Saturday 7 November 2020
Saturday of week 31 in Ordinary Time
or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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.
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Hymn
How great the tale, that there should be,
In God’s Son’s heart, a place for me!
That on a sinner’s lips like mine
The cross of Jesus Christ should shine!
Christ Jesus, bend me to thy will,
My feet to urge, my griefs to still;
That e’en my flesh and blood may be
A temple sanctified to Thee.
No rest, no calm my soul may win,
Because my body craves to sin;
Till thou, dear Lord, thyself impart
Peace on my head, light in my heart.
May consecration come from far,
Soft shining like the evening star.
My toilsome path make plain to me,
Until I come to rest in thee.
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Psalm 106 (107)
Thanksgiving after rescue
“God sent his word to the people of Israel, and to them he announced peace through Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36).
Let them thank the Lord for his love, for the wonders he does for men.
‘O give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
for his love endures for ever.’
Let them say this, the Lord’s redeemed,
whom he redeemed from the hand of the foe
and gathered from far-off lands,
from east and west, north and south.
Some wandered in the desert, in the wilderness,
finding no way to a city they could dwell in.
Hungry they were and thirsty;
their soul was fainting within them.
Then they cried to the Lord in their need
and he rescued them from their distress
and he led them along the right way,
to reach a city they could dwell in.
Let them thank the Lord for his love,
for the wonders he does for men:
for he satisfies the thirsty soul;
he fills the hungry with good things.
Some lay in darkness and in gloom,
prisoners in misery and chains,
having defied the words of God
and spurned the counsels of the Most High.
He crushed their spirit with toil;
they stumbled; there was no one to help.
Then they cried to the Lord in their need
and he rescued them from their distress.
He led them forth from darkness and gloom
and broke their chains to pieces.
Let them thank the Lord for his goodness,
for the wonders he does for men:
for he bursts the gates of bronze
and shatters the iron bars.
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.
Let them thank the Lord for his love, for the wonders he does for men.
________
Psalm 106 (107)
They have seen the Lord’s deeds and the wonders he does.
Some were sick on account of their sins
and afflicted on account of their guilt.
They had a loathing for every food;
they came close to the gates of death.
Then they cried to the Lord in their need
and he rescued them from their distress.
He sent forth his word to heal them
and saved their life from the grave.
Let them thank the Lord for his love,
for the wonders he does for men.
Let them offer a sacrifice of thanks
and tell of his deeds with rejoicing.
Some sailed to the sea in ships
to trade on the mighty waters.
These men have seen the Lord’s deeds,
the wonders he does in the deep.
For he spoke; he summoned the gale,
tossing the waves of the sea
up to heaven and back into the deep;
their soul melted away in their distress.
They staggered, reeled like drunken men,
for all their skill was gone.
Then they cried to the Lord in their need
and he rescued them from their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper:
all the waves of the sea were hushed.
They rejoiced because of the calm
and he led them to the haven they desired.
Let them thank the Lord for his love,
for the wonders he does for men.
Let them exalt him in the gathering of the people
and praise him in the meeting of the elders.
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.
They have seen the Lord’s deeds and the wonders he does.
________
Psalm 106 (107)
The upright see and rejoice; they consider the love of the Lord.
He changes streams into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
fruitful land into a salty waste,
for the wickedness of those who live there.
But he changes desert into streams,
thirsty ground into springs of water.
There he settles the hungry
and they build a city to dwell in.
They sow fields and plant their vines;
these yield crops for the harvest.
He blesses them; they grow in numbers.
He does not let their herds decrease.
He pours contempt upon princes,
makes them wander in trackless wastes.
They diminish, are reduced to nothing
by oppression, evil and sorrow.
But he raises the needy from distress;
makes families numerous as a flock.
The upright see it and rejoice
but all who do wrong are silenced.
Whoever is wise, let him heed these things.
And consider the love of the Lord.
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 upright see and rejoice; they consider the love of the Lord.
Psalm-prayer
You fill the hungry with good things, Lord God, and break the sinner’s chains. Hear your people who call to you in their need and lead your Church from the shadows of death. Gather us from sunrise to sunset, that we may grow together in faith and love and give lasting thanks for your kindness.
________
℣. Lord, your truth reaches to the skies.
℟. How wonderful are your designs.
