﻿PROPER OFFICES

Society of St Francis de Sales, Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Secular Institute of the “Don Bosco Volunteers”

ROME
1996
22 January

BLESSED LAURA VICUÑA

Adolescent

For the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians: memorial

Laura Vicuña was born in Santiago, Chile, on 5 April 1891, and was educated in line with the preventive system of St John Bosco at the “Mary Help of Christians” College in the Argentinean Andes. As a happy and joyful teenager she soon became a model of friendship with Jesus, of apostolic charity among her companions, and of fidelity to her daily duties.

In complete trust she endured with heroic fortitude physical and moral sufferings well beyond her age. Faithful to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, she did not hesitate to offer herself as a victim to bring her mother back to the way of salvation. She died on 22 January 1904 at Junin de los Andes, Argentina, and was beatified by John Paul II on 3September 1988 at Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Asti, on the Hill of the youthful beatitudes.

From the Common of Women Saints with weekday psalms

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From the “Life of Laura Vicuna” written by Fr Augusto Crestanello.

The will of God: my best prayer

From her entry to the College, says the Sister Superior, there was evident in Laura a degree of common sense above her age and a true inclination to piety. Her innocent heart found no peace or rest except in the things of God. Even though still a young child, her devotion was profound without any affectation or exaggeration.

In everything she was simple and natural. While praying it was clear that her mind was fixed on what she was doing. Rarely was she aware of what might be going on around her, and it was frequently necessary to tell her that someone was calling her or that it was time to leave the chapel.

The same attention she showed in fulfilling all her other duties. She had well understood and she applied to herself the saying: “Age quod agis” (“Do well whatever you are doing”), and with a holy freedom of spirit she moved joyfully and willingly from church to classroom, and from there to workshop or any other activity, or to recreation.

“For me”, she used to say, “praying or working is the same thing; it is all the same to me whether I am praying or playing, praying or sleeping. By doing as I am told I am doing what God wants me to do, and that is what I too want to do; this is my best way of praying”.

“After she had got to know what piety really means”, wrote her Sister Superior, “she loved it and att ained so high and constant a gift of prayer that even in recreation she was evidently absorbed in God”.

“It seems to me”, she used to say, “that it is God himself who keeps alive in me the awareness of his divine Presence. Wherever I am, in class or in the playground, this knowledge is with me, and it helps me and strengthens me”.

“But”, objected her confessor, “will it not happen that if you have such thoughts always in your mind it will lead you to neglect your duties?”

“Ah no, Father”, she replied. “I know that this thought helps me to do everything better and does not disturb me at all, because it is not that I am always thinking of it but that without thinking of it directly at all, the memory makes me happy”.

RESPONSORY Cf. Ps 70,17; 74,2; 88,1; Is 49,2

From my youth God has taught me: *
I will for ever proclaim his wondrous deeds.
In the shadow of his hand he hid me: I will for ever…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the Sermons of St Augustine

(Sermon 96, 1.4.9; NBA 30/2, 177-187)

Concerning the universal call to holiness

‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’ (Mt 16,24). The Lord’s command that if anyone wishes to follow him he must deny himself seems hard and difficult. But after all it is not hard and difficult, seeing that it is the command of him who himself aids in the carrying out of what he commands.

For what is said to him in the psalm is true, ‘Because of your command I have followed the hard road.’ True, too, are his own words, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ In a word, whatsoever in the precept is hard is made easy by love.

What is the meaning of: ‘Let him take up his cross’? It means, let him bear whatever is vexatious; on that understanding, let him follow me. For when he begins to follow me in my character and my teaching, he will have many to contradict him, many to forbid him, many to dissuade him — and that takes place actually among those who are the companions of Christ. The people who wished to deter the blind man from calling out were at that time walking with Christ. Whether therefore it is a matter of threats or flatteries or any kinds of prohibitions, if you wish to follow, turn to the cross, endure, bear up, and refuse to surrender.

And so in this world, which is holy, good, reconciled, saved, — or rather in the process of being saved, but at present saved by hope, — ‘for in this hope we were saved’ — in this world, that is the Church which follows Christ in her totality, he has said to all men at once, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself.’

This is not a case where virgins ought to hear the exhortation and married women not, where widows ought to hear and young wives not, where monks ought to hear and married men not, or clerics ought to hear but not the laity, but rather let the universal Church, the universal body, all her members divided and distributed in their several offices, let them all follow Christ.

Let her follow in her unique unity, let her follow as the dove, let her follow as the bride, let her follow, ransomed and endowed by the blood of her spouse. There the innocence of virgins has its place, there the chastity of widows has its place, there the purity of marriage has its place. Let all those members which have their place there, each in their natural kind, each in their own place, each in their own way, follow Christ; let them deny themselves, that is, let them not be presumptuous; let them take up their cross, that is, endure in the world for Christ whatever the world has brought on them. Let them love him who alone does not deceive, who alone is not cheated, who alone does not cheat. Let them love him because his promise is true. But because he does not give immediately, faith is shaken. Endure, persevere, bear, put up with delay, and then you have borne the cross.

RESPONSORY Cf. Job 31,18a; Eph 3,18; Ps 30,20

O God, your love has been with me from my earliest years
and it has grown with me.*
I cannot measure its breadth and depth.
How great is the kindness, 0 Lord,
which you have reserved for those who love you.
I cannot measure…

The concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer

Morning Prayer

Benedictus ant. God has revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

INTERCESSIONS

Let us make our prayer in filial exultation to God our Father, the source of all holiness, and let us say:

You are our life, 0 Lord.

Father, in every age you enrich the Church with ever new models of youthful holiness:

— grant that we may be faithful to our baptismal promises, and so experience the joy of following Christ.

You inspire the making of courageous decisions in imitation of your Son:

— accept the offering of our life that we may grow in communion with you and with our neighbor.

You willed that the Christian family should be an image of your love:

— grant that parents may live their self-donation with faithful generosity.

By the gift of your Spirit you rendered the young Laura strong in faith, pure in heart, and heroic in love:

— stir up in adolescents and young people the will to serve you through joyful dedication to their companions.

You who nourish and renew us with your word and sacraments:

— make us a sign of your loving kindness for those we meet today on our path through life.

Our Father

PRAYER

Father, in your infinite tenderness, you united strength of spirit and purity of innocence in the young girl Laura Vicufla; through her intercession give us courage to overcome the trials of life and to show the world the happiness of the pure of heart.

We ask you this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Evening Prayer

Magnificat ant. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

INTERCESSIONS

Let us give thanks with joy to God our Father for the wonders he has worked in his saints, and let us say:

Father, hear our prayer.

Raise up in your Church wise and enlightened leaders:

— that they may help young people to know and courageously embrace your plan of life.

Protect the young who live amidst the difficulties and temptations of the present day:

— that they may not be overcome by selfishness, loneliness and confusion.

Give to those who are suffering in body and spirit the wisdom of the cross:

— that following the example of Blessed Laura they may come to know the purifying and redeeming value of affliction.

Strengthen and sustain the missionaries of the Gospel:

— that they may foster authentic human and Christian values for the progress of peoples.

Remember those who have today closed their eyes to this earthly life:

— admit them to your heavenly dwelling with the angels and saints.

Our Father

PRAYER, as at Morning Prayer.

24 January

SAINT FRANCIS OF SALES

Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Titular and Patron of the Society of St Francis de Sales

_feast _

When celebrated with the rank of So1emnity the First Vespers are from

the Common of Pastors or of Doctors of the Church;

the antiphons can be taken from Vespers of the feast.

Francis was born in Savoy, France, on 21 August 1567. Ordained Bishop of Geneva in 1602, he dedicated all his apostolic activity to bringing back to the Catholic faith the people of the Chablais who had accepted the Protestant Reform. Through his many-sided activities he educated the Christian people and showed them that spirituality was attainable in every walk of life. He dedicated himself completely to his mission as a pastor, making himself simple with the simple, discussing theology with the Protestants, introducing to the “devout life” souls wanting to serve Christ, opening to them the secrets of the love of God, careful to put the spiritual life within the reach of the laity and making devotion pleasant and desirable. He made good use of the printed word and promoted work and culture, treating everyone with loving kindness and unpretentious wisdom.

He died at Lyons on 28 December 1622 and was canonized in 1665. Pius IX proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church in 1877. Inspired by his “apostolic charity” and by his “evangelical kindness and patience”, St John Bosco chose him as the model and protector of his own mission among the young. At the conclusion of the IV centenary of his birth, Paul VI gave him the title of Doctor of divine love.

INVITATORY

Ant. Come let us adore the supreme shepherd, Christ the Lord.

Or:

Ant. On the feast of St Francis de Sales, let us praise Christ the Lord, the source of all wisdom.

Invitatory psalm as in the Ordinary.

Office of Readings

HYMN Iste Confessor

He, whose confession God of old accepted,
Whom through the ages all now hold in honor,
Gaining his glory this day came to enter
Heaven’s high portal.

God-fearing, watchful, pure of mind and body,
Holy and humble, thus did all men find him;
While, through his members, to the life immortal
Mortal life called him.

Thus to the weary, from the life enshrined,
Potent in virtue, flowed humane compassion;
Sick and sore laden, howsoever burdened,
There they found healing.

So now in chorus, giving God the glory,
Raise we our anthem gladly to his honor,
That in fair kinship we may all be sharers
Here and hereafter.

Honor and glory, power and salvation,
Be in the highest unto him who reigneth
Changeless in heaven over earthly changes,
Triune, eternal.

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Antiphons, psalms and responsories from the Common of Pastors.

FIRST READING Eph 4,1-7.1 1-18a.20-24

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Ephesians

Maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stat ure of the fullness of Christ. So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.

Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds, alienated from the life of God. You did not so learn Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus. Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds; and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

RESPONSORY

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience. * And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace…

SECOND READING

From the Treatise of the love of God by St Francis of Sales

Love, as we have said is no other thing than the movement and outflowing of the heart towards good by means of the complacency which we take in it; so that complacency is the great motive of love, as love is the great movement of complacency.

Now when we have brought our understanding to be very attentive to the greatness of the goods that are in this Divine object, it is impossible that our will should not be touched with complacency in this good, and then we use the liberty and power which we have over ours elves, provoking our own heart to redouble and strengthen its first complacency by acts of approbation and rejoicing.

He is the God of our heart by this complacency, since by it our heart embraces him and makes him its own: he is our inheritance, because by this act we enjoy the goods which are in God, and, as from an inheritance, we draw from it all pleasure and content; by means of this complacency we spiritually drink and eat the perfections of the Divinity, for we make them our own and draw them into our hearts.

0 God! What joy shall we have in heaven, Theotimus, when we shall see the well-beloved of our hearts as an infinite sea, whose waters are perfection and goodness! Then as stags, long and sorely chased, putting their mouths to a clear and cool stream draw into themselves the coolness of its fair waters, so our hearts, after so many languors and desires meeting with the mighty and living spring of the Divinity, shall draw by their complacency all the perfections of the well-beloved, and shall have the perfect fruition of them by the joy which they shall take in them, replenishing themselves with his immortal delights; and in this way the dear spouse will enter into us as into his nuptial bed, to communicate his eternal joy unto our souls, according as he himself says, that if we keep the holy law of his love he will come and dwell within us. The love which the great Apostle St Paul bore to the life, death and passion of our divine Saviour was so great that it drew the very life, death, and passion of this divine Saviour into his loving servant’s heart; whose will was filled with it by dilection, his memory by meditation, and his understanding by contemplation.

RE5PONSORY Eph 4,32 - 5,1; Mt 11,29

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. * Be imitat ors of God, as beloved children.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Be imitators of God…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales

Devotion must be practised in different ways

In the creation God commanded the plants to bring forth their fruits, each one after its kind. So does He command all Christians, who are the living plants of His Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each according to his character and vocation.

Devotion must be exercised in different ways by the gentleman, the workman, the servant, the prince, the widow, the maid, and the married woman. Not only this, but the practice of devotion must be also adapted to the strength, the employment, and the duties of each one in particular.

I ask you, Philothea, is it fit that a bishop should lead the solitary life of a Carthusian? Or that married people should lay up no greater store of goods than the Capuchin? If a tradesman were to remain the whole day in church, like a member of a religious order, or were a religious continually exposed to encounter difficulties in the service of his neighbor as a bishop is, would not such devotion be ridiculous, unorganized, and insupportable? Nevertheless, this fault is very common.

No, Philothea, true devotion does no harm whatever, but rather gives perfection to all things. But when it goes contrary to our lawful vocation, then without doubt it is false.

The bee extracts honey from flowers without injuring them, and leaves them as whole and fresh as she found them. True devotion does still better. It not only does no injury to any vocation or employment, but on the contrary it adorns and beautifies it. So also every vocation becomes more agreeable when united with devotion. The care of the family is rendered more peaceable, the love of the husband and wife more sincere, the service of the prince more faithful, and every type of employment more pleasant and agreeable.

It is an error, or rather a heresy, to try to banish the devout life from the regiment of soldiers, the shop of the mechanic, the court of princes, or the home of married folk. It is true, Philothea, that a purely contemplative, monastic, and religious devotion cannot be exercised in such ways of life. But besides these three kinds of devotion, there are several others adapted to bring to perfection those who live in the secular state. Wheresoever we are, we can and should aspire to a perfect life.

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. And be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

RESPONSORY Rom 12,2; Eph 4,23-24

R/ Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, *

that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. *

Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, that you may prove…

or

SECOND READING

From the Introduction,to the Devout Life by St Francis of Sales

The practice of patience

“Patience is necessary for you”, says the Apostle, “that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise.” (Heb 10,36).

Yes, for our Savior himself has declared, “In your patience you shall possess your souls.” (Lk 21,19). It is a great happiness, Philothea, for a man to possess his soul; and the more perfect our patience, the more absolutely do we possess our souls.

Do not limit your patience to this or that kind of injuries and afflictions. Extend it universally to all those that it shall please God to send you or permit to befall you. Some are unwilling to suffer any tribulations but those that are honorable; these people do not love tribulation, but the honor that accompanies it. The true sufferer and servant of God bears up equally under tribulations accompanied by ignominy and those that are honorable. To be despised, criticized, or accused by wicked men is pleasant to a man of good heart; but to be reproved, denounced, and treated badly by good men, by our friends, or by our relations, this is the test of virtue.

It often happens that two good men, each of whom has good intentions, through a diversity of opinion foment great persecutions and contradictions against each other.

Be patient, not only with respect to the chief and essential part of the afflictions that may befall you, but also with regard to their accessories or accidental circumstances. Many would be content to encounter evils provided that they were not inconvenienced by them.

Complain as little as possible of the wrongs you suffer. It is certain that one who complains thereby commits a sin, inasmuch as self-love always feels that injuries are greater than they really are. Above all, make no complaint to irascible or censorious persons. If complaints are necessary, either to remedy the offence or restore quiet to your mind, let them be made to those who are calm of soul and who love God truly. Otherwise, instead of easing your heart, they will provoke it to greater pain, for instead of extracting the thorn that hurts you, they will sink it deeper into your foot. The truly patient man neither complains of his bad lot nor desires to be pitied by others. He speaks of his sufferings openly and with truth and sincerity, without murmuring, complaining, or exaggerating the matter.

RESPONSORY Cf. 1 Pet 2,20-21; 1 Cor 13,7

If when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, you have God’s approval, for to this you have been called. * Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example. Love is patient and kind; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Christ suffered…

TE DEUM

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

HYMN

For gentle Francis, Lord,
Who strove for you to live,
Who fought for you, proclaimed your word,
Our grateful hymn receive.

For our dear Patron Saint,
Whose name we proudly bear,
We thank you, Lord, as you have deigned
To place us in his care.

He gazed upon your face,
your love his soul renewed;
He then proclaimed your saving grace
In words with power endued.

For this your name we bless,
And humbly pray that we
May follow him in holiness,
and so your face may see.

(A.J. Lenti)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority

Ant 1 The Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding.

Psalms and canticle from Sunday, Week 1

Ant 2 Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord! * Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord!

Ant 3 The Lord bestowed on him the wisdom of the saints.

READING 1 Cor 2,1.4-6a.7.9-10a

When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age; but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. It is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,” (Is 6,43; Jer 3,16). But God has revealed it to us through the Spirit.

RESPONSORY

Your Church, O God, * hymns the wisdom of the saints. Your Church…

The assembly proclaims their praises, and hymns the wisdom…

Glory be to the Father… Your Church…

Benedictus Ant. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars in heaven.

INTERCESSIONS

Let us give thanks to God our Father, the origin and model of all holiness, and with filial hearts let us say:

Increase in us your love, 0 Lord

In St Francis de Sales you have given us a living image of Christ your Son, * who is meek and humble of heart:

— grant that we too may be signs and bearers of your loving kindness.

You made St Francis a model of tireless apostolic work in the service of the Gospel:

— grant that we may receive with faith and proclaim with courage your words of life.

You enabled the holy Doctor to enjoy the beauty and goodness of your creation:

— lead us to discern the good things in the many circumstances of life.

You gave to our Patron an efficacious skill in discuss ions;

— grant that we too may be able to understand and welcome others.

You made him an outstanding exponent of the art of spiritual direction:

— help all of us to guide young people in the ways of holiness.

Our Father

PRAYER

Great and merciful God, you have raised up in the Church Saint Francis de Sales as a zealous shepherd and gracious tutor: grant that we too may work diligently in our mission to the young with the same apostolic spirit. 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.

Prayer during the day

An appropriate hymn. Antiphons and psalms from the occurring weekday.

Midmorning

READING Col 3,16-17

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Lord made with him an everlasting covenant:

— and established him as a priest in the midst of his people.

Midday

READING Eph 5,1-2

Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

In the generosity of his love:

— God filled him with wisdom.

Mid-afternoon

READING 1 Thess 5,14-16

And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always.

The Lord chose his servant:

— as the guide and teacher of his people.

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer

Evening Prayer

HYMN as at the Office of Readings or Morning Prayer, or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority

Ant 1 I shall be the shepherd of my flock: I shall seek out the lost, and bring back the strayed.

Psalms from the Common of Pastors and Doctors of the Church

Ant 2 Like a radiant sun, Francis shines in the house of the Lord, alleluia.

Ant 3 To me this grace was given: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

READING I Thess 2,6-8.11-12

We did not seek glory from men, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse taking care of her children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

RESPONSORY

As a true friend of your brethren, * pray for your people. As a true…

You dedicated your life to others; pray for…

Glory be to the Father… As a true…

Magnificat Ant. O bishop Francis, afire with charity, God made you the father of many people; lead us too to the pastures of eternal life, alleluia.

INTERCESSION

Let us pray with tranquil confidence to God our Father, who has constituted in Christ the people of the new covenant, and let us say:

Sanctify your Church, O Lord.

In St Francis de Sales you have raised up a shepherd full of zeal and prudence:

— Assist all bishops, priests and deacons in their pastoral ministry.

