Monday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Optional memorials: St. Clement I, Pope and martyr. A Roman, the third successor of St. Peter. He suffered exile in the year 98 during the reign of Emperor Trajan, who decreed his death by being cast into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. His remains, miraculously found, are preserved in the Roman basilica dedicated to him.
St. Columbanus (Columban), abbot and (†615). He set sail from his native Ireland with 12 companions and evangelized in Gaul for many years, establishing several thriving monasteries there before passing through Austria and Switzerland, and finally crossing into Italy. There, close to Milan, he founded the abbey of Bobbio where he ended his earthly journey. Memorial in Ireland.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Rev 14:1-3, 4b-5
I, John, looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of rushing water or a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. They were singing what seemed to be a new hymn before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been ransomed from the earth. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been ransomed as the first fruits of the human race for God and the Lamb.
On their lips no deceit has been found; they are unblemished.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 144:1, 2, 9-10 (R.1b)
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers. R.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain. R.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob. R.
Gospel – Lk 21:1-4
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
Featured Saints
Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, priest and martyr (†1927). Optional Memorial in USA and Mexico. Jesuit executed by firing squad after condemnation without a trial in Guadalupe, Mexico, during the persecution against the Church.
St. Trudo, priest (†circa 690). He gave all of his goods to the Church of Metz and founded a monastery there, in which he united many disciples. He died in Saint-Trond, Belgium.
St. Lucretia, martyr (fourth century). She earned the crown of martyrdom in Merida, Spain, during the Diocletian persecution.
St. Cecília Yu So-sa, martyr (†1839). A widow who, when nearly an octogenarian, was imprisoned during the religious persecution in Korea, and died as a result of the violent treatment to which she was submitted.
Blessed Maria Cecilia Cendoya Araquistain, virgin and martyr (†1936). Visitation nun shot to death in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War.
Blessed Henrietta Alfieri, virgin (†1951). Religious from the Sisters of Charity of St. Joan Antida Thouret, she exercised her apostolate with prisoners in Milan, Italy.
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