The Gospel should give us pause. Jesus tells us that hating our brother is equivalent to murder and puts us in “danger of hell fire.” The advice Our Lord renders is that before we make an offering at the altar but remember that our brother has something against us, to “leave thy offering...and be reconciled” to him first before presenting our gift. Thus, if we wish that God “forsake me not” (Introit) love toward others must be shown.
We ask God to help prepare us by pouring into our hearts “love toward Thee.” St. Augustine in discussing the Gospel reading tells us that the Pharisees regarded perfection as not murdering anybody physically, which is a minimum morality. However, God desires perfection and Our Lord teaches that avoiding anger is perfection in that we avoid murdering somebody interiorly. Thus, if we think about it, Our Lord was subjected to the lies, hatred and open insults of the Sanhedrin who accused Him of blasphemy falsely and thus shared in murdering Jesus. St. Peter explains how we love our neighbor by refraining our “tongues from evil” and seeking after “peace” with our brother. The Offertory tells of the joy that comes from having received “understanding” from God.
The Secret asks that the gifts which we have brought before the altar be of benefit to all. The Communion hymn expresses our aspirations to “dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” and that we may be “cleansed” from our “hidden faults” and delivered from “our enemies” (Postcommunion).
Though not commemorated in the Sunday of the II Class, the 19th June is also the feast of St. Juliana Falconieri V., foundress of the Servite sisters, devoted to the Seven Sorrows of the BVM, who had a great devotion toward the Holy Eucharist. On the day of her death Holy Communion was placed near her breast. Miraculously, It entered her body to nourish her one last time. SS Gervase and Protase Mm., brothers, martyred near Milan in the II Century, are commemorated. St. Ambrose found their bodies in 386 and are entombed with St. Ambrose himself in the crypt. The Martyrs are invoked in the Litany of the Saints. St. Ambrose is in a glass sarcophagus above the altar in the crypt in full Episcopal splendour.