Saturday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, virgin and martyr (†1902 Nettuno – Italy). A girl of outstanding piety, she died in her twelfth year of multiple stab wounds, heroically defending her virginity.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Am 9:11-15
Thus says the LORD: On that day I will raise up the fallen hut of David; I will wall up its breaches, raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old, That they may conquer what is left of Edom and all the nations that shall bear my name, say I, the LORD, who will do this. Yes, days are coming, says the LORD, When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the vintager, him who sows the seed; The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains, and all the hills shall run with it. I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel; they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities, Plant vineyards and drink the wine, set out gardens and eat the fruits. I will plant them upon their own ground; never again shall they be plucked From the land I have given them, say I, the LORD, your God.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 85:9 AB AND 10, 11-12, 13-14 (R. see 9b)
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land. R.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven. R.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps. R.
Gospel – Jn 10:27
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Featured Saints
Blessed Suzanne-Agathe Deloye, virgin and martyr (†1794). Benedictine from the Abbey of Caderousse, imprisoned and guillotined in Orange, France, with 32 other religious.
St. Palladius, bishop (†432). Sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine I to preach the Gospel and combat the Pelagian heresy.
St. Peter Wang Zuolong, martyr (†1900). He was hanged in the province of Hebei (China) during the Boxer persecution for refusing to worship pagan idols.
Blessed Thomas Alfield, priest and martyr (†1585). He converted from Anglicanism and was ordained a Catholic priest in France. Upon his return to England he was imprisoned and renounced the Faith under torture. He afterwards repented, returned to the Catholic Church, and suffered martyrdom.
Blessed Augustine-Joseph Desgardin, martyr (†1794). A Trappist monk who was incarcerated, during the French Revolution, on a prison-ship in Rochefort, where he devoted himself to the needs of his ailing fellow prisoners amid appalling conditions, until he contracted the illness that brought his death.
Blessed Maria Teresa Ledóchowska, virgin (†1922). Polish-Austrian noblewoman, foundress of the Institute of Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver, in Rome, dedicated to working in the African Missions.
Blessed Nazaria of St. Teresa March Mesa, virgin (†1943). Spanish nun who died in Buenos Aires. She founded the Institute of the Missionary Crusaders of the Church in Bolivia.
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