Saturday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
Featured Saints
Pope St. Sixtus II
St. Sixtus II, Pope, and companions, martyrs (†258 Rome). Optional Memorial. He was seized during the celebration of the Eucharist in the Catacomb of Callixtus and killed out of hatred for the Faith together with four deacons.
St. Cajetan of Thiene, priest (†1547 Naples – Italy). Optional Memorial. He dedicated himself to works of mercy, especially the care of the incurably ill. Founder of the Order of Thietines Clerics Regular, aimed at the renewal of priestly and religious life.
Blessed Nicholas Postgate, priest and martyr (†1679). Hanged in York, during the reign of Charles II of England, for being a priest.
Blesseds Agathangelus of Vendôme and Cassian of Nantes, priests and martyrs (†1638).Capuchin religious who sought to reconcile Christians separated from the Church in Syria, Egypt and Ethiopia. They were strangled with the cords of their habits by order of the king in Gondar, Ethiopia.
St. Victricius of Rouen, bishop (†c. 410). He was tortured and condemned to death at the time of Emperor Julian, for having deserted the army to follow Christ; he was eventually freed and ordained bishop, and was sent to evangelize near Rouen, France.
St. Donatus, Bishop and martyr (†fourth century). Bishop of Arezzo, he was beheaded by order of Emperor Julian the Apostate, together with whom he had received his religion formation in his youth.
St. Miguel de la Mora, priest and martyr (†1927). Shot to death in Colima, Mexico, during the persecution against the Church. To proclaim his love for Mary he prayed the Rosary while dying.
St. Bonifacia Rodriguez Castro, virgin (†1905). She founded the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of St. Joseph, in Zamora, Spain.
Blessed Jordan Forzatei, abbot (†c.1248). When he took refuge in a Benedictine monastery during the great fire that ravaged Padua, he felt attracted to religious life and remained there.
Blessed Edmund Bojanowski, priest (†1871). Founder of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Mother of God, Virgin Immaculate Conception, in Poland.
St. Albert of Trapani, priest (†circa 1306). Italian Carmelite priest who, through ardent preaching, obtained the conversion of many Jews to Christianity.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Dt 6:4-13
Moses said to the people: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates. When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he would give you, a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner, with cisterns that you did not dig, with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant; and when, therefore, you eat your fill, take care not to forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. The LORD, your God, shall you fear; him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 47 and 51 (R.2)
R. I love you, Lord, my strength..
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. R.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim!
And I am safe from my enemies. R.
The LORD live! And blessed be my Rock!
Extolled be God my savior!
You who gave great victories to your king,
and showed kindness to your anointed,
to David and his posterity forever. R.
Gospel – Mt 17:14-20
A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said,
“Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire, and often into water.
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
Jesus said in reply,
“O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?
Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
“Why could we not drive it out?”
He said to them, “Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”
