Saturday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of St. Henry II, Emperor (†1024 Grone – Germany). Duke of Bavaria and later Holy Roman Emperor. His spouse was St. Cunegundis. He waged many battles in defence of the Church and favoured her growth in his own land as well as beyond its boarders. He was a key figure in the conversion of St. Stephen, King of Hungary.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Is 6:1-8
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft. They cried one to the other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!” At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it and said, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 93:1ab, 1cd-2, 5 (R.1a)
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength. R.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD. R.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days. R.
Gospel – Mt 10:24-33
Jesus said to his Apostles: “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Featured Saints
St. Emmanuel Lê Văn Phung, martyr (†1859). Father of a family, who, while imprisoned, exhorted his children and relatives to show charity toward his persecutors. He was beheaded in Chau Doc, Vietnam.
St. Ezra, priest and author, who upon his return from exile in Babylonia, gathered the dispersed Hebrew people and dedicated himself to putting the Law of the Lord into practice in Israel.
St. Silas († 1st century). Sent by the Apostles to preach to the Gentiles, together with Sts. Paul and Barnaby.
St. Clelia Barbieri, virgin (†1870). Ardent devotee of the Eucharist, she founded the Minim Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, dedicated to providing religious instruction for girls from poor families. She is the patroness of catechists.
Blessed Ferdinand Mary Baccilieri, priest (†1893). Founded the Congregation of the Servants of Mary in Galeazza, Italy, to minister to needy families and promote the education of youth.
Blessed Thomas Tunstall, priest and martyr (†1616). Benedictine priest condemned to death during the anti-Catholic persecution waged during the reign of King James I of England.
Blessed Mariano of Jesus Euse Hoyos, priest (†1926). Diocesan priest who died in Angostura, Colombia. His holy life was one of dedication to prayer, study and the Christian education of children.
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