Friday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
Featured Saints
St. Augustine Zhao Rong, priest, and companions, martyrs (+1815). The Roman Martyrology lists 120 priests and laity under this epigraph, killed in various eras and locations in China out of hatred for the Faith.
St. Paulina of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, virgin (†1942) Born in Italy, she transferred to Brazil during her childhood. There, int the city of Nova Trenta, Santa Catarina state, she founded the congregation of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception for the assistance of the poor and abandoned.
St. Joachim He Kaizhi, martyr (†1839). Catechist, strangled to death for his Christian Faith in Kouy-Yang, city of Guizhou province, China.
St. Veronica Giuliani, abbess (†1727). At age seventeen she entered the Monastery of Città di Castello (Italy) as a Capuchin nun. She lived there for fifty years as a religious and mystically participated in the Passion of Christ.
St. Nicholas Pieck, priest, and companions, martyrs (†1572). Franciscan priest tortured and strangled to death by Calvinists together with 10 religious from his Order and eight secular priests in Brielle, Holland, for defending the Primacy of the Pope and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
Blessed Marie-Anne-Madeleine de Guilhermier and Marguerite-Marie-Anne of the Angels, virgins and martyrs (†1794). Ursuline nuns martyred during the religious persecutions of the French Revolution.
Blessed Joanna Scopelli, virgin (†1491). Carmelite religious; prioress of a monastery which she founded in Reggio Emilia, Italy. She was outstanding for her devotion to Our Lady and for her austere penances.
Blessed Fidelis Chijnacki, martyr (†1942). Capuchin monk imprisoned during the occupation of Poland and sent to Dachau Concentration Camp.
Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified Petkovič, virgin (†1966). Founded the Franciscan Congregation
of the Daughters of Mercy in the Diocese of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Gn 46:1-7, 28-30
Israel set out with all that was his.
When he arrived at Beer-sheba,
he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called,
“Jacob! Jacob!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
Then he said: “I am God, the God of your father.
Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,
for there I will make you a great nation.
Not only will I go down to Egypt with you;
I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.”
So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba,
and the sons of Israel
put their father and their wives and children
on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport.
They took with them their livestock
and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan.
Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt.
His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters
all his descendants—he took with him to Egypt.
Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph,
so that he might meet him in Goshen.
On his arrival in the region of Goshen,
Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot
and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen.
As soon as Joseph saw him, he flung himself on his neck
and wept a long time in his arms.
And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die,
now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40 (R.39a)
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord..
Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart’s requests. R.
The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted;
their inheritance lasts forever.
They are not put to shame in an evil time;
in days of famine they have plenty. R.
Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the LORD loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones. R.
The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him. R.
Gospel – Mt 10:16-23
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.”
