TWENTY SEVENTH AND LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST; THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

 

Lo Judici Final ("The Last Judgment"), oil on canvas, 3,40x2,36 m. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

TWENTY SEVENTH AND LAST
SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

THE PRESENTATION OF THE 
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

DOUBLE / GREEN

God so made the human mind that it remembers joys more easily than pains. Man's very destiny is eternal joy, and joy is the life of his hope. But for Christ's members, even pain has a vast meaning and dignity, because it is the price by which Christ opened heaven, and the price He asks every Christian to pay in imitation of Him. The Final Judgment will reveal what use each soul has made of joy and of pain. During the past year of worship, what increased sorrow for sin, what deepened love for Our Lord, and what greater kindness to others, especially the poor and forsaken, have prepared you for the joyous peace of heaven?

INTROIT Jer. 29:11, 12, 14
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
O Lord, stir up the wills of the faithful that they may be more eager to seek the fruits of divine grace, and to discover in Your mercy greater healing for their sinfulness. Through Our Lord . . .

 Commemoration of THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
An ancient tradition holds that Our Lady was conducted by her parents to the Temple at Jerusalem to be consecrated entirely to God when she was three years old. This meeting of the ancient Temple of God and the new "Temple of the Savior" reminds us of the continuity between the Old Law and the New. For Mary, the Mother of God's new People, was the personification and completion of all that was good in the Old Testament. Her Magnificat shows that she was steeped in the Scriptures and Law of her fathers: Even as He spoke to our fathers -- to Abraham and to his posterity forever"(St. Luke 1:55).

O God, You willed that the blessed ever-virgin Mary, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, should be presented in the temple on this day. May we be worthy through her intercession to be presented in the temple of Your glory. Through Our Lord . . . in the unity of the same Holy Spirit.

EPISTLE Col. 1:9-14
Brethren: Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding: That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God: Strengthened with all might according to the power of his glory, in all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins.

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
V. Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer!
Alleluia!

GOSPEL Matt. 24:15-35
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: "When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand. Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house: And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child and that give suck in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened.
"Then if any man shall say to you, 'Lo here is Christ,' or 'there': do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand. If therefore they shall say to you, 'Behold he is in the desert': go ye not out. 'Behold he is in the closets': believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the cowling of the Son of man be. Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together.
"And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. And then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. And he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them.
"And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors. Amen I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass: but my words shall not pass."

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 
O Lord, lend a responsive ear to our petitions. Receive the offerings and prayers of Your people, and turn the hearts of us all towards Yourself, so that we may be drawn from earthly desires to the joys of heaven. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
O Lord, through Your mercy and the intercession of the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary, let this offering bring us prosperity and peace now and forever. 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 
O Lord, cure the evil in our hearts by the healing power of the Sacrament we have received. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

O Lord, grant that we who have received the Sacrament of our salvation may be protected through the intercession of the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary, in whose honor we have offered this Sacrifice to Your majesty. Through our Lord . . .

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY
AFTER PENTECOST
ADDITIONAL MASS NUMBER FOUR

SAINT GERTRUDE THE GREAT Virgin

DOUBLE / GREEN

INTROIT Jer. 29:11, 12, 14
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
ALMIGHTY GOD, let our minds always be fixed on Your truths, so that, in every word and deed, we may do what is pleasing to You. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT GERTRUDE

Gertrude was a 13th-century Cistercian mystic of Helfta, near Eisleben in Saxony. The book of her life and revelations, which she was asked to write in a vision of God, has been praised by scholars and saints alike. A very intelligent woman, Gertrude was early attracted to secular learning, but after the first of her numerous visions she restricted her reading to the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church. Her whole life was centered on the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office. She was one of the first to whom our Lord revealed the mystery of His Sacred Heart; He also asked her to develop a deep love for the cross and to pray for the conversion of souls.

O God, the heart of the holy virgin Gertrude was a happy abode that You prepared as Your own. Cleanse our hearts from the stains of sin and let us share in her eternal happiness through the merits and prayers of this saint. Through Our Lord . . .

EPISTLE I Thess. 1:2-10

Brethren: We give thanks to God always for you all: making a remembrance of you in our prayers without ceasing, being mindful of the work of your faith and labor and charity: and of the enduring of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father.
Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election: For our gospel hath not been unto you in word only, but in power also: and in the Holy Ghost and in much fullness, as you know what manner of men we have been among you for your sakes. And you became followers of us and of the Lord: receiving the word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Ghost: So that you were made a pattern to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you was spread abroad the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and in Achaia but also in every place: your faith which is towards God, is gone forth, so that we need not to speak any thing. For they themselves relate of us, what manner of entering in we had unto you: and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. And to wait for his Son from heaven (whom he raised up from the dead), Jesus, who hath delivered us from the wrath to come.

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
V. Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my prayer!
Alleluia!

GOSPEL Matt. 13:31-35
AT THAT TIME, Jesus spoke this parable unto them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof."
Another parable he spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes: and without parables he did not speak to them. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world."

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
O GOD, may this offering cleanse us from sin and bring us life, that by it we may be guided and protected. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT GERTRUDE

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 . . .

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
O LORD, grant that we who have been nourished with the Food of Heaven may always hunger after this Bread which truly makes us live. Through Our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINT GERTRUDE

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 . . .