You kindled in the heart of St Francis, a burning zeal for the unity of the Church:

— grant that Christian communities may follow the path of ecumenical dialogue.

You gave to St Francis a mind open to humanistic ideals:

— help writers and publicists to be valid educators in people’s culture.

You raised up our holy Patron as a founder and a master of the spiritual life replete with wisdom:

— bless the Visitation Sisters and all the members of the Salesian Family.

You received the holy bishop Francis into your glory:

— through his intercession be merciful to all the faithful departed.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

1 February.

Commemoration of all deceased Salesian confreres

If 1 February is a Sunday the commemoration is omitted;

it cannot be transferred to another day.

Prayer for our deceased confreres is a duty of gratitude and fellowship. The memory of those we have known and with whom we may have perhaps shared for years in the same vocation and mission can provide an eloquent and efficacious stimulus for preserving in the Salesian Family the commitment to holiness.

In the commemoration of the deceased confreres the Congregation celebrates the love the Lord has manifested in the lives of his children, and sees the realization of the promise of continuity made to St John Bosco.

INVITATORY

Ant. The Lord is the light of all the living: come let us adore him.

Invitatory psalm as in the Ordinary.

Office of Readings

HYMN

As at Morning Prayer or from the Common,

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Psalms from the Office of the Dead.

Ant 2 Lord, guide me with your justice, make your way level before me.

Ant 3 My soul is thirsting for the living God: when shall I see him to face?

Great is your mercy, 0 Lord.

— Make me live in accordance with your word.

FIRST READING 2 Cor 4,16 - 5,10

From the second letter of St Paul to the Corinthians

After death we shall receive from God an eternal dwelling-place in heaven

Brothers, we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.

RESPONSORY cf Ps 50,3-4

Do not judge me, 0 God, according to my actions: for in your sight I have done nothing good. I beg your majesty: * in your love cleanse me from my sin. Do not judge me… Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, blot out my transgressions: in your love…

SECOND READING

From the Treatise “Isaac or the soul” of St Ambrose

(8,78-79; SAEMO 3,123-125)

Our true good is life eternal

Let us hasten to our true home in heaven. There we have our fatherland; there too we have the Father who created us, there the city of Jerusalem which is the mother of us all.

But in what does this haste consist? It is not a matter of the body and the feet, for the feet wheresoever they run remain always on the earth and merely pass from one place to another. And we must not flee by ship or carriage or on a horse, which can stumble and fall; we must haste away using the mind, eyes and feet, of our inner self. Let us accustom our eyes to see those realities which are real and splendid, to gaze on the countenance of continence, temperance and all the virtues, in which there is nothing harsh and rigid, nothing obscure and enigmatic. Let each one examine himself and his conscience; let him purify his internal eye so that it be free from any stain, so that what is seen is not discordant with the one who sees, since God wants us to be conformed to the image of his Son. Our true good, therefore, is known to us and is not far away from any of us: “for in him we live and move and have our being; for we are indeed his offspring” (Acts 17,28), as the Apostle takes it for granted that the Gentiles want to be. That is the good we are looking for, the only good: nothing, in fact, is good except the one and only God.

This is the eye which sees that great and glorious splendor. Just as only an eye which is living and healthy can see the sun, so only a good soul can see what is good. Let, therefore, him who wants to see the Lord and all that is good become good himself. We become like to the supreme good and, by conforming ourselves to him, we perform good actions. This is the good which is above all activity, above every mind and every intellect, the good which is enduring, to which everything tends: “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2,9), and through him all things are reconciled with him. To define still more completely what is meant by the good, the good is life since it endures for ever and gives life and existence to all: the source of the life of everyone is Christ.

Of him the prophet says: “He will raise us up that we may live before him” (Hos 6,2); now, in fact, “you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God; but when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col 3,3-4). Hence we should not fear death because it brings repose to the body but is also the freedom and liberation of the soul. And we should not fear those who can kill the flesh but cannot kill the soul; we should not fear those who can rob us of our clothing and possessions, but cannot rob us of ourselves. We are our souls - our limbs merely vesture. The latter we must take care of, it is true, so that it does not become torn or prematurely old, but as we do so we must take still greater care of our true selves.

RESPONSORY Ps 26, 4.13; Phil 1,21

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. * I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. I believe that…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the “Spiritual Testament” of St John Bosco

In eternity we shall receive the rewcird for every exertion sustained for the love of Christ

My dear and beloved Sons in Jesus Christ, before leaving this world for eternity I wish to fulfill a duty towards you and so satisfy an ardent desire of my heart. First of all, I thank you with the most ardent affection of my soul for the obedience you have given me, and for all you have done to sustain and propagate our Congregation.

I leave you here on earth, but only for a short time. I hope the infinite mercy of God will enable us all to meet one day in heaven; there I await you. Do not grieve over my death. This is a debt we must all pay; but afterwards, every fatigue sustained for the love of our Master, the good Jesus, will be greatly rewarded. + Instead of weeping, make firm and efficacious resolutions to remain staunch in your vocation until death.

Watch, so that neither the love of the world, nor the affection of parents, nor the desire of a more agreeable life induce you to make the great mistake of profaning the sacred vows, and so transgressing the religious profession by which you are consecrated to God. Let none of us take back that which we have given to God.

If you have loved me in the past, continue to love me in the future by the exact observance of our Constitutions. Your first Rector is dead. But our true Superior, Jesus Christ, will never die. He will always be our Master, our guide, our model; but remember that he, in his own time, will also be our judge and the rewarder of our faithfulness in his service.

Your Rector is dead, but there will be another elected, who will have care of you and of your eternal salvation. Listen to him, love him, obey him, pray for him as you have done for me.

Adieu, dear children, adieu. I wait for you in heaven. There we shall speak of God, of Mary, the Mother and support of our Congregation; there we shall bless eternally this our Congregation, the observance of whose rules will have powerfully and efficaciously contributed to our salvation.

Sit nomen Domini benedictum, ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.

In te, Domine, speravi; non con fundar in aeternum.

RESPONSORY Cf Phil 3,20.21; Col 3,4

Our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. * He will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. He will change…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the writings of the Servant of God Fr Joseph Quadrio

(Don G. Quadrio, Risposte, edited by R.Bracchi, Rome 1992, 236-238)

For the Christian, death is the beginning of true life

Faith sheds on death a soft and gentle light, adducing also its positive and consoling aspects. For a Christian, death is not the end but the beginning; it is the beginning of the true life, the gate which opens onto eternity. It is like hearing from behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp the longed-for announcement: “You are going home”. Dying is like pushing open the half-closed door of a house and saying: “Father, here I am, I’m home!” it is a leap in the dark, it is true, but with the certainty of falling into the arms of the heavenly Father.

Anyone who really believes in eternal life cannot fail to repeat with St Paul: “For to me to die is gain. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (cf. Phil 1,21.23). We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (cf 2 Cor 5,5-6). After death our eyes that have closed see again. The dead are not creatures that have been annihilated; they are super-alive.

An obsessive fear of death could also be caused by uneasiness about sins that have been committed and fear of the divine judgment. In this case the fear must be opposed by a most firm hope in the infinite mercy of the heavenly Father. The one who will judge us and decide our eternal destiny is not an enemy or a stranger; he is our elder brother, who in order to save us endured the agonies of Calvary and who loves us more than we love ourselves. St Francis de Sales used to say that on the day of judgment he would rather be judged by God than by his own mother. One has only to acknowledge one’s sins and abandon oneself with trust to the immeasurable loving kindness of God to ensure pardon and salvation. It is a wonderful thing to feel that one is so far from his level and in need of his mercy: to feel that one is lost and at the same time saved by him who “came to save the lost”.

Finally the root cause of disturbance at the approach of death could be the thought of the pains and agonies which frequently make it so bitter. There is an infallible remedy, not for overcoming this thought but for overcoming it and making it less unpalatable: it is that of offering each day one’s own sufferings and death, with all the physical and moral agonies that will accompany it, o the heavenly Father in union with the death of Christ, and with the same love and the same intentions which Jesus had on the cross. What great light and comfort stem from this anticipated loving celebration of one’s own death offered to the Father as a small victim united to the great Victim, who is Jesus immolated on Calvary and in every Mass! Our death then acquires the significance and value of a redemption”, i.e. a cooperation with Jesus in glorifying the Father in making expiation for sins and in saving the world.

Death, when made in this way the object of faith, hope and charity, may not succeed in driving away all fear; but the fear itself will be lovingly accepted as a precious part of the supreme sacrifice.

RESPONSORY Ps 30,20; 1 Cor 2,9

How great is the goodness, Lord, that you keep for those who fear you, *

that you show to those who trust you. How great…

What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived,

these things you have prepared, O God, for those who love you; that you show…

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

HYMN

The King of love my shepherd is,
Whose goodness fails me never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine forever

Where streams of living water flow,
To rest my soul he leads me,
Where fresh and fertile pastures grow,
With heav’nly food he feeds me.

Perverse and foolish I have strayed,
But he with love has sought me,
And on his shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill,
With you, dear Lord, beside me;
Your rod and staff my comfort still,
Your cross will ever guide me.

You spread a banquet in my sight,
My head with oil anointing,
And let me taste the sweet delight
From your pure chalice flowing.

And so through all my length of days
Your goodness fails me never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing your praise
Within your house for ever.

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 Look, 0 Lord, on my weakness; pardon all my sins.

Psalms from the Office of the Dead

Ant 2 I will call upon the Lord of joy; from death and evil I shall be set free.

Ant 3 The name of the Lord I will praise in song, in exultation I shall celebrate his glory.

READING Wis 2,23 - 3,1.5-6.9b

God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity, but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it.

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of himself; like gold in the furnace he tried them, and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them. Those who trust in him will abide with him in love, because grace and mercy are upon his elect, and he watches over his holy ones.

RESPONSORY

I will praise you, Lord, * for you have rescued me. I will…

You turned my sorrow into joy, for you…

Glory be to the Father… I will…

Benedictus ant. I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

Or:

Our true home is in heaven; from there we await the coming of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

INTERCESSIONS

God, the Father almighty raised Jesus from the dead, and he will give life to our own mortal bodies through the Holy Spirit; sustained by this hope, we pray:

Lord of the living and the dead, hear our prayer

Father, through baptism we have been buried with your Son and have risen with him in his resurrection,

— grant that we may walk in newness of life so that when we die, we may live with Christ for ever.

Father, in our body we carry always and everywhere the death of Jesus your Son:

— grant that his life be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Father, in the resurrection of Jesus your fidelity is proclaimed for evermore:

— enable us to live in hope, despite the mystery of death.

Father, let us not be discouraged as our body slowly decays:

— grant that day by day our spirit may be renewed.

Father, we know very well that neither death nor life, neither things present nor future, can separate us from the love you have revealed in Christ Jesus:

— while we entrust to you our dead confreres, renew in us the certainty that you are faithful to your promises.

Our Father

PRAYER

Father, whose mercy knows no limit, you have promised unending happiness to those who seek first the kingdom of heaven. We ask you to take to yourself our deceased confreres (all deceased Salesians), who have spent their lives in the service of the Gospel, following the way marked out by Saint John Bosco; grant that they may enjoy the vision of your countenance and that we may continue faithfully on our pilgrimage. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ…

Prayer during the day

Hymn and Psalms from the Office of the Dead.

Midmorning

Ant. You give great joy and happiness to those who seek you; and your salvation, 0 God, to those who love you.

READING Job 19, 25-27a

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

Why are you cast down, my soul, and why groan within me?

— Hope in God; I will praise him still.

Midday

Ant. Show us, O Lord, your mercy and grant us your salvation.

READING Wis 1,13-15

God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. For he created all things that they might exist, and the generative forces of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them; and the dominion of Hades is not on earth, for righteousness is immortal.

Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil.

— For you are with me, Lord.

Mid-afternoon

Ant. For ever I will give gloty to your name, 0 Lord, for great has been your mercy to me.

READING Is 25,8

He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.

O God, hear my prayer.

— To you all flesh must come.

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Evening Prayer

When 2 February falls on a Sunday,

the first Vespers of the Presentation of the Lord are celebrated.

HYMN

As at Morning Prayer or from the Common,

or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 I will walk in the presence of the Lord, in the land of the living.

Psalms from the Office of the Dead.

Ant 2 Do not abandon, Lord, the work of your hands.

Ant 3 As the Father raises up and gives life, So also the Son gives life to those who love.

READING 1 Cor 15,20-24a.25-27a

Christ, in fact, has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, “for God has put all things in subjection under his feet”.

RESPONSORY

Lord, in your steadfast love, give them eternal rest. Lord…

You will come to judge the living and the dead. Give them…

Glory be to the Father… Lord…

Magnificat ant. I go to prepare a place for you — says the Lord; I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Or:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I shall not turn away.

INTERCESSIONS

We know that when our body, our earthly abode, has been dissolved, we shall receive from God an eternal dwelling in heaven. Full of trust, we proclaim:

You are the resurrection and the life!

Christ, our Lord, giver of life, you are the light which never fades:

— may the light of your countenance shine on us, that by our life we may bear witness to your love.

Christ, our Lord, you have conquered death and become the first fruit of the resurrection:

— give to our dead confreres the reward you promised to your faithful servants.

Lord Jesus, you are seated at the right hand of the Father:

— look on us with eyes of mercy at the time of our judgment.

You who have made all things new:

— open to the faithful departed who entrust themselves to you, the new heavens and a new earth where dwell justice and peace.

In our remembrance of those who have gone before us you fill us with hope and encouragement:

— grant that one day we may find ourselves in heaven to sing with them your love and glory.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Night Prayer

As on Sunday after Evening Prayer II.

A suitable closing Antiphon would be “O Maria, Virgo potens”.

12 March

BLESSED ALOYSIUS ORIONE

priest

In Lent the memorial is omitted.
 If for particular pastoral reasons it is desired to commemorate the Beatus,
 the Office is arranged as follows:

(a) in the Office of Readings, after the second reading of the Lenten feria the reading of the Beatus is added with its responsory and prayer;

(b) in addition at Morning and Evening Prayer the conclusion to the ferial prayer is omitted and the proper antiphon and prayer of the Beatus added (cf. Principles and Norms for the Liturgy of the Hours, n. 230).

Aloysius Orione was born at Pontecurone, Italy, on 23 June 1872. He became a disciple of St John Bosco, whom he admired and imitated as a model of apostolic holiness. While still a student at the seminary of Tortona he began his apostolate among youth, and after his priestly ordination he continued to dedicate his energies to the relief of every kind of physical and moral distress, so as to spread among people the love for Christ and lead them to perceive his presence in the Church, the Pope and the bishops. He devoted his life to works of charity in many countries, especially Italy and Latin America, and founded several Congregations. After a life of hard work and suffering, he died at Sanremo, Italy, on 12 March 1940. He was beatified by John Paul II on 26 October 1980.

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From “Notes” of Blessed Aloysius Orione

(25 February 1939).

Place me, 0 Lord, at the mouth of hell,
that by your mercy I may close it.

To be able to see and love in the world only the souls of our brothers and sisters. Souls of little ones, souls of the poor, souls of sinners, souls that have been led astray, repentant souls, souls rebelling against God’s will, souls rebelling against Christ’s Church, souls of depraved children, souls of wretched and disloyal priests, souls overwhelmed by grief, souls white as doves, pure and simple virginal souls, souls that have fallen into the darkness of the senses and the bestiality of the flesh, souls proud of their evil state, souls greedy for money and power, souls full of themselves, wandering souls looking for the right road, sorrowing souls looking for refuge or a kind word, condemned souls crying out in desperation or souls intoxicated with the elation of living the truth: all these are souls loved by Christ; for all of them Christ died; all of them he wants safe in his arms and pressed to his transfixed Heart.

Our life and our whole Congregation must be a joint canticle and holocaust of brotherhood in Christ, so as to see and feel Christ in mankind. In us must be the deepest and most lofty music of charity For us the central point of the universe is the Church of Christ and the soul the corner-stone of the Christian drama. All I hear is an infinite divine symphony of spirits palpitating around the Cross, and from the Cross exudes through the centuries, drop by drop, the divine bloodshed for each human soul.

From the Cross Christ cries out: “I thirst!” — a terrible cry of yearning which stems not from the flesh but from the craving for souls, and it is for this thirst for our souls that Christ dies.

All I see is a heaven; but a heaven truly divine, because it is the paradise of salvation and of true peace: I see only a kingdom of God, the kingdom of love and forgiveness, where the whole multitude of peoples is the heritage of Christ and his kingdom.

RESPONSORY

Christ wants everyone to be safe in his arms and

close to his pierced heart. From the cross he cries out:

“I thirst” * for the salvation of souls.

I shall write my life with blood and tears,

for the salvation…

Prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

For the commemoration:

Ant. Whatever you do for the least of my brethren, that you do unto me, says the Lord.

PRAYER

God of boundless mercy, you empowered your priest, Blessed Aloysius Orione, to serve Christ your Son in the young and the poor; grant that we too may practise works of mercy, and daily experience the tenderness of your Fatherly love. We ask this through our Lord…

Evening Prayer

For the commemoration:

Ant. Let us never tire in doing good; let us work for the good of all, In due time we shall reap the reward.

Prayer as at Morning Prayer.

6 May

SAINT DOMINIC SAVIO

Adolescent

Feast

In a very simple style of life, Dominic travelled the road to holiness in the space of a few years, a masterpiece of the Spirit and a fruit of the method of education of St John Bosco.

He was born at Riva di Chieri, Italy, on 2 April 1842, in o a family poor in this world’s goods but rich in faith. His childhood was marked by the event of his first Communion, which he made with great devotion at the age of seven, and by a constant endeavor to fulfill his duties. At the age of twelve there occurred the decisive event: he met Don Bosco who, as a father and secure guide, accepted him at Valdocco to begin his secondary studies. There he discovered the higher perspectives of the life of a child of God in friend hip with Christ and Mary, and embarked eagerly on the road to holiness, understood as a complete self-donation to God through love. He prayed and studied with great seriousness, and became the friend of all his companions. Sensitive to the ideal of Don Bosco’s Da mihi animas, he wanted to save the souls of all of them, and started up the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception, which subsequently gave to Don Bosco his best collaborators.

At the age of fifteen he became seriously ill, returned to Mondonio, his native village, and died there peacefully on 9 March 1857, happy to be going to meet his Lord. He was canonized by Pius XII on 12 June 1954.

Where the celebration has the rank of a Solemnity Evening Prayer I is

from the Common of Saints, with the hymn, antiphons and intercessions

from Evening Prayer of the Feast.

INVITATORY

Ant. Let us praise the Lord our God on the feast of Saint Dominic Savio.

Invitatory psalm as in the Ordinary

Office of Readings

HYMN

This is the feastday of the Lord’s true witness,
Who on this day received the glory due him.
Let all creation celebrate his goodness,
Cherish his memory.

Prudent in judgment, gentle towards his brothers,
Open, unselfish in the love he offered.
All of his days the Gospel was his wisdom,
Christ his true teacher.

