Let your tongue broadcast the message of the Gospel in the “holy place” of your daily activities, in the “house” of your family, amongst the “people” of your acquaintance (Introit).
In the Epistle St. Paul relates how he received God’s Word through Divine mercy; how he then became Christ’s witness, testifying everywhere to Christ’s Resurrection which calls for our faith in His divinity. Before curing the man “deaf and dumb,” Jesus took him apart. If we are to “hear” His Voice at our Sunday Mass, we must go “apart” from the outside “multitude” of weekday distractions. Only then, like the cured deaf mute, shall we be able to return and “publish” the truth.
Realising our chronic indifference and frequent defiance of His Word, let us cry, “O God, be not silent” (Gradual) lest we shut out Thy Voice forever. The Prayer reveals how the Mercy of God is more willing to give than we are to ask or even deserve. This same Mercy will receive our offering of “His Sacrifice and ours” to “support our weakness” (Secret) and will bestow help for body and soul on receiving “His Sacrament and ours” (Postcommunion).
Today is Vigil of St. Laurence M., one of the most revered of martyrs who was put on the gridiron in 258 and slowly roasted. St. Laurence told the executioner that he was done on the one side and ought to be turned over!
His name is inscribed in the Canon of the Mass, and a slight bow is made toward the Crucifix at its mention. St. Laurence was known for his charity, and when the Prefect of Rome demanded he turn over the wealth of the Church, the Saint showed him a crowd of beggars who had the True Faith, which was the true wealth of the Church. In the 1962 Missal the Vigil is deleted, but one might still pray for the strength of the Saint in his own life.