAURENCE (619 A.D.) Bishop, Confessor

 

 

SAINT BLAISE

Bishop and Martyr

SAINT LAURENCE 

Bishop, Confessor

 

SIMPLE /RED

Blaise, a physician in Armenia, perceived that the ills of the soul are infinitely more grievious than those of the body. He was ordained a priest and later appointed bishop, but God permitted this healer of souls to retain the power of healing bodies. St. Blaise became known far and wide for his miraculous cures, and he is still invoked for protection against diseases of the throat. He was martyred in 316, during a persecution under Emperor Licinius.

Introit
Ps 17:5-7
The terrors of death surged round me, the cords of the nether world enmeshed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord; from His holy temple He heard my voice.
Ps 17:2-3
I love You, O Lord, my strength, O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
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 terrors of death surged round me, the cords of the nether world enmeshed me. In my distress I called upon the Lord; from His holy temple He heard my voice.

Mass of a Martyr Bishop

COLLECT

O God, who gladdens us each year by the feast of Your blessed martyr bishop Blaise, mercifully grant that we who celebrate his birthday may also enjoy his protection. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the 4th SUNDAY AFTER  EPIPHANY

O God, You Who know that our human frailty cannot stand fast against the great dangers that beset us, grant us health of mind and body, that with your help we may overcome what we suffer on account of our sins.

 

Commemoration of SAINT LAURENCE

St. Laurence, Bishop of Canterbury, was a companion of Saint Augustine. He spent his life traveling throughout the south of England preaching the Faith and gaining souls to the service of God. After a fruitful apostolate he died A.D. 619.

On this feastday of blessed Laurence Thy Confessor and Bishop hear our prayers to Thee, O Lord, and since he gave Thee such worthy service, be mindful of his merits and blot out all our sins. Through Our Lord . . .

 

Lesson
Lesson from the first letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
1 Cor. 9:24-27; 10:1-5
Brethren: Do you not know that those who run in a race, all indeed run, but one receives the prize? So run as to obtain it. And everyone in a contest abstains from all things - and they indeed to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable. I, therefore, so run as not without a purpose; I so fight as not beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps after preaching to others I myself should be rejected. For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, all were baptized in Moses, in the cloud and in the sea. And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. Yet with most of them God was not well pleased.

Gradual
Ps 9:10-11; 9:19-20
A helper in due time in tribulation. Let them trust in thee who know thy name: for thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee, O Lord.
For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O Lord, let not man be strengthened.
Ps 129:1-4
Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice!
V. Let Your ears be attentive to the prayer of Your servant.
V. If You, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand it?
V. But with You is forgiveness, and by reason of Your law I have waited for You, O Lord.

GOSPEL
Continuation ☩ of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
R. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Matt 20:1-16
At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And about the third hour, he went out and saw others standing in the market place idle; and he said to them, ‘Go you also into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is just.’ So they went. And again he went out about the sixth, and about the ninth hour, and did as before. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing about and he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ They said to him, ‘Because no man has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘Go you also into the vineyard.’ But when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers, and pay them their wages, beginning from the last even to the first.’ Now when they of the eleventh hour came, they received each a denarius. And when the first in their term came, they thought that they would receive more; but they also received each his denarius. And on receiving it, they began to murmur against the householder, saying, ‘These last have worked a single hour, and you have put them on a level with us, who have borne the burden of the day’s heat.’ But answering one of them, he said, ‘Friend, I do you no injustice; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go; I choose to give to this last even as to you. Have I not a right to do what I choose? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ Even so the last shall be first, and the first last; for many are called, but few are chosen.  
 

SECRET

Bless the gifts we have set apart for You, O Lord. May the prayers of Your blessed martyr bishop Blaise help these offerings to win Your mercy for us. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the 4th SUNDAY AFTER  EPIPHANY
Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that the offering of this sacrifice may always cleanse and strengthen the weakness of our nature.

 

Commemoration of SAINT LAURENCE

May the annual feast of Saint Laurence Thy Confessor and Bishop make us in Thy kindness acceptable to Thee, O Lord, and may this present rite duly appease Thee, bring happy recompense to him, and assure gifts of Thy grace to us. Through our Lord . . .
 
 
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps. 20:4
Thou hast set on his head, O Lord, a crown of precious stones.
 

POSTCOMMUNION

O Lord, may this Communion cleanse us from sin, and bestow on us spiritual health from heaven through the intercession of Your martyr bishop Blaise. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the 4th SUNDAY AFTER  EPIPHANY
May Your gifts, O God, free us from the attraction of earthly pleasures and give us new strength through Your heavenly nourishment.
 

Commemoration of SAINT LAURENCE

O God, the Rewarder of faithful souls, grant, that by the prayers of blessed Laurence Thy  Confessor and Bishop, whose venerable feast we celebrate, we may obtain pardon. Through our Lord . . .