Friday of the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Jas 2:14-24, 26
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Responsorial Psalm – 112:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (R.see 1b)
R. Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed. R.
Wealth and riches shall be in his house;
his generosity shall endure forever.
Light shines through the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just. R.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice;
He shall never be moved;
the just man shall be in everlasting remembrance. R.
Gospel – Mk 8:34–9:1
Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” He also said to them, “Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”
Featured Saints
Blessed John of Fiesole, priest (†1455). Dominican religious and painter of world renown, better known as Fra Angelico; a deeply contemplative soul, he always prayed before taking up his brush. (See featured image.)
St. Sadoth, bishop and companions, martyrs (+342). He was Bishop of Seleucia when, refusing to adore the sun, was imprisoned, repeatedly tortured and finaly executed by order of the king of Persia, Shapur II.
St. Theotonius, priest (†c. 1162). After two pilgrimages to the Holy Land, he founded the Congregation of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross in Coimbra, Portugal.
St. Francis Regis Clet, priest and martyr (†1820). Priest from the Congregation of the Mission born in Grenoble, France, who overcame many difficulties to proclaim the Gospel in the province of Hubei in China. After being denounced by an apostate, he suffered a long and cruel captivity and was put to death by strangulation.
St. Gertrude Comensoli, virgin (†1903). Founded the Congregation of the Sacramentine Sisters of Bergamo in that city in Italy, dedicated to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the education of girls.
Blessed William Harrington, priest and martyr (†1594). After meeting St. Edmund Campion, he converted to Catholicism was ordained a priest in Rheims. He returned to his homeland to exercise his priestly ministry among Catholics, a crime punishable by death at that time. Accordingly, when arrested, he was executed at Tyburn.
Blessed George Kaszyra, priest and martyr (†1943). Religious of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, he was burned alive in Rosica, Poland, by persecutors of the Faith.
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