Readings for the Feast of Marcellinus and Peter

Readings for the Feast of

Marcellinus and Peter

June 2

MASS

Entrance Song
Many are the sufferings of the just, and from them all the Lord has delivered them; the Lord preserves all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.

Opening Prayer:

Father,
may we benefit from the example
of your martyrs Marcellinus and Peter,
and be supported by their prayers.
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.

First Reading
2 Corinthians 6:4-10

But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Responsorial Psalm          124:2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8
R./ (7) Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Had not the Lord been with us–
When men rose up against us,
    then would they have swallowed us alive,
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R./ Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
    over us then would have swept
    the raging waters.
R./ Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Broken was the snare,
    and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.
R./ Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.

Gospel Reading
John 17:11b-19

Jesus prayed to the Father: "And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, which Thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name, which Thou hast given Me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth."

PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS

Lord,
receive the gifts we bring
in memory of your holy martyrs.
Keep us strong in our faith
and in our witness to you.
Grant this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Communion Antiphon:
You are the men who have stood by me faithfully in my trial, and now I confer a kingdom on you, says the Lord. You will eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.- Lk 22:28-30

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
in your holy martyrs you show us the glory of your cross.
through this sacrifice, strengthen our resolution
to follow Christ faithfully
and to work in your church for the salvation of all.
We ask this through Christ the Lord.

Liturgy of the Hours
Marcellinus and Peter

From the Common of Several Martyrs, except the following:

Office of Readings

SECOND READING

From the exhortation to martyrdom by Origen, priest
(Nn. 41-42; PG 11, 618-619)

Those who share in the sufferings of Christ will also share in his consolation

If passing from unbelief to faith means that we have passed from death to life, we should not be surprised to find that the world hates us. Anyone who has not passed from death to life is incapable of loving those who have departed from death’s dark dwelling place to enter a dwelling made of living stones and filled with the light of life. Jesus laid down his life for us; so we too should lay down our lives, I will not say for him, but for ourselves and also, surely, for those who will be helped by the example of our martyrdom.

Now is the time for Christians to rejoice, since Scripture says that we should rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering trains us to endure with patience, patient endurance makes us pleasing to God, and being pleasing to God gives us ground for a hope that will not be disappointed. Only let the love of God be poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

The more we share in the sufferings of Christ, the more we share, through him, in his consolation. We should be extremely eager to share in Christ’s sufferings and to let them be multiplied in us if we desire the superabundant consolation that will be given to those who mourn. This consolation will not perhaps be the same for all, for if it were, Scripture would not say: The more we share in the sufferings of Christ, the more we share in his consolation. Sharing in his consolation will be proportionate to our sharing in his suffering. We learn this from one who could say with all confidence: We know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the consolation as well.

God says through the prophet: At an acceptable time I heard you; on the day of salvation I helped you. What time could be more acceptable than when, for our fidelity to God in Christ, we are made a public spectacle and led away under guard, not defeated but triumphant?

In Christ and with Christ the martyrs disarm the principalities and powers and share in his triumph over them, for their share in Christ’s sufferings makes them sharers also in the mighty deeds those sufferings accomplished. What could more appropriately be called the day of salvation than the day of such a glorious departure from this world? But I entreat you not to give offense to anyone, so that our ministry may not be blamed. Be very patient and show in every way that you are servants of God. Say: And now, what do I wait for? Is it not the Lord?

RESPONSORY Ephesians 6:12, 14, 13
Our struggle is not against human enemies
but against the principalities and powers, against the evil spirits.
- Stand firm and let the truth be the belt around your waist.

Put in the armor of God;
then you will be able to stand firm when the worst happens;
you will fulfill all your duties and hold your ground.
- Stand firm and let the truth be the belt around your waist.

PRAYER
Father,
may we benefit from the example
of your martyrs Marcellinus and Peter,
and be supported by their prayers.
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.

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