Memorial of St. Ignatious of Loyola, Priest
St. Ignatius of Loyola, priest and founder (†1556). Of Basque nobility, he pursued a military career in his early adulthood. Gravely wounded in battle, he underwent a radical conversion during his convalescence. After a period of recollection and study, he gathered a group of men to undertake apostolic works and with them formed the Company of Jesus, known as the Jesuit Fathers, to defend the Faith as soldiers under the banner of Christ, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam, “For the greater glory of God”.
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Mass Readings
First Reading – Jer 15:10, 16-21
Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth! a man of strife and contention to all the land! I neither borrow nor lend, yet all curse me. When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart, Because I bore your name, O LORD, God of hosts. I did not sit celebrating in the circle of merrymakers; Under the weight of your hand I sat alone because you filled me with indignation. Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook, whose waters do not abide! Thus the LORD answered me: If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand; If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece. Then it shall be they who turn to you, and you shall not turn to them; And I will make you toward this people a solid wall of brass. Though they fight against you, they shall not prevail, For I am with you, to deliver and rescue you, says the LORD. I will free you from the hand of the wicked, and rescue you from the grasp of the violent.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 59:2-3, 4, 10-11, 17, 18 (R.17d)
R. God is my refuge on the day of distress.
Rescue me from my enemies, O my God;
from my adversaries defend me.
Rescue me from evildoers;
from bloodthirsty men save me. R.
For behold, they lie in wait for my life;
mighty men come together against me,
Not for any offense or sin of mine, O LORD. R.
O my strength! for you I watch;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
As for my God, may his mercy go before me;
may he show me the fall of my foes. R.
But I will sing of your strength
and revel at dawn in your mercy;
You have been my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of distress. R.
O my strength! your praise will I sing;
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
my merciful God! R.
Gospel – Mt 13:44-46
Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
Featured Saints
St. Germanus of Auxerre, bishop (†448). Bishop of Auxerre, France. He was sent to England by the Pope to fight the Pelagian heresy.
Blessed John Colombini, religious (†1307). Wealthy merchant from Siena (Italy); he gave up his riches to embrace a life of extreme poverty. He founded the Congregation of Jesuati to minister to the sick.
Blessed James Buch Canals, martyr (†1936). Salesian religious, imprisoned and killed in Valencia during the Spanish Civil War.
St. Fabius, martyr (†303/304). Christian condemned to death in Caesarea (Mauritania), present day Algeria, for refusing to carry the flag of the governor in a pagan ceremony.
Blessed Franz Stryjas, martyr (†1944). Father of a family imprisoned and killed in Kalisz, Poland, after undergoing prolonged torture.
Blessed Zdenka Schelingová, virgin and martyr (†1955). Religious from the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross. She aided the escape of a priest in Trnava, Czechoslovakia, for which she was imprisoned; she died as a result of her sufferings there.
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