Mass Readings

First Reading – Dt 26:16-19

Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised.”

Responsorial Psalm – 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8 (R.1b)

R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart. R.

You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes! R.

I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me. 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 and sisters 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. Theophanes, monk (†817). Defender of the veneration of sacred images, he died of privation on the Isle of Samothracia, Turkey, where he had been exiled by the Iconoclast Emperor, Leo the Armenian.

Blessed Angela Salawa, virgin (†1922). Franciscan tertiary, she attained sanctity while employed as a domestic servant in Krakow, Poland, where she died in poverty at forty years of age.

St. Innocent I, Pope (†417). He condemned Pelagianism, defended St. John Chrysostom, consoled St. Jerome, and approved St. Augustine.

St. Luigi Orione, priest (†1940). A student and spiritual disciple of St. John Bosco who went on to found the Little Work of Divine Providence and the Congregation of the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity in Italy, for the education of youth and care of the destitute. He died in San Remo, Italy.

St. Joseph Zhang Dapeng, martyr (†1815). After being baptized in Guiyang, China, he welcomed missionaries and catechists into his home. He was imprisoned, condemned and led to his death on a cross; he shed tears for having been considered worthy to die for Christ.

Blessed Justine Bézzoli Francúcci, virgin (+1369). Benedictine religious who was outstanding in the practice of austere penances. Her body was found to be incorrupt in the monastery of the Holy Spirit in Arezzo, Italy.

Blessed Fina of San Gimignano, virgin (†1253). Afflicted by a serious disease at ten years of age, she died five year later, having endured her sufferings with admirable patience.

St. Paul Aurelian, Bishop (†sixth century). First Bishop of Saint-Polde-Léon, in present-day France.