Tuesday of the 5th Week of Lent
Optional Memorial of St. Vincent Ferrer, priest (†1419). This Spanish Dominican distinguished himself as a great missionary preacher of conversion and penance at a time when Christianity was torn by the Western Schism.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Nm 21:4-9
From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to bypass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.” Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Responsorial Psalm – 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21 (R.2)
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily. R.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer. R.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.” R.
Gospel – Jn 8:21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.”
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Featured Saints
St. Gerald, abbot (†1095). Entered monastic life in Corbie, his birthplace, and became abbot of St. Vincent of Laon. An influx of vocations led him to found several monasteries, including Sauve-Majeure in Aquitania.
St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon, virgin (†1258). Augustinian religious, prioress of the convent of Mont Cornillon in Liège, Belgium. She was favoured with mystical experiences that played a major role in establishing the Feast of Corpus Christi by Urban IV.
St. Catherine Thomas, virgin (†1574). Entered the Canons Regular of St. Augustine in Palma de Mallorca, Spain; outstanding for her abnegation and dedication.
St. Maria Crescenzia Höss, virgin (†1744). Novice Mistress and then superior of the Convent of Franciscan Tertiaries Nuns in Mayerhoff, Germany, which she ruled with kindness and wisdom.
St. Irene, virgin and martyr (†304). Born in Thessalonica, she converted to Christianity, together with her sisters Agape and Chionia. She was burned alive during the Diocletian persecution.
Blessed Mariano da Mata Aparicio, priest (†1983). Spanish Augustinian priest, who, for more than twenty years served as a teacher, spiritual director and pastor at St. Augustine College in São Paulo, Brazil.
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