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January 8
St Peter Thomas, Bishop
OC: Feast
OCD: Optional Memorial
Common of Pastors
Born about 1305 in southern Perigord in France, Peter Thomas entered the
Carmelites when he was twenty-one. He was chosen by the Order as its
procurator general to the Papal Court at Avignon in 1345. After being made
bishop of Patti and Lipari in 1354, he was entrusted with many papal
missions to promote peace and unity with the Eastern Churches. He was
translated to the see of Corone in the Peloponnesus in 1359 and made Papal
Legate for the East. In 1363 he was appointed Archbishop of Crete and in
1364 Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He won a reputation as an apostle
of church unity before he died at Famagosta on Cyprus in 1366.
Office of Readings
First Reading
1 Timothy 1:1-7, 15-19, 2:1-8
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ
Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I
was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain
persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to occupy themselves with
myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the
divine training that is in faith; whereas the aim of our charge is love that
issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.
Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain
discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either
what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.
The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; but I
received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ
might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to
believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible,
the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
This charge I commit to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the
prophetic utterances which pointed to you, that inspired by them you may
wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting
conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith, First of
all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high
positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful
in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to
which was borne at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and
apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles
in faith and truth. I desire then that in every place the men should pray,
lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;
Second Reading (for O.Carm it is a reading from the Life of St. Peter Thomas
by his secretary) for OCD a reading from The Book of the Institution of the
First Monks Bk I, ch 6
The Lord says, "The man who hears My commandments and keeps them, he it is
who loves Me." And the first of all commandments is: "Hear, O Israel: The
Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
This is the greatest and first commandment." This cannot be observed
without love of neighbor, because "he who does not love his brother whom he
has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen;" "and the second commandment
is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself,"
namely, in the things and for the reason that you love yourself. "His soul
hates him who loves violence," says the Psalmist. Therefore, love your
neighbor as yourself in good and not in evil, and "whatever you wish that
men would do to you, do so to them" and "what you hate, do not do to any
one." Thus, you must love your neighbor, and so act that he becomes just if
he is wicked, or remains just if he is good.
Again you must love yourself, not because of yourself, but because of God.
Whatever is loved because of itself is thus made a source of joy and a happy
life, the hope of attaining which is comforting even on earth. But you must
not place the hope of a blessed life in yourself or another man. "Cursed is
the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away
from the Lord."
Therefore you must make the Lord the source of your joy and the happy life,
as the apostle says: "But now that you have been set free from sin and have
become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end,
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
If you understand this clearly, you must love God because of Himself, and
yourself, not because of yourself, but because of God; and, since you must
love your neighbor as yourself, you must love him, not because of himself,
nor because of yourself, but because of God, and what else is this but to
love God in your neighbor? "By this we know that we love the children of
God, when we love God and obey His commandment." In the preparation of your
soul you do all of this if you love God because of Himself and your neighbor
as yourself because of God. "On these two commandments depend all the law
and the prophets."
Responsory
R/. With all our hearts we desired nothing better than to share with you our
own lives, as well as God's gospel,
* so greatly had we learned to love you.
V/. My little children, I am in travail over you afresh, until I can see
Christ's image formed in you, * so greatly had we learned to love you.
Prayer
Lord,
You inspired in Your bishop St. Peter Thomas an intense desire to promote
peace and Christian unity.
Following His example
may we live steadfast in the faith
and work perseveringly for peace.
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 Zechariah
I am the good shepherd; I lay down my life for my sheep; and there shall be
one flock and one shepherd.
Canticle of Mary
May the peace of Christ fill your hearts with joy, that peace to which all
of you are called as one body.
*********
For Mass
Entrance Antiphon
May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, that peace to which all of you
are called as one body. Always be thankful.
Prayer
(see above)
Prayer over the Gifts
Father,
in Your mercy fill our hearts
with the warmth of Your love.
Through these holy mysteries
bring us to unity and peace.
Communion Antiphon
Because there is one bread we, though many, are one body, for we all share
in the one loaf.
Prayer after Communion
Lord God,
by the power of this mystery
increase among us, Your servants,
that peace and unity
for which St. Peter Thomas
labored all his life.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Ezekiel 34:11-16
OR
Ephesians 2:13-22
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the
blood of Christ. For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down
the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its
commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new
person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile
both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death
by it. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those
who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the
Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow
citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as
the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows
into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 121
R/. Holy is God, holy and strong, a holy and merciful Savior.
I rejoiced when I heard them say:
'Let us go to God's house'.
And now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem. R/.
Jerusalem is built as a city
strongly compact.
It is there that the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord.
For Israel's law it is
there to praise the Lord's name.
There were set the thrones of judgment
of the house of David. R/.
For the peace of Jerusalem pray:
'Peace be to your homes!
May peace reign in your walls,
in your palaces, peace!' R/.
For love of my brethren and friends
I say: 'Peace upon you!"
For love of the house of the Lord
I will ask for your good. R/.
Gospel
John 10:11-16
I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a
wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and
scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the
sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as
the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for
the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one
flock, one shepherd.
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