Saturday of the 1st Week of Lent
Mass Readings
First Reading – Dt 26:16-19
Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: He is to be your God and you are to walk in His ways and observe His statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to His voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly His own, as He promised you; and provided you keep all His commandments, He will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations He has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as He promised.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8 (R. 1b)
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe His decrees,
who seek Him with all their heart. R.
You have commanded that Your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping Your statutes! R.
I will give You thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned Your just ordinances.
I will keep Your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me. R.
Gospel – Mt 5:43-48
Jesus said to His disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Featured Saints
St. Ethelbert, king (†616). King of Kent, he was the first of the Anglo princes that Bishop St. Augustine of Canterbury converted to the Faith of Christ. His Baptism and support of St. Augustine was a decisive factor in the rapid conversion of his subjects.
Blessed Mark of Marconi, hermit (†1510). Religious from the Order of Hermits of St. Jerome, in Mantua, Italy, he led a life of study, prayer and mortification, favoured by many spiritual gifts.
St. Modestus (5th century). Bishop of Treves, Germany.
Blessed Constantius Servoli de Fabriano, priest (†1481). Religious in the Dominican convent of Fabriano, Italy; a peacemaker who led an austere life.
Blessed Thomas Mary Fusco, priest (†1891). Inspired by a great love for the poor and sick, he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood in Nocera, Italy.
Blessed Josepha Naval Girbes, virgin (†1893). Lay woman consecrated to God, she dedicated herself to providing religious instruction for children in Algemesí, Spain.
Blessed Ascension of the Heart of Jesus, virgin (†1940). Co-foundress of the Congregation of the Dominican Missionaries of the Holy Rosary in Lima, Peru. She died at age 70 in Pamplona, Spain.
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