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Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
1 Maccabees 9:1-22
Judas’ death in battle
Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, and he sent Bacchides and Alcimus a second time into the land of Judah, and with them the right wing of his army. They took the road to Galilee and besieged Mesaloth in Arbela, and captured it, putting many people to death. In the first month of the year one hundred and fifty-two they set up camp before Jerusalem; they then moved on, making their way to Beerzeth with twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse. Judas lay in camp at Elasa, with three thousand picked men. When they saw the huge size of the enemy forces they were terrified, and many slipped out of the camp, until no more than eight hundred of the force were left. When Judas saw that his army had melted away and that attack was imminent, he was aghast, for he had no time to rally them. Yet, dismayed as he was, he said to those who were left, ‘Up! Let us face the enemy; we may yet have the strength to fight them.’ His men tried to dissuade him, declaring, ‘We have no strength for anything but to escape with our lives this time; then we can come back with our brothers to fight them; by ourselves we are too few.’ ‘God forbid’ Judas retorted ‘that I should do such a thing as run away from them! If our time has come, at least let us die like men for our countrymen, and leave nothing to tarnish our reputation.’
The enemy forces then marched out of the camp, and the Jews took up their position in readiness to engage them. The cavalry was ordered into two squadrons; the slingers and archers marched in the van of the army with the shock-troops, all stout fighters; Bacchides was on the right wing. The phalanx advanced from between the two squadrons, sounding the trumpets; the men on Judas’ side blew their trumpets also, and the earth shook with the noise of the armies. The engagement lasted from morning until evening.
Judas saw that Bacchides and the main strength of his army lay on the right; all the stout-hearted rallied to him, and they broke the right wing and pursued them to the furthest foothills of the range. But when the Syrians on the left wing saw that the right had been broken, they turned and followed hot on the heels of Judas and his men to take them in the rear. The fight became desperate, and there were many casualties on both sides. Judas himself fell, and the remnant fled.
Jonathan and Simon took up their brother Judas and buried him in his ancestral tomb at Modein. All Israel wept and mourned him deeply and for many days they repeated this dirge, ‘What a downfall for the strong man, the man who saved Israel single-handed!’ The other deeds of Judas, the battles he fought, the exploits he performed, and all his titles to greatness have not been recorded; but they were very many.
Responsory
1 M 4:8-10
℟. Do not be daunted by an enemy attack: remember how our fathers were saved.* Let us besiege heaven with our prayers and our God will have mercy on us.
℣. Remember the wonders he worked against Pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea.* Let us besiege heaven with our prayers and our God will have mercy on us.
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Second Reading
St Ambrose, On The Blessing of Death
On the blessing of death
St Paul says, The world is crucified to me, and I to the world. Then he tells us that he means death in this life, and a good death: We carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of our Lord Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body.
Let death do its work in us, therefore, so that life may do its work also: a good life after death, that is, a good life after victory, after the battle is over, when the law of the flesh is no longer in conflict with the law of the mind, when we have no more battles with mortal flesh but in mortal flesh we have victory. I wonder if this death might not have more power in it than life. St Paul’s authority certainly suggests it when he says Death works in us but life in you.
One man’s death has laid the foundations of life for so many people! And so St Paul teaches that we should seek that death in this life, so that Christ’s death should shine out in our bodies. That blessed death, in which our outer nature falls away and our inner nature is renewed, and our earthly dwelling is dissolved so that our heavenly home is laid open to us.
A man imitates this death when he drags himself away from being part of this flesh and breaks those chains that the Lord had spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: Break unjust fetters, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, and break every unjust constraint.
It was to put an end to guilt that the Lord permitted death to come into the world; but so that human nature should not end up perishing by death instead of guilt, the resurrection of the dead was given us. By death, guilt would be ended, and by resurrection, human nature would be eternal.
And thus this death is a journey for everyone. You must always be journeying: from decay to incorruptibility, from mortality to immortality, from turbulence to peace. Do not be alarmed by the word ‘death’ but rejoice at the good that the journey will bring. For what is death except the burial of vice and the raising up of virtue? Hence Scripture says, May I die the death of the just – that is, may I be buried with them, put down my vices, and put on the grace of the just, who carry the mortification of Christ around in their bodies and their souls.
Responsory
℟. Here are words you may trust: If we died with him, we shall live with him;* if we endure, we shall reign with him.
℣. The patient man will hold out until the end, but then his joy will break out;* if we endure, we shall reign with him.
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Let us pray.
God of power and mercy,
by whose grace your people give you praise and worthy service,
save us from faltering
on our way to the joys you have promised.
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.
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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.