Thursday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Sir 48:1-14
Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits; By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire. How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Whose glory is equal to yours? You brought a dead man back to life from the nether world, by the will of the LORD. You sent kings down to destruction, and easily broke their power into pieces. You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness. You heard threats at Sinai, at Horeb avenging judgments. You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance, and a prophet as your successor. You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses. You were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob. Blessed is he who shall have seen you And who falls asleep in your friendship. For we live only in our life, but after death our name will not be such. O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind! Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit, wrought many marvels by his mere word. During his lifetime he feared no one, nor was any man able to intimidate his will. Nothing was beyond his power; beneath him flesh was brought back into life. In life he performed wonders, and after death, marvelous deeds.
Responsorial Psalm – PS 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7 (R.12a)
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne. R.
Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes round about.
His lightnings illumine the world;
the earth sees and trembles. R.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory. R.
All who worship graven things are put to shame,
who glory in the things of nought;
all gods are prostrate before him. R.
Gospel – MT 6:7-15
Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “This is how you are to pray: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”
Featured Saints
St. Alban, protomartyr of Britain, probably in the middle of the third century. He was a pagan soldier who gave shelter to a Catholic priest and was converted by him. To save the priest’s life, he put on the cleric’s clothes and was arrested and executed in his place.
Blessed Margaret Ball, martyr (†1584). Widow of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, during the persecution of Elizabeth I of England, she sheltered priests and religious in her home. Denounced by her own son, she was imprisoned in a dungeon in Dublin castle and died there at the age of seventy, after three years of deprivation.
Blessed Dermot O’Hurley, bishop and martyr (†1584). archbishop of Cashel, Ireland. Imprisoned and savagely tortured for months during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, he was finally hanged for refusing to renounce the Church of Rome.
St. Gobain, priest (†c. 670). Born in Ireland, he became a disciple of St. Fursey in England and from there went to France to lead a hermetic life.
St. John of Matera, abbot (†1139). Outstanding for his austerity of life and preaching, he founded the Congregation of Pulsano, of Benedictine obedience, in the region of Gargano, Italy.
Blessed Francis Pacheco, priest, and companions, martyrs (†1626). Portuguese Jesuit missionary burned alive with eight companions, in Nagasaki, Japan.
St. Methodius of Olympus, (†c. 311). bishop, theologian and martyr of the end of the Diocletian persecution.
Blessed Margaret Ebner, virgin (†1351). Dominican nun from Mödingen, Germany. She practised outstanding mortification and was a model of resignation in face of illness. She left written works on her mystical experiences.
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