Thursday of 2nd Week of Advent
Optional memorial of St. Damasus I, Pope (†384). Of Iberian descent, he was born in Rome around 305 and governed the Church for 18 years.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Is 41:13-20
I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, “Fear not, I will help you.” Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the LORD; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, To thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff. When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel. The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water. I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive; I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine, That all may see and know, observe and understand, That the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 145:1 and 9, 10-11, 12-13ab (R.8)
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.R.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.R.
Let them make known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations. R.
Gospel – Mt 11:11-15
Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Featured Saints
St. Maravillas de Jesus, virgin (†1974). Daughter of the Marquis of Pidal, ambassador of Spain to the Holy See, she left the world to become a Carmelite religious, and founded several monasteries in Spain and India. See also: The Reform of the Incarnation, and St. Teresa’s Kitchen and
St. Daniel the Stylite, priest (†493). After living in a monastery, he followed the example of St. Simeon, living atop a column for thirty-three years, until his death in Constantinople, Turkey.
Blessed Jerome Ranuzzi, priest (†c. 1468). He became a priest in the Order of the Servants of Mary and was a professor in several different Servite houses in Italy.
Blessed Arthur Bell, priest and martyr (†1643). Franciscan religious executed in London during the reign of Charles I, simply for being a Catholic priest.
Blessed David, monk (†1179). Admitted by St. Bernard into the Abbey of Clairvaux, he was sent with other monks to found a monastery in Germany, where he engaged in prayer and good works.
Blessed Francis Lippi, hermit (†1292). Soldier living a licentious life, he lost his sight and, repentant, went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, where he was cured. He returned to Italy, becoming a Carmelite hermit.
Blessed Maria Pilar Villalonga Villalba, virgin and martyr (†1936). Laywoman with a deep spiritual life, dedicated to apostolate in parish associations. She was imprisoned and shot during religious persecution, near Valencia, Spain.
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