One, then, in songs of praise we sing his glory,
Calling to mind the peace and joy God gave him,
Asking his prayers to help us in life’s battle,
All through the ages.

Glory and praise be to our God forever,
Radiant in splendor, awesome in his power,
Guiding creation onward to fulfillment,
One God, Three Persons.

(P Scagnelli)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 The Lord poured out his blessings upon him, and he found grace in the eyes of God, alleluia.

Psalms from the Common of Saints.

Ant 2 The Lord blessed his faithfulness and docility, and let him see his glory, alleluia.

Ant 3 The just one will grow like the lily: he will flourish for ever before the Lord, alleluia.

The Lord loved him and bestowed on him all honor, alleluia.

— He clothed him in glory, alleluia.

FIRST READING Rev 14,1-3.4b-5; 19,5-9

From the Book of Revelation of St John the Apostle.

Blessed are they who are invited to the wedding-banquet of the Lamb

Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves, for they are’ chaste; it is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes; these have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are spotless.

And from the throne came a voice crying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder peals, crying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure” — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

RESPONSORY cf. Rev 14,2; 12,10; 19,5-6

I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of loud thunder; our God has taken possession of his Kingdom: * now is fulfilled the salvation, strength and power of Christ, his anointed one, alleluia.

From the throne there came a voice: Praise our God all you his servants, you who fear him, great and small. Now is fulfilled…

SECOND READING

From the life of Saint Dominic Savio by Saint John Bosco

(Opere edite, 11, Rome 1976 [187 if] passim)

Death rather than sin

Boys are naturally changeable in carrying out what they propose to do. But it was not thus with Dominic. As he grew older the virtues that we saw begin and develop in him grew apace and in such harmony that one did not weaken the other.

As soon as he came to the Orators his gaze fell upon a poster containing in bold letters these words:

“Give me souls, take away the rest.” He paused for a moment and then exclaimed, “Oh, I see! Here you do not deal in money, but in souls. I hope that you will deal with my soul too.” From then on he began to reveal that exemplary life, steady advance in virtue, and precision in his duties that would be hard to rival.

On the evening of December 8, 1854, day of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Dominic, with the advice of his confessor, went before our Lady’s altar and renewed the promises he had made on his first communion day. Then he repeated over and over again: “0 Mary, I give you my heart. Jesus, Mary, be always my friends! I beg you, please let me die rather than commit a single sin!”

Dominic had been at the Oratory about six months when he heard a sermon on the way of becoming a saint. This sermon was like a spark which kindled Dominic’s heart with an intense love of God. “I feel,” he said, “a great yearning, a strong need of becoming a saint. Now that I see that one can be happy and holy too, I absolutely want to become a saint! I must! God wants me to become a saint, and I must become one! I want to become a saint, and I will not be happy till I become one!”

Dominic had such a calm, equable disposition that one might think God created him with it. But his teachers and those who knew him intimately assure us that this was the result of great effort helped by God’s grace.

Dominic chose a confessor, to whom he went regularly. His preparation for communion was thorough and devout; his thanksgiving knew no bounds. Among the graces with which God enriched his soul was that of fervent prayer. Several times he appeared to be wrapt in ecstasy. When asked about it, he replied, “I seem to see such wonderful things! Paradise seems to open above me!” The first suggestion Dominic was given to become a saint was to try to win souls to God. This thought became the constant desire of his life. He preferred to read the lives of those saints who had spent their days working to save souls. He often spoke of the missionaries. Often he was heard to say, “If I could only win over all my schoolmates to God, how happy I would be! How many souls need our help!” The desire to win souls to God never left him.

Dominic died with the smile of heaven on his lips.

RESPONSORY Ps 14, 1-2; cf.Mt 7,21

O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy mountain? * He who walks without blame and does justice, who thinks the truth In his heart. He who does the will of my Father shall enter the kingdom of heaven. He who walks…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the life of Saint Dominic Savio by Saint John Bosco

(Opere edite, 11, Rome 1976 [200 ffj)

I want to belong entirely to our Lord

Savio had been at the Oratory for about six months when he heard a sermon on how to become a saint. The preacher dwelt on three thoughts which made a profound impression on Dominic’s spirit: “It is God’s will that we act like saints. It is not at all difficult to become a saint. There is a great reward in heaven for those who become saints on earth.” For Dominic, that sermon was the spark that set his heart aflame with the love of God. He said nothing for several days, but he was more serious than usual so that his companions and I noticed a change. Assuming that it might be some physical indisposition, I asked him whether he did not feel well. “Oh no,” he said, “what is troubling me is really good for me.” “What do you mean?” “I mean I am troubled with a yearning, a great need to become a saint. I had not known that it was so easy, but now I understand that you can be cheerful and still be a saint. I absolutely want, I have to become a saint. Tell me how I should go about achieving my goal.”

I praised his resolve, but I urged him not to worry, since it is hard to discern the Lord’s will when the spirit is troubled. First of all, I wanted him to achieve a natural and lasting cheerfulness. I also encouraged him to persevere in fulfilling his scholastic and religious duties, but I recommended that he join his companions in all the recreational activities. One day I told him that I would like to give him a present that would please him, but I wanted the choice to be his. He answered promptly, “I want you to make a saint of me. I want to give myself entirely and forever to the’ Lord. I know that I must become a saint. If I do not, I shall accomplish nothing. God wants me to be a saint, and therefore I must do his bidding.” On another occasion, the director wanted to give the students of the house a token of special affection and asked them to write him a note about their wishes. One can easily imagine the many foolish and extravagant requests he received. Savio wrote a few words on a slip of paper:

“Please save my soul and make a saint of me.” Once, when the roots of words were discussed, he asked, “And what does Dominic mean?” “Dominic means ‘of the Lord,” I said. “See,” he replied, “am I not right in asking that you make a saint of me? Even my name says that I belong to the Lord. I do want to belong entirely to him. Therefore I must become a saint and I will not be happy until I become one.”

RESPONSORY cf. Prov 23,26; 5,1

My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways: * you will become a perfect man, alleluia.

Be attentive to my wisdom, incline your ear to my advice: you will become…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici of John Paul II

(n.16; MS 81 [1989] 416-418)

Called to holiness

The Second Vatican Council has spoken significantly on the universal call to holiness. It is possible to say that this call to holiness is precisely the basic charge entrusted to all the sons and daughters of the Church by a Council which intended to bring a renewal of Christian life based on the Gospel. This charge is not a simple moral exhortation but an undeniable requirement arising from the mystery of the Church: she is the choice vine whose branches live and grow with the same holy and life-giving energies that come from Christ; she is the Mystical Body whose members share in the same life of holiness of the Head who is Christ; she is the Beloved Spouse of the Lord Jesus who delivered himself up for her sanctification (cf. Eph 5,25ff.). The Spirit that sanctified the human nature of Jesus in Mary’s virginal womb (cf. Lk 1,35) is the same Spirit that is abiding and working in the Church to communicate to her the holiness of the Son of God made man.

Everyone in the Church, precisely because they are members, receives and thereby shares in the common vocation to holiness. In the fullness of this title and on equal par with all other members of the Church, the lay faithful are called to holiness: “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfect fulfillment of their own state of life.” (LG 40.42).

The call to holiness is rooted in Baptism and proposed anew in the other Sacraments, principally in the Eucharist. Since Christians are reclothed in Christ Jesus and refreshed by his Spirit, they are “holy.” They therefore have the ability to manifest this holiness and the responsibility to bear witness to it in all that they do. The Apostle Paul never tires of admonishing all Christians to live “as is fitting among saints” (Eph 5,3).

Life according to the Spirit, whose fruit is holiness (cf.Rom 6,22; Gal 5,22), stirs up every baptized person and requires each to follow and imitate Jesus Christ in embracing the Beatitudes; in listening and meditating on the Word of God; in conscious and active participation in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church; in personal prayer; in family or in community; in the hunger and thirst for justice; in the practice of the commandment of love in all circumstances of life and service to the brethren, especially the least, the poor and the suffering.

RESPONSORY Eph 5, 8-9; Mt 5,14-16

You are light in the Lord; walk as children of light. * For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, alleluia.

You are the light of the world: let your light shine before all men. For the fruit…

TE DEUM

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

HYMN

The Voice of God is raised once more
To guide us through the night and din:
“Whoe’er would rest in timeless joy
Must follow him that, still a boy,
Death’s self would choose eer sin”.

Thy life was like the Spring’s first rose,
An hour in bloom, then lightly falls;
In death it wins more fragrant sway,
As still thy little hour of day
The world from death recalls.

The Church of Christ thy crown proclaims
The prize of life that pure heart won:
The dew that on thy heart was shed
Fell from Angelic Wheat whose Bread
Enfolds the Virgin’s Son.

Pray, Dominic, for all who wend
The way of Sales thine own steps bless’d;
And pray that God his clear light end
The souls thy fondest dreams caress’d.

(P.J.Ryan)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 You remained faithful unto death and so the Lord has crowned you with glory, alleluia.

Psalms and canticle from Sunday, Week 1.

Ant 2 Sing hymns to the Lord, you his faithful, give thanks to his holy name. alleluia.

Ant 3 My song and my strength is the Lord: he has been my salvation, alleluia.

READING 1 Jn 3,1-2

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

RESPONSORY

The law of God is in the heart of his holy ones, * Alleluia, alleluia. The law of God…

Their path is straight and sure. Alleluia, alleluia. Glory be to the Father … The law of God…

Benedictus ant. Dominic, dedicated wholly to the Lord, you walked before him in holiness and justice, alleluia.

INTERCESSION

Let us give praise to God our Father who deigned to reveal to little ones the mysteries of his Kingdom, and let us say:

Glory and honor to you, O Lord.

Father, you brought Dominic Savio to birth in a family rich in Christian virtues:

— bless our families, and help parents in their duties as educators.

You inspired Dominic with the burning desire to become a saint:

— grant that we too may offer our lives completely to you with joy.

From his childhood you drew Dominic towards the Eucharistic mystery of your Son:

— help us to celebrate the Eucharist with living faith and share with joy in the gift of your love.

You led Dominic to discover that to love you is the source of immense elation:

— help us to find happiness in communion with you and in the generous service of our neighbor.

As they awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were assiduous in common prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus:

— may she extend her protection to all who strive to live in your friendship.

Our Father

PRAYER

O God, the source of everything that is good, in Saint Dominic Savio you have given to young people a wonderful example of charity and purity; grant that we too may grow as your children in joy and love, till we attain the full stature of Christ. He is God, and lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.

Prayer during the day

Hymn appropriate to the time of celebration. Antiphon and psalms of the feria.

Midmorning

READING Rom 8,9-11

But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you.

The Lord leads the just man along straight paths, alleluia.

— And shows him the Kingdom of God, alleluia.

Midday

READING 1 Jn 5,2-4

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, alleluia.

— And finds joy in his commandments, alleluia.

Mid-afternoon

READING Phil 4,8.9b

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. And the God of peace will be with you!

May those who hope in you rejoice, alleluia.

— You will abide with them and they will be happy for ever, alleluia.

Prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Evening Prayer

HYMN

Blest are the pure in heart,
For they shall see our God;
The secret of the Lord is theirs,
Their soul is Christ’s abode.

The Lord who left the heavens
Our life and peace to bring,
To dwell in lowliness with men,
Their pattern and their King:

Still to the lowly soul
He doth himself impart,
And for his dwelling and his throne
Chooseth the poor in heart.

Lord, we thy presence seek;
may ours this blessing be;
Give us a pure and lowly heart,
A temple fit for thee.

(J.Keble)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 I keep your words in my heart, in your will lies all my joy, alleluia.

Psalms and canticle from the Common of Saints.

Ant 2 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, discerning is the man who remains faithful to him, alleluia.

Ant 3 I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth: all these things you have revealed to little ones, alleluia.

READING 1 Cor 1,27-30

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despise d in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

RESPONSORY

The Lord loved him and bestowed on him all honour, * Alleluia, alleluia. — The Lord…

He has clothed him in glory, — allelula, allelula.

Glory be to the Father… - The Lord…

Magnificat ant. Before the throne of God and the Lamb, together with the choir of the chosen ones, Dominic sings a new song, alleluia.

INTERCESSION

Let us exult and call upon God, our Father, who bids us be holy as he is holy:

Be you our guide, O Lord.

Father, you inspired Saint Dominic Savio to choose Jesus as his friend before all others:

— draw young people to your Son that they may find in him the sense of their lives.

In Don Bosco you gave to Saint Dominic Savio a strong and prudent spiritual guide:

— grant that children and adolescents may find open and sincere hearts in their educators to the faith.

You bestowed on Dominic, an apostle among his companions, a generous heart for meeting the needs of all:

— instill in young people the desire to direct their lives to the service of their neighbor.

From his childhood, Dominic entrusted himself completely to the Virgin Mary:

— foster in the hearts of the young a strong and tender love for their heavenly Mother.

Dominic died in the firm hope of attaining paradise:

— grant to the faithful departed to be welcomed by you, who are happiness without end.

Our Father

Closing prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Compline

Of the occurring day of the week.

13 May

SAINT MARY DOMENICA MAZZARELLO

virgin

Co-founder Daughters of Mary Help of Christians

Feast

For the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Solemnity Maria Domenica was born at Mornese, Alessandria (Italy) on 9 May 1837, the eldest of seven children of a hard-working peasant family of sincere Christian life. At the age of 15 years she offered herself to God with a vow of virginity. Soon afterwards she joined the association of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, committing herself more deeply in apostolic services and works of charity. A meeting with Don Bosco in 1864 marked a decisive point in her life. The Saint was already working on an apostolic project for girls, and with the collaboration of Mary Domenica gave rise to the community of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. In 1872 Mary Domenica made her religious vows and was elected superior, a role in which she displayed unexpected talents as a mother and animator.

On 14 May 1881, when only 44 years of age, she died at the new Mother House of Nizza Monferrato, Asti. She was canonized by Pius XII on 24 June 1951, and was recognized as Co-foundress of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

Where the celebration has the rank of solemnity:

Evening Prayer I

HYMN

Christ is Lord and Light of Nations
We his people all proclaim.
Through St Mary Mazzarello,
May we glorify his name.

In the beauty of his teaching
She found joy in God above.
“Let us learn to speak with Jesus
In his Eucharistic Love”.

Throughout life she walked with Mary,
Learning from Don Bosco’s way.
Guided by the Holy Spirit,
Cheerful, humble, prompt to pray.

Christ her model in all virtue,
God her choice from dawn of youth.
By a life of prayer and service
She led countless souls in truth.

Loving Father, Christ our brother,
Let your Spirit on us shine;
Teaching us to love each other,
Lift us to the joy divine.

(R.McShane FMA)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 Let us give praise to the Lord; he exalts the humble, alleluia.

Psalms and canticle from the Common of Virgins.

Ant 2 Great is the Lord. Tell of his glory among the peoples, alleluia.

Ant 3 Blessed be the Lord for ever. The God of salvation has us in his care, alleluia.

READING Phil 1,8-11

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

RESPONSORY

God has given us a Spirit of love and wisdom, alleluia, alleluia. — God…

He has sent us the Spirit of truth. — alleluia, alleluia.

Glory be to the Father… — God…

Magnificat ant. We have pondered, O God, on the wonders of your love, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS

Let us invoke with confidence God our Father, who raises up in his Church holy and wise women and calls them to collaborate in the saving work of his Son:

God of kindness, hear our prayer.

You enriched Mary Domenica Mazzarello with a simple and active faith and led her along the road that leads to holiness:

— grant that, we may dedicate ourselves with generosity to our mission as educators.

You rendered Saint Mary Domenica open and docile to the action of your Spirit:

— guide the young people of today in the choice of the vocation to which you are calling them for the life of the Church and the world.

Industrious and burning with love, Mary Domenica lived evangelical poverty in joy of heart:

— help us to be faithful to St John Bosco’s charism, and be consistent in our witness to Christian values.

The Blessed Virgin was for Mary Domenica a guide and model of life:

— grant that she may continue to be the Mother and Mistress for each one of us, for our communities and for every Christian family.

You accepted the offering of the youthful existence of Mary Domenica for the good of the Church:

— in your mercy welcome all who have believed and hoped in you.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Compline of Sunday.

INVITATORY

Ant. Let us adore Christ the Lord who reveals his mysteries to the humble, alleluia.

Invitatory psalm as in the Ordinary.

Office of Readings

HYMN

God’s blessed Spirit moved his virgin saint
To wield strong weapons in a lifelong fight,
To make a lonely journey from the flesh,
That she might live unfettered in his sight.

She turned her face towards the cross of Christ,
And he himself prepared her as his bride;
She bore the Holy Spirit’s timeless fruits
By which God’s pledge of love is ratified.

Her life showed forth the kingdom of the Lord,
When humbly for his sake she dwelt apart,
To wait on him in silence with the poor,
The chaste of body and the clean of heart.

O Blessed Trinity, the virgins’ crown,
They sing your praises with unending song,
Rejoicing in the hope you have fulfilled,
Lord God, unfailing strength of all the strong.

(© 1974, Stanbrook Abbey)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 I leap for joy: God has done great things, alleluia.

Psalms from the Common of Virgins.

Ant 2 With burning heart I have sought you; I have preferred nothing to your love, alleluia.

Ant 3 Christ’s love dwelling in me has made me fertile as a mother, alleluia.

You will lead me along the path of life, alleluia.

You will fill me with joy at your side, alleluia.

FIRST READING

From the letter of St Paul to the Romans 12,1-16a

The Christian life, spiritual worship

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him. For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; If service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good: love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.

RESPONSORY cf. Phil 2,2.3-4; 1 Thess 5,15

Be of the one mind in love; in humility count others better than yourselves; * let each one look not only to personal interests, but also to the interests of others, alleluia.

Always seek to do good to one another and to all; let each one look…

SECOND READING

From the letters of St Mary Domemca Mazzarello

Clothe yourselves with the love of the Lord Jesus

My dear Sisters, know how to love one another. What great consolation I feel when I receive news from the houses and know that there is charity among the Sisters, that they obey willingly, that they love the Holy Rule. My heart feels great consolation and continually implores blessings on all of you, that you may truly put on the Spirit of the good Jesus and so do so much good to yourselves and to the poor neighbor in such great need of help. But what was the Spirit of the Lord like? It was a humble Spirit, patient and full of charity - the kind of charity shown by Jesus himself who never wearied of suffering for us, even to the extent you know of. Courage therefore! Let is imitate our dear Jesus in everything, but especially in humility and love.

Yes, my dear daughters in Jesus, take courage: Jesus loves you. It is true that there are times when you have pains and distress to suffer, but the Lord wants you to help him to carry his cross in this world. He was the first to give us the good example in suffering; and so let us follow him with courage and resignation in suffering. You can be certain that those whom Jesus asks to suffer more grievously are those who are closest to him. But we must do everything with a pure intention, to please him alone.

