SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION (JUNE 1ST)

Missal Mass Propers for the Sunday After Ascension According to the Divine Liturgy of St. James of Jerusalem in the Ancient Church of the West

INTROIT. Exaudi, Domine. Ps. 27

HEAR, O Lord, when I cry unto thee, alleluia: of thee my heart hath said, Seek ye my face; thy face, Lord, will I seek: O hide not thou thy face from thy servant, alleluia, alleluia. Psalm ibid. The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom then shall I fear?

V. Glory be.

COLLECTS

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

O GOD, who didst vouchsafe to send thy holy Apostle Augustine to preach the Gospel to our English people: grant unto us his true doctrine and godly life; that we, being made pure in heart by the same, may see thee as thou art in thy heavenly kingdom. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

WE beseech thee, O Lord, that as we keep the memorial of thy holy Monastic and Scholar, Saint Bede the Venerable, so we may be shielded by his prayers, and ever aided by his wisdom in thy Church. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus 19:16–20:21

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

NEW TESTAMENT: Acts 1:1–11

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

EPISTLE. 1 ST. PETER 4:7–11

DEARLY beloved: The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

ALLELUIA 

Alleluia, alleluia. V. Psalm 47. God is gone up with a merry noise: and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Alleluia.

V. St. John 14. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL. ST. JOHN 15:26–16:4

JESUS said unto his disciples: When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.

OFFERTORY. Psalm 68

O sing unto God, sing praises unto his Name: magnify him that rideth upon the heavens, alleluia. Ascribe ye power unto God over Israel: and his strength is in the clouds, alleluia, alleluia.

SECRET

RECEIVE, O Lord, we pray thee, the oblations of thy Church: and grant that, even as thou hast given us cause for such great gladness, so thou wouldest bestow upon us the fruit of that joy which shall never end. [Through.]

COMMUNION. St. John 17

Father, while I was with them, I kept them in thy Name: those that thou gavest me have I kept, alleluia: and now I come to thee: I pray thee not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil, alleluia, alleluia.

POSTCOMMUNION

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty and most merciful God: that we who have received these holy mysteries, may thereby be cleansed from all our sins, and attain unto that heavenly bliss which thou hast prepared for us. [Through.]