Wednesday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Featured Saints
St. Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin (†1680) Memorial in USA. Daughter of a Mohawk chief, her parents died of smallpox when she was very young. she was baptized at age 18 by a Jesuit missionary and consecrated her virginity to God, for which she suffered threats and ill-treatment until she was able to flee to a Christian village in French Canada, where she she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitence, and care for the sick and aged, and died at the age of 24. She is called the Lily of the Mohawks. Her Memorial is celebrated April 17 in Canada.
St. Camillus de Lellis, priest (†1614 Rome). Optional Memorial. Of distinguished birth, he followed a military career, and led a dissolute life. After his conversion, he founded the Order of Clerics Regular, Servants of the Sick (now known as the Camillians). He is the patron of hospitals. (Commemorated July 18 in USA)
St. Francis Solano, priest (†1610). Spanish Franciscan missionary who traveled across America from Peru to Argentina, converting indigenous people and colonizers.
St. Marchelm, priest and monk (†circa 775). Of Anglo-Saxon origin, he was a disciple and companion of St. Willibrord from his youth. He died on mission at Deventer, Holland.
St. Toscana, widow (†1343/1344). After the death of her spouse, she gave her goods to the poor and served the sick in the hospital of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Verona, Italy.
Blessed Michael Ghebre, priest and martyr (†1855). Formerly a Monophysist monk of Ethiopia; he converted to Catholicism and entered the Congregation of the Mission. In the persecution of the ruler Theodore II, (of Ethiopia) he suffered thirteen months of torments, and in view of his refusal to renounce his Faith, he was finally left to die of hunger and thirst.
Blessed Caspar de Bono, priest (†1604). He left a military career to give himself to God in the Order of Minims; he died as Provincial in Valencia, Spain.
Blessed Angelina di Marsciano, religious (†1435). Lived the fifty years of her widowhood exclusively at the service of God. She founded the cloistered Third Order Franciscans, for the formation of girls.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Ex 3:1-6, 9-12
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.” When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. The cry of the children of Israel has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them. Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He answered, “I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 103:1b-2, 3-4, 6-7 (R.8a)
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. R.
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion. R.
The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel. R.
Gospel – Mt 11:25-27
At that time Jesus exclaimed:
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
