Mass Readings

First Reading – Is 55:1-3

Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.

Responsorial Psalm – Ps 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18 (R.cf. 16)

R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works. R.

The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing. R.

The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth. R.

Second Reading – Rom 8:35, 37-39

Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel – Mt 14:13-21

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

Featured Saints

Sunday has precedence over the Optional memorial of St. Peter Julian Eymard, priest and founder (†1868 La Mure – France). After several years exercising his priestly ministry as a parish pastor, he entered the Marist Fathers, of which he served as provincial in Lyons. He worked especially to promote devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Eucharist and founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, with a branch for religious sisters dedicated to perpetual adoration. Also, optional memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, bishop (†371). Initiator of community life for diocesan clergy in the West. As first bishop of Vercelli, he consolidated the Church in the entire Piedmont region. Under persecution by the Arians, he was exiled to Palestine, Cappadocia, and finally to Sarinia, where he died.

St. Stephen I, Pope (†257). Clarifying and affirming the indelible mark of Baptism, he prohibited practice of re-baptizing those who had fallen into heresy and who later repented and sought full communion with the Church. He also introduced the use of exclusively liturgical vestments, ordering that ordinary clothing never be used for the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries.

Blessed Joan of Aza (†thirteenth century). Castilian noblewoman, mother of St. Dominic Guzman, who led him along the path of virtue from childhood.

St. Peter of Osma, bishop (†1109). Monk of Cluny; sent to Spain with some companions at the request of King Alfonso VI. He was archdeacon of Toledo and later Bishop of Osma.

St. Serenus, bishop (†d. 601). In his Diocese of Marseille, France, he extended  hospitality to St. Augustine of Canterbury and his companions who had been sent by St. Gregory the Great to evangelize England.

Blessed Francisco Calvo Burillo, priest and martyr (†1936). Dominican shot out or religious hatred in the village of Híjar, Spain.

Blessed Justin Maria Russolillo, priest (†1955). Priest of the Diocese of Naples and founder of the Society of Divine Vocations.

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Saints of August 2

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