DECLARING FOR CHRIST

SAINT IGNATIUS OF LAYOLA

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving  his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well.  Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts. 

Help me to know what I should do and do it well.Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and  give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen 

Mass Readings

Textes liturgiques 

Saint Ignatius 

I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love that you show towards all the saints, have never failed to remember you in my prayers and to thank God for you. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers. This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far above every Sovereignty, Authority, Power, or Domination, or any other name that can be named not only in this age but also in the age to come. He has put all things under his feet and made him, as the ruler of everything, the head of the Church; which is his body, the fullness of him who fills the whole creation.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I tell you, if anyone openly declares himself for me in the presence of men, the Son of Man will declare himself for him in the presence of the angels. But the man who disowns me in the presence of men will be disowned in the presence of God’s angels. ‘Everyone who says a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

‘When they take you before synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say.’

All powerful and ever-living God, you enable you ennoble your Church with heroic witness of all who gave their lives for Christ. Grant that the victory of Saint Ignatius of Antioch may bring us your constant help as it brought him eternal glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Pauline Prayer of the Church

HAPPY THE PEOPLE THE LORD HAS CHOSEN AS HIS OWN

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving  his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well.  Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts. 

Help me to know what I should do and do it well.Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and  give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen 

Mass Reading

Textes liturgiques

It is in Christ that we were claimed as God’s own,

chosen from the beginning,
under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things
as he decides by his own will;
chosen to be,
for his greater glory,
the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.
Now you too, in him,
have heard the message of the truth and the good news of your salvation,
and have believed it;
and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise,
the pledge of our inheritance
which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory
be praised.

The people had gathered in their thousands so that they were treading on one another. And Jesus began to speak, first of all to his disciples. ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees – that is, their hypocrisy. Everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed on the housetops.  ‘To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God’s sight. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.’

Heavenly Father, you are merciful and gracious. Slow to anger and abounding in kindness. As the heavens towers over the earth, so your love towers over your creatures. Father it is comforting to know that I am under your predetermined plan. Father may your glory be praised.  Lord Jesus Christ, I put my trust in your words of assurance, for every hair on my head has been counted. I will not be afraid for I am worth more than hundreds of sparrows.

THE HIDDEN PLAN IN CHRIST JESUS

SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving  his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well.  Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts. 

Help me to know what I should do and do it well.Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and  give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen 

Mass Reading

Textes liturgiques

Saint Teresa of Avila

From Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the saints who are faithful to Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.
Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ
for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace,
his free gift to us in the Beloved,in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness of the grace which he has showered on us in all wisdom and insight.
He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning to act upon when the times had run their course to the end: that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth.

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you who build the tombs of the prophets, the men your ancestors killed! In this

way you both witness what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you do the building.
  ‘And that is why the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute, so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet’s blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the sanctuary.” Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to answer for it all.
  ‘Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves, and have prevented others going in who wanted to.’
  

When he left the house, the scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him and tried to force answers from him on innumerable questions, setting traps to catch him out in something he might say.  

Father by your Spirit you raised up Saint Teresa of Avila to show your Church the way to perfection/ May her inspired teachings and awaken in us the longing for holiness. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.  Pauline Prayer of the Church

LED BY THE SPIRIT

Altar Server Prayer: Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving  his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well.  Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts. 

Help me to know what I should do and do it well.Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and  give you praise and glory now and for ever. Amen  

Mass Readings

Textes liturgiques

If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you. When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit.

The Lord said to the Pharisees: ‘Alas for you Pharisees! You who pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and overlook justice and the love of God! These you should have practised, without leaving the others undone. Alas for you Pharisees who like taking the seats of honour in the synagogues and being greeted obsequiously in the market squares! Alas for you, because you are like the unmarked tombs that men walk on without knowing it!

A lawyer then spoke up. 'Master when you speak like this you insult us also'

'Alast for you lawyers also,' her replied 'because you laid on men burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do move a finger to lift.'

Loving Father give me your Holy Spirit. Give the Spirit of Fear. Holy Spirit be my comforter. Be my guide. Direct my action. Be my wisdom. Be my knowledge. Be my understanding. Be my courage. Be my counselor. Be my fortitude.