Friday after Epiphany
First Reading – 1 Jn 5:5-13
Beloved: Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came through water and Blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and Blood. The Spirit is the one who testifies, and the Spirit is truth. So there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the Blood, and the three are of one accord. If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is surely greater. Now the testimony of God is this, that He has testified on behalf of His Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar by not believing the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20 (R. 12a)
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your children within you. R.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat He fills you.
He sends forth His command to the earth;
swiftly runs His word! R.
He has proclaimed His word to Jacob,
His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
His ordinances He has not made known to them. Alleluia. R.
Gospel – Lk 5:12-16
It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.
Featured Saints
St. Adrian of Canterbury, abbot (†710). Born in Naples and versed in the sacred and secular sciences, he made his monastery in Canterbury, England, into an important religious formation centre.
St. Felanus, abbot (†c. 710). Superior of the Monastery of St. Andrew in Scotland, he stood out for his life of austerity.
Sts. Agueda Yi, virgin, and Teresa Kim, widow, martyrs (†1840). Agueda, a 16 year-old, and Teresa, aunt of St. Andrew Kim, were imprisoned, scourged and beheaded in Seoul, Korea, for defending the Catholic Faith.
Blessed Anthony Fatati, Bishop (†1484). He governed the Diocese of Teramo, Italy, and ater that of Ancona. he was harsh with self and kind to the poor.
Blesseds Joseph Pawłowski and Casimir Grelewski, priests and martyrs (†1942). Polish priests hanged in Dachau concentration camp, Germany.
Blessed Julia della Rena, virgin (†1367). She entered the Third Order of St. Augustine and lived a solitary life in a cell beside a church in Certaldo, Italy.
Blessed Marie Thérèse de Jesus LeClerc, virgin (†1622). Together with St. Peter Fourier, she founded the Congregation of Canonesses Regular of Notre Dame in Nancy (France).
St. Marcellinus, bishop (†sixth century). Bishop of Ancona, Italy, who, by divine power, saved the city from fire.
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