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Office of Readings....... Second Reading |
30 January
Memorial of Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz, priest,
founder of the Congregations of St Michael the Archangel,
Proper of the Mass
Born in Pruchnik, Poland, on the 13th of July1842, he was ordained a priest on the 15th of September 1867. Following eighteen years of zealous and fruitful priestly ministry in the Diocese of Przemysl, he entered the Salesian Congregation and became a disciple of St. John Bosco. In 1897, he founded the Congregations of the Michaelite Sisters and the Michaelite Fathers. Filled with love of God and of neighbour, and working in the spirit of “work and temperance”, he dedicated his life to abandoned and rejected orphans, to poor children and to abandoned youth who were morally deprived, He died on the 29th of January 1912.
Entrance Antiphon
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord's year of favour. Lk 4:16-21
Collect
Almighty and merciful God,
you chose Blessed Bronislaus to be a father
and protector of abandoned youth.
Grant that we may be encouraged
by his example of hard work and temperance
to carry out your will faithfully
and zealously serve you.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.
First Reading
A reading from the prophet Isaiah61:1-3.
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken;
to proclaim liberty to captives,
freedom to those in prison;
to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord, a day of vengeance for our God;
to comfort all those who mourn and to give them for ashes a garland;
for mourning robe the oil of gladness,
for despondency, praise.
This is the word of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 88:2-5. 21-22. 25. 27
The Lord is faithful and merciful forever
1. I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth.
Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,
that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.
2. `I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through all ages.
3 `I have found David my servant
and with my holy oil anointed him.
My hand shall always be with him
and my arm shall make him strong.
4 `My truth and my love shall be with him;
by my name his might shall be exalted.
He will say to me: "You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves me."'
Second Reading
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans 12:3-13
In the light of the grace I have received I want to urge each one among you not to exaggerate his real importance. Each of you must judge himself soberly by the standard of the faith God has given him. Just as each of our bodies has several parts and each part has a separate function, so all of us, in union with Christ, form one body, and as parts of it we belong to each other. Our gifts differ according to the grace given us. If your gift is prophecy, then use it as your faith suggests; if administration, then use it for administration; if teaching, then use it for teaching. Let the preachers deliver sermons, the almsgivers give freely, the officials be diligent, and those who do works of mercy do them cheerfully.
Do not let your love be a pretence, but sincerely prefer good to evil. Love each other as much as brothers should, and have a profound respect for each other. Work for the Lord with untiring effort and with great earnestness of spirit. If you have hope, this will make you cheerful. Do not give up if trials come; and keep on Praying. If any of the saints are in need you must share with them; and you should make hospitality your special care.
This is the word of the Lord.
Alleluia Verse
Alleluia
The one who makes himself as little as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18 4). Alleluia
Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing little children to Jesus, for him to touch them. The disciples turned them away, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, `Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. I tell you solemnly, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' Then he put his arms round them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Prayer over the Gifts
Almighty God, accept the gifts
which we present to you
on this memorial of Blessed Bronislaw
and grant that, following his example, in serving our neighbour,
we may merit the gift of eternal life.
Communion Antiphon.
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest (Mt 11,28).
Prayer after Communion
O God, Our Father, grant that we
who have been nourished with the body and Blood of your Son
may become one body and one Spirit, in imitating the fervent and untiring love of Blessed Bronislaw. Through Christ our Lord
From the “Writings of Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz
(Powściągliwość i Praca (Temperance and Work) 1904, pp.73-74
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1 The Two Pillars of Social Life |
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The world is falling apart because men have destroyed two pillars of social life. In education and in life they have placed the emphasis predominantly upon intellectual instruction and on science letting go of “work and temperance”. Instead, our Creator, who knows what we need, better than we ourselves know, recommends, after having suffered the loss of bread and salvation, that we work with the sweat of our brow and that we be temperant. He expressly says to our first parents in Paradise “By the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground, from which you were taken.(Gen,3, 19) Jesus Christ in his Gospel adds: “If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross and begin to follow in my footsteps”(Mt 16, 24) . This means: That not only I, your Saviour, have to work hard and suffer, but also all of you, my disciples, if you want to be with me in paradise, have to suffer and work, submitting your intellect, will and works to the prescriptions of the Commandments of God..
You must commit your body with all its senses and inclinations to the continual service of the Divine, fighting and working, day and night, for his glory during your whole life until death. The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh” (Gal. 5:17)
Work and temperance are not acquired easily. In order to avoid being overcome in battle we must rigorously control our body and all its natural inclinations, like a coachman holds on tightly to an untamed horse so that they both do not end up on the brink.
The Son of God, in human flesh walks before us lighting our path with his example, in order to lighten the burden which the Creator placed upon us and to exhort us to the voluntary renunciation of our very selves. Jesus worked willingly and by the sweat of his brow in St Joseph’s shop, he endured the sufferings and the privations of daily life, finally he died on the cross suffering horrible pain. He did not spare himself he did not give in to anything in order to teach us how we are to live in every situation. His Mother, followed him closely, the sorrowful Mother who worked and suffered during her whole life. Behind her come the thousands of saints who “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal:5:24).
Instead today, throughout the whole world and unfortunately among Christian nations, this command seems to resound: Let us seek to enjoy life to the fullest on this earth and to work as little as possible. Money, power, rest, diversion, pleasures and honours today constitute the ideal of all of humanity, while work by the sweat of the brow and Christian temperance are totally disvalued. Only those who are forced to do so work and suffer. Only very few work freely and are temperant in the spirit of Jesus Christ. The majority of today’s people are not aware that work and Christian temperance obtain a hundredfold already on this earth. Abandonment of temperance, instead, brings about not only the risk of the eternal punishment of hell but also earthly disasters.
The effeminate world refuses to accept the bitter means of Christian mortification to heal the illnesses of the spirit. It is precisely mortification which heals the “things of the earth” (Phil.3, 19) and the inclinations which wound man’s soul and lead to perdition. By means of mortification we pay, already on this earth, the temporal punishments which we have deserved because of our sins. Mortification raises our soul to heavenly realities and enables it to be united to God. Only those who are mortified have the gift of prayer which is indispensable for salvation. Christian mortification helps us to acquire, already on this earth, interior peace and the joy of the Spirit. Therefore, mortification, which consists of work and Christian temperance, constitutes the indispensable condition for, and is the source of spiritual wealth and of human happiness, in this present life and in the future.
Work and temperance are, thus, the most important pillars of social life. Only there, where they are solidly grounded, are well-being, health, strength, peace, freedom and independence possible.
We need not only instruct youth on these two pillars of social life but also to have them actively put them into practice, encouraging them by our own example. We need to pray, many times throughout the day, for the understanding and realization of these two conditions for happiness. We need to base our scholastic system and our whole education principally on these two pillars. Thus will we find abundant means for the social betterment of our people and neighbouring peoples. In this way the brotherhood of nations will be extended and a more glorious period in the history of humanity will dawn.
