Thursday of the 5th Week of Lent
Mass Readings
First Reading – Gn 17:3-9
When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him: “My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you. I will maintain My covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.” God also said to Abraham: “On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep My covenant throughout the ages.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (R. 8a)
R. The Lord remembers His covenant for ever.
Look to the LORD in His strength;
seek to serve Him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that He has wrought,
His portents, and the judgments He has uttered. R.
You descendants of Abraham, His servants,
sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth His judgments prevail. R.
He remembers forever His covenant
which He made binding for a thousand generations –
Which He entered into with Abraham
and by His oath to Isaac. R.
Gospel – Jn 8:51-59
Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps My word will never see death.” So the Jews said to Him, “Now we are sure that You are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet You say, ‘Whoever keeps My word will never taste death.’ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do You make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is worth nothing; but it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know Him, but I know Him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know Him and I keep His word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old and You have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.
Featured Saints
St. Nicholas of Flüe, hermit (†1487). Married with ten children, he renounced important offices, abandoned the world at fifty years of age and, with the consent of his wife, became a hermit. He withdrew to a mountain where he spent the rest of his life in prayer and contemplation. He is patron of Switzerland.
St. Augustine Zhao Rong, priest and martyr (†1815). Because of his work as a guard of Christian prisoners, he converted and became a priest. He was imprisoned and killed in Sichuan, China.
St. James the Confessor, martyr (†circa 824). He was martyred for firmly defending the veneration of sacred images in Constantinople.
St. Lupicinus, abbot (†480). He founded the monastery of St. Claude in French Jura, together with his brother, St. Romanus, as well as building a convent for nuns, St. Romain de la Roche.
St. Enda of Aran, abbot (†c. 542). An Irish warrior who embraced monastic life. He obtained from King Aengus the Aran Islands, in Galway Bay, where he founded several churches and monasteries.
Holy Martyrs of Alexandria (†339). They received the palm of martyrdom on Good Friday, when Arians and pagans invaded the churches where they were praying.
St. Benedicta Cambiagio Frassinello, religious (†1858). In mutual agreement with her husband, she renounced conjugal life and founded the Institute of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence, for the formation of poor and abandoned girls, in Ronco Scrivia, near Genoa.
Blessed Thomas Pilchard, priest and martyr (†1591). A gifted and humble man, he was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I of England for being a Catholic priest.
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