Mass Readings

First Reading – Is 58:9b-14

Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “”Repairer of the breach,”” they shall call you, “”Restorer of ruined homesteads.”” If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice– Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Responsorial Psalm – Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (R. 11ab)

R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth.

Incline Your ear, O LORD; answer me,
for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to You;
save Your servant who trusts in You.
You are my God. R.

Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to You I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of Your servant,
for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. R.

For You, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon You.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading. R.

Gospel – Lk 5:27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow Me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed Him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for Him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Featured Saints

Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. Seven laymen from Florence withdrew to Mount Senario (1233), dedicating themselves to a contemplative life. The later founded the Order of the Servants of Mary. (See featured image: The Blessed Virgin clothes the Holy Servite Founders with the Scapular.)

St. Bonosus, Bishop (†c. 373). As Bishop of Trier, Germany, together with St. Hilary of Poitiers, he strove to maintain the integrity of the Faith in Gaul.

St. Flavian, Bishop (†449). Elected to the patriarchal See of Constantinople, he ended the controversy provoked by Nestorianism and, some years later, condemned the Monophysite heresy. He suffered severe persecution from Emperor Theodosius II.

St. Fintan, abbot (†c. 440). Founded the monastery of Cluain-Ednech in Ireland, and stood out for his austerity.

St.­ Evermod,­ bishop (†1178). Premonstratensian monk, disciple of St. Norbert, sent to Germany as a missionary. Elected Bishop of Ratzeburg, he evangelized the Wends, established on the banks of the Vistula.

St. Mesrob, monk (†c. 440). Evangelizer of the Armenians and disciple of St. Nerses, he created an alphabet to teach SacredScripture; he translated the Old and New Testament, and composed hymns and songs in the Armenian language.

St. Peter Yu Chŏng-nyul, martyr (†1866). Father of a family and catechist who was flogged to death in Pyongyang, during anti-Catholic persecution in Korea.

Blessed Luke Belludi, priest (†1286). From an noble Italian family and possessing great culture, he became a franciscan at the age of 25. He was a faithful disciple and companion of St. Anthony of Padua.

Blessed Anthony Leszczewicz, priest and martyr (†1943). Religious from the Congregation of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception; killed for the Faith in Rzeszów, Poland.