Thursday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional memorials: St. Cyril of Alexandria, bishop and Doctor of the Church (+444 – Alexandria, Egypt). He presided as papal legate over the Council of Ephesus, which declared that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 2 Kgs 24:8-17
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his forebears had done. At that time the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, himself arrived at the city while his servants were besieging it. Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother, his ministers, officers, and functionaries, surrendered to the king of Babylon, who, in the eighth year of his reign, took him captive. And he carried off all the treasures of the temple of the LORD and those of the palace, and broke up all the gold utensils that Solomon, king of Israel, had provided in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had foretold. He deported all Jerusalem: all the officers and men of the army, ten thousand in number, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None were left among the people of the land except the poor. He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon, and also led captive from Jerusalem to Babylon the king’s mother and wives, his functionaries, and the chief men of the land. The king of Babylon also led captive to Babylon all seven thousand men of the army, and a thousand craftsmen and smiths, all of them trained soldiers. In place of Jehoiachin, the king of Babylon appointed his uncle Mattaniah king, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9 (R.9)
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple,
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
They have given the corpses of your servants
as food to the birds of heaven,
the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth. R.
They have poured out their blood like water
round about Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury them.
We have become the reproach of our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
O LORD, how long? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire? R.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low. R.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake. R.
Gospel – Mt 7:21-29
Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’ “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Featured Saints
Our Lady of Perpetual Help. An ancient title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, invoking Her unfailing maternal refuge and succor in any need, embodied in the celebrated byzantine-style icon which is venerated in the Church of St. Alphonsus de Liguori in Rome.
Blesseds Nykyta Budka (+1949) and Vasyl Velychkovsky(+1973), bishops and martyrs. Optional Memorial in Canada.
St. Samson, priest (†560). Doctor of Roman origin, he built a hospital in Constantinople to care for the poor; reputed to have cured the Emperor Justinian I of an illness.
St. Arialdus, deacon and martyr (†1066). He was cruelly tortured and killed in Milan, Italy, for his tenacious opposition of simony and depraved customs.
St. Thomas Toan, martyr (†1840). Chief catechist of the mission of Trung Linh, in Nam Đinh, Vietnam, he suffered torture in prison and died of privation.
Blessed Benvenuto of Gubbio, religious (†c. 1232). Franciscan who humbly cared of the sick, living the life of the poor Christ. He died near Bovino, Italy.
Blessed Marguerite Bays, virgin (†1879). Franciscan tertiary from Fribourg, Switzerland, who, without neglecting her life of prayer, untiringly dedicated herself to various works of lay apostolate.
Bl. Louise Thérèse de Montaignac de Chauvance, virgin (†1885). Foundress of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart in Moulins, France. She promoted the restoration of churches and stimulated popular religious fervour.
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