Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Mass Readings
First Reading – Dt 30:15-20
Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving Him, and walking in His ways, and keeping His commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods, I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy. I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding His voice, and holding fast to Him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 (R. 40:5a)
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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 – Lk 9:22-25
Jesus said to His disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Then He said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”
Featured Saints
St. Claude de La Colombière, priest (†1682). Jesuit priest, superior of the College in Parayle-Monial, France who, through his wise counsels, led many souls to the love of God. He stood out especially as an Apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
St. Sigfrid of Sweden, bishop (†c. 1045). Born in England, he became an evangelizer of the Scandinavian countries. He converted many pagans and baptized King Olaf of Sweden. He died in the city of Växjö, Sweden, where a shrine him.
St. Galfrido, abbot (+765). From an illustrious family of Pisa, he married a young woman of equally good birth. After raising their children and desiring a life of greater perfection, they agreed to embrace religious life. St. Gaulfrido founded a monastery which he ruled with wisdom, an outstanding example of virtue
St. Onesimus. Fugitive slave received by St. Paul who, while in prison, became his father in the Faith, as the Apostle himself wrote in his letter to Philemon, former master of Onesimus
St. Faustinus and St. Jovitus. Martyrs. Brothers from a noble of Brescia, Italy. They received the palm of martydom during the reign of Emperor Hadrian.
Blessed Angelo Scarpetti, priest (†circa 1306). Priest of the Hermits of St. Augustine, born in Borgo San Sepolcro, Italy. He spent part of his religious life in England, where he founded several monasteries.
Blessed Michael Sopocko, priest (†1975). Confessor of St. Faustina Kowalska, founder of the Sisters of the Merciful Jesus and a great propagator of devotion to Divine Mercy. He died in Bialystok, Poland.
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