Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Kgs 21:17-29
After the death of Naboth the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite: “Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be in the vineyard of Naboth, of which he has come to take possession. This is what you shall tell him, ‘The LORD says: After murdering, do you also take possession? For this, the LORD says: In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.'” Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?” “Yes,” he answered. “Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the LORD’s sight, I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and like that of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because of how you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin.” (Against Jezebel, too, the LORD declared, “The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.”) “When one of Ahab’s line dies in the city, dogs will devour him; when one of them dies in the field, the birds of the sky will devour him.” Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil in the sight of the LORD as did Ahab, urged on by his wife Jezebel. He became completely abominable by following idols, just as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD drove out before the children of Israel. When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh. He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued. Then the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Have you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his time. I will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 11 and 16 (see 3a)
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me. R.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.” R.
Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my guilt.
Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God;
then my tongue shall revel in your justice. R.
Gospel – Mt 5:43-48
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Featured Saints
St. Amandus, bishop († fifth century). Bishop of Bordeaux, France. He instructed St. Paulinus of Nola in Christian doctrine and baptized him.
Blessed Osanna Andreasi, virgin (†1505). Dominican religious from Mantua, Italy, who managed to wisely unite contemplation of divine things with labour and the practice of good works.
St. Gregory Barbarigo, bishop (†1697). Created cardinal by Alexander VII, he was also Archbishop of Padua, Italy, where he improved the seminary, taught catechism to children, and promoted the moral reform of the clergy.
St. Calogero, hermit (†fifth century). Lived as an anchorite near Sciacca, Italy.
St. Leontius, martyr (†fourth century). A soldier who received the palm of martyrdom in Tripoli, Lebanon provoked by the torture he endured in prison.
Sts. Cyriacus and Paula, martyrs († 4th Cen.). Stoned to death in Africa, during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian.
St. Elizabeth of Schönau, virgin (†1164). Abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Schönau, Germany, she was a model of the oservance of monastic life.
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