Second Sunday of Lent
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Mass Readings
First Reading – Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” he replied. Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. “Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.” As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son. Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from Me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing— all this because you obeyed My command.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19 (R. 116:9)
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones. R.
O LORD, I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid;
You have loosed my bonds.
To You will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD. R.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem. R.
Second Reading – Rom 8:31b-34
Brothers and sisters: If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all, how will He not also give us everything else along with Him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us, who will condemn? Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised— who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
Gospel – Mk 9:2-10
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; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they 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.
Featured Saints
St. Walburga, abbess (†779). At the request of her brothers St. Willibald and St. Winibald, as well as St. Boniface, she left England to govern the Monastery of Heidenheim, Germany.
Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio, religious (†1600). Born in Spain, emigrated to Mexico, where he accumulated considerable wealth due to his entrepreneurial capacity. He abandoned everything to enter the Order of Friars Minor, in which died at almost a hundred years of age. (See featured image.)
St. Nestor of Magydos, bishop and martyr (†c. 250). For professing faith in Christ crucified, he was condemned to death by crucifixion by the governor of Pamphylia, in Perge, present-day Turkey.
St. Gerland, bishop (†1100). He reorganized the Church in Sicily after obtaining freedom from Saracen dominion.
St. Lawrence Pe-Man, martyr (+1856). Baptized by St. Auguste Chapdelaine, and became his assist ant as a missionary in China. He was sentenced to capital punishment for remaining steadfast in the Faith.
St. Caesarius, physician (†369). Although he was the son of fervent Christians and brother of St. Gregory Nazianzen, he remained a pagan for most of his life. He was the physician of various emperors in Constantinople. After miraculously escaping an earthquake, he requested Baptism and did penance until the end of his life.
Bessed Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervás, bishop (†1909). Bishop of Toledo and Valencia, Patriarch of the West Indies and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Cardinal Sancha in Toledo, Spain.
Blessed Dominic Lentini, priest (†1828). Priest from Lauria, Italy, whose diverse and fruitful ministry was supported by humility, prayer and penance. He transformed his house into a model Catholic school.
Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani, virgin (†1855). She was abbess in St. Peter’s Benedictine Monastery, on the Island of Malta. She strove to establish perfect observance of the Rule and to lead the nuns on the path of perfection.
Blessed Maria Ludovica De Angelis, virgin (†1962). Italian by birth, she entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy and dedicated herself to the care and formation of children and the sick in a hospital in La Plata, Argentina.
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