Monday 1 June 2020
Mary, Mother of the Church
on Monday of week 9 in Ordinary Time
Office of Readings
Introduction (without Invitatory)
If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, use the version with the Invitatory Psalm instead.
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.
________
Hymn
Hail, of paradise the portal!
Tree of Life regained, immortal;
Whence, through thee, all sweetness floweth,
And salvation’s fruit still groweth.
Thou our hearts aright inclinest,
On our life’s way brightly shinest;
Us from God’s just anger savest,
Who to man our Saviour gavest.
Hail! Blest shrine of God the Father,
Thither sinners haste to gather;
Pardon for their guilt obtaining,
Freedom from the foe’s enchaining;
Strength from thee the weak shall borrow,
Comfort, thou, of all who sorrow;
From the final wrath tremendous,
Mother of our Christ, defend us.
Star of ocean! Mother fairest!
Who the name of Mary bearest;
In thy bright illumination
Pales each star and constellation.
Hail, O Father! Hail, sweet Mother!
Hail, O Son of God, our Brother!
Let the hosts of heaven adore thee,
Every spirit bow before thee.
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Psalm 6
A prayer for relief from affliction
“Now my spirit is disturbed; Father, save me from this hour” (Jn 12:27).
Lord, save me in your merciful love.
Lord, do not reprove me in your anger;
punish me not in your rage.
Have mercy on me, Lord, I have no strength;
Lord, heal me, my body is racked;
my soul is racked with pain.
But you, O Lord... how long?
Return, Lord, rescue my soul.
Save me in your merciful love;
for in death no one remembers you;
from the grave, who can give you praise?
I am exhausted with my groaning;
every night I drench my pillow with tears;
I bedew my bed with weeping.
My eye wastes away with grief;
I have grown old surrounded by my foes.
Leave me, all you who do evil;
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea;
The Lord will accept my prayer.
All my foes will retire in confusion,
foiled and suddenly confounded.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Lord, save me in your merciful love.
Psalm-prayer
Lord God, you love mercy and tenderness; you give life and overcome death. Look upon the many wounds of your Church; restore her to health by your risen Son, so that she may sing a new song in your praise.
________
Psalm 9A (9)
Thanksgiving for victory
“He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed in times of distress.
I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will recount all your wonders.
I will rejoice in you and be glad,
and sing psalms to your name, O Most High.
See how my enemies turn back,
how they stumble and perish before you.
You upheld the justice of my cause;
you sat enthroned, judging with justice.
You have checked the nations, destroyed the wicked;
you have wiped out their name for ever and ever.
The foe is destroyed, eternally ruined.
You uprooted their cities; their memory has perished.
But the Lord sits enthroned for ever.
He has set up his throne for judgement;
he will judge the world with justice,
he will judge the peoples with his truth.
For the oppressed let the Lord be a stronghold,
a stronghold in times of distress.
Those who know your name will trust you;
you will never forsake those who seek you.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed in times of distress.
________
Psalm 9A (9)
I will recount all your praise at the gates of the city of Sion.
Sing psalms to the Lord who dwells in Sion.
Proclaim his mighty works among the peoples,
for the Avenger of blood has remembered them,
has not forgotten the cry of the poor.
Have pity on me, Lord, see my sufferings,
you who save me from the gates of death;
that I may recount all your praise
at the gates of the city of Sion
and rejoice in your saving help.
The nations have fallen in the pit which they made,
their feet caught in the snare they laid.
The Lord has revealed himself, and given judgement.
The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
Let the wicked go down among the dead,
all the nations forgetful of God;
for the needy shall not always be forgotten
nor the hopes of the poor be in vain.
Arise, Lord, let men not prevail!
Let the nations be judged before you.
Lord, strike them with terror,
let the nations know they are but men.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
I will recount all your praise at the gates of the city of Sion.
Psalm-prayer
Lord God, when you judge, do not be deaf to the shouts of the poor; bring havoc to the madness of oppressors. Look at our wounds and save us from the gates of death, so that we may always rejoice in your help and speak your praise in the gates of Zion.
________
℣. Teach me to observe your law.
℟. I will keep it with all my heart.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Job 29:1-10,30:1,9-23
Job laments his affliction
Job continued his solemn discourse. He said:
Who will bring back to me the months that have gone,
and the days when God was my guardian,
when his lamp shone over my head,
and his light was my guide in the darkness?
Shall I ever see my autumn days again
when God hedged round my tent;
when Shaddai dwelt with me,
and my children were around me;
when my feet were plunged in cream,
and streams of oil poured from the rocks?
