Readings for the Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori

Readings for the Memorial of

St. Alphonsus Liguori
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
August 1

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MASS
From the Common of Pastors: For a Bishop, or from the Common of Doctors of the Church.

COLLECT
Deus, qui in Ecclesia tua nova semper instauras exempla virtutum, da nobis in zelo animarum beati Alfonsi Mariae episcopi ita vestigiis adhaerere, ut eius in caelis assequamur et praemia.
O God, who constantly raise up in your Church new examples of virtue,
grant that we may follow so closely in the footsteps
of the Bishop Saint Alphonsus in his zeal for souls
as to attain the same rewards that are his in heaven.
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          Romans 8:1-4
Brothers and sisters:
Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has freed you from the law of sin and death.
For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do,
this God has done:
by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM          119:9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Doce me, Domine, iustificationes tuas.

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
Sic luceat lux vestra coram hominibus ut videant vestra bona opera et glorificent Patrem vestrum.
Let your light shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

GOSPEL           Matthew 5:13-19
Jesus said to his disciples:
"You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."

PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Caelesti, Domine, Spiritus igne corda nostra clementer exure, qui beato Alfonso Mariae tribuisti et haec mysteria celebrare, et per eadem hostiam tibi sanctam seipsum exhibere.
Be pleased, O Lord, to enkindle our hearts
with the celestial fire of your Spirit,
just as you granted that Saint Alphonsus should celebrate these mysteries
and by them offer himself to you as a holy sacrifice.
Through Christ our Lord

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Deus, qui beatum Alfonsum Mariam fidelem dispensatorem et praeconem tanti mysterii providisti, concede, ut fideles tui illud frequenter percipiant, et, percipiendo, te sine fine collaudent.
O God, who gave us Saint Alphonsus
to be a faithful steward and preacher of this great mystery,
grant that your faithful
may receive it often and, receiving it,
praise you without end.
Through 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.

COLLECT
O God, who constantly raise up in your Church new examples of virtue,
grant that we may follow so closely in the footsteps
of the Bishop Saint Alphonsus in his zeal for souls
as to attain the same rewards that are his in heaven.
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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