Courage then, my dear daughters; remember that everything in this world is passing away; so let nothing disturb you, for everything is a means to enable us to find true happiness. Be joyful. Be always joyful, never give or take offence, but as soon as you are aware that some other Sister needs support or encouragement be quick to assist her; give each other help and consolation. Have great charity; love one another. Do your utmost to preserve the spirit of union with God, living always in his presence. Be always joyful and humble.

RESPONSORY Col 3,17

Whatever you do, in word or deed, * do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, alleluia.

Give thanks to God the Father through him; do everything…

Or:

SECOND READING

From an address of Pope Pius XI, 3 May 1936

From her ardent charity she drew powerful strength

St Mary Domenica Mazzarello, as a most devout Daughter of Mary, taught by her example the great value attaching to a life which unfolds and expands under the gaze and protection of so great a Mother. In fact her life displays all the characteristics of the most humble simplicity. She was a simple, a very simple, figure but rich in many outstanding prerogatives, qualities and gifts.

Her humility was so great as to make us wonder what it is that God sees in a truly and deeply humble soul, which because of its humility attracts him so much, we may say, as to induce him to work the greatest marvels.

This poor, simple and lowly peasant girl soon gave signs of what is called a talent, one of the greatest talents, that of the ability to govern. A great thing is this, and she showed that she had it to such an extent that a man like St John Bosco detected it immediately and put it to good effect. The opportune and efficacious nature of his choice was shown not only in the sure and stable foundation of the new Family of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians but also in the rapid and wonderful growth of the flourishing Institute.

In the humble soul God sees a light, form and characteristics which he cannot resist because in their exquisite beauty and their fundamental and constructive features they reflect the physiognomy of his only Son, who said: “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11,29). As though to say that if we had learned this we would have grasped all that is needed to save souls and bring the world to Christ.

The former and exemplary Daughter of Mary recalls also and puts to us the greatest lesson in humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mother of God, in fact, in the Magnificat openly attributes her glory and election on the part of God to her humility: “for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant”. The Mother of God proclaims herself to be the “handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1,48). It is lovely to consider Saint Mary Domenica in this light, in the light of Mary herself. She too can repeat: The Lord has looked with great good will on my humility and simp1icit and so “all generations will call me blessed”.

RESPONSORY Sir 3,18; 1 Tim 6,11

The greater you are, the more you must humble yours elf * so you will find favour in the sight of the Lord.

Aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness; * so you will…

Or:

SECOND READING

From an address of Pope John Paul II, 12 December 1981.

You are called to ensure the continuity of your mission

Many years have passed since the time of the Community of Mornese and the heroic and promising beginnings of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. They have been years marked by trials and sacrifices, but crowned also by precious and consoling fruits for your Family and the entire Church. Today you carry out your apostolate for the young in every sector of formation; working always in harmony with the objectives of your foundational charisma, you are called to ensure the continuity of your mission which aims at involving also the girls and young women of the present generation in the wonderful adventure of a life according to the Gospel. It is a mission that requires you to be full of joy. Joy of this kind is one of the characteristic traits of the Salesian pedagogical charism so fully assimilated by Mother Mary Domenica with personal intuition and absolute fidelity She was, in fact, continually concerned about the joy of her daughters, as though this were the main indication of their holiness, and she would frequently ask each of them: “Are you happy?” She meant that joy and happiness which Jesus promised to his followers and is always recommended by St Paul (cf. Phil 3,1; 4,4), who describes it as one of the first fruits of the Spirit: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, …“ (Gal 5,22). An attitude of happiness of this kind is rooted above all else in a deep sense of faith in which the presence of the Lord is dominant and always prevails as he who loves and saves us, and as a loving Father watches over all our affairs.

From an intense contact with God, and from a convinced spirit of faith which finds practical expression in constant adherence to the Church and its teaching, you will find deep motives for your Salesian joy, and also the ability to discern situations and above all the hearts of the young with that intelligent and supernatural discernment which so surely marked the educative ministry of Don Bosco and of Mother Mary Domenica. Respect for the demands of reason and religion, i.e. a trusting attitude in the face of natural and supernatural values of the individual, is certainly fundamental to a positive educative approach. Salesian loving kindness has its source in the very heart of Christ and in Mary most holy its model and inspirer. It is a burning zeal for the overall salvation of the young; it is a pastoral care and solicitude eminently respectful of the individual; it is an affective power that can win over the heart and has a decisive value in the educational process according to the Salesian spirit.

And so you must make yourselves respected by the serene consistency of your witness to all those values in which you believe and want to pass on to others. This is an unavoidable duty; nothing of value will pass from us to the young, nothing permanent can we inculcate in them, unless we are concerned to see that it is a consequence of our consecration.

RESPONSORY Col 3,23-24

Whatever your task, work heartily, as doing it for the Lord and not men; * knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward, alleluia;

You are serving the Lord Christ * knowing that…

TE DEUM

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

HYMN

As at Vespers or from the Common,

or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant I From before the dawn I have sought you: your love is my life, alleluia.

Psalms from Sunday, Week I.

Ant 2 Bless the Lord in his works: he reveals himself to the pure of heart, alleluia.

Ant 3 Let us rejoice together and be glad: the joy of God is our strength, alleluia.

READING Col 3,12-15

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.

RESPONSORY

Great is the Lord’s power; he is glorified by the humble. * Alleluia, alleluia. Great is…

He brings down the mighty from their thrones. * alleluia, alleluia.

Glory be to the Father… Great is…

*Benedictusé ant. Bless the Lord for all his works; like incense, radiate a sweet odor, alleluia

Or:

O wise woman, the Spirit of God has made you a teacher of life, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS

Let us give thanks in Christ Jesus to the Father who, by raising up holy men and women in the Church,

gives us authentic models of evangelical fidelity, and let us say:

God, our Father, hear our prayer.

Father, you have enriched the Church with a marvelous variety of gifts and charisms:

— grant that in creative fidelity we may embody the Salesian spirit in ourselves.

You have given the Pope and the Bishops as guides for your holy people:

— help us to adhere fully to their teaching and manifest it consistently in all our actions.

You reveal the mysteries of your Kingdom to the simple and the lowly:

— help us to discern your presence in every reality of life so as to accomplish your plan of love.

Call everyone to accept the Gospel of Christ your Son:

— grant that we may share his saving mission in the spirit of the beatitudes.

In St Mary Domenica you offer us a model for living the commandment of brotherly love:

— help us to work always in communion of life and action for the extension of your Kingdom.

Our Father

PRAYER

Father, source of all that is good, you give us in Mary Domenica Mazzarello a shining example of Christian and religious life through her deep humility and ardent charity; grant that we, in simplicity of spirit, may bear daily witness to your Fatherly love. 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.

Or, in communities of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians:

God, our Father, you have a special love for the humble and imbue with your spirit of holiness hearts that are simple and sincere; hear our prayer on this solemnity of Saint Mary Domenica Mazzarello, who shared with Saint John Bosco his love for the young and with him founded a new religious family. Grant that we may be docile to her teachings and faithful to her example of educational activity. 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.

Prayer during the day

Hymn corresponding to the hour of day,

or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Antiphons and psalms of the day as in the Psalter.

(For the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians,

proper antiphon with complementary psalms.)

Ant. Glorious is the woman who has given birth in the spirit, alleluia.

Midmorning

READING 2 Thess 1,11b-12

We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his call, and may fulfill every good resolve and work of faith by his power, so that the name of our’ Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is a wise virgin, alleluia

— The Lord found her watching, alleluia.

Midday

READING Eph 1,17-20a

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ.

The Lord is good to all, alleluia.

— His tenderness extends to every creature, alleluia.

Mid-afternoon

READING 1 Thess 4,1b-3a

As you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, do so more and more. You know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification.

It is good for me to stay with God, alleluia.

— The Lord is my strength and my hope, alleluia.

Evening Prayer

(for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Evening Prayer II)

HYMN

O Jesus, thou the virgins’ crown,
Thy gracious ear to us bow down,
Born of that Virgin whom alone
The Mother and the maid we own.

In thee, their Bridegroom and their Lord,
The virgins find their bright reward,
And wheresoe’r they footsteps wend
With hymns and praises thee attend.

o gracious Lord, we thee implore
 Thy grace into our minds to pour;
From all defilement keep us free,
 And make us pure in heart for thee.

All praise to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
With whom the Spirit we adore,
For ever and for evermore.

(St. Ambrose)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 Unceasingly have I sought you, 0 Lord: you have been the source of my joy, alleluia.

Psalms and canticle from the Common of Virgins.

Ant 2 The Lord has made of my life the dwelling place of his love, alleluia.

Ant 3 God has overwhelmed me with his blessings, he made me the praise of his glory, alleluia.

READING Phil 2,1-4

Dearly beloved, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

RESPONSORY Jn 13,34a; 1 Pet 1,22a

Love one another. * Alleluia, alleluia. Love…

Love each other earnestly from the heart. * Alleluia, alleluia.

Glory be to the Father… Love…

Magnificat ant. Poor and humble as I was, the Lord loved me and did great things for me, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS

God our Father has manifested in St Mary Mazzarello the wonders of his love: in the certainty that he will hear us, we pray:

Father, all holy, hear our prayer.

You inspired in St Mary Domenica Mazzarello a deep Eucharistic spirituality:

— grant that for all Christians a vital participation in the Easter mystery may be at the centre of their lives.

You chose Mary Domenica to be the cornerstone of a living monument of gratitude to Mary Help of Christians:

— bestow on all members of the Salesian Family a filial love for the Virgin Mother, to make her powerful help known to others.

You gave to Mother Mazzarello a heart full of solicitude for your Kingdom:

— inspire young people to disseminate everywhere your message of love and salvation.

You willed that a new religious family should arise for the Christian education of the young:

— guide children and young people in their search for the authentic sense of life.

You withdrew your Son from the power of death:

— grant eternal light to our brothers and sisters who have died believing and hoping in your mercy.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Compline

As in the Psalter for the day.

(For the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Compline of Sunday).

18 May

SAINT LEONARD MURIALDO

Priest

He was born at Turin on 26 October 1828 into a well- to-do family. A friend and collaborator of Don Bosco, he dedicated himself to the Christian formation of poor youngsters, orphans and the abandoned, starting up with great faith and courage many initiatives at a social, spiritual, cultural and legalistic level. He also had a hand in the foundation and running of organizations for Catholic workers. He founded a Congregation which he dedicated to Saint Joseph (Josephites of Murialdo) to continue the apostolate among the young and the poor in the spirit of the humble artisan of Nazareth, the educator of Jesus. He died at Turin on 30 March 1900, and was canonized by Paul VI on 3 May 1970.

From the Common of Saints or the Common of Pastors

with psalms from the day as in the Psalter.

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From the writings of St Leonard Murialdo, priest

Predilection for poor and abandoned youth

We have special motives for rejoicing in our mission, motives arising from the nature of the young people to whom we give our special attention. Who are they? The poor and the abandoned: there you have two requisites that make a youngster one of ours; and the poorer and more abandoned he is, so much the more is he ours.

Poor and abandoned! How wonderful is the mission of caring for the education of the poor! And more wonderful still is that of seeking out, of succoring, of educating, of saving for time and eternity, the poor who are abandoned, abandoned from a moral aspect if not materially. How good it is to be able to say in truth: “Thou wilt incline thine ear, defending the fatherless and the oppressed” (Ps 10,18). The poor, the children and finally sinners, were the pupil of Christ’s eye, a valuable gem, a most precious treasure. And our own youngsters are poor, they are children, and we have also to add that sometimes they are anything but innocent. But should this last characteristic, even though in itself it is certainly not desirable, make our youngsters less dear to us or of less interest to us, if we put it in those terms?

We may sometimes forget this condition of the young to whom we want to consecrate our lives. No sooner does a youngster show signs of an unfortunate or even perverse disposition, of indiscipline, of unwillingness to learn, proud, stubborn in doing wrong, or even going from bad to worse, and immediately we become disgusted and disheartened, and want the problem removed from us by sending the youngster packing and all his vices with him. But nevertheless we must not tire too easily, become too easily depressed and give up hope. Let us not forget that when we take in abandoned youngsters we must expect to find them ignorant, wild and unruly, with all the defects that normally accompany abandonment.

We must not be surprised either to find defects and even vices in children belonging to good class and Christian families. If they were already perfect, what need would they have of education? But what else can we expect who take in children off the streets or who come to us at times from the hands of coarse and scandalous parents? Their moral wretchedness should move us much more than their material want; instead of making us lose too soon all compassion and hope, it should prompt us to work courageously and sympathetically for these unhappy souls; often they are more to be pitied than blamed, and we ourselves might well have been like them if we too had been abandoned. The very condition therefore of our poor youngsters should prompt us to do violence to ourselves the better to fulfill the duties imposed on each of us with respect to their education, and to pray to God “to give the increase” (cf. 1 Cor 3,6).

RESPONSORY Ps 81,3-4; cf. Jas 2,5

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute; * rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked, alleluia.

God has chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom; rescue…

Or:

SECOND READING

From articles on “A sound press” by St Leonard Munaldo.

Good journalism is an apostolate

On the great day of Judgment salvation is assured to those who have not refused bread to the hungry; but not by material bread alone does man live. In our times the hunger that is more keenly felt is the hunger for moral and religious instruction, for truth and for justice. To work for these things is an act of charity superior to corporal works. The Catholic who has the necessary talents for wielding the pen should not remain idle, he should not bury his talents. Good journalism is an apostolate and, after that of the priesthood, it is at the present day the most noble and sublime. Good journalism is a continual sermon, a daily instruction, a courageous conflict for the Church and the Pope; it is a means for the salvation of souls, and for the Christian regeneration of the world. The words of the priest spoken in church reach only the faithful, those already converted; the newspaper on the other hand goes everywhere and reaches all.

There are some who are not convinced that Catholic journalism is an apostolate; they look for faults in good publications, they find perfection only in evil ones; for the former they have no encouraging word, no helpful advice, no monetary contribution to help to correct the defects, to fill lacunas, to make improvements.

They criticize their defects and give no praise to the part that is good, or else they would seem to want a perfect newspaper and so pour scorn on the one they have, speak badly of it and do not support it financially; and meanwhile they buy and allow into their homes harmful periodicals. It is an illusion, it is absolutely false, to believe that periodicals of this latter kind are not pernicious, that this or that paper has no influence. A newspaper which is read today, read again tomorrow, read every day, succeeds in impressing its ideas on the intelligence of even the most strong-minded of readers and imperceptibly forms his spirit and heart.

In our times this institution of journalism has found its way into all our traditions, and good journalism has become an absolute need for stemming the tidal wave that invades everything and penetrates everywhere.

There is also another kind of person, those who are certainly honest and upright, but have a great repugnance for anything connected with the political press; they say they are ‘neutral’. Sure enough, while the volcano is spewing out white-hot lava, while an earthquake is threatening, or in other words while one of those political and religious crises is brewing with which history is full, you will find people who say with haughty arrogance: “I believe in being neutral in everything; I am independent”. This sort of neutrality is nothing but a moral monstrosity - it is devoid of all meaning; what it is, in fact, is sloth and selfishness, it is a desertion of social duty, and it is a serious fault.

RESPONSORY cf. 1 Thess 2,4.3

We have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, * so we speak not to please men but to please God. Alleluia.

Our appeal does not spring from error or uncleanness, nor is it made with guile; we speak…

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

Benedictus ant. The love of Christ impels me to give my life for the brethren. Alleluia

INTERCESSIONS

Let us celebrate with joy the kindness shown us by God our Father, and through the intercession of St Leonard Murialdo let us pray with faith:

Lord, make us perfect in love

You guide us and love us as your children:

— make us witnesses to your goodness every day of our lives.

You inspire us with a simple and lively faith in your Providence:

— enable us to discern your loving presence in the events of daily life.

You arouse the intelligence and heart of your children:

— grant that we may generously fulfill your will in freedom of spirit.

You invite us to recognize your countenance in the young who are poor:

— help us to serve you in each of them with humility and charity.

You have given us the Immaculate Virgin as a model:

— through her protection guide us on the path to holiness.

Our Father

PRAYER

O God, the source of all good things, in Saint Leonard Murialdo you have given to orphans a father and to young workers a guide: through his intercession grant that we may follow the precepts of your love in the service we give to our neighbor. 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.

Evening Prayer

Magnificat ant. Saint Leonard Murialdo, brother and friend of the poor, father of those who are all alone, reveal to us the heart of God, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS

As we commemorate Saint Leonard Murialdo, let us ask with faith of God our Father that he will grant his salvation to us and to all.

God our Father, hear our prayer

Remember young people who are poor, the orphans and abandoned:

— support them with your fatherly assistance.

Your Son worked with St Joseph in the house of Nazareth:

— bless those who make their living by the sweat of their brow.

Protect all Christians who are engaged in the apostolate and in social activities:

— help them to be courageous witnesses to your truth.

Grant that generous young people may follow the poor, chaste and obedient Christ:

— that the message of the Gospel may reach all mankind.

Open the arms of your mercy to the dead who have done good to us:

— admit them to the peace of your kingdom.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

24 May

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS

Principal Patroness of the Society of Saint Francis de Sales, of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and of the Secular Institute of the Don Bosco Volunteers.

Solemnity

On many occasions throughout the course of history, Christian people have experienced the protection of the Virgin Mary. The title of Help of Christians, which Don Bosco associated with that of Mary Mother of the Church, is an indication of the special intervention of Mary in the most difficult trials of personal human life, of the Church and of the whole human family. The liturgical celebration was instituted by Pope Pius VII in gratitude for Mary’s intervention in a critical period in the history of the Church. Driven out by violence from the See of Rome and held as a prisoner for five years, the Pontiff had implored the help of Mary and had invited all Christians to do the same. Contrary to all expectations he was freed and returned to his See on 24 May 1814. Devotion to Mary Help of Christians was spread far and wide through the work of St John Bosco, and continues to be propagated in the world by the Salesian Family, which recognizes and invokes Mary, Help of Christians as its principal patroness.

Evening Prayer I

HYMN

Whene’er Christ’s people sore beset has been,
and ringed with menace of a raging foe,
they’ve glimps’d her gliding from the sky serene,
Mary their Queen with succour for their woe.

‘Tis this the annals of our fathers tell,
and this the trophies of her shrines proclaim;
the wondrous feasts that yearly hymn as well
the glories won invoking her sweet name.

Let all to praises new in song give tongue,
to win fresh favours from her royal hands;
no strain, no melody be left unsung
in Peter’s See, in all Creation’s lands.

O truly blessed day of history,
relating for all time what then befell,
when exiled Pope returned in jubilee
from banishment and prison’s lowly cell.

O souls unstained of youth, of maid and boy,
your tender hearts in gratitude o’erflow;
share now your people’s and your pastor’s joy,
meet honour on those queenly gifts bestow.

O Maid of maids, O Jesu’s Mother blest
let not these tokens of your love decrease;
so may our shepherd lead his flock to rest in heaven’s fields,
in bliss that knows no cease.

