Friday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – 2 Cor 11:18, 21-30
Brothers and sisters: Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. To my shame I say that we were too weak! But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they children of Israel? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person). I am still more, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure. And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (R. see18b)
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad. R.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol His name.
I sought the LORD, and He answered me
and delivered me from all my fears. R.
Look to Him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress He saved him. R.
Gospel – Mt 6:19-23
Jesus said to His disciples: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”
Featured Saints
St. Joseph Cafasso, priest (†1860). Close friend of St. John Bosco; he dedicated himself to the formation of seminarians and providing spiritual aid to prisoners and those condemned to death in Turin, Italy.
St. Bilius, Bishop and martyr (†c. 914). According to tradition, he was killed by the Normans when they sacked the city of Vannes, France.
St. Thomas Garnet, priest and martyr (†1608). English Jesuit, executed during the reign of James I of England.
St. Ethelreda (Audrey), abbess (+679). Formerly queen consort of Northumbria, she was finally able to embrace the religious state and founded the abbey of Ely cathedral. She was the most venerated of the women saints of Anglo-Saxon England.
Blessed Peter James of Pesaro, religious (†1496). At a very young age he entered the Order of Saint Augustine. He was appointed director of students for the Augustinians in Italy.
Blessed Maria Raffaella Cimatti, virgin (†1945). Religious from the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, dedicated to the care of the sick and the poor. She showed heroic charity in aiding wounded soldiers in the Second World War.
Blessed Marie d’Oignies, widow (†1213). While young, with the consent of her husband, she renounced the world and dedicated herself to works of mercy. She founded and governed the Institute of Beguines.
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