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THIRD OF DECEMBER
MEMORIAL OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER
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ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will tell of your name to my kin.
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COLLECT
O God, who through the preaching
of Saint Francis Xavier
won many people to yourself,
grant that the hearts of the faithful
may burn with the same zeal for the faith
and that Holy Church may everywhere rejoice
in an abundance of offspring.
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.
R.) Amen.
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FIRST READING
1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-19.22-23
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A READING FROM THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS
(I SHOULD BE PUNISHED IF I DID NOT PREACH THE GOSPEL.)
I do not boast of preaching the gospel,
since it is a duty which has been laid on me;
I should be punished if I did not preach it!
If I had chosen this work myself, I might have been paid for it,
but as I have not,
it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands.
Do you know what my reward is?
It is this: In my preaching,
to be able to offer the Good News free,
and not insist on the rights which the Gospel gives me.
So though I am not a slave of any man
I have made myself the slave of everyone
so as to win as many as I could.
For the weak I made myself weak.
I made myself all things to all men
in order to save some at any cost;
and I still do this,
for the sake of the Gospel,
to have a share in its blessing.
The word of the Lord.
R.) Thanks be to God.
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responsorialpsalmcatholic 