O grant us You to ever venerate,
our praise of You, O Triune God prolong,
that we may see what now we celebrate,
our minds in faith, our tongues in vibrant song.

(A.Keogh)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 Joyful Mother of the Son of God, raised to the glory of the kingdom, with you we praise the name of the Lord (T.P. Alleluia).

Psalms and canticle from the Common of the Virgin Mary.

Ant 2 Mary, through you has come Peace, in you the Word was made flesh; with you we glorify the Lord (T.P. Alleluia).

Ant 3 Mary, through you has come the salvation, strength and kingdom of our God: with you we sing the power of the Lord (T.P. Alleluia).

READING I Pet 5,6-11

Dearly beloved, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you. Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you. To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

RESPONSORY

In the Easter season:

Hail, O Virgin, Mother of the Church. * Alleluia, alleluia. Hail…

Come to the aid of your children, who praise the Lord. Alleluia…

Glory be to the Father… Hail…

Outside the Easter season:

Mother of hope, the whole world implores your help. Mother…

Come to the aid of your children, O blessed Mother. The whole…

Glory be to the Father… Mother…

Magnificat ant. The hand of the Lord has strengthened you; and therefore you shall be blessed forever, alleluia.

Or:

_In dangers, difficulties and doubt, we invoke you as Help of Christians: with your support we cannot fall;

with you as guide, we shall not tire on the way; with your assistance we shall attain the goal of heaven, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS

Mary, Mother of Christ the Lord, is a shining light on the path of the people of God as a sign of sure hope and consolation. Let us bless God whose will it was that she should collaborate in the work of salvation, and let us pray:

Mary, help of Christians, intercede for us

God our Father, you made of Mary the new Eve, the woman clothed with the sun, conqueror of the serpent:

— give us courage and hope in our struggle against evil.

You made of Mary the new Judith, the liberator of her people, blessed among all women:

— help Christian people to preserve the faith in the midst of life’s trials.

You made of Mary the new Esther, the pious and beautiful queen, ready to intercede for the salvation of her people:

— guide the Church in overcoming every peril met with on her pilgrimage.

You made of Mary the defense of Christian people in perilous moments of her history:

— enlighten Peter’s successor and the Bishops in communion with him in surmounting every danger to Christian values.

You made of Mary the mystical spouse of the Holy Spirit, mother of your pilgrim people:

— sustain and render fruitful the educative work of the members of the Salesian Family.

You made of Mary, assumed into heaven, the Queen of angels and saints:

— may she intercede that our deceased confreres may enjoy the fullness of everlasting happiness.

Our Father

PRAYER

Lord our God, you chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother and help of Christians; by her prayers give to the Church the strength of your Spirit so that with patience and love its members may overcome every trial and share even now in the victory of Christ, your Son. He lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Compline

Night Prayer of Sunday. Outside the Easter Season

it is appropriate to use as the final antiphon

“Sub tuum praesidium”, or “0 Maria, Virgo potens”:

“O Maria, Virgo potens
Tu magnum et praeclarum in Ecciesia praesidium;
Tu singulare Auxilium Christianorum:
Tu terribilis Ut castrorum acies ordinata.
Tu cunctas haereses sola interemisti in universo mundo.
Tu in angustiis,
Tu in bello,
Tu in necessitatibus nos ab hoste protege,
atque in aeterna gaudia in mortis hora suscipe.”

INVITATORY

Ant. On the feast of Mary Help of Christians, let us sing to the Lord, alleluia.

Invitatory psalm as in the Ordinary.

Office of Readings

HYMN

Most glorious your light does shine,
O Princess of your race,
And highest is your only shrine
Midst heaven’s populace.
Of David’s line to you we sing,
0 Mary, with your Son, the King.

Maternity, virginity -
Most wondrously are met;
An arbour for your progeny
Within your womb is set.
And he whom in that womb you bore
Tis He whom creatures shall adore.

Give ear to all who search and plead
Like beggars in the dark;
For you alone are light indeed
By which their eyes might mark
The scatt’ring of the shade of night
Which shrouds your Son, your sole delight.

‘Tis He to whom it is but just
That ev’iy knee should bend;
To him alone this prayer we thrust
But beg your sway commend:
That be dispelled the gloom of night
And be infused the joys of light.

This do you grant, O God of light,
Both through your only Son
And with your Holy Spirit bright -
The Third of Three in One,
Who live with you in realms resplendent
And reign with you all time transcendent.

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant I Mary, you have received a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from the God of salvation (T.P. Alleluia).

Psalms from the Common of the Blessed Virgin.

Ant 2 God, our refuge and our strength, you have given us in Mary a helper in our trials (T.P. Alleluia).

Ant 3 Wonderful things are said of you, O Mother of all peoples (T.P. Alleluia).

In the Easter season:

The Almighty has done great things for me, alleluia.

— He has mercy on those who fear him, alleluia.

FIRST READING Rev 11,19a-12,17

From the Book of Revelation of St John, the apostle.

The majestic sign of the woman in the heavens

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth. She brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world — he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, 0 heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, 0 earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.

RESPONSORY cf. Rev 12,5.1

The woman brought forth a male child, who is to rule all the nations; and the child was caught up to God and to his throne. * Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, alleluia.

A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. * Thanks be to God…

Outside the Easter season:

Mary pondered in her heart

— The wonderful events of her Son.

FIRST READING Jud 13,11-14.16a-20; 15,8-10.12-14

The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!

Judith called out from afar to the watchmen at the gates, “Open, open the gate! God, our God, is still with us, to show his power in Israel, and his strength against our enemies, even as he has done this day!” When the men of her city heard her voice, they hurried down to the city gate and called together the elders of the city. They all ran together, both small and great, for it was unbelievable that she had returned; they opened the gate and admitted them, and they kindled a fire for light, and gathered around them. Then she said to them with a loud voice, “Praise God, 0 praise him! Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hand this very night!”

All the people were greatly astonished, and bowed down and worshipped God, and said with one accord, “Blessed art thou, our God, who hast brought into contempt this day the enemies of thy people.” And Uzziah said to her, “0 daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies. Your hope will never depart from the hearts of men, as they remember the power of God. May God grant this to be a perpetual honour to you, and may he visit you with blessings, because you did not spare your own life when our nation was brought low, but have avenged our ruin, walking in the straight path before our God.” And all the people said, “So be it, so be it!”

Then Joakim the high priest, and the senate of the people of Israel who lived at Jerusalem, came to witness the good things which the Lord had done for Israel, and to see Judith and to greet her. And when they met her they all blessed her with one accord and said to her, “You are the exaltation of Jerusalem, you are the great glory of Israel, you are the great pride of our nation! You have done all this singlehanded; you have done great good to Israel, and God is well pleased with it. May the Almighty Lord bless you for ever!” And all the people said, “So be it!”

Then all the women of Israel gathered to see her, and blessed her, and some of them performed a dance for her; and she took branches in her hands and gave them to the women who were with her; And they crowned themselves with olive wreaths, she and those, who were with her; and she went before all the people in the dance, leading all the women, while all the men of Israel followed, bearing their arms and wearing garlands and with songs on their lips.

Then Judith began this thanksgiving before all Israel, and all the people loudly sang this song of praise:

RESPONSORY Jud 16,1.13-14

Sing to my God with tambourines, sing to my Lord with cymbals; raise to him a new psalm; * exalt him, and call upon his name.

I will sing to my God a new song: 0 Lord, thou art great and glorious, wonderful in strength, invincible. Exalt him…

Let all thy creatures serve thee, for thou didst speak, and they were made; thou didst send forth thy Spirit, and it formed them; there is none that can resist thy voice.

Exalt him…

SECOND READING

From the Regulations of the Association of the Clients of Mary Help of Christians, written by St John Bosco

(Opere edite, 21, Rome 1976, 343-347)

Mary Help of Christians

The title of Help of Christians, attributed to the august Mother of the Savior, is not something new. In the holy books themselves Mary is spoken of as the Queen who stands at the right hand of her Divine Son, clothed in gold and surrounded with variety. This golden vesture and radiant surroundings, according to the spirit of the Church, are so many gems and diamonds, or titles, we are accustomed to use in addressing Mary. And so when we call the holy Virgin “Help of Christians”, we are only using a special title which befits her, as one of the diamonds on her golden garment. In this sense Mary has been greeted as the Help of the human race from the earliest ages of the world when Adam, after falling into sin, was promised a liberator, to be born of a woman, who would crush the head of the insidious serpent by her sinless foot.

This great Woman, indeed, is symbolized in the tree of life which existed in the earthly paradise; in the ark of Noah which saved the adorers of the true God from the universal deluge; in Jacob’s ladder which reached up to heaven; in Moses’ bush which burned but was not consumed, and which is an allusion to Mary who remained a virgin after childbirth; in the ark of the covenant; in the tower of David which resisted all assaults; in the rose of Jericho; in the sealed fountain; in the garden, well cultivated and guarded by Solomon, she is symbolized in an outpouring of blessings; in Gideon’s fleece. Elsewhere she is called the star of Jacob, splendid as the moon, noble as the sun, rainbow of peace, pupil of God’s eye, rising dawn of consolations, Virgin and Mother of her Lord. These symbols and expressions which the Church applies to Mary manifest the providential designs of God, which he willed to make known even before her birth, as the firstborn of all creatures, the most excellent protectress, help and support and even redresser of the evils to which the human race is subject.

In the New Testament it is not only with symbols and prophecies that she is referred to as the helper of mankind in general, but she is also called the help, the support and defense of Christians; and this no longer in figures, no longer in symbolic expressions; in the Gospel everything is reality and fulfillment of the past. Mary is greeted by the archangel Gabriel who calls her ‘full of grace’. God gazes upon the surpassing humility of Mary and raises her to the dignity of Mother of the Eternal Word. Jesus, the immense unfathomed God, becomes the Son of Mary. Of her he is born; by her he is educated and fostered, the Eternal Word made flesh obedient in all things to his noble Mother. At her request he works his first miracle at Cana in Galilee; on Calvary she was constituted the Mother of all Christians. The Apostles took her as their guide and teacher of virtue. With her they gathered in the Cenacle to pray; with her they awaited in recollection the coming of the Holy Spirit. To the Apostles she addressed her last words before her glorious flight to heaven.

And from the height of her throne of glory she turns her motherly gaze on mankind, saying: From this highest and glorious throne I enrich with blessings those who love me and enhance with heavenly favors their treasuries of grace. And hence there began from the time of her Assumption into heaven the constant and uninterrupted convergence of Christians on Mary, nor has it ever been said — as St Bernard tells us — that anyone ever had trusting recourse to this loving Mother and was left forsaken. This is why every century, every year, every day, and we may say every moment in history has been marked by some great favor granted to those who have invoked her with faith. This too is the reason why every kingdom, every city and town, every family has a church, a chapel, an altar, a statue, a picture or some other sign which calls to mind the universal veneration for Mary, and at the same time recalls some of the many graces granted to those who have had recourse to her in life’s necessities.

RESPONSORY Ps 34,3;Lk 1,48; Ps 66,16

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! * For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. Behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;

Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. For he has…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the writings of Saint John Bosco, priest

(Meraviglie della Madre di Dio invocata sotto il titolo di Maria Ausiliatrice, Torino 1868, c. Ii et praef., pp. 25-28 et 5-8)

Mary has been constituted by God as the Help of Christians

When the Blessed Virgin Mary came to visit her, Saint Elizabeth was so filled with the Holy Spirit, that she was inspired to prophesy: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

With these words the Holy Spirit through the lips of Elizabeth extolled Mary as blessed and favored by God and chosen by him to bring to men the blessing which was lost in Eve and for which mankind has been yearning for so many centuries.

To the congratulations of her kinswoman Mary, also inspired by God, replied: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord… For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed.”

Now, in order that Mary’s glory might be extended to all generations, so that all might call her blessed, it was necessary that Mary should bestow upon every generation an extraordinary and lasting benefit, so that the reason for gratitude and praise might be ever present. This continuous and marvelous benefit is none other than the help that Mary gives to men - a help that is extended to all ages, places, and people.

The title of “Help of Christians”, attributed to the august Mother of the Redeemer is not new in the Church of Christ, but in these latter times it has been proclaimed of the Blessed Virgin Mary for a special reason. Not only for private favors is Mary being invoked, but especially because of the serious and imminent dangers that threaten the faithful. Today the Catholic Church itself is attacked in its mission, in its institutions, in its head, in its doctrine, in its discipline. It is attacked as the Catholic Church, the pillar of truth and the teacher of all the faithful.

And it is precisely to obtain the special protection of heaven that we have recourse to Mary as the Mother of us all, the special helper of Catholics throughout the world and of their leaders.

Hence we can truly say that Mary has been constituted by God as the Help of Christians and that in times of crisis she has shown herself to be the helper especially of those who suffer and fight for the faith.

May the Blessed Virgin help us to be faithful to the teachings and the faith, of which the Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, is the head, and obtain for us the grace of persevering in serving God on this earth, so as to join her one day in the kingdom of heavenly glory.

RESPONSORY Lk 1,48-49; Ps 18,33

All generations shall call me blessed because he who is mighty has done great things for me. * And holy is his name (T.P. AlleIuia).

God girded me with strength and set me on the heights. And holy…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the Apostolic Exhortation “Marialis cultus” of Paul VI.

Christ is the only way to the Father, and the ultimate example to whom the disciple must conform his own conduct, to the extent of sharing Christ’s sentiments, living his life and possessing his Spirit. The Church has always taught this and nothing in pastoral activity should obscure this doctrine. But the Church, taught by the Holy Spirit and benefiting from centuries of experience, recognizes that devotion to the Blessed Virgin, subordinated to worship of the divine Savior and in connect ion with it, also has a great pastoral effectiveness and constitutes a force for renewing Christian living.

The Blessed Virgin’s exemplary holiness encourages the faithful to “raise their eyes to Mary who shines forth before the whole community of the elect as a model of the virtues” (cf. Lumen gentium 65). It is a question of solid, evangelical virtues: faith and the docile acceptance of the Word of God; generous obedience; genuine humility; solicitous charity; profound wisdom; worship of God manifested in alacrity in the fulfillment of religious duties, in gratitude for gifts received, in her offering in the Temple and in her prayer in the, midst of the apostolic community; her fortitude in exile and in suffering; her poverty reflecting dignity and trust in God; her attentive care for her Son, from his humble birth to the ignominy of the Cross; her delicate forethought; her virginal purity; her strong and chaste married love. These virtues of the Mother will also adorn her children who steadfastly study her example in order to reflect it in their own lives. And this progress in virtue will appear as the consequence and the already mature fruit of that pastoral zeal which springs from devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

The Catholic Church, endowed with centuries of experience, recognizes in devotion to the Blessed Virgin a powerful aid for man as he strives for fulfillment. Mars the New Woman, stands at the side of Christ, the New Man, within whose mystery the mystery of man alone finds true light (cf. Gaudium et spes 2); she is give n to us as a pledge and guarantee that God’s Plan in Christ for the salvation of the whole man has already achieved realization in a creature, in her. Contemplated in the episodes of the Gospels and in the reality which she already possesses in the City of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary offers a calm vision and a reassuring word to modern man, torn as he often is between anguish and hope, defeated by the sense of his own limitations and assailed by limitless aspirations, troubled in his mind and divided in his heart, uncertain before the riddle of death, oppressed by loneliness while yearning for fellowship, a prey to boredom and disgust. She shows forth the victory of hope over anguish, of fellowship over solitude, of peace over anxiety, of joy and beauty over boredom and disgust, of eternal visions over earthly ones, of life over death.

RESPONSORY cf. Lk 1,42

We sing your praises, holy Virgin Mary. * Him whom the heavens cannot contain you have carried in your womb (T.P. AlIeluia).

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! * Him whom…

TE DEUM

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Vigil Celebration

Those who desire a prolonged vigil liturgy after the recital

of the Office of Readings and before the Te Deum may add

the canticles and Gospel readings indicated below.

Ant. Bless the Lord in all his works: he has clothed Mary with the garments of salvation and wrapped her in the mantle of justice (T.P. Alleluia).

Canticle 1. Is 61,10 - 62,3: The prophet rejoices over the new Jerusalem. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev 21,2).

Canticle 2. Is 62,4-7: The glory of the new Jerusalem. Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people (Rev 2 1,3).

Canticle 3. Sir 39,13-16a. How great are your works, 0 Lord! Thanks be to God, who through us spreads in all the world the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 2,14).

GOSPEL

One of the following Gospel extracts is read:

Mt 12,46-50: Here are my mother and my brothers!

Lk 1,26-38: You will conceive in your womb and bear a son.

Lk 1,39-47: Blessed is she who believed.

Lk 11,27-28: Blessed is the womb that bore you.

Jn 2,1-11: His mother said: Do whatever he tells you.

Jn 19,25-27: Behold your son! Behold your mother!

If it be thought opportune a homily may be given.

Te Deum

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

HYMN

Mary immaculate, star of the morning,
Chosen before the creation began,
Chosen to bring for they bridal adorning,
Woe to the serpent and rescue to man.

Here, in an orbit of shadow and sadness,
Veiling thy splendour, thy course thou hast run;
Now thou are throned in all glory and gladness,
Crowned by the hand of thy Saviour and Son.

Sinners, we worship thy sinless perfection;
Fallen and weak, for thy pity we plead;
Grant us the shield of thy sovereign protection,
Measure thine aid by the depth of our need.

Bend from the throne at the voice of our crying,
Bend to this earth which thy footsteps have trod;
Stretch out thins arms to us, living and dying,
Mary immaculate, Mother of God.

Or:

O quam glonfica luce coruscas,
stirpis davidicae regia proles,
sublimis residens, Virgo Maria,
supra caeligenas aethens omnes.

Tu cum virgineo Mater honore,
angelorum Domino pectons aulam
sacris visceribus casta parasti;
natus hinc Deus est corpore Christus.

Cunctis auxilium praebe, tuorum
audi vota, graves solve catenas;
nostras, tu nova lux, discute noctes,
da, quo tu frueris, cernere Natum.

Quem cunctus venerans orbis adorat,
cui nunc rite genu flectitur omne;
a quo, te, petimus, subveniente,
abiectis tenebris, gaudia lucis.

Hoc largire, Pater luminis omnis,
Natum per proprium, Flamine sacro;
qui tecum nitida vivit in aethra,
regnans ac moderans saecula cuncta.
Amen.

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant I My song and my strength is the Lord: for me he is both health and salvation, alleluia.

Psalms and canticle from Sunday, Week 1.

Ant 2 Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary. Among all the women of the earth, alleluia.

Ant 3 We praise you, Lord, for your wonderful works; we praise you for Mary’s help, alleluia.

In the Easter season:

READING Rev 12,10-12a.17

I John heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, 0 heaven and you that dwell therein!

Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.