When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the square,
as soon as I appeared, the young men stepped aside,
while the older men rose to their feet.
Men of note interrupted their speeches,
and put their fingers on their lips;
the voices of rulers were silenced,
and their tongues stayed still in their mouths.
And now I am the laughing-stock
of my juniors, the young people,
whose fathers I did not consider fit
to put with the dogs that looked after my flock.
And these are the ones that now sing ballads about me,
and make me the talk of the town!
To them I am loathsome, they stand aloof from me,
do not scruple to spit in my face.
Because he has unbent my bow and chastened me
they cast the bridle from their mouth.
That brood of theirs rises to right of me,
stones are their weapons,
and they take threatening strides towards me.
They have cut me off from all escape,
there is no one to check their attack.
They move in, as though through a wide breach,
and I am crushed beneath the rubble.
Terrors turn to meet me,
my confidence is blown away as if by the wind;
my hope of safety passes like a cloud.
And now the life in me trickles away,
days of grief have gripped me.
At night-time, sickness saps my bones,
I am gnawed by wounds that never sleep.
With immense power it has caught me by the clothes,
clutching at the collar of my coat.
It has thrown me into the mud
where I am no better than dust and ashes.
I cry to you, and you give me no answer;
I stand before you, but you take no notice.
You have grown cruel in your dealings with me,
your hand lies on me, heavy and hostile.
You carry me up to ride the wind,
tossing me about in a tempest.
I know it is to death that you are taking me,
the common meeting place of all that lives.
Responsory
Jb 30:17-19, 7:16,19-20
℟. At night-time sickness saps my bones, I am gnawed by wounds that never sleep;* it has thrown me into the mud, where I am no better than dust and ashes.
℣. Leave me, Lord, for my days are but a breath;* it has thrown me into the mud, where I am no better than dust and ashes.
________
Second Reading
From an allocution by Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
Meditating on the close relationships between Mary and the Church, for the glory of the Virgin Mary and for our own consolation, we proclaim the Most Blessed Mary Mother of the Church, that is to say of all the people of God, of the faithful as well as of the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother. And we wish that the Mother of God should be still more honoured and invoked by the entire Christian people by this most sweet title.
This is a title, venerable brothers, not new to Christian piety; it is precisely by this title, in preference to all others, that the faithful and the Church address Mary. It truly is part of the genuine substance of devotion to Mary, finding its justification in the very dignity of the Mother of the word Incarnate.
Just as, in fact, the divine maternity is the basis for her special relationship with Christ, and for her presence in the economy of salvation brought about by Jesus Christ, thus it also constitutes the principal basis for the relations between Mary and the Church, since she is the mother of him who, right from the time of his Incarnation in her virginal bosom, joined to himself as head his Mystical Body which is the Church. Mary, then, as mother of Christ, is mother also of all the faithful and of all the pastors.
It is therefore with a soul full of trust and filial love that we raise our glance to her, despite our unworthiness and weakness. She, who has given us in Jesus the fountainhead of grace, will not fail to succour the Church, now flourishing through the abundance of the gifts of the Holy Ghost and setting herself with new zeal to the fulfilment of its mission of salvation.
And our trust is even more lively and fully corroborated if we consider the very close links between this heavenly Mother of ours and mankind. Although adorned by God with the riches of admirable prerogatives, to make her a worthy Mother of the Word Incarnate, she is nevertheless very close to us. Daughter of Adam, like ourselves, and therefore our sister through ties of nature, she is, however, the creature who was preserved from original sin in view of the merits of the Saviour, and who possesses besides the privileges obtained the personal virtue of a total and exemplary faith, thus deserving the evangelical praise, beata quae credidisti (blessed art thou who believed). In her earthly life, she realised the perfect image of the disciple of Christ, reflected every virtue, and incarnated the evangelical beatitudes proclaimed by Christ. Therefore in her, the entire Church, in its incomparable variety of life and of work, attains the most authentic form of the perfect imitation of Christ.
Responsory
Cf. Lk 1,35
℟. The Holy Spirit came down upon Mary:* The Power of the Most High overshadowed her.
℣. Once more He filled her who shared in the Passion of her own Son, as Mother of all the redeemed.* The Power of the Most High overshadowed her.
________
Let us pray.
O God, Father of mercies,
whose Only Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross,
chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother, to be our Mother also;
grant, we pray,
that with her loving help,
your Church may be more fruitful day by day,
and exulting in the holiness of her children,
may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
Copyright © 1996-2020 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.