LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST - MASS PROPERS

St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

In the evening of her wedding-day, with the music of the marriage-hymn ringing in her ears, Cecilia, a rich, beautiful, and noble Roman maiden, renewed the vow by which she had consecrated her virginity to God. “Pure be my heart and undefiled my flesh; for I have a spouse you know not of—an angel of my Lord.” The heart of her young husband Valerian was moved by her words; he received Baptism, and within a few days he and his brother Tiburtius, who had been brought by him to a knowledge of the Faith, sealed their confession with their blood. Cecilia only remained. “Do you not know,” was her answer to the threats of the prefect, “that I am the bride of my Lord Jesus Christ?” The death appointed for her was suffocation, and she remained a. day and a night in a. hot-air bath, heated seven times its wont. But “the flames had no power over her body, neither was a. hair of her head singed.” The lictor sent to dispatch her struck with trembling hand the three blows which the law allowed, and left her still alive. ‘For two days and nights Cecilia lay with her head half severed on the pavement of her bath, fully sensible, and joyfully awaiting her crown; on the third the agony was over, and A.D. 177 the virgin Saint gave back her pure spirit to Christ.

              MASS PROPERS 

LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 

INTROIT - Jer. 29: 11, 12, 14

Dicit Dóminus: Ego cógito cogitatiónes pacis, et non afflictiónis: invocábitis me, et ego exáudiam vos: et redúcam captivitátem vestram de cunctis locis. Psalm 84: 2  Benedixísti, Dómine, terram tuam: avertísti captivitátem Jacob. V. Gloria Patri.

The Lord saith: I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction: you shall call upon Me, and I will hear you; and I will bring back your captivity from all places. Ps. Lord, Thou hast blessed Thy land: Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. V. Glory be to the Father.

COLLECT

Stir up the wills of Thy faithful people, we beseech Thee, O Lord: that more earnestly seeking the fruit of good works, they may receive more abundantly the gifts of Thy loving kindness. Through our Lord.

EPISTLE - Colossians 1: 9-14

Brethren: We cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, in all patience and long suffering with joy; giving thanks to God the Father; who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins.

GRADUAL - Psalm 43: 8-9

Thou hast delivered us, O Lord, from them that afflict us: and hast put them to shame that hate us. V. In God we will glory all the day: and in Thy name we will give praise for ever

ALLELUIA - Psalm 129: 1-2

Alleluia, alleluia. V. From the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my prayer. Alleluia.

GOSPEL Matthew 24: 13-25

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: When you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place; (he that readeth, let him understand;) then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains; and he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house; and he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck, in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath: for there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been found from the beginning of the world until now neither shall be: and unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say to you: Lo, here is Christ, or there; do not believe him; for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you beforehand:  if therefore they shall say to you: Behold He is in the desert, go ye not out; behold He is in the closets, believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty; and He shall send His angels with a trumpet and a great voice, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. And from the fig tree learn a parable: when the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh even at the doors. Amen I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.

OFFERTORY - Psalm 129: 1-2

From the depths I have cried out to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my prayer: from the depths I have cried out to Thee, O Lord.

SECRET

Be favourable, O Lord, to our supplications, and accepting the offerings and prayers of Thy people, convert the hearts of all to Thee: that being delivered from earthly desires, we may pass on to heavenly desires. Through our Lord.

COMMUNION Mark 11: 24 

Amen I say to you, whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive, and it shall be done to you.

POSTCOMMUNION

Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord by this sacrament which we have received, that whatsoever is corrupted in our souls may be restored by the gift of its healing power. Through our Lord.