Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent
Mass Readings
First Reading – Hos 14:2-10
Thus says the LORD: Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words, and return to the LORD; Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls. Assyria will not save us, nor shall we have horses to mount; We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’ to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion.” I will heal their defection, says the LORD, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar, and put forth his shoots. His splendor shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar. Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain; They shall blossom like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. “I am like a verdant cypress tree”– Because of me you bear fruit! Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17 (R. see 11 and 9a)
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
An unfamiliar speech I hear:
“I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you.” R.
“Unseen, I answered you in thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, will you not hear me?” R.
“There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt.” R.
“If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them.” R.
Gospel – Mk 12:28-34
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Featured Saints
St. Stephen Harding, abbot (†1134). One of the founders of the Monastery of Citeaux, France, of which he was abbot and in which he received St. Bernard of Clairvaux with his thirty companions. He founded twelve monasteries.
St. Joseph Sebastian Pelczar, bishop (†1924). Founder of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he was Bishop of Przemyśl (Poland) and a distinguished master of the spiritual life.
St. Cyril, deacon and martyr (†c. 362). He was martyred during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate, in Heliopolis, Lebanon.
St. Hilary, abbot (eighth century). He governed the monastery of Pelecete, situated in present-day Greece. He was persecuted for opposing the iconoclast customs.
St. Conon of Naso, monk (†1236). Son of the governor of Naso, Sicily, he became a Basilian monk. After his parents’ death, he distributed his inheritance among the poor and embraced the hermetic life.
St. Guntram, king (†593). King of the Francs, he governed wisely, founded monasteries and shared his wealth between the Church and the poor.
Blessed Renée-Marie Feillatreau, martyr (†1794). Catholic laywoman guillotined during the French Revolution.
Blessed Jeanne-Marie de Maillé, widow (†1414). After her husband’s death at war, she was reduced to misery and expelled from her own home; she lived as a solitary in a cell near the Franciscan convent in Tours, France.
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