Readings for the Feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori

Readings for the Feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori
Bishop and Doctor
August 1

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MASS

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON           Ezekiel 34:11,23-24
I will look after my sheep, says the Lord, and I will raise up one shepherd who will pasture them. I, the Lord, will be their God.

OPENING PRAYER
Father,
you constantly build up your Church
by the lives of your saints.
Give us the grace to follow St. Alphonsus
in his loving concern for the salvation of men,
and so come to share his reward in heaven.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

FIRST READING          Romans 8:1-4
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM          119:9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

R. (12) Lord, teach me your statutes.
How shall a young man be faultless in his way?
By keeping to your words.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
With all my heart I seek you;
let me not stray from your commands.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Within my heart I treasure your promise,
that I may not sin against you.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Blessed are you,
O LORD; teach me your statutes.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
With my lips I declare
all the ordinances of your mouth.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
In the way of your decrees I rejoice,
as much as in all riches.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.

ALLELUIA      Mt 5:16
R./ Alleluia, alleluia.
Let your light shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.
R./ Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL READING           Matthew 5:13-19
"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

"Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Father
inflame our hearts with the spirit of your love
as we present these gifts on the feast of Saint Alphonsus
who dedicated his life to you in the Eucharist.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

COMMUNION ANTIPHON John 15:16
You have not chosen me; I have chosen you. Go and bear fruit that will last.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Lord,
you made Saint Alphonsus
a faithful minister and preacher of this holy Eucharist.
May all who believe in you receive it often
and give you never-ending praise.
We ask this though Christ our Lord.

The Liturgy of the Hours
Alphonsus Liguori

From the Common of Pastors, or of Doctors of the Church, except the following:

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop
(Tract. de praxi amandi Iesum Christum edit. latina. Romae, 1909, pp. 9-14)

On the love of Christ

All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our God, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God to acquire and to nurture all the virtues which make a man perfect.

Has not God in fact won for himself a claim on all our love? From all eternity he has loved us. And it is in this vein that he speaks to us: “O man, consider carefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day, nor did the world yet exist, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved you.”

Since God knew that man is enticed by favours, he wished to bind him to his love by means of his gifts: “I want to catch men with the snares, those chains of love in which they allow themselves to be entrapped, so that they will love me.” And all the gifts which he bestowed on man were given to this end. He gave him a soul, made in his likeness, and endowed with memory, intellect and will; he gave him a body equipped with the senses; it was for him that he created heaven and earth and such an abundance of things. He made all these things out of love for man, so that all creation might serve man, and man in turn might love God out of gratitude for so many gifts.

But he did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that to win for himself our love, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. When he saw that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace, what did he do? Compelled, as the Apostle says, by the superabundance of his love for us, he sent his beloved Son to make reparation for us and to call us back to a sinless life.

By giving us his Son, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us, he bestowed on us at once every good: grace, love and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son: He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for all of us: how could he fail to give us along with his Son all good things?

RESPONSORY
The Lord fulfills the desires if those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
- The Lord watches over all who love him.

Everyone who is a child of God does not sin,
for God's seed remains in him.
- The Lord watches over all who love him.

PRAYER
Father,
you constantly build up your Church
by the lives of your saints.
Give us the grace to follow St. Alphonsus
in his loving concern for the salvation of men,
and so come to share his reward in heaven.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen

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