RESPONSORY

Virgin Mary, you have given birth to the light of the world, * Alleluia, alleluia. Virgin Mary…

Helped by your prayer, we praise the Lord: Alleluia, allelula.

Glory be to the Father… Virgin Mary…

Outside the Easter season:

READING Jud 13,18-20

Blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies. Your hope will never depart from the hearts of men, as they remember the power of God. May God grant this to be a perpetual honor to you, and may he visit you with blessings, because you did not spare your own life when our nation was brought low, but have avenged our ruin, walking in the straight path before our God.

RESPONSORY

O loving Mother of Christ, O worker of wonders. O loving Mother…

You are our hope; to you we fly for help. O worker…

Glory be to the Father… O loving Mother…

Benedictus ant. O Mary, you rise like the dawn, alleluia; and bear the new sun, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS

At the beginning of this new day let us give thanks with Mary Help of Christians to our God and Savior, and let us say:

We hope in you, O Son of Mary

Jesus, sun of justice, you were born of Mars star of the morning:

— grant that we may walk today in your light, so that evening may find us worthy of your benevolent gaze.

Christ our Savior, in your Immaculate Mother you have symbolized the beginning of the Church:

— grant that we may tend with all our strength to justice and holiness.

Christ Jesus, consolation of those who entrust themselves to you:

— help us through the example of your Mother to carry the crosses we encounter on life’s pilgrimage.

Son of David, you enlighten us through your Mother’s eloquent silence on Calvary:

— help us to understand and help those who are suffering.

Christ our Lord, through the mystery of your death and resurrection you free mankind from evil:

— grant that young people may overcome the many forms of slavery that exist in our times.

Our Father

PRAYER

Lord our God, you chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother and help of Christians; by her prayers give to the Church the strength of your Spirit so that with patience and love its members may overcome every trial and share even now in the victory of Christ, your Son. He lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Prayer during the Day

HYMN

Mary, crowned with living light,
Temple of the Lord,
Place of peace and holiness,
Shelter of the Word.

Mystery of sinless life
in our fallen race,
Free from shadow you reflect Plenitude of grace.
Virgin Mother of our God,

Lift us when we fall,
Who were named upon the Cross
Mother of us all.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost,

Heaven sings your praise;
Mary magnifies your name
Through eternal days.

(© 1974, Stanbrook Abbey)

Or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Complementary psalms: Ps 121 may be replaced by

Ps 128, and Ps 126 by Ps 130.

If the Solemnity falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time,

the psalms are as on Sunday of Week 1.

Midmorning

Ant. He who is Almighty has done great things in me: Holy is his name (T.P. Alleluia).

READING Rev 12,1

A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

You are the Mother of our Lord and Savior (T.P. Alleluia).

— The honour of the Church and help in difficulties (T.P. AlleIuia).

Midday

Ant. With the power of your arm you have put the proud to flight, you have exalted the humble (T.P. Alleluia).

READING Rev 21,3

Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them;

Hail, holy Mother; hail, glory of the world (T.P. Alleluia).

— Intercede for us with your Son (T.R Alleluia).

Mid-afternoon

Ant. The Lord comes to the aid of his faithful ones, remembering his mercy (T.P. Alleluia).

READING Rev 12,17

The dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.

Mary, fountain of grace and mother of forgiveness (T.P. Alleluia).

— Protect us from the evil one and receive us at the hour of our death (T.P. AlIeluia).

Evening Prayer II

HYMN

Attentive Virgin Mother, it never has been known
that anyone who loved you was ever left alone.
Inspired by your goodness we ask for help and pray
to know your Son incarnate, the only perfect way.

Attentive Virgin Mother, protect the Church of God,
provide her with apostles to spread the faith abroad.
Obtain for youth the wisdom to build on Christ the Lord,
with freedom of the spirit to seek the will of God.

Attentive Virgin Mother, our Model and our Sign,
your faith and love at Cana proved Jesus’ power divine.
True Mother of the living, receive this humble pray’r:
Make Life the choice and glory of fam’lies everywhere.

(R.McShane FMA)

Or:

O sanctissima, O piissima,
Dulcis virgo Maria!
Mater amata, intemerata,
Ora, ora pro nobis.

Tu solacium et refugium,
Virgo, mater Maria!
Quidquid optamus, per te speramus;
Ora, ora pro nobis.

Ecce debiles, perquam flebiles,
Salva nos, 0 Maria!
Tolle languores, sana dolores,
Ora, ora pro nobis.

Virgo respice, Mater, adspice,
Audi nos, 0 Maria.
Tu medicinam portas divinam,
Ora, ora pro nobis.

Tua gaudia et suspiria
luvent nos, 0 Maria!
In te speramus, ad te clamamus,
Ora, ora pro nobis.

Or the hymn Ave maris stella or another suitable hymn approved by ecclesiastical authority.

Ant 1 The joy of the Lord is with you, Mary: obtain for us benevolence and peace (TP. Afleluia)

Psalms and canticle from the Common of the Virgin Mary.

Ant 2 Mary, Mother of the Church, Keep us with the love you have for your people (T.P. Alleluia).

Ant 3 Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb (T.P. Alleluia)

READING Rom 8,28-32.37

Brothers, we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

RESPONSORY

In the Easter season:

You are blessed, O Mary. * Alleluia, alleluia. You are blessed…

Through you the world has received salvation. Alleluia, alleluia.

Glory be to the Father… You are blessed…

Outside the Easter season:

Queen of the world, * Sovereign of the heavens. Queen…

Pray for the salvation of Christian people: Sovereign…

Glory be to the Father… Queen…

Magnificat ant. To you we have recourse in our trials, O Mother of God: through you we receive help from the Lord (T.P. Alleluia)

INTERCESSION

Let us give thanks to God our Father who in the Virgin Mary has given us the image and beginning of the Church, and let us pray:

Lord, renew us in your Spirit

Father, you willed that Mary should be present in the Cenacle in the midst of the apostles:

— assist with your Holy Spirit, the Pope, bishops and priests, that they may be sure guides for the Church in the ways of the world.

You willed that Mary be present in the first steps of the Church’s work of evangelization:

— bless the missionaries and all those who work for the extension of your Kingdom.

You willed that Mary should be at the side of Elizabeth, and with the young married couple at Cana:

— make us solicitous and attentive to those who are in need, or lonely or suffering.

You willed that Mary should be, with Joseph, the educator of your Son:

— sustain the entire Salesian Family in its work of the human and Christian advancement of the young, and especially of those who are poor and abandoned.

You made Mary resplendent as a sign of consolation and sure hope for your Church:

— receive into the glory of your Kingdom the dead who have believed and hoped in you.

Our Father

PRAYER

Lord our God, you chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother and help of Christians; by her prayers give to the Church the strength of your Spirit so that with patience and love its members may overcome every trial and share even now in the victory of Christ, your Son. He lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Compline

Night Prayer of Sunday. Outside the Easter Season it is

appropriate to use as the final antiphon

“Sub tuum praesidium”, or “O Maria, Virgo potens”:

“O Maria, Virgo potens
Tu magnum et praeclarum in Ecclesia praesidium;
Tu singulare Auxilium Christianorum:
Tu terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.
Tu cunctas haereses sola interemisti in universo mundo.
Tu in angustiis,
Tu in bello,
Tu in necessitatibus nos ab hoste protege,
atque in aeterna gaudia in mortis hora suscipe.”

23 June

SAINT JOSEPH CAFASSO

priest

Memorial

Joseph Cafasso, a fellow citizen of Don Bosco, was born at Castelnuovo d’Asti on 15 January 1811. After his priestly ordination in 1833, he entered the Ecclesiastical College of Turin where he remained for the rest of his life. He comb ined the work of the teaching of moral theology and the formation of priests with the ministry of the confessional and the service of pastoral charity to the poor, and particularly to prisoners and those condemned to death. He was of great material and spiritual help to Don Bosco at the beg inning of the latter’s priestly work, and was his spiritual guide from 1841 to 1860, supporting and defending him by his moral authority. He died on 23 June 1860 at the age of 49. At his funeral Don Bosco described him as a model of priestly life, teacher of the clergy outstanding counsellor, consoler of the sick, comforter of the dying and friend of everyone. Pius XII declared him a saint on 23 June 1947.

From the Common of Saints: for a saint who worked for the underprivileged; or from the Common of Pastors. Psalms of the day as in the Ordinary.

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From “Meditations for Clergy Retreats” by St Joseph Cafasso.

The virtues of the priest

A spirit of patience, poverty, humility, love of recollection, of work, of religious practices - these are the necessary virtues and indispensable qualities for the priest. But more is needed in spirit, virtues and other works for a true minister of God who, as the light of the world and the salt of the earth, is destined to enlighten and sanctify souls.

If he wants to be like the divine Redeemer, if he wants to do good in the evangelical field, the priest must be a man of prayer. He has no need to look for other teachers: the good workers who became outstanding in this science were all pupils at the same school, all of them copied from this divine Teacher.

The apostolic man needs to have fixed times for prayer. If we do not follow this teaching we shall no longer be copies of this model but only mere human material lacking soul and spirit, apostles in no more than name, clanging cymbals (cf. 1 Cor 13,1) and nothing more. Furthermore, we must keep our heart directed towards God during the day, before starting any work in the exercise of our ministry, before and after doing anything. Our heart should move frequently towards God, keeping the road open for the preservation of a continual relationship with him; so that when we have some need, or find ourselves in some danger and in need of light, we can go to him at once, talk to him and seek explanation. This is what prayer means, and anyone who does it can be called a man of prayer.

By gentleness we shall make ourselves dear to others and win hearts on earth. The divine Redeemer made himself a model, the most perfect model, even to the extent of saying: “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11,29). Of him it is written that “he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed” (Acts 10,38). Be gentle therefore with everyone; be particularly so with those who least deserve it or who behave badly towards you: this is the very best thing for you to do. If the divine Redeemer showed any preferences in this matter it was always towards sinners, to such an extent that his enemies called him a sinner and friend of sinners (cf. Lk 11,2; Jn 9,24). We are not to be the friend of their disorders, but show them friendship so as to convert them and win them over. Let us gain for ourselves the consolation of having treated others with kindness and charity, of implanting in them the seeds of hope and salvation as they recall the memory of a person who treated them with sympathy and understanding.

The apostolic man has no aim in life but the glory of God and the salvation of souls. This is the teaching left us by the divine Master: “I do not seek my own glory… I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (Jn 8,50; 6,38). This integrity and purity of intention has always been the mark of apostolic men. Working with such purity of intention, the priest almost never notices the burden of his labors, because working for God is rather a joy than a hardship. God alone and nothing else.

RESPONSORY cf. Phil 4,8.9; 1 Cor 16,13

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, think about these things: * and the God of peace will be with you.

Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong: and the God…

Or:

SECOND READING

From “Meditations for Clergy Retreats” by St Joseph Cafasso.

The priest and love

We were born to love, we live to love, we shall die to love still more. That, my dear brothers, is our purpose here below; that, we hope, will be our future and eternal destiny.

“Blessed is he”, says St Augustine, “who has learned this science of loving”. “You are fortunate”, said a good layman to the great doctor St Bonaventure, “you are happy indeed to have learned and to know so many things!”. “Ah, my son,” replied the Saint, “do not be envious of my knowledge; a poor old woman who knows how to love God, knows just as much as Brother Bonaventure”.

This reply caused astonishment and admiration in the simple soul of the layman, and it can provide us too with matter for reflection and confusion. We may think that we know something of this world; and after so many years of study we may get the idea that it is degrading to deal with people who may be rude and uncouth, and even feel pity for their ignorance; and yet, if they love God they know as much as we do, and even more than we do.

Is it not true that among such people there are sometimes souls full of zeal, full of love, while our own, with all our knowledge behind us, can be cold and frigid? What value is all our knowledge, if the first and main thing is missing: knowing how to love God? What a great treasure it is for a family or an area to have a priest who loves, who lives, who is on fire with charity! What a wealth of good can be expected from his ministry!

Oh, how genial it is”, St Augustine used to say, “to speak of love, but how much more genial it is to practice it!” God grant that today we may become inflamed with this heavenly fire, so that we may begin here on earth, in this vale of tears, the way of love that we hope will one day be yours and mine for ever in heaven!

RESPONSORY cf. 2 Cor 5,18; Rom 8,32

God has reconciled us to himself through Christ; * and entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation:

He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, and entrusted…

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

Benedictus ant. In his loving mercy God has made you a minister of reconciliation in Christ.

Or:

Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

INTERCESSIONS

United in the prayer of praise with St Joseph Cafasso and all the saints, let us say:

God our Father, be mindful of your Church

Father, you call us to be holy as you are holy:

— pour out your Spirit upon the Church, so that it may glorify you by its holiness.

You have reconciled us through the death and resurrection of your Son:

— enlighten all spiritual guides and those you have constituted ministers of reconciliation.

Father, you want us to share the banquet of the new covenant:

— grant that we grow in love around the table of your word and the bread of life.

You promised the Kingdom of heaven to those who recognize your Son in the poor, the suffering, and the outcasts:

— help us to build a more fraternal world by welcoming those sorely tried in body and spirit.

You gave to St John Bosco a friend and sure guide in the person of St Joseph Cafasso:

— help every educator to guide others to Christ through the pedagogy of kindness.

Our Father

PRAYER

O God, Father of infinite goodness, you endowed your priest, Saint Joseph Cafasso, with outstanding gifts of charity and wisdom to train according to Gospel principles ministers of the word and reconciliation; grant to us, through his intercession, a sense of brotherly compass ion, so that we may walk in holiness and justice all the days of our life. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who is God, and lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.

In the evening, Evening Prayer of the Solemnity of St John the Baptist.

24 October

BLESSED ALOYSIUS GUANELLA

priest

Aloysius Guanella was born at Campodolcino, Italy, on 19 December 1842, the ninth of thirteen children. He was ordained priest in 1866, and worked for some years as a parish priest, showing a particular love for the poor and solicitude for fostering among the faithful a profoundly Christian life and promoting numerous social initiatives. From 1875 he spent three years with Don Bosco helping him in his work, and then returned to his native diocese of Como in obedience to his Bishop. Various events, trials and difficulties led him towards the poorest of the poor, for whom he opened refuges and schools. He founded the Servants of Charity and the Daughters of Our Lady of Providence. He died at Como on 24 October 1915, and was beatified by Paul VI on 25 October 1964.

From the Common of Men Saints: those who worked for the underprivileged.

Psalms of the day as in the Ordinary.

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From the “Regulations of the Servants of Charity”, of Blessed Aloysius Guanella, priest.

Exhortations to charity and to trust in Providence

No Christian can be satisfied with thinking of and providing for himself alone, but must think and provide for the good of others, and among the latter those most in need of corporal and spiritual help.

It follows that the Servants of Charity must always keep well in mind the common desire and duty of coming to the help in body and spirit of those who are, in fact, close relatives, their own brothers and sisters, all of them children in the family of the heavenly Father.

We must “bring everything together under Christ” (Eph 1,10). In order to do this for both persons and works, we must fulfil the desire of the divine Heart of Jesus who appears in the form of burning flames and cries out to us: “1 came to cast the fire of charity upon the earth; and my only wish is that such a fire be kindled in the hearts of men!” (cf. Lk 12,49).

Oh, may the fire of divine Charity come like a holy flame! May the Lord send the spirit of his divine love, and the world will be renewed!

Furthermore to live in real poverty and trust oneself to divine Providence is a virtue of lofty perfection. Divine Providence is the natural and dearest mother of her children.

Our work was begun and has grown with the visible help of a Providence which will never fail, provided it be not diverted by the spirit we bring to our efforts.

The same God who clothes the lilies of the field in a vesture more splendid than that of Solomon, will never allow anything to be wanting to those who work solely for him and for the greater glory of his Name.

We must therefore revive our faith and be convinced that no good can be done except by climbing the laborious road to Calvary with the firm confidence that the Lord has never failed those who trust in him, that the bread that comes from the hand of the provident Lord is always pleasant, especially when it has cost the sweat of hard work.

The good Servants of Charity, who throughout the years and many times every day have come in faith to the help of the poor, these same good men who during their lives never say ‘enough’ in works of charity and sacrifice, will ascend on high with Jesus and possess the kingdom which the Lord in his infinite goodness has prepared for them from the beginning of creation. What a reward! What a triumph!

RESPONSORY Mt 25,35.40; Prov 19,17

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. * Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.

He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord. Truly, …

Or:

SECOND READING

From the “Commentary on St John’s Letter to the Parthians” of Saint Augustine.

Nothing is more delectable than charity

“No one has ever seen God” (1 Jn 14,12). God is invisible; he must be sought not with the eyes but with the heart. If we wanted to see the sun, we would remove the impediments to our bodily eyes so that we could see the light; similarly if we want to see God we must cleanse the eye by which God can be seen. Where is this eye to be found? Listen to what the Gospel says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5,8). No one can form an idea of God by following the judgment of his eyes alone. Such a one would get the impression of an immensely great form, or something immeasurably great stretching out into space, like the light which strikes our eyes and which he stretches out as far as he can towards infinity; or maybe he would form am idea of God as an old man of venerable appearance. You should put all such ideas aside. God himself gives you the correct idea in the words of St John: “God is love” (1 Jn 4,16). What kind of countenance does love have? What form or stature does it have? What are its feet and hands like? No one can say. And yet it has feet, which lead to the Church; it has hands, which give to the poor; it has eyes, through which we come to know those in need; the psalmist says: “Blessed is he who thinks of the poor and needy” (Ps 41,1). Love has ears, of which the Lord speaks: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Lk 8,8). These different members are not found separated in different places, but the one who loves sees everything in the mind and simultaneously.

You, therefore, live in love and love will live in you; stay with it, and it will stay in you. Is it possible, brothers, to love something you cannot see? If not, when you extol love and charity, why do you rise to your feet, why do you cry out in praise? What have I shown you? Have I shown you something painful? Have I put gold and silver before you? Have I shown you precious stones taken from some treasury? What great thing have I put before your eyes? Has my countenance changed as I speak to you? I am here in flesh and bone as I was when I came in; you too are in the same form as when you arrived. And yet you praise charity and break out into exclamations. Certainly your eyes see nothing. But just as it pleases you when you sing the praises of love, so you like to keep it in your heart.

Understand, brothers, what I am trying to tell you: I exhort you, to the extent that God so wills, to procure for yourselves a great treasure. If you were shown a casket of gold, artistically chiseled, would it not attract your eyes and excite a craving for it in your heart? Would not the artist’s skill and the weight and splendor of the metal delight you to the extent of saying to yourself: “Oh, if only that casket were mine!”? But it would be useless to say that, because there would be no possibility of you getting it. Or maybe you would want it so much that you might even think of stealing it from someone else’s house. You have heard great praises of love: if you are attracted to it, take it and possess it. You do not have to steal it from anyone; you do not need to think about buying it. It is free. Hold on to it; embrace it. Nothing is more delectable. And if it is judged to be so precious from even its description in words, imagine how more priceless still will be its actual possession.

