Readings
for the Memorial of

St Athanasius
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
May 2


MASS


ENTRANCE ANTIPHON          Cf. Sir 15: 5
In medio Ecclesiae aperuit os eius, et implevit eum Dominus spiritu sapientiae et intellectus, stolam gloriae induit eum, alleluia.
In the midst of the Church he opened his mouth,
and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding
and clothed him in a robe of glory, alleluia.


COLLECT
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui beatum Athanasium episcopum divinitatis Filii tui propugnatorem eximium suscitasti, concede propitius, ut, eius doctrina et protectione gaudentes, in tui cognitione et amore sine intermissione crescamus.
Almighty ever-living God,
who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius
as an outstanding champion of your Son's divinity,
mercifully grant,
that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection,
we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of you.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.


FIRST READING          1 John 5:1-5
Beloved:
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God,
and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him.
In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this,
that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.
Who indeed is the victor over the world
but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?


RESPONSORIAL PSALM          Ps 37:3-4, 5-6, 30-31
Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam.

R. (30a) The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
Trust in the Lord and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the Lord
and he will grant you your heart's requests.
R. The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
Commit to the Lord your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light; bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
R. The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
The mouth of the just tells of wisdom
and his tongue utters what is right. The law of his God is in his heart,
and his steps do not falter.
R. The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.


ALLELUIA          Mt 5:10
Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter iustitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.


GOSPEL          Matthew 10:22-25
Jesus said to the Twelve:
"You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.
No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like the teacher,
and the slave that he become like the master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub,
how much more those of his household!"


PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Respice, Domine, munera quae tibi in commemoratione beati Athanasii perhibemus, eiusque fidem profitentibus illibatam tuae testificatio veritatis prosit ad salutem.
Look, O Lord, upon the offerings we present to you
in commemoration of Saint Athanasius,
and may witnessing to your truth
bring salvation to those
who profess the same unblemished faith as him.
Through Christ our Lord.


COMMUNION ANTIPHON          1 Cor 3: 11
Fundamentum aliud nemo potest ponere, praeter id quod positum est, quod est Christus Iesus, alleluia.
No one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there,
namely, Jesus Christ, alleluia.


PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Da nobis, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut Unigeniti tui vera divinitas, quam cum beato Athanasio firmiter confitemur, per hoc sacramentum vivificet nos semper et muniat.
Grant us, we pray, almighty God,
that the true divinity of your Only Begotten Son,
which we firmly profess with Saint Athanasius,
may, through this Sacrament, ever give us life and protection.
Through Christ our Lord.


Liturgy of the Hours
St. Athanasius


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


The Office of Readings

From a discourse by Saint Athanasius, bishop
(Oratio de Incarnatione Verbi, 8-9, PG 25, 110-111)

On the incarnation of the Word

The Word of God, incorporeal, incorruptible and immaterial, entered our world. Yet it was not as if he had been remote from it up to that time. For there is no part of the world that was ever without his presence; together with his Father, he continually filled all things and places.

Out of his loving-kindness for us he came to us, and we see this in the way he revealed himself openly to us. Taking pity on mankind's weakness, and moved by our corruption, he could not stand aside and see death have the mastery over us; he did not want creation to perish and his Father's work in fashioning man to be in vain. He therefore took to himself a body, no different from our own, for he did not wish simply to be in a body or only to be seen.

If he had wanted simply to be seen, he could indeed have taken another, and nobler, body. Instead, he took our body in its reality.

Within the Virgin he built himself a temple, that is, a body; he made it his own instrument in which to dwell and to reveal himself. In this way he received from mankind a body like our own, and, since all were subject to the corruption of death, he delivered this body over to death for all, and with supreme love offered it to the Father. He did so to destroy the law of corruption passed against all men, since all died in him. The law, which had spent its force on the body of the Lord, could no longer have any power over his fellowmen. Moreover, this was the way in which the Word was to restore mankind to immortality, after it had fallen into corruption, and summon it back from death to life. He utterly destroyed the power death had against mankind - as fire consumes chaff - by means of the body he had taken and the grace of the resurrection.

This is the reason why the Word assumed a body that could die, so that this body, sharing in the Word who is above all, might satisfy death's requirement in place of all. Because of the Word dwelling in that body, it would remain incorruptible, and all would be freed for ever from corruption by the grace of the resurrection.

In death the Word made a spotless sacrifice and oblation of the body he had taken. by dying for others, he immediately banished death for all mankind.

In this way the Word of God, who is above all, dedicated and offered his temple, the instrument that was his body, for us all, as he said, and so paid by his own death the debt that was owed. The immortal Son of God, united with all men by likeness of nature, thus fulfilled all justice in restoring mankind to immortality by the promise of the resurrection.

The corruption of death no longer holds any power over mankind, thanks to the Word, who has come to dwell among them through his one body.

 
RESPONSORY          Jeremiah 15:19,20; 2 Peter 2:1
You will be my spokeman.
I will make you a solid wall of brass to their people.
 - They will fight against you,
   but they shall not prevail,
   for I am with you, alleluia.

False teachers will arise.
They will secretly bring in destructive heresies
and deny the master who saved them.
 - They will fight against you,
   but they shall not prevail,
   for I am with you, alleluia.


COLLECT
Almighty ever-living God,
who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius
as an outstanding champion of your Son's divinity,
mercifully grant,
that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection,
we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of you.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.



The English translation of Psalm Responses, Alleluia Verses, Gospel Verses from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL); the English translation of Antiphons, Invitatories, Responsories, Intercessions, Psalm 95, the Canticle of the Lamb, Psalm Prayers, Non-Biblical Readings from The Liturgy of the Hours © 1973, 1974, 1975, ICEL; excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved. Used with permission.



 
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