Masses of the BVM: 25 The Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church I
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
Cf. Acts 1: 14
The disciples devoted themselves with one accord to prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
COLLECT
O God, Father of mercies,
whose Only Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross,
chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother,
to be our Mother also,
grant, we pray, that with her loving help
your Church may be more fruitful day by day
and, exulting in the holiness of her children,
may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples.
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
Gen 3:9-15, 20
I will put emnity between your offspring and her offspring.
A reading from the Book of Genesis
After the man and woman had eaten of the tree,
the LORD God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”
The man answered, “I heard you in the garden;
but I was afraid, because I was naked,
so I hid myself.”
Then the LORD God asked, “Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then,
from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”
The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—
she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”
The LORD God then asked the woman,
“Why did you do such a thing?”
The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”
Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this, you shall be banned
from all the animals
and from all the wild creatures;
on your belly shall you crawl,
and dirt shall you eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
her offspring will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel.”
The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Jud 13:18bcde, 19
℟. (15d) You are the highest honor of our race.
Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God,
above all women on earth;
and blessed be the LORD God,
the creator of heaven and earth.
℟. You are the highest honor of our race.
Your deed of hope will never be forgotten
by those who tell of the might of God.
℟. You are the highest honor of our race.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
℟. Alleluia, alleluia.
Happy are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise;
from you rose the sun of justice, Christ the Lord.
℟. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL
Jn 19:25-27
Woman, this is your son. This is your mother.
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her,
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:
The Gospel of the Lord.
All reply:
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Then he kisses the book, saying quietly:
Through the words of the Gospel
may our sins be wiped away.
PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Receive our offerings, O Lord,
and transform them into the mystery of salvation,
so that by its power we may be set aflame
with the charity of the Virgin Mary,
Mother of the Church,
and with her may be united more closely
to the work of redemption.
Through Christ our Lord.
PREFACE: Mary, Image and Mother of the Church I
Mary is the Image and Mother of the Church.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with your spirit.
℣. Lift up your hearts.
℟. We lift them up to the Lord.
℣. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
℟. It is right and just.
It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
and to proclaim your greatness with due praise,
as we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Receiving your Word in her Immaculate Heart,
she was found worthy to conceive him in her virgin’s womb
and, giving birth to the Creator,
she nurtured the beginnings of the Church.
Standing beside the Cross,
she received the testament of divine love
and took to herself as sons and daughters
all those who by the Death of Christ
are born to heavenly life.
As the Apostles awaited the Spirit you had promised,
she joined her supplication to the prayers of the disciples
and so became the pattern of the Church at prayer.
Raised to the glory of heaven,
she accompanies your pilgrim Church with a mother’s love
and watches in kindness over the Church’s homeward steps,
until the Lord’s Day shall come in glorious splendor.
And so, with all the Angels and Saints,
we praise you, as without end we acclaim:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
COMMUNION ANTIPHON
Cf. John 19: 26-27
As he hung upon the cross,
Jesus said to the disciple whom he loved:
Behold your mother.
Or:
Blessed are you, Mary,
full of grace, mother and virgin;
you are a shining example of faith, hope, and love to the Church.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Having received the pledge of redemption and of life,
we humbly pray, O Lord,
that, with the Blessed Virgin’s motherly help,
your Church may teach all nations
by proclaiming the Gospel
and, through the grace of the outpouring of the Spirit,
fill the whole earth.
Through Christ our Lord.
SOLEMN BLESSING
The following Solemn Blessing may be used:
The Lord be with you.
The people reply:
And with your spirit.
The Deacon or, in his absence, the Priest himself, says the invitation:
Bow down for the blessing.
Then the Priest, with hands outstretched over the people, says
Ordinary Time I
May the Father of all mercy,
through the love with which he cherished
the Mother of his Son,
bless you with health of mind and body.
℟. Amen.
May Jesus Christ, the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb,
adorn you with the virtues
that will make you more pleasing to him.
℟. Amen.
May the Holy Spirit,
whose power overshadowed the Blessed Virgin,
give you serenity and peace,
that you may live as one in mind and heart
in the household of the Church.
℟. Amen.
And may the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit,
come down on you and remain with you for ever.
℟. Amen.
Ordinary Time II
May God, who through the childbearing of the Blessed Virgin Mary
willed in his great kindness to redeem the human race,
be pleased to enrich you with his blessing.
℟. Amen.
May you know always and everywhere the protection of her,
through whom you have been found worthy to receive the author of life.
℟. Amen.
May you, who have devoutly gathered to celebrate this memorial of our Lady,
carry away with you the gifts of spiritual joys and heavenly rewards.
℟. Amen.
And may the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit,
come down on you and remain with you for ever.
℟. Amen.
Ordinary Time III
May the Father of mercies bless you
through the intercession of Blessed Mary ever-Virgin
through whom he chose to remedy the fall of our first parents.
℟. Amen.
May Jesus Christ, who in the womb of the Blessed Virgin
became our brother and our Savior,
free your hearts from every trace of sin.
℟. Amen.
May the Holy Spirit
increase in you the grace of true faith and of hope for heaven,
that you may walk in the ways of the Gospel
and so reach your eternal home.
℟. Amen.
And may the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit,
come down on you and remain with you for ever.
℟. Amen.
Then the Deacon, or the Priest himself, with hands joined and facing the people, says:
Go forth, the Mass is ended.
Or:
Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
Or:
Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
Or:
Go in peace.
The people reply:
Thanks be to God.