“They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” (Mark 6:50)
Prudentius (formally known as Aurelius Clemens Prudentius) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed during today’s Mass:
Thus I by my loquacious tongue
From the heaven of silence am led
Into perils unknown and dark.
Not as Peter, disciple true,
Confident in his virtue and faith,
I am as one whose unnumbered sins
Have shipwrecked on the rolling seas.
How easily can I be shipwrecked,
One untaught in seafaring arts,
Unless you, almighty Christ,
Stretch forth your hand with help divine.
From the heaven of silence am led
Into perils unknown and dark.
Not as Peter, disciple true,
Confident in his virtue and faith,
I am as one whose unnumbered sins
Have shipwrecked on the rolling seas.
How easily can I be shipwrecked,
One untaught in seafaring arts,
Unless you, almighty Christ,
Stretch forth your hand with help divine.
(Against Symmachus, 2.)
Collect
O God,
Who called the Bishop
Saint John Neumann,
renowned for his
charity and pastoral service,
to shepherd Your people in America,
grant by his intercession
that, as we foster the
Christian education of youth
and are strengthened
by the witness of brotherly love,
we may constantly increase
the family of Your Church.
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.
Who called the Bishop
Saint John Neumann,
renowned for his
charity and pastoral service,
to shepherd Your people in America,
grant by his intercession
that, as we foster the
Christian education of youth
and are strengthened
by the witness of brotherly love,
we may constantly increase
the family of Your Church.
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.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
