‘Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Matthew 24.42–46
Post Communion
God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Wulfstan revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.
20 January
Richard Rolle of Hampole
Spiritual Writer
England: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Spiritual Writers
Richard Rolle was born in about the year 1300 in Thornton in Yorkshire, where he first began to live the hermit life at the age of eighteen, having broken off his education at the University of Oxford. After moving his hermitage to several other sites, he finally settled close to the Cistercian nuns at Hampole, where he undertook much of his prolific writing on mysticism and asceticism. He wrote in Latin but also produced many texts directly in English and even in the Northumbrian dialect. His writings were widely influential and he was venerated for at least three hundred years after his death on this day in the year 1349.
21 January
Agnes
Red
Child Martyr at Rome
England: Lesser Festival – Scotland: Commemoration – Wales: V
Agnes is one of the most well-known and widely venerated of the early Roman martyrs, perhaps because of the expression of mature resilience and sheer bravery in a girl of thirteen. Agnes is reputed to have refused an arranged marriage because of her total dedication to Christ and stated that she preferred even death of the body to the death of her consecrated virginity. The growing veneration for the state of consecrated virginity at this time, combined with the last major Roman persecution under the emperor Diocletian, climaxing in an innocent virgin-child willingly shedding her blood for Christ, placed her at the forefront of veneration almost from the moment the persecution ended. She is believed to have died in the year 304 and her feast has ever since been celebrated on this day.
Collect
Eternal God, shepherd of your sheep,
whose child Agnes was strengthened to bear witness
in her living and her dying
to the true love of her redeemer:
grant us the power to understand, with all your saints,
what is the breadth and length and height and depth
and to know the love that surpasses knowledge,
even Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
A reading from the book Ecclesiasticus.
I give you thanks, O Lord and King,
and praise you, O God my Saviour.
I give thanks to your name,
for you have been my protector and helper
and have delivered me from destruction
and from the trap laid by a slanderous tongue,
from lips that fabricate lies.
In the face of my adversaries
you have been my helper and delivered me,
in the greatness of your mercy and of your name,
from grinding teeth about to devour me,
from the hand of those seeking my life,
from the many troubles I endured.
This is the word of the Lord.
Ecclesiasticus 51.1–3
Responsorial Psalm
R: Your name, O God, will be remembered
[from one generation to another].
Hear, O daughter; consider and incline your ear;
forget your own people and your father’s house.
So shall the king have pleasure in your beauty;
he is your lord, so do him honour. R
The people of Tyre shall bring you gifts;
the richest of the people shall seek your favour.
The king’s daughter is all glorious within;
her clothing is embroidered cloth of gold. R
She shall be brought to the king in raiment of needlework;
after her the virgins that are her companions.
With joy and gladness shall they be brought
and enter into the palace of the king. R
From Psalm 45
A reading from the Revelation to John.
One of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
‘For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
‘They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’
This is the word of the Lord.
Revelation 7.13–end
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
The disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
‘If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one