Wednesday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of St. Vincent, deacon and martyr. He was the deacon of St. Valerius, Bishop of Zaragoza, and was martyred during the persecution of Diocletian in Valencia in the year 304, becoming the protomartyr of Spain. [In the US: Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children]
Mass Readings
First Reading – Heb 7:1-3, 15-17
Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings and blessed him. And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace. Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up after the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become so, not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. For it is testified: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4 (R.4b)
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool.” R.
The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.” R.
“Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.” R.
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” R.
Gospel – Mk 3:1-6
Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” Then he said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
Featured Saints
St. Valerius, Bishop (†305/315). He was expelled from his Diocese of Zaragoza, Spain, during the persecution of Diocletian and died in exile. He is honoured as the Patron of Zaragoza.
St. Gaudentius, bishop (†circa 418). Converted by St. Eusebius of Vercelli, he became his disciple and companion in exile. He returned to Italy and became Bishop of Novara.
St. Bernard, bishop (†842). He left the army of Charlemagne, distributed his goods among the poor, joined the militia of Christ and was named Bishop of Vienne, France. He built the monasteries of Ambronay and Romans.
St. Vincent Pallotti, priest (†1850). He founded the Society of Catholic Apostolate. Through his work and writings, he promoted the vocation of all the baptized to generously labour for the Church.
Sts. Francis Gil of Federich and Matthew Alphonse of Leziniana, priests and martyrs (†1745). Dominican priests put to death by sword in Vietnam, after a period of imprisonment, for preaching the Gospel.
Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, priest (†1850). To attract the laity to devotion to Our Lady and to promote the missions, he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate and the Society of Mary, in Bordeaux, France.
St. Dominic of Sora, abbot(†1031). He founded and reformed many monasteries in the region of Latium, in central Italy.
Blessed Giuseppe Nascimbeni, priest (†1922). He founded the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family in Castelletto del Garda, Italy.
Blessed Ladislaus Batthyány Strattmann, father of family (†1931). Doctor from a Hungarian noble family, he generously cared for the poor and indigent in the hospital he founded in Vienna, Austria.
Blessed Laura Vicuña, virgin (†1904). Chilean girl educated by the Salesian Sisters in Argentina. Of firm faith and ardent piety, she endured great moral sufferings and died at 13 years of age, after offering herself as a victim for the conversion of her mother.
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