Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Mass Readings
First Reading – Is 65:17-21
Thus says the LORD: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight; I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying; No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime; He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years, and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed. They shall live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b (R. 2a)
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit. R.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing. R.
“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks. R.
Gospel – Jn 4:43-54
At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast. Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. While the man was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.” The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe. Now this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.
Featured Saints
St. Agilulfus, bishop (†751/752). Bishop of Cologne, Germany, renowned for his preaching and holy life.
Blessed Joan of Toulouse, virgin (†fourteenth century). Noblewoman who met St. Simon Stock in Toulouse, France, and was received by him into the Carmelite Order. She is venerated as the first tertiary and co-founder of the Carmelite Third Order.
St. Balbina, virgin and martyr (†c. 130). Of noble birth, she received numerous marriage proposals, but remained faithful to her vow of virginity. She was imprisoned together with her father, by order of Emperor Hadrian, and beheaded after prolonged torture.
St. Benjamin, deacon and martyr (†c. 420). He was tortured and killed during the reign of Varahran V for persisting in preaching the Word of God in Persia.
St. Guy, abbot (†1046). Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of Pomposa, and there welcomed many new followers, and rebuilt sacred edifices in that region. He died in Borgo San Donnino, Italy.
Blessed Bonaventure of Forli, priest (†1491). Servite priest who became the Vicar General of his Order. Pope Sixtus IV entrusted to him the preaching of missions in the Pontifical States, and by his preaching he moved great numbers to penance.
Blessed Christopher Robinson, priest and martyr (†1597). He ministered to oppressed Catholics in England during the Reign of Elizabeth I until, condemned for the crime of priesthood, he was hanged at Carlisle.
Blessed Natalia Tulasiewicz, martyr (†1945). Polish teacher who, during the German military occupation, voluntarily accompanied women from Poland to forced labour camps in Germany to give them spiritual aid. Discovered by the Gestapo, she was tortured and sent to the Rawensbruck concentration camp, where she was killed in the gas chamber.
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