SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY (FEB. 23RD)

Christ, the Sower of Seed, the Planter of the Holy Gospel, the Good News of Salvation 

Liturgical propers for the Divine Liturgy of St. James of Jerusalem 

According to the use of the Ancient Church of the West 

INTROIT. Exsurge. Psalm 44:23, 25-26, 1 -

UP, Lord, why sleepest thou? Awake, and be not absent from us for ever: wherefore hidest thou thy face? and forgettest our misery and trouble? Our belly cleaveth unto the ground: arise, and help us, and deliver us. O God, we have heard with our ears: our fathers have declared unto us. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. UP, Lord, why sleepest thou?

COLLECTS

O LORD God, who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do: mercifully grant that by thy power, we may be defended against all adversity. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God of all creation, Who was pleased to give the Bishop Saint Polycarp a place in the company of the Thy Martyrs, grant, through his intercession, that, sharing with him in the chalice of Christ, we may rise through the Holy Spirit to eternal life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Thy Son, Who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever One God, world without end. Amen!

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Genesis 45:4-8 - 

(From the Five-Year Cycle of the St. James Lectionary) 

A Lesson from the Book of Genesis.

In those days, Joseph said unto his brethren: Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Reader: The Word of the Lord. 

All: Thanks be to God. 

GRADUAL: Psalm 83:18, 13 - 

Let the heathen know that thou, whose Name is Jehovah: art only the Most Highest over all the earth. O my God, make them like unto a wheel: and as the stubble before the wind. 

NEW TESTAMENT READING: Acts 21:10-14 - 

(From the Two-Year Cycle of the St. James Lectionary) 

A Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles.

In those days, as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost: So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.

Reader: The Word of the Lord. 

All: Thanks be to God. 

TRACT: Psalm 60:2, 4, 5 - 

Thou hast moved the land, O Lord, and divided it. Heal the sores thereof, for it shaketh. That they may triumph because of the truth: that thy beloved may be delivered. 

EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 11:19-31 - 

(From the One-Year Cycle of the Western Lectionary) 

A Reading from the Second Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians.

Brethren: Ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. 

Reader: The Word of the Lord. 

All: Thanks be to God. 

GOSPEL: Saint Luke 8:4-15

(From the One-Year Cycle of the Western Lectionary) 

Deacon/Priest: The Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke. +++

All: Glory be to thee, O Lord. 

At that time: When much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, Jesus spake by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

Deacon/Priest: The Gospel of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! (Cross the people with the Gospel book, kiss the book and put it away) 

All: Praise be to thee, Lord Christ. 

OFFERTORY: Psalm 17:5,6,7 - 

O hold thou up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not: incline thine ear to me, and hearken unto my words: shew thy marvellous loving-kindness, O Lord, thou that art the Saviour of them which put their trust in thee.

SECRET: 

WE beseech thee, O Lord, that this sacrifice, which we offer unto thee, may evermore avail to quicken and defend us. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who livest and reignest with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

COMMUNION: Psalm 43:4 - 

I will go unto the altar of God: even unto the God of my joy and gladness. 

POSTCOMMUNION: 

WE humbly beseech thee, Almighty God: that we whom thou dost vouchsafe to regenerate with thy holy sacraments; may continually serve thee in all virtuous and godly living. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who livest and reignest with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.