RESPONSORY 1 Jn 3,11

This is the message which you have heard from the beginning: * that we should love one another.

The whole of the law is expressed in this single command: that we should…

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

Benedictus ant. By this will all men know that you are my disciples: if you have love one for another.

INTERCESSIONS

Let us give thanks to God our Father, who in his love has chosen us in Christ to live in holiness and just ice every day of our lives; and let us say with faith:

God our Father, hear our prayer

Merciful Father, in Aloysius Guanella you have given us a model of complete dedication to your divine plan:

— guide and strengthen us by his example and intercession.

In Blessed Aloysius we see assiduous prayer combined with a deep interior life:

— help us to make of our own lives a spiritual sacrifice pleasing in your sight.

At the school of St John Bosco he brought to perfection his ideal of dedication to poor and abandoned youth:

— grant that we may carry out our own mission to the young with generous charity.

Father, in every time and season you give new energy to your Church:

— strengthen our fidelity and raise up many workers for the spreading of your Kingdom.

You who clothe the lilies of the field and feed the birds of the air:

— remember those who have placed all their trust in your Providence.

Our Father

O God, good and provident Father, you have made your priest, Blessed Aloysius Guanella, resplendent in your Church through his outstanding love for the poor and abandoned; grant that we too may live in intense love every day of our lives. 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.

Evening Prayer

*Magnificat ant. Let us not grow weary in doing good; let us do good to all, and in due time we shall reap the harvest.

INTERCESSIONS

To God our Father, the inexhaustible source of holiness and grace, let us present our supplications with filial hearts.

God of all goodness, hear our prayer

Father, in Blessed Aloysius Guanella we contemplate a sign of your loving kindness to the suffering, the emarginated and the abandoned:

— Grant that we may approach with the same dedication every individual who is suffering in body and spirit.

Blessed Aloysius took upon himself the needs and problems of his time:

— grant that we may imitate his generosity and spirit of sacrifice in welcoming our exiled brethren who lack both work and habitation.

His life was resplendent for the practice of poverty, mortification and humility:

— through his intercession, help us to accept with faith our daily trials.

You raised up Blessed Aloysius as a good Samaritan to bind up many wounds:

— bless the Family he founded, grant increase to his works, multiply the number of his followers.

To the faithful departed who dedicated all their work to the service of their neighbor:

— grant the reward promised by your Son to the good and faithful servant.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

25 October

ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF A PARTICULAR CHURCH

Solemnity

The anniversary is celebrated on this day in those churches of
which the actual date of dedication is not known;
in other churches it is celebrated on the day itself.

From the Common of the Dedication of a Church.

29 October

BLESSED MICHAEL RUA

priest

Memorial

Michael Rua was born at Turin on 9 June 1837. While still a child he met Don Bosco who with a symbolic gesture foretold that they would ‘go halves’ together in their future life. In 1855 he made his first vows; while still a subdeacon he was chosen as spiritual director of the recently founded Congregation. When he became Don Bosco’s successor in 1888 it seemed that he had indeed ‘gone halves’ with him in everything. He displayed a creative fidelity to the apostolic aspirations and initiatives of the Founder; he reflected the same attractive fatherliness; he developed the Founder’s works and continued his apostolic ardor in favor of the young, adapting the works to changing social situations. During the 22 years he was Rector Major he made numerous journeys to support and consolidate the work of the confreres, whom he frequently encouraged by both circular and personal letters which constitute an authoritative interpretation of the spirit of the Founder. He died at Turin on 6 April 1910, and was beatified by Paul VI on 29 October 1972.

From the Common of Pastors or from the Common of Men Saints,

for religious, with psalms of the day as in the psalter.

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From a circular letter of Blessed Michael Rua, 29 November 1899

The practice of obedience and sacrifice

Among all the virtues the one most difficult for human nature is obedience. To have to renounce one’s own will and judgment, to have to depend on others not only as regards action but also in thinking and judging — in things great and small and even in what concerns the salvation of the soul — are things much harder to bear than the practice of the most severe penances. Obedience strikes at man in his most intimate being, i.e. in his free will. But obedience cannot be disjoined from the spirit of sacrifice, which is that virtue by which when circumstances are most difficult a religious does not give way to imagination or feelings or first reactions but, in the light of reason strengthened by faith, comes to realize that whatever unpleasant things may happen to him will redound to his spiritual advantage. One who has the good fortune to possess the spirit of sacrifice, far from being downcast and complaining, even amid the most painful suffering, suppresses in his heart any natural repugnance and looks up to heaven with generous resignation saying: Lord, if this is how you want it, your will be done.

On this virtue is founded the beatitude of suffering which Jesus Christ made known to the world; and this was the path our Founder trod. His life could be described as a continual sacrifice, to such an extent that without a spirit of self-abnegation we could not call ourselves his sons. Furthermore, without sacrifice one could not hope to do good to the young, because at every step one would become impatient, angry or discouraged. It would be impossible to tolerate the defects of confreres or to obey Superiors. Without a spirit of sacrifice one would not have the strength to practice poverty, would run the risk of shipwreck as regards chastity, and would render perseverance in vocation very doubtful. Every morning in our prayer of consecration to Mary most Holy we ask that, as far as possible, by our words and conduct and good example we may be living representations of Jesus. But when is it, my dear sons, that we are most similar to the Divine Savior, when it is it that we represent him most closely in the eyes of those whose souls we have to save? It is especially when through our status as religious, through our priestly ministry, we have something to suffer. When we come to die, it will not be the pleasures we enjoyed, the honors we received, the riches we acquired that will be our consolation, but rather what we did through the sacrifices we suffered for Jesus.

RESPONSORY cf. Eph 4,1.3.4; Rom 15,5.6

Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. * There is one hope that belongs to your call. May God grant you to live in such harmony with one another, that together you may with one voice glorify God. There is…

Or:

SECOND READING

From a homily of Pope Paul VI, 29 October 1972.

Son, disciple, imitator

Let us meditate for a moment, on the characteristic aspect of Don Rua, the aspect which defines him, and which with one look tells us everything and makes us understand.

Who is Don Rua? He is the first successor of Don Bosco, the holy Founder of the Salesians. And why is Don Rua now beatified, that is, glorified? He is beatified and glorified precisely because he is his successor, that is, continuer: son, disciple, imitator. He made the example of the Saint a school, and his personal work an institution extended, it may be said, all over the earth. He made his life a history his rule a spirit, his holiness a type, a model. He made the spring a stream, a river. The marvelous fruitfulness of the Salesian family, one of the greatest and most significant phenomena of the perennial vitality of the Church in the last century and in ours, had in Don Bosco its origin, in Don Rua its continuation. It was this follower of his that from the humble beginnings at Valdocco served the Salesian work in its expansion, realized the felicity of the formula, developed it according to the letter, but with ever inspired newness. Don Rua was the most faithful, therefore the most humble and at the same time the most valiant of the sons of Don Bosco.

What does Don Rua teach us? How was he able to rise to the glory of paradise and to the exaltation that the Church gives to him today? Just by teaching us to be continuers; that is, followers, pupils, teachers, if you like, provided we are disciples of a higher Teacher. Let us amplify the lesson that we receive from him: he teaches the Su1esians to remain Salesians, ever faithful sons of their Founder; and then he teaches everyone reverence for the magisterium, which presides over the thought and economy of Christian life.

The dignity of the disciple depends on the wisdom of the Master. Imitation in the disciple is no longer passiveness, or servility; it is leaven, it is perfection (cf. 1 Cor 4,16). The capacity of the pupil to develop his own personality is derived, in fact, from that art of drawing out, the teacher’s art, which is called education, an art that guides the logical but free and original, expansion of the pupil’s virtual qualities. We mean that the virtues of which Don Rua is a model and which the Church made the reason for his beatification, are still the evangelical virtues of the humble who adhere to the prophetic school of holiness; of the humble to whom the highest mysteries of divinity and of mankind are revealed (cf. Mt 11,25).

If Don Rua is really qualified as the first continuer of the example and work of Don Bosco, we will always like to think of him again and venerate him in this ascetical aspect of humility and dependence. But we will never be able to forget the operative aspect of this small but great man, all the more so in that we, in the mentality of our times which is inclined to measure the stature of a man by his capacity for action, are aware we have before us an athlete of apostolic activity which, still in the mould of Don Bosco but with, growing dimensions of its own, confers on Don Rua the spiritual and human proportions of greatness.

RESPONSORY 1 Cor 11, 1-2; Phil 4,1

Maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you. * Stand firm in the Lord.

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Stand firm…

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

Benedictus ant. The Spirit of the Lord has consecrated me to proclaim a joyful message to the poor.

INTERCESSIONS

At the beginning of this new day, the memorial of Blessed Michael Rua, let us raise our prayers and supplications to God our Father

God our Father, strengthen our fidelity

Through the grace that comes from you, Father, you enable the ministers of your Church to work with patience in charity:

— grant courage and perseverance to those you have called to work for the Kingdom.

In Blessed Michael Rua you have given us a model of total availability to your call:

— grant that by imitating his example we may love and serve Christ in the young with whom we come in contact.

In Blessed Michael you have given us an example of work and temperance:

— help us to bear witness to the values of evangelical poverty by our way of life.

You made of Blessed Michael the faithful collaborator of St John Bosco and the continuer of his work:

— grant also to us a filial spirit so that we may progress along the way of holiness.

You constituted Blessed Michael Rua as the responsible leader of a religious Family in rapid expansion:

— enlighten with your Spirit of wisdom those whom you call to guide the Salesian Congregation.

Our Father

God our Father, you have given to your priest, Blessed Michael Rua, the spiritual heir of Saint John Bosco, the ability to form in the young your divine image; grant also that we, who are called to educate young people, may make known the true countenance of Christ, your Son. He is God, and lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.

Evening Prayer

Magnificat ant. With the help of the Holy Spirit guard the legacy you have received: be vigilant, endure pain and suffering, proclaim the Gospel, fulfill your ministry.

INTERCESSIONS

As evening falls we make our humble prayer to God our Father, who calls all his children to holiness, and let us say:

Lord, sanctify your faithful people

You led Michael Rua, while still a boy, to give himself entirely to you at the school of St John Bosco:

— grant that we too may be always faithful to the charism of our Founder.

You gave to Blessed Michael Rua the heart of a good and gentle shepherd:

— inspire all the members of the Salesian Family to serve you in their brothers and sisters with a spirit of initiative.

You enlightened him in the guidance of the work of missionary expansion of the Salesian Family:

— increase our zeal for your Kingdom, and prosper the labors of our missionaries.

In every age you call men and women to follow the obedient, poor and chaste Christ through complete self-donation:

— raise up generous vocations for the Church and the Salesian Family.

Through the merits and intercession of the Virgin Mary and of all the saints:

— grant that the faithful departed may live for ever with you in the blessedness of your Kingdom.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

13 November

*Blessed ALOYSIUS VERSIGLIA,

bishop

Blessed CALLISTUS CARAVARTO

priest

Salesian Protomartyrs

Memorial

Aloysius Versiglia, born at Oliva Gessi, Pavia, 5 June 1873, entered the Valdocco Oratory at the age of 12 years, and there got to know Don Bosco. He was ordained priest in 1895 and for some years was Master of Novices at Genzano, Rome. In 1906 he led the first Salesian missionary expedition to China, where he opened the mission of Shiu Chow. He was appointed Vicar Apostolic by the Pope and consecrated bishop on 9 January 1921.

Callistus Caravario was born at Cuorgné, Turin, 8 June 1903. He was a pupil at the Oratory of Valdocco. In 1924, while still a cleric, he left for China as a missionary and in 1929 was ordained priest by Bishop Versiglia and appointed to the Vicariate of Shiu Chow.

For defending the safety and virtue of three young Chinese women, the two missionaries were killed on 25 February 1930 at Li Thau Tseui, near the Lin Chow river. The authenticity of their martyrdom was recognized by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 12 November 1976, and they were beatified by John Paul II on 15 May 1983.

From the Common of Several Martyrs, with psalms of the day as in the psalter.

Office of Readings

From the “Stromati” of Clement of Alexandria (PG 8, 1226- 1227)

The joyful sacrifice of life in martyrdom

Without any doubt the martyr bears witness in the first place to himself that he has been sincerely faithful to God, then to the tempter that the latter has practiced in vain his envy of those who remain faithful with love, and finally to the Lord for having been divinely permeated by the convincing strength of the true doctrine from which he will never turn aside, not even through fear of death. Moreover he confirms by his action the truth of the preaching, manifesting how powerful is the God to whom he aspires. You can truly admire the love of the martyr which is clearly shown when with gratitude he assimilates himself to God, living and dying for him alone. And not only this, but with his own ‘precious blood’ he makes the infidels blush red.

In virtue of the commandment of the Gospel the martyr refuses to let fear lead him to deny Christ, and thus he bears witness even in the face of fear. The martyr does not sell his faith for the illusion of receiving gifts in exchange, but for the love of the Lord leaves this life with great joy. Indeed he will be grateful both to the one who has provided the motive for his passage from this world and to the one who has concocted the plot against him. He will use the fact as a suitable though unsought occasion to show what he truly is: to the persecutor in patience, to the Lord in love. Precisely through this love he was already known to the Lord, who knew even from before his birth that he would freely choose martyrdom. The martyr therefore goes to meet his Lord with serene trust and confidence as towards a friend for whom he willingly gives his body and soul, as his judges expected. And so he will hear himself addressed by our Savior in the words of the poet: “0 my dear brother!”, precisely because he made himself similar to Him in his life.

I say at once that we call martyrdom ‘perfection’, not because the martyr has reached the close of life like all others, but because he has accomplished a perfect work of love. If then martyrdom is a confession of faith in God, every soul who leads a pure life in the knowledge of God and obedience to his commandments, is a martyr through his life and word, whatever may be the manner of his bodily death. He pours out, in fact, like blood his faith during his whole life and even to the moment of his death.

RESPONSORY cf. Sir 45,9; 2 Tim 4,7-8

The Lord has crowned you with justice, he has put a glorious robe upon you. * The Holy One of Israel has taken up his abode in you.

You have fought the good fight, you have finished the race; the crown of righteousness has been prepared for you. The Holy One…

Or:

SECOND READING

From the “Exhortation to martyrdom” of St Cyprian, bishop.

Our reward will be greater than what we now suffer

The blessed apostle Paul, taken up by God’s goodness to the third heaven of paradise tells us of things he heard that cannot be expressed in words. He exults in having seen Jesus Christ in a vision of faith and speaks of what he has learned and seen through the truth proceeding from a higher knowledge. The Apostle says: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8,18). Who then would not make every effort to achieve so great a glory as to become the friend of God, to be glad at once with Christ and receive the divine rewards after earthly sufferings and torments? If for those who take part in the battles of this world it is an honor to return home victorious after conquering the enemy, how much greater and more noble will be the glory of defeating the devil and returning triumphant to paradise. We shall carry back the spoils of victory to that paradise from which sinful Adam was expelled, after defeating the demon who had earlier been successful in his guile and deceit. What glory could be more noble than to offer to the Lord the most pleasing gift of the pure faith, of the unsullied virtue of our soul, or the glorious merit of our homage, and become companions of him who is coming to take vengeance on his enemies; how glorious it will be to stand at his side when he sits to deliver judgment!

The same can be said of the thought of becoming coheirs with Christ, in being equal to the angels and rejoicing with the patriarchs, apostles and prophets in possessing the heavenly kingdom. What persecution could possibly dispel such thoughts, what torments could prevail over them? The soul which finds its strength in religious reflections is strong and stable in its resistance and remains unmoved in the face of all the terrors ‘of the devil and the threats of the world, because its strength is based on the full and certain faith in the good things to come.

During persecution we become deprived of earthly benefits, but heaven opens for us: we are menaced by antichrist, but Christ himself defends us; death is thrust upon us, but we obtain immortality. The world is taken away from one who is killed, but life is restored to him and he is offered paradise. Earthly life comes to an end, but eternity comes in its place. What great dignity and security in joyfully leaving this world, to leave it in glory, to close for a moment those eyes which looked on men and earthly things to open them suddenly to see God and Christ. The happiness of the change from one to the other is proportional to its speed. You are suddenly taken from this earth, but to find a place in the heavenly kingdom.

We must cultivate these truths in our mind and in our thoughts. we must reflect day and night on these realities. If one fights with such sentiments in Christ’s service during persecution, the strength for the struggle will never fail. And if on the other hand God’s call were to come earlier, the faith which was ready to suffer martyrdom will not go unrewarded. God is a judge who awards the prize without regard to a defect of time. During persecution commitment to the struggle is rewarded; in peacetime it is the good conscience that gets the prize.

RESPONSORY

Holy martyrs, you have shed your glorious blood; friends of Christ in life, you have followed him in death: * for this the crown of glory is yours.

A single spirit was your animation, a single faith your support: For this, the crown…

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

Benedictus ant. The blood of your martyrs, O Lord, will be the fertile seed of Christians.

INTERCESSIONS

United in the liturgy of praise, let us invoke God the Father, who called our martyrs to associate themselves more closely with the Passover of Christ through their supreme testimony of love. Let us say:

Through your martyrs Lord, hear our prayer

Through martyrdom the first disciples followed more closely the Christ who offered himself for the salvation of the world:

— grant that we may be ever more conformed to him who shed his blood for us and for all for the remission of sins.

Aloysius and Callistus faced death for the safety and salvation of the faithful entrusted to their care:

— grant that we may all persevere in our witness of Christian life.

The blessed martyrs sealed by their death their work of evangelization:

— sustain all missionaries and catechists in their service of the proclamation of Christ’s Gospel.

The two missionaries filled with their blood the chalice St John Bosco had foretold:

— help us to celebrate the liturgy of life by offering our body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

Following the example of St John Bosco, the blessed martyrs record with their lives the daily exercise of charity for the good of others:

— help us to embrace with joy our daily crosses for the love of Christ and of our brothers and sisters.

Our Father

PRAYER

Almighty and merciful God, you gave to your blessed martyrs, Bishop Aloysius and Father Callistus, the strength to fight to the death to proclaim the Gospel and defend human dignity; grant that we, your loyal followers, may imitate their testimony with persevering faith and assiduous charity. 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.

Evening Prayer

Magnificat ant. Blessed are you Aloysius and Callistus who have shed your blood for the Lord;

honoring Christ by your lives, you have imitated him also in death: now you shine in the glory of heaven.

INTERCESSIONS

As we commemorate the evening sacrifice of Christ who offered himself for the salvation of the world, let us present to the Father our prayer of thanksgiving and supplication:

We bless you, O Lord.

The Salesian Protomartyrs bore witness to the faith by the sacrifice of their lives:

— do not allow violence and hatred to prevail against those who perform works of charity for their neighbor.

They gave their lives as a sign of their love for something greater:

— grant that we may all live with joy the strong demands of service freely given to our brothers and sisters.

