Memorial of St. Agatha, virgin and martyr
Virgin martyred in the year 250. She was a young noblewoman from Catania, Sicily, where the Church suffered terrible persecution. St. Agatha has been greatly venerated by the Popes, and owes to St. Gregory Gregory the Great the inclusion of her name into the Roman Canon.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Heb 12:4-7, 11-15
Brothers and sisters: In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges. Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as his sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18a (R. see 17)
R. The Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. R.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him,
For he knows how we are formed;
he remembers that we are dust. R.
But the kindness of the LORD is from eternity
to eternity toward those who fear him,
And his justice toward children’s children
among those who keep his covenant. R.
Gospel – Mk 6:1-6
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Featured Saints
St. Sabas the younger, monk (†995). Together with his brother St. Macarius, he spread monastic life in Calabria and Lucania (Italy), during a time of devastation caused by the Saracens.
Blessed Elizabeth Canori Mora, housewife (†1825). She patiently and charitably endured her husband’s infidelity and abuse. She joined the Third Order of the Trinitarians in Rome, offering her life for the conversion of sinners, and was favoured with mystical gifts.
St. Luke of Lucania, abbot (†995). He lived a monastic life, initially in Sicily, and then in several other places, fleeing the Saracen incursions. He died in the monastery of Sts. Elias and Anastasius, which he had founded in Carbone (Italy).
St. Adelaide, abbess (†1015). Descendant of high nobility, she became a nun and was elected abbess of the Monastery of Villich, Germany. She adopted the Benedictine Rule and promoted the intellectual formation of the religious.
Blessed Françoise Mézière, virgin and martyr (+1794). A laywoman who dedicated herself to caring for the sick and teaching poor children. For her faith she was decapitated in Laval during the French Revolution.
St. Jesus Méndez Montoya, priest and martyr (†1928). Killed by firing squad in the Archdiocese of Morelia during the Mexican persecution.
St. Avitus, bishop (†518). Converted St. Sigismund, King of Burgundy, to Catholicism. He defended the Gauls from the Arian heresy and died in Vienne, France.
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