Mass Readings

First Reading – Is 58:1-9a

Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God. “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high! Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

Responsorial Psalm – 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19 (R.19b)

R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me. R.

For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.” R.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. R.

Gospel – Mt 9:14-15

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Featured Saints

St. Casimir (†1484). Optional Memorial. Patron of Poland and Lithuania, son of King Casimir IV of Poland. He died at the age of 25, after a life marked by piety, abnegation and austerity, even renouncing marriage so as to better serve God and help the poor.

St. Basinus, bishop (†705). He became a monk in the Benedictine Monastery of St. Maximinus of Trier, Germany, and was elected abbot. He was later appointed Bishop of the same city.

St. John Anthony Farina, bishop (†1888). Great pastor and educator. He founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of St. Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts, for the education of poor girls, in Vicenza, Italy.

St. Peter, abbot (†1123). Benedictine monk; elected Bishop of Policastro. Weary of the pomp of worldly life, he returned to his monastery, where, as abbot, he renewed religious discipline.

Blessed Zoltan Lajos Meszlényi, Bishop and martyr (†1951). Auxiliary Bishop of Esztergom, Hungary, he was deported to the concentration camp of Kistarcsa, where he died after eight months of unspeakable torture.

Blessed Robert Spiske, priest (†1888). Diocesan priest; he founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Hedwig in Krakow, Poland.

Blessed Humbert of Savoy, monk (†1188). Compelled to leave the cloister to attend to public duties, he soon returned to monastic life with redoubled dedication.

Blessed Placide Viel, virgin (†1877). Religious of the Congregation of Christian Schools of Mercy, she succeeded St. Marie-Magdalene Postel as Superior General.

Blessed Marie Louise of Lamoignon, widow (†1825). After her husband was guillotined, she founded the Order of the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis in Vannes, France.

Blessed Placide Viel, virgin (†1877). French religious, elected second Superior General of the Sisters of the Christian Schools; she gave great impetus to the congregation during thirty years of governance, humbly enduring setbacks and resentment.