Masses of the BVM: 26 The Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church II
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
You are truly worthy of all praise, holy Virgin Mary; you are the Mother of Christ, our God; you set before the Church a shining model of every virtue!
COLLECT
Lord God,
you have shown us in the Blessed Virgin Mary
the model of sublime love and profound humility;
grant that your Church may be like her,
obedient to your commandment of love,
so that by giving itself wholeheartedly
to seeking your glory and to serving others
it may stand before all peoples
as the sacrament of your love.
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
Acts 1:12-14
With one heart the disciples continued in steadfast prayer with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles
After Jesus had been taken up into heaven,
the apostles returned to Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a sabbath day’s journey away.
When the apostles entered the city
they went to the upper room where they were staying,
Peter and John and James and Andrew,
Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot,
and Judas son of James.
All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Ps 87:1-2, 3 and 5, 6-7
℟.(3) Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
The LORD loves the city
founded on holy mountains,
loves the gates of Zion
more than any dwelling in Jacob.
℟. Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
Glorious things are said of you,
O city of God!
But of Zion it must be said:
“They all were born right here.”
℟. Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
The Most High confirms this;
the LORD notes in the register of the peoples:
“This one was born here.
So all sing in their festive dance:
“Within you is my true home.”
℟. Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
℟. Alleluia, alleluia.
O happy Virgin, you gave birth to the Lord;
O blessed mother of the Church,
you warm our hearts with the Spirit of your Son Jesus Christ.
℟. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL
Jn 2:1-11
The mother of Jesus was there. And his disciples believed in him.
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
There was a wedding in Cana in Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short,
the mother of Jesus said to him,
“They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her,
“Woman, how does your concern affect me?
My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers,
“Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,
each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told the servers,
“Fill the jars with water.”
So they filled them to the brim.
Then Jesus told them,
“Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.”
So they took it.
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine,
without knowing where it came from
(although the servers who had drawn the water knew),
the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him,
“Everyone serves good wine first,
and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one;
but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee
and so revealed his glory,
and his disciples began to believe in him.
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
Lord, transform these gifts,
which we bring to you with joyful hearts,
into the Sacrament of our salvation
on this memorial of the Virgin Mary in glory;
for she is the shining model
of true worship for your Church
and of our duty to offer ourselves
as a holy victim, pleasing in your eyes.
Through Christ our Lord.
PREFACE: Mary, Image and Mother of the Church II
Our Lady as an Example of True Worship.
℣. 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,
through Christ our Lord.
For in your infinite goodness
you have given to the virgin Church
the model of true worship in the Virgin Mary.
She is the Virgin who listens,
who embraces your words with joy,
treasuring them in the silence of her heart.
She is the Virgin of prayer,
who sings of your mercy in her canticle of praise,
who shows concern for the bridegroom and bride of Cana
and intercedes for them with her Son,
who prays with the Apostles in oneness of mind and heart.
She is the Virgin Mother,
who gives birth to your Son
by the power of the Holy Spirit
and at the foot of the Cross
is proclaimed as mother
of the people of the New Covenant.
She is the Virgin who offers,
presenting the Firstborn in your temple
and sharing in his self-offering
beside the tree of everlasting life.
She is the Virgin who keeps vigil,
awaiting the Resurrection of her Son
with unwavering hope
and looking forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit,
with steadfast faith.
In our joy we sing to your glory
with all the choirs of Angels:
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
Blessed are you, Mary, full of grace:
we lift up our eyes to you as a shining model of every virtue
to the whole company of those whom God has chosen!
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Lord God, we have offered to you in sacrifice
the holy mysteries of your table
and have received with loving hearts
the Body and Blood of your Son;
grant that your Church
may look always to the Blessed Virgin
and so grow in fervor of faith,
be confirmed in love,
and be strengthened by the hope of future glory.
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.