Saturday of the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Jas 3:1-10
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination wishes. In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions. Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this need not be so.
Responsorial Psalm – 12:2-3, 4-5, 7-8 (R.8a)
R. You will protect us, Lord.
Help, O LORD! for no one now is dutiful;
faithfulness has vanished from among the children of men.
Everyone speaks falsehood to his neighbor;
with smooth lips they speak, and double heart. R.
May the LORD destroy all smooth lips,
every boastful tongue,
Those who say, “We are heroes with our tongues;
our lips are our own; who is lord over us?” R.
The promises of the LORD are sure,
like tried silver, freed from dross, sevenfold refined.
You, O LORD, will keep us
and preserve us always from this generation. R.
Gospel – Mk 9:2-13
Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” Suddenly, looking around, the disciples no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, He charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant. Then they asked Him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He told them, “Elijah will indeed come first and restore all things, yet how is it written regarding the Son of Man that he must suffer greatly and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
Featured Saints
St. Conrad Confalonieri (†1351). Worldly Italian nobleman who during a hunt, caused a fire to be started in a forest, which spread and and devastated entire villages and caused an innocent man to be blamed. Deeply shaken, he exonerated the man and changed his life. His wife became a Poor Clare nun and he took the habit of a Franciscan tertiary, dying after forty years of penance and prayer. (See featured image.)
St. Quodvultdeus, bishop (†439). Exiled from Carthage with all of his clergy by the Arian King Genseric, he died as a confessor of the Faith in Naples.
St. Mansuetus, bishop (†circa 680). In his diocese in Milan, he fought tirelessly to extirpate the heresy of Monothelitism.
St. Lucy Yi Zhenmei, martyr (+1862). Consecrated herself to God while still young. Aided the missions as a catechist. Beheaded for defending the Faith.
Blessed Boniface of Lausanne, bishop (†1260). He renounced the government of the Diocese of Lausanne, Switzerland to live as a Cistercian monk in the Monastery of La Chambre in Belgium.
Blessed Alvarez of Cordoba, priest (†circa 1430). Dominican priest, famed for his preaching and contemplation of Our Lord’s Passion. He spent most of his life in Cordoba, Spain.
Blessed Joseph Zaplata, religious and martyr (†1945). Member of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, deported from Poland to the concentration camp of Dachau, Germany, where deplorable conditions brought about his sickness and death.
Blessed Elizabeth Picenardi, virgin (†1468). Born in Cremona, Italy, she consecrated herself to God, taking the habit of the Order of the Servants of Mary. She was assiduous in study and meditation on Sacred Scripture .
Image gallery
