Saturday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorials: St. Fabian, Pope and martyr. According to the historian Eusebius, he was elected Pope by divine inspiration when he was but a simple layman. It is said that a dove descended over his head during the conclave assembled to elect the successor of Pope Anterus. He died as a victim of the persecution of Decius, in 250; and St. Sebastian, martyr († fourth century). As a Praetorian guard in the Imperial palace and friend of Emperor Maximian, he made use of his position to aid Christians and to evangelize among the other soldiers, aiding in their conversion. Accused before the emperor, he was condemned to being bound to a tree trunk and shot with arrows.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 2 Sm 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27
David returned from his defeat of the Amalekites and spent two days in Ziklag. On the third day a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. Going to David, he fell to the ground in homage. David asked him, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of the children of Israel.” “Tell me what happened,” David bade him. He answered that many of the soldiers had fled the battle and that many of them had fallen and were dead, among them Saul and his son Jonathan. David seized his garments and rent them, and all the men who were with him did likewise. They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the soldiers of the LORD of the clans of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. “Alas! the glory of Israel, Saul, slain upon your heights; how can the warriors have fallen! “Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished, separated neither in life nor in death, swifter than eagles, stronger than lions! Women of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and in finery, who decked your attire with ornaments of gold. “How can the warriors have fallen– in the thick of the battle, slain upon your heights! “I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother! most dear have you been to me; more precious have I held love for you than love for women. “How can the warriors have fallen, the weapons of war have perished!”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 80:2-3, 5-7 (R.4b)
R. Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
O guide of the flock of Joseph!
From Your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth
before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Rouse Your power,
and come to save us. R.
O LORD of hosts, how long will You burn with anger
while Your people pray?
You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in ample measure.
You have left us to be fought over by our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us. R.
Gospel – Mk 3:20-21
Jesus came with His disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When His relatives heard of this they set out to seize Him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
Featured Saints
St. Wulfstan , Bishop (†1095). Benedictine religious appointed as Bishop of Worcester by recommendation of King St. Edward III. He opposed the trafficking of slaves and supported the Gregorian reforms.
St. Henry of Uppsala, bishop and martyr (†c. 1157). Of English origin, he was appointed Bishop of Uppsala, Sweden. He was cruelly assassinated in Finland by a man whom he had reproached.
St. Asclas, martyr (†fourth century). He was subjected to cruel tortures and finally thrown into the Nile River in Antinoopolis,Egypt.
St. Stephen Min Kuk-ka, martyr (†1840). Catechist beheaded in prison in Seoul, Korea, for defending the Catholic Faith.
St. Eustochia Calafato, abbess (†1485). Daughter of a wealthy merchant from Messina (Italy), she entered the Clarist Order and founded the Monastery of Montevergine, where she worked at restoring the primitive discipline of regular life.
St. Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception, virgin (†1906). She dedicated her life to the Christian formation of children in Casoria, Italy, and founded the Congregation of Sisters, Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, dedicated to Perpetual Adoration and to teaching children.
Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, presbítero (†1964). Cistercian religious born in the region of Onitsha, Nigeria. Once baptized as a schoolboy, he dedicated himself to the catechizing others. He became a priest and then a Trappist monk, and was later sent to Mount St. Bernard in England where he lived for the last 14 years of his life.
Image gallery
