Feria of Sunday XVI Post Pentecost: Missa “Miserére mihi“
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost in the traditional Roman rite unveils the paradox at the centre of Christian life. Man, frail and dependent, is summoned to the banquet of divine love. The liturgy weaves together the twin themes of humility and confidence: it lowers the soul to confess its need of God, while lifting it to contemplate “the breadth, and length, and height, and depth” of Christ’s love which surpasses all knowledge.
The Epistle: Strength in the Inner Man
The Epistle appointed in the Missale Romanum (1920) is from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where the Apostle kneels before the Father and prays “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man; that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth: to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge; that you may be filled unto all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:16–19).¹
St John Chrysostom, in his homily on this passage, insists that divine love can be known only through Christ’s indwelling presence: “Although the love of Christ lies above the reach of all human knowledge, yet shall you know it, if you shall have Christ dwelling in you… ye shall even be filled unto all the fullness of God.”² For Chrysostom, this prayer is not rhetoric but reality: Christian life is a supernatural habitation of God Himself. The liturgy positions this reading to remind the Church that her strength is not her own, but grace infused into the hidden man of the heart.
The Gospel: Healing and Humility
The Gospel given in the Missale (1920) recounts how Jesus, invited to the house of a Pharisee, healed a man afflicted with dropsy and then spoke a parable about taking places at a banquet (Lk. 14:1–11).³ Christ, perceiving how the guests sought preeminence, commanded them to choose the lowest place, ending with the solemn axiom: “Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Patristic writers see the healing of dropsy as symbolic. Dropsy is a swelling disease, an image of the soul inflated with pride. St Augustine remarks that pride is the beginning of all sin, and if pride is healed, the rest of man’s maladies can be more easily cured.⁴ Christ, then, heals the man to signify that He alone can cure the sickness of pride, and He immediately teaches that humility is the path to exaltation.
St Bede comments that the guest who chooses the lowest seat is exalted in the resurrection: “Let us then hold fast humility, that we may be exalted in the glory of the resurrection.”⁵ The Fathers stress that the parable is not polite advice but a spiritual law. Outward posture—choosing the low place—forms inward disposition, training the soul to renounce self-importance.
The Propers: A Litany of Dependence
The chants of the day deepen this theme. The Introit pleads: Miserere mihi, Domine, quoniam ad te clamavi tota die: quoniam tu, Domine, suavis et mitis es, et multae misericordiae omnibus invocantibus te—“Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to Thee all the day; for Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Thee” (Ps. 85:3, 5).⁶ The Gradual and Alleluia exalt the majesty of God over the nations (Ps. 101:16; Ps. 97:1). The Offertory implores: “Look down, O Lord, to help me; let them be confounded that seek after my soul” (Ps. 39:14–15).⁷ The Communion makes the prayer personal: “O Lord, I will be mindful of Thy justice alone: Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth; and unto old age forsake me not” (Ps. 70:16–18).⁸
Even the Collect is itself a sermon in miniature. Its unusual word order, separating adjective from noun (tua… gratia), arrests the ear. The prayer asks that God’s grace may both precede and follow us. As one modern commentator notes, its very syntax enacts the truth that every work of man is vulnerable to pride unless encompassed by grace from beginning to end.⁹
The Liturgy as School of Humility
The Tridentine rite embodies these truths ritually. The priest begins at the foot of the altar confessing unworthiness. The Gradual and Alleluia proclaim awe before divine majesty. The Canon is prayed in silence, pressing reverence into the soul. At the elevation, Christ is lifted up, the Bread of Angels shown to the faithful. The movement of the rite itself is catechesis: humility precedes exaltation, abasement prepares the way for glory. St Gregory the Great captured this dynamic: “Whosoever exalts himself is cast down into the depth; but he who humbles himself is raised up to heaven.”¹⁰
Conclusion
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost teaches that Christian life cannot be reduced to moral refinement or human striving. It is a mystery of grace. Pride swells the soul and bars God’s entrance; humility empties it to be filled. Those who learn the lowly posture of prayer and service will hear the voice of the Master: Amice, ascende superius—“Friend, go up higher.”
INTROIT Psalm 85:3; 85:5
Have pity on me, O Lord, for to You I call all the day; for You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon You. Ps 85:1 Incline Your ear, O Lord; answer me, for I am afflicted and poor. v. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
COLLECT
May Your grace, we beseech You, O Lord, ever go before us and follow us, and may it make us ever intent upon good works. 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.
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.
Collect for God’s Holy Church
Graciously hear, O Lord, the prayers of Thy Church that, having overcome all adversity and every error, she may serve Thee in security and freedom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever. R. Amen.
EPISTLE Ephesians 3:13-21
Lesson from the letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians: Brethren, I pray you not to be disheartened at my tribulations for you, for they are your glory. For this reason I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from Whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth receives its name, that He may grant you from His glorious riches to be strengthened with power through His Spirit unto the progress of the inner man; and to have Christ dwelling through faith in your hearts: so that, being rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, in order that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Now, to Him Who is able to accomplish all things in a measure far beyond what we ask or conceive, in keeping with the power that is at work in us – to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus down through all the ages of time without end. Amen.
GRADUAL/ALLELUIA Psalm 101:16-17
The nations shall revere Your name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory. V. For the Lord has rebuilt Sion, and He shall appear in His glory. Alleluia, alleluia. Ps 97:1 V. Sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done wondrous deeds. Alleluia.
GOSPEL Luke 14:1-11
At that time, when Jesus entered the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to take food, they watched Him. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had the dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath? But they remained silent. And He took and healed him and let him go. Then addressing them, He said, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him up on the Sabbath? And they could give Him no answer to these things. But He also spoke a parable to those invited, observing how they were choosing the first places at table, and He said to them, When you are invited to a wedding feast, do not recline in the first place, lest perhaps one more distinguished than you have been invited by him, and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Make room for this man’; and then you begin with shame to take the last place. But when you are invited go and recline in the last place; that when he who invited you comes in, he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher!’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who are at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Psalm 39:14-15
Deign, O Lord, to rescue me; let all be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life. Deign, O Lord, to rescue me.
SECRET
Cleanse us by this sacrifice, we beseech You, O Lord, and by the workings of Your mercy, make us worthy to receive it. 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.
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.
Secret for God’s Holy Church
Protect us, O Lord, who assist at Thy mysteries, that, cleaving to things divine, we may serve Thee both in body and in mind. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever. R.Amen.
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 70:16-18
O Lord, I will tell of Your singular justice; O God, You have taught me from my youth; and now that I am old and gray, O God, forsake me not.
POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, we beseech You, graciously cleanse and renew our minds with the heavenly sacrament, so we may thereby also receive bodily help for the present as well as for the future. 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.
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.
Postcommunion for God’s Holy Church
O Lord our God, we pray Thee that Thou suffer not to succumb to human hazards those whom Thou hast been pleased to make sharers of divine mysteries. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever.
R. Amen.
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