Readings for the Feast of Saint Columban

Readings for the Feast of Saint Columban
Abbot
November 23

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
This is a holy man who became God's friend and a glorious herald of his truth.

OPENING PRAYER
O God, who in Saint Columban
wonderfully joined the work of evangelization
to zeal for the monastic life,
grant, we pray,
that through his intercession and example
we may strive to seek you above all things
and to bring increase to your faithful people.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

FIRST READING          Isaiah 52:7-10
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM          Ps 96: 1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8, 10

R.\ Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
R.\ Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Announce his salvation day after day.
Tell God's glory among the nations;
among all peoples, God's marvelous deeds.
R.\ Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and might;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
Bring gifts and enter his courts;
R.\ Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
The world will surely stand fast, never to be moved.
God rules the peoples with fairness.
R.\ Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.

ALLELUIA          Jn 8:12
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life

GOSPEL           Luke 9:57-62
As they were going along the road, a man said to Him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to Him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head." To another He said, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
All-powerful God,
look upon the gifts we bring on this feast
in honor of Saint Columban.
May we who celebrate the mystery of the death of the Lord
imitate the love we celebrate.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

COMMUNION ANTIPHON
I will feed my sheep, says the Lord, and give them repose. - Ez 34:15

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Lord,
Saint Columban worked tirelessly for the faith,
spending his life in its service.
With the power this Eucharist gives
make your people strong in the same true faith
and help us to proclaim it everywhere
by all we say and do.
Grant this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.

Liturgy of the Hours
Columban

From the Common of Pastors or of Holy Men: religious, except for the following:

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From an instruction by Saint Columban, abbot

(Instr 11:1-2: Opera, Dublin 1957, 106-107)

Man’s likeness to God, if preserved, imparts high dignity

Moses wrote in the law: God made man in his image and likeness. Consider, I ask you, the dignity of these words. God is all-powerful. We cannot see or understand him, describe or assess him. Yet he fashioned man from clay and endowed him with the nobility of his own image. What has man in common with God? Or earth with spirit? – for God is a spirit. It is a glorious privilege that God should grant men his eternal image and the likeness of his character. Man’s likeness to God, if he preserves it, imparts high dignity.

If man applies the virtues planted in his soul to the right purpose, he will be like God. God’s commands have taught us to give him back the virtues he sowed in us in our first innocence. The first command is to love our Lord with our whole heart because he loved us first from the beginning, before our existence. Loving God renews his image in us. Anyone who loves God keeps his commandments, for he said: If you love me, keep my commandments. His command is that we love each other. In his own words: This is my command, that you love each other as I also have loved you.

True love is shown not merely in word, but in deed and in truth. So we must turn back our image undefiled and holy to our God and Father, for his is holy; in the words of Scripture: Be holy, for I am holy. We must restore his image with love, for he is love; in John’s words: God is love. We must restore it with loyalty and truth, for he is loyal and truthful. The image we depict must not be that of one who is unlike God; for one who is harsh and irascible and proud would display the image of a despot.

Let us not imprint on ourselves the image of a despot, but let Christ paint his image in us with his words: My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. But the knowledge that peace is good is of no benefit to us if we do not practice it. The most valuable objects are usually the most fragile; costly things require the most careful handling. Particularly fragile is that which is lost by wanton talk and destroyed with the slightest injury of a brother. Men like nothing better than discussing and minding the business of others, passing superfluous comments at random and criticizing people behind their backs. So those who cannot say: The Lord has given me a discerning tongue, that I may with a word support him who is weary should keep silent, or if they do say anything it should promote peace.

RESPONSORY Luke 6:47, 48; Sirach 25:15
Anyone who comes to me
and listens to my words and acts on them,
I will show you what he is like.
- He is like a man who while building his house
dug deeply and laid his foundation on rock.

Happy is the man who fears the Lord.
Who is his equal?
Who can compare the him?
- He is like a man who while building his house
dug deeply and laid his foundation on rock.

PRAYER
O God, who in Saint Columban
wonderfully joined the work of evangelization
to zeal for the monastic life,
grant, we pray,
that through his intercession and example
we may strive to seek you above all things
and to bring increase to your faithful people.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

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