Friday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Cor 1:17-25
Brothers and sisters: Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside. Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11 (R.5)
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises. R.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full. R.
The LORD brings to nought the plans of nations;
he foils the designs of peoples.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations. R.
Gospel – MT 25:1-13
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
Featured Saints and Commemorations
Our Lady of Częstochowa. Patroness of Poland. See: The Miracle on the Vistula.
Bl. Dominic of the Mother of God Barberi, priest (+1849). He journeyed from Italy to work for the conversion of England.
St. Ninian, bishop (+432), the earliest known bishop to have visited Scotland.
Blessed Jacques Retouret, priest and martyr (†1794). Carmelite religious from the monastery of Limoges, who during the French Revolution was imprisoned on a galley, where he died of hypothermia.
St. Teresa of Jesus Jornet Ibars, virgin (†1897). Spanish religious; she founded the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly.
St. Joan Elizabeth Bichier des Âges, virgin (†1838). She founded the Congregation of the daughters of the Cross in Maillé, France, to educate children and care for the sick.
Blessed Laurentia Harasymiv, virgin and martyr (†1952). Religious from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, in Ukraine, she aided the faithful, in the absence of priests who had disappeared in Soviet concentration camps. She was arrested and deported to the concentration camp of Kharsk, Siberia, where she died of tuberculosis.
Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified Baouardy, virgin (†1878). Born in Galilee and educated in France, she entered the Discalced Carmelites and founded the convents of the Order in Mangalore (India) and Bethlehem (Palestine).
Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá, layman (†1905). Son of a Mapuche chieftain of Patagonia. He desired to become a missionary priest, dedicated to the conversion of his people, but died of tuberculosis at age 19, before his dream could be fulfilled.
St. Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of the Most High (cf. Gn 14: 18-20). His priesthood prefigures that of Christ (cf. Hb 5:6).
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