Thursday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, priest and Doctor of the Church (+1619). Optional Memorial. Capuchin monk from Italy, who governed various provinces of his Order and acted as Papal legate on numerous diplomatic missions. Sent to Austria and Bohemia where he was an untiring preacher against the errors of Protestantism, and was appointed as the head chaplain of the imperial army, in battle against the invading Turks. He is hailed as “Doctor Apostolicus”.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Jer 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
This word of the LORD came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown. Sacred to the LORD was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; Should any presume to partake of them, evil would befall them, says the LORD. When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, You entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome. The priests asked not, “Where is the LORD?” Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols. Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD. Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 36:6-7ab, 8-9, 10-11 (R.10a)
R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.
O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven;
your faithfulness, to the clouds.
Your justice is like the mountains of God;
your judgments, like the mighty deep. R.
How precious is your mercy, O God!
The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house;
from your delightful stream you give them to drink. R.
For with you is the fountain of life,
and in your light we see light.
Keep up your mercy toward your friends,
your just defense of the upright of heart. R.
Gospel – Mt 13:10-17
The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
Featured Saints
St. Simeon Salos, hermit († fourth century). While on pilgrimage in the Holy Land, he felt called to abandon the world and withdraw to a hermitic solitude.
Blessed Gabriel Pergaud, priest and martyr (†1794). Canon Regular of St. Augustine; he was taken from the Abbey of Beaulieu during the French Revolution and imprisoned in a galley in Rochefort, where he died in inhumane conditions.
St. Alberic Crescitelli, priest and martyr (†190 0). Member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, cruelty killed close to Yangxian, in the Province of Shaanxi (China).
St. Joseph Wang Yumei, martyr (†1900). Imprisoned, beaten and beheaded for proclaiming his Faith, during the Boxer persecution in China.
St. Praxedes, virgin (†circa 491). Said to be the daughter of the Roman Senator Pudens, who was converted by St. Peter. The Basilica in Esquilino is named after her.
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