Monday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Sir 17:20-24
To the penitent God provides a way back, he encourages those who are losing hope and has chosen for them the lot of truth. Return to him and give up sin, pray to the LORD and make your offenses few. Turn again to the Most High and away from your sin, hate intensely what he loathes, and know the justice and judgments of God, Stand firm in the way set before you, in prayer to the Most High God. Who in the nether world can glorify the Most High in place of the living who offer their praise? Dwell no longer in the error of the ungodly, but offer your praise before death. No more can the dead give praise than those who have never lived; You who are alive and well shall praise and glorify God in his mercies. How great the mercy of the LORD, his forgiveness of those who return to him!
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7 (R.11a)
R. Let the just exult and rejoice in the Lord.
Let the just exult and rejoice in the Lord.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile. R.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin. R.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him. R.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round. R.
Gospel – Mk 10:17-27
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”
Featured Saints
St. Cunegundes, empress († 1040). Wife of Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, she founded monasteries, built churches and patronized evangelization. After her husband’s death, she entered one of the monasteries she had founded where she died a holy death.
St. Anselm of Nonantola, abbot (†803). He renounced the Duchy of Friuli to enter a monastery. He founded a hospital for pilgrims and a monastery in Nonantola, Italy, of which he later became abbot.
St. Marinus and St. Asterius, martyrs (†c. 260). Roman citizens killed at Caesarea in Palestine during the persecution of Emperor Gallienus for professing the Christian Faith.
St. Teresa Eustochio Verzeri, virgin (†1852). Foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bergamo, Italy.
St. Katharine Drexel, virgin (†1955). Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Philadelphia. She was an educator of black and native Americans, generously employing her inheritance for this objective.
Blessed Peter di Jeremia, priest (†1452). Dominican religious, formed as a preacher by St. Vincent Ferrer; he dedicated himself entirely to the salvation of souls. He died in Palermo, Italy.
Blesseds Liberatus Weiss, Samuel Marzorati and Michael Pius Fasoli of Zerbo, priests and martyrs (†1716). Franciscan religious missionaries stoned to death in Gondar, Ethiopia.
Blessed Peter René Rogue, priest and martyr (†1796). Lazarist priest, martyred during the French Revolution for rejecting the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.
Blessed Frederick of Friesland, abbot (†1175). He was a parish priest in Hallum, Holland, and later abbot of the Premonstratensian monastery of Mariengaarde.
Blessed Jacopino de’Canepacci, religious (†1508). Carmelite lay brother from the monastery of Vercelli, Italy.
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