Embertide

Come, O Holy Ghost and fill the hearts of Thy faithful: and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

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It is Ember week again, a time to pray for God's blessings in the new season. And may we remember to bless God in every season of our lives.
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Prayers from today's Mass follow. As God intervened for His people in ancient days, may He intervene for you now. As His people praise His holy name down through the centuries, may your voice be joined with theirs. As the Holy Spirit has enlightened the minds of His saints, may he bless you also with wisdom. As He made them shine like the stars of heaven, may you also be haloed in the holiness of the Spirit dwelling within you. And as our blessed Savior gave everlasting life to those who were called to Him by His Father, may He do the same for you.

Dear friend, now beyond the seasons of this world, I pray that in the world to come, in the beneficent and healing Presence of our heavenly Father, you may be blessed forever with the renewal of Spring, the gladness of Summer, the richness of autumn, and the restfulness of winter. [I think St. Thomas More said something like that].

Introit:

O God, when Thou didst go forth in the sight of Thy people, making a passage for them, dwelling in the midst of them, alleluia; the earth was moved, the heavens dropped, alleluia, alleluia.

Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Him flee from before His face.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, and now, and ever, and to the age of ages. Amen.

(Repeat O God, when...)


Collect:

May the Comforter Who proceedeth from Thee enlighten our minds, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and guide us, even as Thy Son hath promised, into all truth. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, God, through all the ages of ages.


Collect after the lesson:

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty and merciful God, that the Holy Ghost may deign to come and dwell in us, making us the temples of His glory. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, God, through all the ages of ages.


Gospel:

No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.

Not that any man hath seen the Father; but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father. Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.
John 6:44-52


Offertory:

I shall meditate on Thy commandments, which I have loved: and I shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments, which I have loved, alleluia.
Psalm 118: 47,48

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Dear Rebecca, by the power of the Holy Spirit Whom you received at your confirmation, and through our Savior Whom you received in the holy Eucharist may you see the Father and rejoice, and receive from his hand everlasting life. Amen.

Remember, O Lord our God, Thy handmaid our sister Rebecca, who now standeth before Thee in the faith and hope of life eternal. Release her from her sins, destroying her iniquity, pardoning, loosing, and freeing her from all her transgressions, voluntary and involuntary. Save her from the eternal sufferings and fires of hell. Grant her to enjoy and to share in Thine eternal bliss which Thou hast prepared for all that love Thee: though she sinned, yet she did not reject Thee, confessing Thee faithfully even in her latest breath--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and believing in God glorified in the Holy Trinity, One in Three and Three in One, according to the Catholic Faith. Be thou therefore merciful to her, looking rather upon her faith than her works, and grant her rest with all thy saints, for Thou art bountiful. No man who lives is without sin, and Thou alone art free from all stain, and Thy truth abideth for ever. Thou art the one merciful and bountiful God who lovest mankind, and to Thee we ascribe glory, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost now and for ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Saint Barnabas, holy apostle, pray for Rebecca.
Saint Thomas More, pray for her.