This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.

God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.


RESPONSORIAL PSALM           34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
Gustate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus.

R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
praise shall be always in my mouth.
My soul will glory in the LORD
that the poor may hear and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Magnify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together.
I sought the LORD, who answered me,
delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to God that you may be radiant with joy
and your faces may not blush for shame.
In my misfortune I called,
the LORD heard and saved me from all distress.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD, who encamps with them,
delivers all who fear God.
Learn to savor how good the LORD is;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Fear the LORD, you holy ones;
nothing is lacking to those who fear him.
The powerful grow poor and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.


ALLELUIA          Matthew 5:10
Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter iustitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness;
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.


GOSPEL          John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38:42
(The Gospel for this memorial is proper)

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
"Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you." Jesus said to her,
"Your brother will rise."
Martha said to him,
"I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day."
Jesus told her,
"I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?"
She said to him, "Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world."

Or:

GOSPEL          Luke 10:38-42
Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”


PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
In beata tuis te, Domine, mirabilem praedicantes, maiestatem tuam suppliciter exoramus, ut, sicut eorum tibi gratum exstitit caritatis obsequium, sic nostrae servitutis accepta reddantur officia.
As we proclaim your wonders in your saints, O Lord,
we humbly implore your majesty,
that, as their homage of love was pleasing to you,
so, too, our dutiful service may find favor in your sight.
Through Christ our Lord.


COMMUNION ANTIPHON          John 11:27
Dixit Martha ad Iesum: Tu es Christus, Filius Dei vivi, qui in hunc mundum venisti.
Martha said to Jesus:
You are the Christ, the Son of God,
who is coming into this world.


PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Corporis et Sanguinis Unigeniti tui sacra perceptio, Domine, ab omnibus nos caducis rebus avertat, ut, exemplo beatae Marthae, Mariae, at Lazari, valeamus tibi et sincera in terris caritate proficere, et tui perpetua in caelis visione gaudere.
May the holy reception of the Body and Blood
of your Only Begotten Son, O Lord,
turn us away from the cares of this fallen world,
so that, following the example of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
we may grow in sincere love for you on earth
and rejoice to behold you for eternity in heaven.
Through Christ our Lord.

Te frequens visit Dominus tuaque
in domo degit placida quiete
ac tuis verbis studiisque laetans
teque ministra.

Tu prior fratrem quereris perisse,
cumque Maria lacrimata multum,
aspicis vitre subita Magistri
voce redire.

Quae fide prompta stabilem fateris
spem resurgendi, Domino probante,
impetra nobis cupide in perenne
pergere regnum.

Laus Deo Patri, Genitoque virtus,
Flamini Sancto parilis potestas,
gl6riam quorum petimus per aevum
cernere tecum. Amen.

BENEDICTUS (Canticle of Zechariah)

Antiphon:
Elevatis sursum oculis, voce magna lesus clamavit: Lazare, veni foras!
Lifting his eyes, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth!

Tantum libenter hospitem
curis ornabas sedulis,
in plurima sollicita
amoris dulci stimulo.

Pascis dum laeta Dominum,
Maria atque Lazarus
possunt ab illo gratiae
vitaeque cibum sumere.

Capturo mortis tramitem
dante sorore aromata,
extremi tu servitii
vigil donasti munera.

Iesu felices hospites,
corda nostra accendite,
ut illi gratae iugiter
sint sedes amicitiae.

Sit Trinitati gloria,
quae nos in domum caelicam
admitti tandem tribuat
vobiscum laudes canere. Amen.


SECOND READING

From a sermon by St. Bernard, abbot
(Sermo 3 in Assumptione beatae Mariae Virginis, 4. 5: PL 183, 423. 424)

(This translation has been taken from Buckets, Wells, and Aqueducts)

Let us consider, brothers, how in this our home the hierarchy of love has distrubuted three offices: government to Martha, contemplation to Mary, repentance to Lazarus. Any soul that is perfect has all three at once. Particular things, however, seem to belong more to particular persons, so that some keep themselves free for holy contemplation, some are given to fraternal government, some recall their own years in bitterness of soul, like wounded men sleeping among graves. So it is necessary that Mary think reverently and lofitily about her God, Martha kindly and mercifully about her neighbor, Lazarus wretchedly and humbly about himself. Let each be concerned with his own degree. If there is found in this city, a Noah, a Daniel, a Job; they themselves will be delivered in their righteousness, says the Lord, but they will not save daughter or son (Ezekiel 14:14-16).

We flatter no one—and, oh, that none of you would delude yourselves! For those to whom no steweardship, no government has been committed should either come to rest completely at the feet of Jesus with Mary, or with Lazarus in the walls of his grave. Why should not Martha be upset over many things, when her concern is for many persons? But for you who are not burdened with this necessity, only one of two things is needful: Either be thoroughly untroubled and delight in the Lord, or, if you cannot do so yet, then do not be upset over many things but, as the prophet says, over yourself (Psalm 51:7).

I say it again, lest anyone plead the excuse of ignorance. You, brother—who have no call to build or steer a Noah's Ark among the flood waves—should either be a man of desires as Daniel was or, with blessed Job, a man of sorrow and acquainted with infirmity. Or else I fear that He may spew you out—lukewarm and nauseating—from His mouth, when He wants to find you either white-hot with the thought of Him and blazing with the flame of love, or with that one thought of Him ice-cold and plunging the fiery darts of the devil in the water of remorse.

But it is necessary that Martha herself also be warned: a special audit is applied to stewards, to discover which ones are found faithful. He will be faithful, if he neither seek his own gain but that of Jesus Christ—that his intention may be pure—nor do his own will but the Lord's, that his actions may be well-ordered. For there are some whose eye is not single, and they receive their reward. There are those who are borne about on the motions of their own hearts, and all things that they offer are contaminated, yes, since their will is found out within them.

Now come with me to the wedding song of Solomon, and consider how the Bridegroom, when He calls his bride, has left out none of these three, nor added anything to them. Rise, He says, hasten, my love, my lovely one, my dove—and come. Is not His love she who, intent on the riches of her Lord, faithfully offers her very soul to Him as well? Whenever she leaves her spiritual study for the least of these, so often she spiritually offers her soul to Him. And is she not His lovely one, who, gazing on the glory of the Lord with face unveiled, is transformed from radiance to radiance into His very image, as though by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18)? And is not His dove she who mourns and moans in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall (Song of Songs 2:14), as though buried under a stone?


RESPONSORY
After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead,
they gave a dinner in his honour at Bethany,
- and Martha served at table.

Mary took a pound of costly perfume
and anointed the feet of Jesus.
- And Martha served at table.


COLLECT
Deus, cuius Filius de sepulcro ad vitam Lazarum revocavit, et in domo Marthae dignatus est hospitari, da nobis, quaesumus, ut ipsi in fratribus nostris fideliter ministrantes, cum Maria verbi eius meditatione pasci mereamur. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.
Heavenly Father,
your Son called Lazarus from the grave
and sat at table in the house of Bethany.
May we serve him faithfully in our brethren
and with Mary ponder and feed upon his Word.
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.


The English translation of Psalm Responses, Alleluia Verses, Gospel Verses from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL); the English translation of Antiphons, Invitatories, Responsories, Intercessions, Psalm 95, the Canticle of the Lamb, Psalm Prayers, Non-Biblical Readings from The Liturgy of the Hours © 1973, 1974, 1975, ICEL; excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved. Used with permission.