April 29: ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA, Virgin and Doctor of the Church.
Short bio vid, Beautiful Divine office 2nd reading and Mass Prayers and Readings
St. Catherine (1347-1380) was a responsible instrument for the return of Pope Gregory XI from Avignon to Rome. In deed and in truth, she showed her love for God’s Church and the Roman Pontiff. With her short life she gave us a lesson of courage: the courage of telling the truth for love of the Church and of souls. Imprinted with the sacred stigmata, she died in Rome at thirty-three years of age. She was proclaimed patroness of Italy on 18 June 1939. In 1970 Pope Paul VI proclaimed her Doctor of the Church.
+++SECOND READING BEGINS HERE++
Second Reading
From the dialogue On Divine Providence by Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor
I tasted and I saw
Eternal God, eternal Trinity, you have made the blood of Christ so precious through his sharing in your divine nature. You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are.
I have tasted and seen the depth of your mystery and the beauty of your creation with the light of my understanding. I have clothed myself with your likeness and have seen what I shall be. Eternal Father, you have given me a share in your power and the wisdom that Christ claims as his own, and your Holy Spirit has given me the desire to love you. You are my Creator, eternal Trinity, and I am your creature. You have made of me a new creation in the blood of your Son, and I know that you are moved with love at the beauty of your creation, for you have enlightened me.
Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, you could give me no greater gift than the gift of yourself. For you are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my being. Yes, you are a fire that takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind with its light and causes me to know your truth. By this light, reflected as it were in a mirror, I recognise that you are the highest good, one we can neither comprehend nor fathom. And I know that you are beauty and wisdom itself. The food of angels, you gave yourself to man in the fire of your love.
You are the garment which covers our nakedness, and in our hunger you are a satisfying food, for you are sweetness and in you there is no taste of bitterness, O triune God!
Responsory
℟. Now that you are endowed with the gift of my Spirit, cleansed from all stain by the outpouring of my blood,* leave the quiet of contemplation and resolutely take up the work of witnessing to my truth, alleluia.
℣. Open your heart to me, my sister, co-heir with me of my kingdom; my beloved, who have understood Truth’s hidden mysteries;* leave the quiet of contemplation and resolutely take up the work of witnessing to my truth, alleluia.
Let us pray.
O God, who set Saint Catherine of Siena on fire with divine love in her contemplation of the Lord’s Passion and her service of your Church, grant, through her intercession, that your people, participating in the mystery of Christ, may exult forever in the revelation of his glory. Who lives and reigns with you.
APRIL 29: FEAST OF ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA MASS PRAYERS AND READINGS
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
Here is a wise virgin, from among the number of the prudent, who went forth with lighted lamp to meet Christ, alleluia.
COLLECT
O God, who set Saint Catherine of Siena on fire with divine love in her contemplation of the Lord’s Passion and her service of your Church, grant, through her intercession, that your people, participating in the mystery of Christ, may exult for ever in the revelation of his glory. Who lives and reigns with you.
MASS PROPER READINGS FOR APRIL 29, FEAST OF ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA
FIRST READING 1 John 1:5-2:2
Beloved:
This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ
and proclaim to you:
God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we say, “We have fellowship with him,”
while we continue to walk in darkness,
we lie and do not act in truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,
then we have fellowship with one another,
and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
If we say, “We are without sin,”
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us.
My children, I am writing this to you
so that you may not commit sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 103:1-2, 3-4, 8-9, 13-14, 17-18
R. (1) O bless the Lord, my soul!
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him,
For he knows how we are formed;
he remembers that we are dust.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
But the kindness of the LORD is from eternity
to eternity toward those who fear him,
And his justice toward his children’s children
among those who keep his covenant.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
ALLELUIA Cf. Matthew 11:25
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
GOSPEL Matthew 11:25-30
At that time Jesus responded:
“I give praise to you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Accept, O Lord, the saving sacrifice we offer in commemoration of Saint Catherine, so that instructed by her teaching, we may give ever more fervent thanks to you, the one true God. Through Christ our Lord.
[–» Eucharistic Prayer]
[–» Preface of Virgins and Religious]
COMMUNION ANTIPHON
If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, alleluia.
[–» Communion]
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
May the heavenly table at which we have been fed, O Lord, confer eternal life upon us, as even in this world it nourished the life of Saint Catherine. Through Christ our Lord.
ORIGINAL PHOTO SOURCES: https://catholicsstrivingforholiness.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/3ee14-santacatalinadesiena-morandis-xvii.jpg http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_373035/Sevillian-School/The-Death-Of-Saint-Catherine-Of-Siena https://catholicsstrivingforholiness.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/bbd72-el2bmatrimonio2bm25c325adstico2bde2bsanta2bcatalina.jpg http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_379709/(after)-Juan-De-Valdes-Leal/The-Vision-Of-Saint-Catherine-Of-Siena https://www.biography.com/.image/t_share/MTE1ODA0OTcxNTgyNzg1MDM3/st-catherine-of-siena-9241691-1-402.jpg http://herenciacristiana.com/heroinas/siena5big.jpg
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