Wednesday of the 1st Week of Lent
Mass Readings
First Reading – Jon 3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “”Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’s bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “”Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,”” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his nobles: “”Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; every man shall turn from his evil way and from the violence he has in hand. Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold His blazing wrath, so that we shall not perish.”” When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, He repented of the evil that He had threatened to do to them; He did not carry it out.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19 (R. 19b)
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn.
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.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from Your presence,
and Your Holy Spirit take not from me. R.
For You are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, You would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn. R.
Gospel – Lk 11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Featured Saints
St. Felix III, Pope (†492). Of the Roman nobility, he entered the clerical state and succeeded St. Simplicius to the Chair of Peter.
St. Albinus, bishop (†c. 550). He vehemently censured the abusive customs of those in power and ardently promoted the Third Council of Orleans for the renewal of the Church.
St. Rudesind, bishop (†977). As Bishop of Mondoñedo, Spain, he strove to renew and foster monastic life. After renouncing the Episcopal See, he entered the Benedictine monastery of Celanova, and became its abbot.
St. David, bishop (†c. 601). He founded a monastery in his Diocese of Menevia, Wales, from which missionaries departed to evangelize Ireland, Cornwall and Armorica.
St. Swithbert, bishop (†713). Monk of Northumbria, England, he was one of the eleven companions of St. Willibrord in his evangelizing mission in Friesland, the Netherlands and Germany. After his ordination as bishop by St. Wilfrid of York, he became an apostle of Westphalia.
St. Leo Luke, abbot (†c. 900). He shone in the hermetic and monastic life, following the observance of the eastern monks in the hill country of Calabria.
St. Agnes Cao Guiying, martyr (†1856). As a widow she dedicated her time to teaching Catholic doctrine. For this she was imprisoned and tortured to death in Yaoshan, Guangxi, China.
Blessed Giovanna Maria Bonomo, abbess (†1670). Greatly favoured with mystical visions, she received the stigmata of the Passion of Christ during an ecstasy. She was abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Basano, Italy.
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