Friday of 2nd Week of Advent
Optional Memorial of St. Juan Diego (†1548). Aztec Mexican to whom the Blessed Virgin appeared and upon whose tilma was imprinted the famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A man of faith and humble fervour, he dedicated himself to the fulfilment of the Blessed Virgin’s request to have a Shrine built in the place of the apparition.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Is 48:17-19
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go. If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea; Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains, Their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 (R. see John 8:12)
R. Those who follow You, Lord, will have the light of life.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on His law day and night. R.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers. R.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes. R.
Gospel – Mt 11:16-19
Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
Featured Saints
St. Leocadia, virgin and martyr († 304). Condemned to die in a dungeon in Toledo for refusing the instigations to apostasy of the governor Daciano.
St. Peter Fourier, priest († 1640). Zealous pastor of his parish and the founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame for the education of girls.
St. Gorgonia, laywoman († 370). The Daughter of St. Nonna, and sister of St. Gregory Nazianzus the Younger and St. Caesarius. She was an exemplary Christian wife and mother, striving to sanctify the family.
Blessed Bernardo Maria de Jesus Silvestrelli, priest (†1911). Born into a wealthy Roman family, he joined the Order of Passionists, of which he served as Superior General for 24 years.
Blessed Liborius Wagner, priest and martyr († 1631). Born to Lutheran parents, he converted to Catholicism in his youth and was ordained a priest. Tortured and killed for his Faith in Schonungen, Germany, during the Thirty Years’ War.
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