Blessed John obtained papal approval for the Carmelite third order.

And it was Blessed John who obtained papal approval for the Carmelites

officially to found a second order of nuns.

 

OC: Memorial

on July 24

 

OCD: Optional Memorial

on July 28

 

 

John Soreth was born at Caen in Normandy and entered Carmel as a young man.

He took a doctorate of theology in Paris and served as regent of studies and

provincial of his province.  He was prior general from 1451 until his death

at Angers in 1471.  He restored observance within the Order and promoted its

reform, wrote a famous commentary on the Rule, issued new Constitutions in

1462, and promoted the growth of the nuns and the Third Order.

 

>From the Common For Religious, except the following:

 

Office of Readings

 

Second Reading

>From the Exhortation on the Carmelite Rule by

Blessed John Soreth

 

It is from Christ Himself, brother, that you will learn how to love Him.

Learn to love Him tenderly, with all your heart; prudently, with all your

soul; fervently, with all your strength.  Love Him tenderly, so that you

will not be seduced away from Him; prudently, so that you will not be open

to deception; and fervently, so that downheartedness will not draw you away

from God's love.  May the wisdom of Christ seem sweet to you, so that you

are not led away by the glory of the world and the pleasures of the flesh.

May Christ, Who is the Truth, enlighten you, so that you do not fall prey to

the spirit of error and falsehood.  May Christ, Who is the Strength of God,

fortify you when hardships wear you out.

 

St. Basil says that we are bound to our benefactors by bonds of affection

and duty.  But what greater gift or favor could we receive than God Himself?

For, He continues, I experience the ineffable love of God--a love more

easily felt than described.  Since God has planted the seeds of goodness in

us, we can be certain that He is awaiting their fruits.

 

So let the love of Christ kindle your enthusiasm; let His knowledge be your

teacher, and His constancy your strength.  May your enthusiasm be fervent,

balanced in judgement and invincible, and neither lukewarm nor lack- ing in

discretion.  Love the Lord your God with all the affection of which your

heart is capable; love Him with all the attentiveness and balance of

judgement of your soul and reason; love Him with such strength that you will

not be afraid to die for love of Him.  May the Lord Jesus seem so sweet and

tender to your affections that the sweet enticements of the world hold no

attraction for you; may His sweetness conquer their sweetness.

 

May He also be the guiding light of your intellect and the ruler of your

reason:  then you will not only avoid the deceptions of heresy and save your

faith from their ambushes, but you will also avoid too great and indiscreet

an enthusiasm in your behavior.  God is Wisdom, and He wants to be loved not

only fervently, but also wisely; otherwise the spirit of error will easily

take advantage of your enthusiasm.  If you neglect this advice, that cunning

enemy thereby has a most effective means of taking the love of God from your

heart by making you progress carelessly and without discretion.  Therefore,

may your love be strong and persevering, neither giving in to fears nor

being worn out by labors.

 

Not to be led astray by allurements, that's what it means to love with all

one's heart; not to be deceived by false arguments, that's the meaning of

loving with all one's soul; not to let your spirit be broken by

difficulties, that is to love with all one's strength.

 

The Rule goes on to say that you should love your neighbor as yourself.  For

he who loves God, loves his neighbor too; "for he who does not love his

brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?"

 

Responsory

R/.  This is the love of God:  that we keep His command- ments; * and His

commandments are not burdensome.

V/.  Those who keep His commandments abide in God, and God abides in them; *

and His commandments are not burdensome.

 

 

Canticle of Zechariah

Be faithful till death, and I will give you the crown of life.

 

Prayer

Lord God,

You willed that Blessed John Soreth

should renew religious life

and establish communities for women

in the Order of Carmel.

May his prayers and merits

help us to be ever more faithful

in following Christ and His Mother.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns

with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

 

Canticle of Mary

This faithful man made his city strong and renewed the faith of sinners.

 

************

for Mass

 

 

Entrance Antiphon

As a shepherd visits his flock I will look after my sheep, says the Lord,

and I will raise up a shepherd who will pasture them.

 

Prayer (see above)

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord,

may the gifts we bring to Your altar

in memory of Bl. John Soreth

be acceptable to You.  Free us

from the things that keep us from

You and teach us to seek us to

seek You as our only good.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

 

Communion Antiphon

Let the greatest among you become as

the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.

 

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,

You made Bl. John Soreth

a defender of religious life

and a teacher of evangelical perfection.

May this sacrament give us also the strength to serve You in purity of

heart.

Grant this through Christ our Lord.

 

First Reading

Ezekiel 34: 12-16, 23

As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered

abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places

where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.  And I

will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries,

and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the

mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of

the country.  I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain

heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good

grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down,

says the Lord GOD.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed,

and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat

and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.  And I will

set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he

shall feed them and be their shepherd.

 

Responsorial Psalm

R/. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

The Lord is my shepherd;

there is nothing I shall want.

Fresh and green are the pastures

where He gives me repose.  R/.

 

Near restful waters He leads me,

to revive my drooping spirit.

He guides me along the right path;

He is true to His name.  R/.

 

Ir I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear.

You are there with Your crook and Your staff; with these You give me

comfort.  R/.

 

You have prepared a banquet for me

in the sight of my foes.

My head You have anointed with oil;

my cup is overflowing.  R/.

 

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life.

In the Lord's own house shall I dwell

for ever and ever.  R/.

 

Gospel

Luke  9: 57-62

As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you

wherever you go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of

the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and

bury my father."  But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own

dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."   Another

said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my

home."  Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks

back is fit for the kingdom of God."