Friday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
In Ireland, Memorial of St. Oliver Plunkett, bishop, martyr (+1681). Of a noble Irish family, he studied in Rome, where he was ordained and taught Theology for fifteen years before returning to his native soil, having been appointed Archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland. He administered Confirmation to 48,000 faithful over the next four years. Under a renewed surge of anti-Catholic persecution, he was falsely accused of conspiracy and treason and executed in Tyburn during the reign of Charles II.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Am 8:4-6, 9-12
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land! “When will the new moon be over,” you ask, “that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?” We will diminish the containers for measuring, add to the weights, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!” On that day, says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun set at midday and cover the earth with darkness in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentations. I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth and make every head bald. I will make them mourn as for an only son, and bring their day to a bitter end. Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD. Then shall they wander from sea to sea and rove from the north to the east In search of the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.
Responsorial Psalm – 119:2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131 (R.Matthew 4:4)
R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart. R.
With all my heart I seek you;
let me not stray from your commands. R.
My soul is consumed with longing
for your ordinances at all times. R.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me. R.
Behold, I long for your precepts;
in your justice give me life. R.
I gasp with open mouth
in my yearning for your commands. R.
Gospel – Mt 9:9-13
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
Featured Saints
St. Junipero Serra, priest (†1784). Optional Memorial in the US. Spanish Franciscan friar who left his post as professor in the University of Padua to embark on an evangelizing mission in the New World. Working in Mexico, Texas and California, he founded 21 missions which served to firmly establish the Church in these regions.
St. Aaron. Priest of the Old Testament, from the tribe of Levi, brother of Moses.
St. Theodoric, priest (†533). Disciple of St. Remigius, who ordained him a priest. First abbot of Mont d’Or Monastery on the outskirts of Reims, France.
St. Domitian, abbot († fifth century). Distributed his possessions among the poor and became a hermit in Arles, France. With the help of St. Eucherius he founded a monastery of contemplative life in Lyon.
Sts. Justino Orona Madrigal and Atilano Cruz Alvarado, priests and martyrs (†1928). Shot to death on the region outlying Guadalajara (Mexico), during the religious persecution.
St. Zhang Huailu, martyr (†1900). Catechumen who, during the persecution in China, spontaneously declared himself a Christian and was baptized with his own blood, in the city of Zhumadian.
Blessed John Nepomucene Chrzan, priest and martyr (†1942). Polish priest killed in Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany.
Image gallery
