Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Featured Saints
St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, Archbishop of Lima, Peru (†1606). Optional Memorial. He worked tirelessly for twenty-five years to glorify Christ’s name in his immense diocese which, at that time covered a good part of South America. He was an advocate of the indigenous and a reformer of clergy.
St. Joseph Oriol, priest (†1702). Priest from Barcelona, Spain, who through corporal mortification, the outstanding practice of poverty and continuous prayer, lived in close
union with God, animated with heavenly joy.
St. Walter, abbot (†c. 1095). First abbot of the monastery of Pontoise, France. He taught the monks the monastic rule by his own example and fought the widespread simony among the clergy.
St. Rafqa (Rebecca) of Himlaya, virgin (†1914). Religious of the Lebanese Maronite Order of St. Anthony; she suffered from blindness and other infirmities, and persevered in continual prayer for thirty years.
Blessed Peter Higgins, priest and martyr (†1642). Dominican priest hanged without a trial in Naas, Ireland, during the reign of Charles I of England Ireland for refusing to deny the Catholic Faith.
Blessed Methodius Dominick Trčka, priest and martyr (†1959). Redemptorist priest imprisoned
in a dank cell in the Leopoldov Prison in Slovakia, where he died of pneumonia.
Blessed Anunciata Cocchetti, virgin (†1882). She founded the Institute of the Sisters of St.orothy in Cemmo, Italy. She died at age 82 having dedicated her long life to the formation and education of poor girls.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Nm 21:4-9
From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to bypass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!”
In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.” Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21 (R.2)
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to You.
O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to You.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily. R.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer. R.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.” R.
Gospel – Jn 8:21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“He is not going to kill himself, is He,
because He said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to Him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent Me is true,
and what I heard from Him I tell the world.”
They did not realize that He was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught Me.
The one who sent Me is with Me.
He has not left Me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to Him.”
Because He spoke this way, many came to believe in Him.
