SAINT LUCY (304 A.D.) Virgin and Martyr; SAINT ODILIA, Virgin; Within the Octave; Friday 2nd Week of Advent

 

St. Lucy, c. 1472-74
Lippi, Filippino

SAINT LUCY
Virgin and Martyr

FRIDAY SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT

WITHIN THE OCTAVE

SAINT ODILIA

Virgin

[Historical]

DOUBLE / RED
Lucy, patron of Sicily, and one of the saints of the Canon of the Mass, was martyred at Syracuse in the persecution of Diocletian about the year 304. The legend of her martyrdom says that she was denounced as a Christian by a rejected suitor. Refusing to apostatize, she was condemned to a brothel, but a mysterious force prevented the persecutors from moving her from the tribunal. After an unsuccessful attempt had been made to burn her to death, her neck was pierced with a dagger.

INTROIT Ps. 44:8
You loved justice and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above all your fellow creatures.
Ps. 44:2 My heart overflows with good tidings; I sing my song to the king.
V. Glory be . . .

GLORIA

COLLECT
Hear our prayer, O God our Savior, and let us learn the spirit of true devotion from Your blessed virgin and martyr Lucy, as we joyfully celebrate her feast. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the 2nd Sunday of Advent
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of Your only-begotten Son, so that through His coming we may be able to serve You with purified minds.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
R. Amen

EPISTLE II Cor. 10:17-18; 11:1-2
Brethren: He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he who commendeth himself is approved: but he, whom God commendeth. Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly! But do bear with me. For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

GRADUAL Ps. 44:8
You loved justice and hated wickedness. 
V. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 44:3
Grace is poured out upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL Matt. 13:44-52
At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to His disciples, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kinds of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
"Have ye understood all these things?" They say to him: "Yes." He said unto them: "Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 44:15, 16
Behind her the virgins shall be led to the king; her friends shall be brought to you with gladness and joy; they shall be brought into the temple of the king, the Lord.

SECRET 
Accept this gift, O Lord, from a people dedicated to You. We offer it in honor of Your saints for the help we have received from them when we were in trouble. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the 2nd Sunday of Advent
Be appeased, we beseech You, O Lord, by the prayers and offerings of our human frailty, and where the support of our own merits is lacking, come to our assistance with Your protection.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
R. Amen.

COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps. 118:161-162
Princes have persecuted me without cause, but my heart has stood in awe of Your words. I rejoice at Your words as one who has found great booty.

POSTCOMMUNION 
O Lord, You have feasted Your family with the Food of heaven. May we always be refreshed through the intercession of Your saint whose feast we celebrate this day. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of the 2nd Sunday of Advent
We who have been refreshed by the food of spiritual nourishment, humbly beseech You, O Lord, that through partaking of this sacrament You will teach us to disdain the things of earth and love those of heaven.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
R. Amen.

 

Saint Odile in Avolsheim - Alsac

Born blind to the family of the Duke of Alsace Lord Aldaric (aka Etichon, aka Athich) and Bereswinda; because she was a girl and disabled, the family decided to put her out. Rather that having her killed, she was given to a peasant family. Taken in by a convent at age twelve, she gained her sight upon being touched by chrism during her baptism by Saint Erhard of Regensburg. Her brother wanted her back for use in an arranged marriage; when he heard of his son’s machinations and Odilia’s miraculous healing, her father was so angry that he struck and killed the brother. Odilia raised her brother back to life, then fled to the convent to escape the marriage. Her father followed her, but when a mountain opened a cave to hide her, and then dropped rocks on him, he gave up the idea. She joined the abbey, and eventually became abbess. Founded the Hohenburg Abbey on the Odilienberg mountain in Alsace.