Sunday XVII Post Pentecost, Commemoration of SS. Comas & Damian, Martyrs: 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.
SS. Cosmas & Damian: Early Christian physicians and martyrs whose feast is celebrated on 27 September. They were twins, born in Arabia, and practised the art of healing in the seaport Ægea, now Ayash (Ajass), on the Gulf of Iskanderun in Cilicia, Asia Minor, and attained a great reputation. They accepted no pay for their services and were, therefore, called anargyroi, “the silverless”. In this way they brought many to the Catholic Faith. When the Diocletian persecution began, the Prefect Lysias had Cosmas and Damian arrested, and ordered them to recant. They remained constant under torture, in a miraculous manner suffered no injury from water, fire, air, nor on the cross, and were finally beheaded with the sword. Their three brothers, Anthimus, Leontius, and Euprepius died as martyrs with them. The execution took place 27 September, probably in the year 287. At a later date a number of fables grew up about them, connected in part with their relics. The remains of the martyrs were buried in the city of Cyrus in Syria; the Emperor Justinian I (527-565) sumptuously restored the city in their honour. Having been cured of a dangerous illness by the intercession of Cosmas and Damian, Justinian, in gratitude for their aid, rebuilt and adorned their church at Constantinople, and it became a celebrated place of pilgrimage. At Rome Pope Felix IV (526-530) erected a church in their honour, the mosaics of which are still among the most valuable art remains of the city. The Greek Church celebrates the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian on 1 July, 17 October, and 1 November, and venerates three pairs of saints of the same name and profession. Cosmas and Damian are regarded as the patrons of physicians and surgeons and are sometimes represented with medical emblems. They are invoked in the Canon of the Mass and in the Litany of the Saints.
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.
Commemoration Ss. Cosmas & Damian, Martyrs
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who celebrate the feast day of Thy holy martyrs, Cosmas and Damian, by their intercession may be delivered from all dangers that threaten us.
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 glorious 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.
R. Amen.
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 neighbour 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.
Commemoration Ss. Cosmas & Damian, Martyrs
May the loving prayers of Thy saints not be wanting to us, O Lord, to win us Thy gifts and ever to obtain us Thy pardon.
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 fulfil 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.
Commemoration Ss. Cosmas & Damian, Martyrs
May Thy people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, be protected by the privilege of participation in the heavenly banquet and by the prayer of the saints made in their behalf.
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.
The Brighton Oratory 
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