Saint John Henry Newman Today (or Tonight)!

I received word from the Campus Ministry Office late last week that the 7 p.m. Sunday Mass at Newman University in St. John's Chapel will celebrate St. John Henry Newman's Feast Day, by special permission (since it's a Sunday and the Solemnity of that Holy Day has precedence!) So I plan to attend tonight. As a reminder, the date chosen for his feast is the anniversary of his becoming a Catholic in 1845 -- the date of death, August 11, is already the feast of St. Clare of Assisi!

The Collect:

O God, who bestowed on your Priest Saint John Henry Newman the grace to follow your kindly light and find peace in your Church; graciously grant that, through his intercession and example, we may be led out of shadows and images into the fullness of your truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Offertory Prayer:

Accept, O heavenly Father, this holy sacrifice that we offer in commemoration of Saint John Henry Newman for your praise and greater glory and for our salvation. Through Christ our Lord.

The Closing Prayer:

O Lord, as we rejoice to receive Christ, the living Bread, on this feast day of Saint John Henry Newman, so may our witness be made more real, never moving minds without touching hearts. Through Christ our Lord.

As you'll find on this publication from the Liturgy Office of the Dioceses of England and Wales of the Mass texts and the readings for the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of Hours (Common of Pastors), the second reading is from one of his Parochial and Plain Sermons, "Sins of Infirmity" preached on Epiphany, according to the note from the fifth volume of those sermons. Here is the conclusion from the excerpt:

We have much to be forgiven; nay, we have the more to be forgiven the more we attempt. The higher our aims, the greater our risks. They who venture much with their talents, gain much, and in the end they hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant;” but they have so many losses in trading by the way, that to themselves they seem to do nothing but fail. They cannot believe that they are making any progress; and though they do, yet surely they have much to be forgiven in all their services. They are like David, men of blood; they fight the good fight of faith, but they are polluted with the contest.

Newman aimed high, risked much, may have seemed "to do nothing but fail", but he, as testified by the miracles Almighty God worked through his intercession, heard the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant"!

Saint John Henry Newman, pray for us!