The martyrdom of Blessed Aloysius and Callistus acclaims the inestimable value of chastity for the kingdom of heaven:

— grant that we may willingly accept hardship and sacrifices to educate young people to a more balanced personality.

By their martyrdom the two missionaries have fully embodied the ideal of the good shepherd:

— grant that the service of bishops and priests may be inspired by the tenderness of your fatherly love.

We entrust to you, Father, all who have left this world:

— admit them to live in your abode of light and peace.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

15 November

BLESSED MADDALENA MORANO

Virgin

For the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Memorial

Born at Chieri, Turin, on 15 November 1847, Maddalena Caterina Morano began from her youth a teaching career among local children, which was to last for the rest of her life, especially after obtaining her teacher’s qualification. When she was nearly 30 years of age, and rich in educational and catechetical experience, she was able to realize a desire she had had since her first communion — to lead a consecrated life. In 1879 she was professed as a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, and asked the Lord for the “grace to remain alive until she had attained sanctity”.

In 1881 she was sent to Sicily, and there she began a flourishing work of education among the girls and young women of the poor and working classes. With “one eye on earth but ten constantly on heaven”, she opened schools, oratories, hostels and workshops in every part of the island. After being appointed Provincial she also assumed the task of the formation of the numerous new vocations attracted by her zeal and the community atmosphere she created around her. Her many-sided apostolate was highly esteemed and encouraged by the Bishops, who entrusted to her evangelical enterprise the organization of the teaching of catechism throughout Sicily.

Laid low by a malignant tumor, Sister Morano died at Catania on 26 March 1908, thus closing a completely coherent life, lived always with the intention of “never letting personal desires be an obstacle to the action of grace”. In the same city John Paul II proclaimed her Blessed on 5 November 1994.

From the Common of Women Saints: for Educators,

with psalms of the day as in the psalter, except for the following:

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From the Encyclical Redemptoris missio of John Paul II (nn.86-87).

Live in complete docility to the Spirit

If we look at today’s world, we are struck by many negative factors that can lead to pessimism. But this feeling is unjustified: we have faith in God our Father and Lord, in his goodness and mercy. As the third Millennium of the Redemption draws near, God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see its first signs. In fact, both in the non- Christian world and in the traditionally Christian world, people are gradually drawing closer to Gospel ideals and values, a development which the Church seeks to encourage. Today in fact there is a new consensus among peoples about these values: the rejection of violence and war; respect for the human person and for human rights; the desire for freedom, justice and brotherhood; the surmounting of different forms of racism and nationalism; the affirmation of the dignity and role of women.

Christian hope sustains us in committing ourselves fully to the new evangelization and to the worldwide mission, and leads us to pray as Jesus taught us: “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10).

The spirituality of the apostle is expressed first of all by a life of complete docility to the Spirit. It commits us to being molded from within by the Spirit, so that we may become ever more like Christ. It is not possible to bear witness to Christ without reflecting his image, which is made alive in us by grace and the power of the Spirit. This docility then commits us to receive the gifts of fortitude and discernment, which are essential elements of missionary spirituality.

An example of this is found with the Apostles during the Master’s public life. Despite their love for him and their generous response to his call, they proved to be incapable of understanding his words and reluctant to follow him along the path of suffering and humiliation. The Spirit transformed them into courageous witnesses to Christ and enlightened heralds of his word. It was the Spirit himself who guided them along the difficult and new paths of mission.

Today, as in the past, that mission is difficult and complex, and demands the courage and light of the Spirit. We often experience the dramatic situation of the first Christian community, which witnessed unbelieving and hostile forces “gathered together against the Lord and his Anointed” (Acts 4,26). Now, as then, we must pray that God will grant us boldness in preaching the Gospel; we must ponder the mysterious ways of the Spirit and allow ourselves to be led by him into all the truth (cf. Jn 16,13).

RESPONSORY cf. Prov 31,17.18; Ps 45,6

This is the perfect woman, clothed with God’s strength; * her lamp is not extinguished in the night.

God sustains her with the light of his countenance: she shall not be moved. Her lamp…

Or:

SECOND READING

From an address of Pope John Paul II, 5 November 1994.

Tireless activity in doing good to others

“I am the true vine” (Jn 15,1). Through this allegory proposed on the eve of the paschal events, Jesus fully reveals the mystery of the life that is within him. The same mystery is revealed as a source of immortal life for the Servant of God Maddalena Morano.

Today she bears witness also to you, who are called by circumstances to serve this city’s rebirth, mobilizing the energies which the Lord constantly renews in you, through tireless activity at the service of good.

Sr Maddalena Morano worked with precisely this in mind! She, the “born teacher”, had come from Turin, the city of Don Bosco, with her outstanding pedagogic al talent and her love for God and neighbor. In Sicily, Sr Maddalena carried out an intense and fruitful spiritual and educational activity for the benefit of your people. For long years she made herself one of you, becoming the model of faithful service to God and to her brothers and sisters. Look to her, beloved faithful, the better to carry out that apostolic and missionary project which all the members of the Church in Catania are striving to promote, as they listen to the voice of the Spirit and concentrate their efforts on a diligent discernment of the “signs of the times”.

Discouragement and bitterness due to disturbing and overwhelming events are understandable human feelings but they should not quell Christian courage in doing good, “cost what it may”, as Mother and now Blessed Maddalena Morano used to say.

In our era characterized by a tragic crisis of human value’s and a painful anxiety for the Absolute, you are asked to carry out a serious and demanding programme of doctrinal study, of consistent life-style and perseverance in the exercise of charity.

May Mother Morano be an inspiration to you. Motivated by a deep yearning for love and holiness, for many years she trod the streets of your city and region, serene and fearless. The teaching and examples of St John Bosco and St Maria Domenica Mazzarello sustained her in her task. Looking at the sea she would say: “Do you see how vast, how immense the sea is? God’s bounty is greater by far!”. And with a simple but incisive example she would illustrate the way to holiness: “You climb the high mountain of perfection with constant mortification. Even the tallest houses are made of small stones, piled one upon the other”.

Her exhortations enlighten, comfort and encourage: “Think as Jesus would have thought. Pray as Jesus would have prayed. Act as Jesus would have acted”. This is what Mother Maddalena used to say and this is how she lived, repeating to herself: “Ask for the grace to bear your cross peacefully every day”.

Our sister, Blessed Maddalena Morano, dwells in God and God dwells in her forever. “With age-old love I have loved you”, the Lord declared through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah (3 1,3). The new Blessed experienced in herself the truth of these divine words, and after the trials of her life now witnesses the fulfillment of God’s promise to his people: “They departed in tears, but I will console them and guide them, I will lead them to streams of water on a level road, so that none shall stumble. For I am a father to Israel” (3 1:9).

Blessed Maddalena Morano, through her great love has thus become a constant witness of fidelity to God who is Love. She is resplendent before us today as a shining example of active solidarity. And now she intercedes for us, she intercedes for the Church. Great is the power of the saints’ intercession! Maddalena did God’s will and bequeathed to us the witness of works pleasing to God.

RESPONSORY Eph 5,8-9; Mt 5,14.16

You are light in the Lord; walk as children of light. * for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

You are the light of the world: let your light so shine before men: for the fruit…

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

INTERCESSIONS

Let us invoke God our Father, the source and model of all holiness, and let us say with confidence:

Make us holy as you are holy.

You solidly established Blessed Maddalena Morano on the living rock of your word:

— grant that we may accept with faith and courageously proclaim the gospel of salvation.

You endowed her with wonderful gifts of faith and pastoral charity:

— enable us too to be among young people as true educators and attentive servants of your plan of salvation.

You gave to Blessed Maddalena the grace to follow Christ on the way of poverty, chastity and obedience:

— help us to respond to your call to be always at the service of others.

You granted her to combine tireless activity with a burning love for your Son present in the eucharistic mystery:

— give your support to evangelizers and catechists that they may bear witness by their lives to what they proclaim by their words.

You enriched her with incomparable talents for government and practical concern for the problems of the time:

— grant that the Salesian Family, under the guidance of Mary Help of Christians, may continue to embody the educative charism of the Founders.

Our Father

PRAYER

Father, you planted in the heart of the virgin, Blessed Maddalena Morano, your word of truth which prompt ed her to dedicate herself with constancy and wisdom to the education of the young: grant that through her intercession and following her example we may be docile to the action of the Spirit in fulfilling with joy your loving design. We make our prayer through your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Evening Prayer

INTERCESSIONS

United in our evening prayer, let us make our thanksgiving and supplications to God our Father, and let us say:

God of all goodness hear our prayer

In Blessed Maddalena Morano you have given us a model of life and educative wisdom:

— grant that in our mission we too may be always docile to the action of your Spirit.

You enabled her to bear witness to the joy of serving you, in the strong and willing acceptance of the cross:

— give to us the Christian optimism that springs from faith in your resurrection.

She placed the love of your Son before any other thought or project:

— may our whole life be lived out under the gaze of the divine Master.

You looked upon her to enable her to fulfill your work:

— fill us with the strength of your Spirit that we may bear fruit that will remain.

She was a wise and faithful administrator who was found watching when the bridegroom came:

— grant that the faithful departed may enjoy the splendor of your countenance.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

5 December

BLESSED PHILIP RINALDI

priest

Founder of the Secular Institute of the Don Bosco Volunteers

Memorial

Philip Rinaldi was born at Lu Monferrato, Italy, On 28 May 1856. From his boyhood he had known Don Bosco but it was only at the age of 21 that he accepted the Saint’s invitation to become a Salesian. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1882 he was entrusted with the formation of adult aspirants to the priesthood. From 1889 he worked for twelve years in Spain and Portugal until in 1901 he was called by Don Rua to be Vicar General and Economer. Intense work did not prevent him from further qualification in the priestly ministry as an eminent spiritual guide. He developed the Salesian Family in all its aspects, and enriched it with the genial institute, something new for its time, now known as the Don Bosco Volunteers. He was elected Rector Major in 1922 and dedicated himself especially to the formation of the confreres and to development of devotion to Don Bosco, insisting always on the interior life, union with God, the mission, and unlimited trust in Mary Help of Christians. As an authentic interpreter of the Founder he was able to read the “signs of the times” with prophetic intuition and adapt to them, sometimes in a courageous and daring manner. He died at Turin on 5 December 1931, and was beatified by John Paul II on 29 April 1990.

From the Common of Pastors or the Common of Men Saints,

for religious; with psalms of the day as in the psalter.

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From the Circular Letters of Blessed Philip Rinaldi, 24 January 1924.

Understand, love and practice the Constitutions

The Constitutions are the soul of our Society and are central to the whole life of Don Bosco; their story is that of his own life. We can say, indeed, that in the Constitutions we have the whole of Don Bosco; in them is his sing le objective of the salvation of souls; in them is his perfection through the holy vows, in them is his spirit of gentleness, amiability, tolerance, piety, charity, and sacrifice.

Our Constitutions are not merely the fruit of Don Bosco’s intelligence and burning charity but, just as it can be said that in Don Bosco’s life the supernatural emerges at every turn, so also the Constitutions in their origin and progressive development are illuminated by a visible supernatural intervention.

Don Bosco wrote the articles of his Constitutions first in the minds and life of those he had chosen as his first followers, and only when it seemed to him that they corresponded to the objective he had in mind, did he finalize them and commit them to paper.

When one reads those early Constitutions presented by Don Bosco to Pius IX in 1858, one seems to hear the voice of the good Father himself, explaining to his sons in great simplicity and clarity the norms to which they should adhere: not by compulsion but by the bond of fraternal charity, so as to form a single heart for the acquiring of perfection in the practice of every work of spiritual and corporal charity towards the young, especially the poorest of them, and in the fostering of ecclesiastical vocations. They should not be concerned about material things but each one, without prejudice to his personal rights, should live as though he possessed nothing. They should not be attached to their own will, but show such filial obedience to the Superior that the latter had no need to command. They should not have many practices of piety in common, but should practice union with God in the midst of the active life which was to be the mark and glory of his sons. Rather than a Society, Don Bosco intended to form a family based almost entirely on the gentle, amiable and watchful fatherliness of the Superior and on the filial and fraternal affection of the subjects; indeed, while maintaining the principle of authority between Superior and subjects, he did not want distinctions but equality among all in everything.

In this way Don Bosco in practice lived his Constitutions with his first sons for thirty years, correcting, modifying, improving and even removing certain articles which he has marked on his manuscript and which had seemed to him in practice not suitable or of little utility. Let us not forget that in this work he was enlightened from above, and in consequence those modifications did not affect the fundamental points on which his Congregation was to be based.

RESPONSORY cf. Heb 13,21; 2 Mac 1,4

May God equip you with everything good that you may do his will, * working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.

May he open your heart to his law and his commandments, working in you…

Or, for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians:

SECOND READING

From the “Strenna for 1931” of Blessed Philip Rinaldi for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

Know and imitate the interior life of Don Bosco

In the writings and life of our Father he does not speak explicitly of interior life, of self-sacrifice, of the apostolate to be carried out, but it is precisely here that is found the secret of his heroic interior life. He lived all these things from his early days, in the natural manner of one who was only doing his duty.

He built his interior life, with its simplicity and its evangelical, practical and laborious elements, on the single purpose of fulfilling God’s will in everything concerning the salvation of souls, including his own. It was a wonderful interior life of extraordinary activity for the good of souls; it was nourished by his unshakeable faith, his radiant hope which shone through his unchangeable fatherly smile inflamed by his burning charity and love for things divine; and this at every moment of his mission, amid difficulties, contradictions, and ceaseless unheard of examples of spite and ill-will. Don Bosco united in the most perfect way his tireless, absorbing, extensive external activity, full of responsibility, with an interior life based on the presence of God which little by little became habitual and led him to perfect union. In this way he brought about in himself the most perfect state, which is contemplation in activity, the ecstasy of action, in which he spent himself to the last with radiant tranquility for the salvation of souls. But to achieve this situation of union with God, Don Bosco neglected nothing on his own part, neither of 4ense study of revealed and spiritual truths, nor of continual struggle against earthly temptations, nor of the progressive practice of the individual theological, cardinal and moral virtues. In this way he attained a perfect mastery, calm and uninterrupted, even in the most painful trials and circumstances. The light and even tenor of his soul gave him clear and precise intuitions even in most difficult and intricate matters, because they never failed to be taken up into the presence and love of his God.

This interior life of Don Bosco, always at work and always united with God, embodied in him both the activity of Martha and the ecstatic intimacy of Mary, because he had managed to reach a state in which his soul was always at the Lord’s feet, while at the same time he was totally concerned for souls.

*RESPONSORY Eph 3,16.17.19; Col 2,6-7

May God grant that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, being rooted and grounded in love,

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Walk then, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith; that you may be filled…

Or, for the Secular Institute of the Don Bosco Volunteers:

SECOND READING

From the Conferences to the “Don Bosco Volunteers” of Blessed Philip Rinaldi.

Prayer and apostolic activity

Piety is born of a pious heart; a soul formed to the presence of God prays and has its strength renewed through meditation, examination of conscience, spiritual reading, and recollection; vocal manifestation comes only after we have entered into ourselves, in concentration, in recollection. Recollection is necessary because it predisposes us for reflection. Reflection is an efficacious prayer, and is necessary for a knowledge of our weaknesses and needs; it enables us to study ourselves, it awakens our love of God, increases our desire for holy Communion and a greater knowledge of the Lord. Reflection nourishes our souls and spirit by a substantial kind of devotion.

Piety is not an end in itself but is useful for everything, especially because it prompts our good works. What work should this Institute of yours be doing? In what way? There are many religious institutes, each of them with a particular purpose, or a specific mission to carry out. The works of mercy are seven in number, and every one of them is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

In your own case, what should you do in order to have life? First of all, pray every day for the courage to carry the cross the Lord has laid on you - this is the first thing you must do. And then let each one do well her own work in your particular state of life and conditions as God would have you do, and this according to the spirit of the Lord and of Don Bosco. But even this is not sufficient; you must have another particular objective in view. No matter how busy a person may be, there is always a little more energy available, and this you must use for some special purpose compatible with your state. The works of Don Bosco are such that you can always perform some of them in whatever circumstances you are placed: his programme is to do good in some way, particularly to poor and abandoned youth.

Above all, let your activity begin in your own families, doing well whatever duties God has given you, working unequivocally with the spirit of the Lord; the extra energy or enthusiasm you have you should spend for the benefit of poor youth; pay less attention to those who are rich, and concentrate your care on young workers. Convince yourselves of this: if we are able to treat the poor with the true spirit of the Lord, they will listen to us more willingly, they will love us and follow us; unfortunately our shortcomings sometimes render us incapable of appearing as we should be.

RESPONSORY Eph 5,8-9; cf.Mt 5,14.16

You are light in the Lord; walk as children of light, * for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

You are the light of the world: let your light shine before men; for the fruit…

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.

Morning Prayer

Benedjctus ant. What you have learned, received, heard and seen in me, do! And the God of peace will be with you.

INTERCESSIONS

Let us praise and invoke God our Father who always calls generous workers to labour for the spreading of his Kingdom, and let us say with faith:

Father of all goodness, hear our prayer

Father, in Blessed Philip Rinaldi you have given us a sure interpreter of the Salesian spirit:

— increase in all the members of our Family fidelity to the Founder’s charism.

You made of him a model and teacher of the interior life:

— help us in the variety of our commitments to realize a deep communion with you.

You led him to fulfill a multiple service of great responsibility in the Salesian Congregation:

— inspire those whom you have given us as guides a wise spirit of enterprise.

You made of him a mirror reflecting the fatherliness of St John Bosco:

— pour out your Spirit into our hearts that we may be loving with all.

You gave him wisdom and prudence in his ministry as a spiritual guide:

— enlighten and support our commitment to travel with the young along the road to holiness.

Our Father

PRAYER

Father, in your infinite goodness you have made Blessed Philip Rinaldi a shining gospel example of joyful self-giving; may we follow the inspiration of his apostolic initiative, and by daily fidelity to our work, bring to its fullness your project of love. 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:

Evening Prayer

Magnificat ant. God is my witness to the deep affection I have for all of you in the love of Christ Jesus.

INTERCESSIONS

With a sense of humble gratitude, let us thank God our Father for the abundance of his gifts and let us say:

God our Father hear our prayer

Father, may the table of your Word and the Bread of life which comes to us through the apostles

— be always for us the living source of our apostolic activity.

Father, may the Virgin Mary Mother of Jesus, whom he gave to the beloved disciple to be his Mother also:

— be our helper in educating the young whom you entrust to our care.

Father, source of unending love, you will be all things to everyone in eternal life:

— grant that we may love our brothers and sisters with the heart of St John Bosco.

Father, you have entrusted the universe to human development:

— help us to be tireless workers for justice and peace, to the praise and glory of your name.

Merciful Father, you give to your faithful servants the infinite joy of paradise:

— through the intercession of Blessed Philip, have mercy on the dead members of the Salesian Family.

Our Father

Concluding prayer as at Morning Prayer.