Sunday XVII Post Pentecost, Commemoration of S. Linus, Pope & Martyr & S. Thecla, Virgin & Martyr: Missa “Iustus es, Domine”
The liturgy reminds us today of the great commandment of charity towards God and our neighbor. “The precept is twofold,” declares St. Augustine, “but charity is one.” We love God above all and our neighbor for His sake. The unity of our faith, like the unity of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity is the message of the Epistle and the Gospel imposes on us the duty of being united in the bonds of charity.
About St. Peter a great deal is known; about his successors, considerably less. For the early popes the main written source is the “Liber Pontificalis.” This account of the lives of the popes was begun probably early in the sixth century while the Ostrogoths ruled Italy. The author had access to earlier written sources, but he was not rigidly critical. Since there are a number of mistakes which historians have checked, the “Liber Pontificalis,” though valuable, is scarcely to be considered infallible. It is, however, the best written source extant for many of the early popes. St. Linus, according to the “Liber Pontificalis,” was an Italian from Tuscany. His father’s name was Herculanus. He died a martyr and was buried on the Vatican near St. Peter. It is probable that St. Paul refers to him when he writes from Rome to Timothy, “Eubulus and Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren salute thee” (2 Tim., 4:21). Little as is known of St. Linus, churchgoers can be reminded of him every time they see a woman in church wearing a hat or kerchief, for it is said that it was this second pope who decreed that women should enter church only with heads covered.
According to a popular second century tale, Acts of Paul and Thecla, she was a native of Iconomium who was so impressed by the preaching of St. Paul on virginity that she broke off her engagement to marry Thamyris to live a life of virginity. Paul was ordered to be scourged and banished from the city for his teaching, and Thecla was ordered burned to death. When a storm providentially extinguished the flames, she escaped with Paul and went with him to Antioch. There she was condemned to wild beasts in the arena when she violently resisted the attempt of Syriarch Alexander to kidnap her, but again escaped when the beasts did no harm to her. She rejoined Paul at Myra in Lycia, dressed as a boy, and was commissioned by him to preach the Gospel. She did for a time in Iconium and then became a recluse in a cave at Meriamlik near Seleucia. She lived as a hermitess there for the next seventy-two years and died there (or in Rome, where she was miraculously transported when she found that Paul had died and was later buried near his tomb). The tale had tremendous popularity in the early Church but is undoubtedly a pious fiction and was labeled apocryphal by St. Jerome.
INTROIT Psalm 118:137; 118:124
You are just, O Lord, and Your ordinance is right. Deal with Your servant according to Your kindness. Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
COLLECT
Grant, we beseech You, O Lord, that Your people may avoid the temptations of the devil, and with pure minds follow You, the only God. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
R. Amen.
Commemoratio S. Lini Papae et Martyris
Eternal Shepherd, look with favor upon Your flock. Safeguard and shelter it forevermore through blessed Linus, Your Martyr and Supreme Pontiff, who You constituted shepherd of the whole Church.
For ST. THECLA
Grant, we beseech You, O almighty God, that we who celebrate the anniversary of the death of blessed Thecla, Your Virgin and Martyr, may rejoice on her yearly feastday and benefit by the example of such great faith.
Collect of the Souls
From all perils of soul and body defend us, O Lord, we beseech thee, and by the intercession of blessed and gloriosus ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of blessed Joseph, of thy blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of blessed N. and all the Saints, graciously grant us safety and peace that all adversities and errors being overcome, thy Church may serve thee in security and freedom. Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
EPISTLE Ephesians 4:1-6
Lesson from the letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians. Brethren: I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, careful to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and throughout all, and in us all, Who is blessed forever and ever. Amen.
GRADUAL/ALLELUIA Psalm 32:12; 32:6
Happy the nation whose God is the Lord, the people the Lord has chosen for His own inheritance. V. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made; by the breath of His mouth all their host. Alleluia, alleluia. Ps 101:2 V. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to You. Alleluia.
GOSPEL Matt 22:34-46
At that time, the Pharisees came to Jesus and one of them, a doctor of the Law, putting Him to the test, asked Him, Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus questioned them, saying, What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is He? They said to Him, David’s. He said to them, How then does David in the spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?’ If David, therefore, calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son? And no one could answer Him a word; neither did anyone dare from that day forth to ask Him any more questions.
OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Daniel 9:17-19
I, Daniel, prayed to my God, saying, Hear, O Lord, the prayers of Your servant; show Your face upon Your sanctuary, and favorably look down upon this people, upon whom Your name is invoked, O God.
SECRET
O Lord, we humbly pray Your majesty that the holy rite which we are celebrating may free us from past and future sins. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. R. Amen.
Commemoratio S. Lini Papae et Martyris
Having offered You our gifts, we beseech You, O Lord, mercifully to enlighten Your Church, so that Your flock may everywhere prosper, and its shepherds, under Your guidance, may be rendered acceptable to You.
For ST. THECLA
Accept, O Lord, the gifts we bring on the festival of blessed Thecla, Your Virgin and Martyr, through whose patronage we hope to be delivered.
Of the souls
Hear us, O God, our salvation that through the power of this Sacrament thou mayest defend us from all enemies of soul and body and bestow upon us grace here and glory hereafter. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
PREFACE of the Holy Trinity
It it truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God; Who, together with Thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord: not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For what we believe by Thy revelation of Thy glory, the same do we believe of Thy Son, the same of the Holy Ghost, without difference or separation. So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, distinction in persons, unity in essence, and equality in majesty may be adored. Which the Angels and Archangels, the Cherubim also and Seraphim do praise: who cease not daily to cry out, with one voice saying:
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Psalm 75:12-13
Make vows to the Lord, your God, and fulfill them; let all round about Him bring gifts to the terrible Lord Who checks the pride of princes, Who is terrible to the kings of the earth.
POSTCOMMUNION
By the workings of Your sanctifying power, almighty God, may our vices be cured and eternal remedies provided for us. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. R. Amen.
Commemoratio S. Lini Papae et Martyris
Since Your Church has been nourished by sacred food, govern her in Your clemency, we beseech You, O Lord, so that under the guidance of Your almighty rule she may enjoy ever greater freedom and remain steadfast in purity of faith.
For ST. THECLA
May the sacrament we have received, aid us, O Lord, and by the intercession of blessed Thecla, Your Virgin and Martyr, may it keep us forevermore under Your everlasting protection.
Of the souls
May the offering of this divine Sacrament cleanse and protect us, O Lord we beseech thee, and by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of blessed Joseph, of thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of blessed N. and all the Saints, may it purify us from all sin, and free us from all adversity. Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.