Wednesday of the 1st Week of Lent
Mass Readings
First Reading – Jon 3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “”Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’s bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “”Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,”” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his nobles: “”Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; every man shall turn from his evil way and from the violence he has in hand. Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold His blazing wrath, so that we shall not perish.”” When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, He repented of the evil that He had threatened to do to them; He did not carry it out.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19 (R. 19b)
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in Your goodness;
in the greatness of Your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me. R.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from Your presence,
and Your Holy Spirit take not from me. R.
For You are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, You would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn. R.
Gospel – Lk 11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
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, he 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.
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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