Saturday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. On this day in 1251, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, in Aylesford, England, entrusting the brown scapular to him. Under this title, the Carmelites venerate the Mother of God, for it was on Mount Carmel that the Prophet Elijah beheld the small cloud that represented Her. On this Mount the Carmelite Order has its earliest roots, being first constituted by hermits dedicated to contemplation.
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Mass Readings
First Reading – Mi 2:1-5
Woe to those who plan iniquity, and work out evil on their couches; In the morning light they accomplish it when it lies within their power. They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and they take them; They cheat an owner of his house, a man of his inheritance. Therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I am planning against this race an evil from which you shall not withdraw your necks; Nor shall you walk with head high, for it will be a time of evil. On that day a satire shall be sung over you, and there shall be a plaintive chant: “Our ruin is complete, our fields are portioned out among our captors, The fields of my people are measured out, and no one can get them back!” Thus you shall have no one to mark out boundaries by lot in the assembly of the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 10:1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14 (R.12b)
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
Why, O LORD, do you stand aloof?
Why hide in times of distress?
Proudly the wicked harass the afflicted,
who are caught in the devices the wicked have contrived. R.
For the wicked man glories in his greed,
and the covetous blasphemes, sets the LORD at nought.
The wicked man boasts, “He will not avenge it”;
“There is no God,” sums up his thoughts. R.
His mouth is full of cursing, guile and deceit;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
He lurks in ambush near the villages;
in hiding he murders the innocent;
his eyes spy upon the unfortunate. R.
You do see, for you behold misery and sorrow,
taking them in your hands.
On you the unfortunate man depends;
of the fatherless you are the helper. R.
Gospel – Mt 12:14-21
The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.
Featured Saints
St. Athenogenes, bishop and martyr (†c. 305). He endured the terrible martyrdom of being burned alive in Sebaste, Armenia, leaving as an inheritance to his flock a hymn to the Holy Spirit.
St. Mary Magdalen Postel, virgin (†1846). During the French Revolution, she used her goods to help the sick and the faithful. After peace was established, she founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Mercy in Saint-Sauveur-leVicomte, France.
St. Teresa Zhang Hezhi, martyr (†1900). Executed by lances along with her two sons during the Boxer persecution in China for refusing to adore local divinities.
Blessed Aimée of Jesus de Gordon, virgin, and companions, martyrs (†1794). Having refused to abandon religious life, they were condemned and guillotined in Orange during the French Revolution.
Blessed Ermengard, abbess (†866). Great-granddaughter Charlemagne; while still young, she abandoned the splendours of the court to enter the Monastery of Chiemsee, Bavaria, of which she became abbess.
Blessed Bartholomew of the Martyrs, bishop (†1590). Dominican religious elected Archbishop of Braga, Portugal; he wrote various spiritual and theological works.
Blesseds André de Soveral, priest, and Domingos Carvalho, layman, martyrs (†1645). Massacred by Dutch Calvinist soldiers close to Natal, Brazil, as Fr. André, a Jesuit, was celebrating Mass.
Blesseds John Sugar, priest, and Robert Grissold, layman, martyrs (†1604). Tortured and killed during the reign of James I of England, the first for having exercised the priestly ministry in England, and the second for assisting him.
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