10 December

CONGREGATIO DE CULTU DIVINO

ET DISCIPLINA SACRAMENTORUM

Prot. N. 1923/02/L

Textum anglicum orationis Collectae atque Lectionis alterius Horarum in honorem Beati Marci Antonii Durando, presbyteri

10 December

Blessed Mark Antony Durando, Priest

Memorial

Born in Mondovì in 1801, he entered the Congregation of the Mission and was ordained a priest. He was distinguished for his balanced and tireless zeal, especially in the preaching of missions to the people, and for his prudence and experience in serving as a spiritual guide to the clergy and the laity. He encouraged the growth of the Daughters of Charity in Italy and in 1865 founded the “Daughters of the Passion of Jesus the Nazorean,” later called simply “Nazarene Sisters.” As their own proper charism he gave them devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ, and entrusted to them the assistance of the sick in their homes by day and night, as well of abandoned youth. He died in Turin on 10 December 1880.

I. MASS

Prayer

O God, who sanctified the priest, Blessed Mark Antony Durando,

through the contemplation of the Lord's Passion

and made him radiant with the gift of counsel

and with love of the poor and the sick,

grant that, by his intercession and example,

we may be faithful to the teachings of the Gospel,

so as to love you as your sons and daughters.

Through Our Lord Jesus Christ...

II. LITURGY OF THE HOURS

Offices des lectures

Second reading

From the “Exhortations” of Blessed Mark Antony Durando

(Archives of the House of the Mission, Turin, V, 139-140)

It is on Calvary that saints are formed

Calvary is the mount of lovers and the open wounds of Jesus Crucified are a shelter and a dwelling place for the Lord's doves. Whoever does not like being on Calvary or living in those wounds will never be a true lover of Jesus. If His love was such that it made Him embrace the cross and nailed Him to the hard wood, if in short He suffered and died because of the great love that He bore for each one of us, can we be indifferent to so much charity? Is it possible not to love an infinite good, a God who consumes himself out of love for us?

It is on Calvary that the holy women such as Theresa, Catherine, Agnes and so many other saints who are in heaven were formed in love. In order to speak well of the love of Jesus Christ, we would need a pen dipped in the blood of the Crucified and a heart which feels, which loves and which gives itself in sacrifice to the love and the holy will of God. But I am so far from this disposition that I find no other way out except to humble myself and recognize my own lowliness. What a crime it is not to love God who suffered and died for love of us! What a monstrosity it is to have been so many years at the school of the Crucified and not to have learned the easy lesson of love, to have preached to others the love of God and to remain insensitive and cold oneself! If I were commanded to make continuous fasts, long trips, or bodily penances, I could excuse myself by saying: I cannot. Indeed, he seeks only that we should love him; what excuse do I have for being indifferent? What command is easier, sweeter, gentler than this one?

O, pitiable me! What severe reproaches await me on the great judgment day for not having loved the most loving Father, the sincerest friend, the tenderest brother, the most beautiful and most charming spouse! What greater shame could there be than ours? We have received a heart for loving Jesus and we dare to profane and soil it by introducing love of a creature into this sanctuary! He has loved us so much and we are so cold! He does not cease to ask for our heart, and we have been so bold as to deny it to him in order to give it to a creature! With reproaches and incentives, he has invited us to love him, and we remain deaf to his invitation, drown out his reproaches and refuse to love him. Oh, how few there are who love Jesus! Many say they love him, but in fact they do not! There are some who love him on Tabor, but not on Calvary; they love him when they feel his tenderness and sense his presence, but not in times of adversity and humiliation. Oh, how few there are, even among religious persons, who truly love, with all their being, the heart of Jesus Crucified!

May God grant us the grace to be among this small number.

Responsory1 Jn 4:16, 7

We have believed in the love that God has for us. * Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.

Let us love one another, because love is of God. * Whoever remains in love…

O God, who sanctified the priest, Blessed Mark Antony Durando,

through the contemplation of the Lord's Passion

and made him radiant with the gift of counsel

and with love of the poor and the sick,

grant that, by his intercession and example,

we may be faithful to the teachings of the Gospel,

so as to love you as your sons and daughters.

Through Our Lord Jesus Christ...

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