Saint Jerome Emilian
Introit
Lamentations 2:11; Psalm 112:1
Poured out upon the earth is my liver, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the child and the suckling fainted away in the streets of the city. Ps. Praise the Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord. Glory be to the Father.
Collect
God, the Father of mercies, grant, by the intercession of blessed Jerome, whom Thou didst will to be the helper and father of orphans, that we may faithfully guard the spirit of adoption whereby we are both in name and reality Thy children. Through our Lord.
Epistle
Isaias 58:7-11
Thus said the Lord: Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not. When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday. And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail.
Gradual
Proverbs 5:16; Psalm 111:5-6
Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters. Acceptable is the man that showeth mercy and lendeth, he ordereth his words with judgment; because he shall not be moved forever.
Alleluia
Psalm 111:9
Alleluia, alleluia. He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor; his justice remaineth forever and ever. Alleluia.
Gospel
Matthew 19:13-21
At that time, little children were presented to Him, that He should impose hands upon them, and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to Me; for the kingdom of Heaven is for such. And when He had imposed hands upon them, He departed from thence. And behold one came to Him, and said to Him: Good master, what good shall I do, that I may have life everlasting? Who then said to him: Why askest thou Me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to Him: Which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honour thy father and thy mother; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith to Him: All these things have I kept from my youth; what is yet wanting to me? Jesus saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come, follow Me.
Offertory
Tobias 12:12
When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house, and bury them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord.
Secret
Most merciful God, Who, having destroyed the old man, didst vouchsafe to create in blessed Jerome a new man according to Thee: grant by his merits that we, renewed in like manner, may offer this sacrifice of propitiation for an odour of sweetness unto Thee. Through our Lord.
Communion
James 1:27
Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation, and to keep one’s self unspotted from this world.
Postcommunion
Refreshed with the bread of angels we humbly ask of Thee, O Lord, that we, who joyfully celebrate the annual commemoration of blessed Jerome, Thy Confessor, may also imitate his example and be enabled to obtain a most abundant reward in Thy kingdom. Through our Lord.