Friday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, religious (†1639). Born in Lima, Peru, in 1579, of Spanish and black descent. He entered the Dominican Order as a lay brother and took upon himself the most humble and repugnant tasks. He was gifted with extraordinary mystical gifts, such as prophecy, ecstasy and bilocation.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Rom 9:1-5
Brothers and sisters: I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are children of Israel; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your children within you. R.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat He fills you.
He sends forth His command to the earth;
swiftly runs His word! R.
He has proclaimed His word to Jacob,
His statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
His ordinances He has not made known to them. Alleluia. R.
Gospel – Lk 14:1-6
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing Him carefully. In front of Him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” But they kept silent; so He took the man and, after He had healed him, dismissed him. Then He said to them “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” But they were unable to answer His question.
Featured Saints
St. Perminius, bishop (†circa 755). Abbot and Bishop of Reichenau, he preached the Gospel to the Alemans and Bavarians, founded many monasteries and wrote a book for his followers on the religious instruction of uncultured peoples.
St. Bernard, bishop (†1130). From a noble family of the Counts of Marsi and Sangro, he became a Benedictine in Montecasino. At the age of 30, he was elevated to episcopal dignity in the diocese of Marsi, Italy, and fought against simony, while striving to restore ecclesiastical discipline and to protect the poor.
St. Ermengol, bishop (†1035). One of the most illustrious prelates who dedicated themselves to restoring Christianity in the lands reconquested from the moors in Catalonia, Spain.
St. Peter Francis Néron,priest and martyr (†1860). Religious from the Foreign Missions Society of Paris, who was imprisoned in a cramped cell, cruelly beaten and beheaded in Tonkin, Vietnam under the Emperor Tu Duc.
St. Joannicius, monk (†846). He left the imperial army to live as a hermit on Mount Olympus and later entered the monastery of Antidium, Turkey. He defended the veneration of sacred images and is the author of several icons in honour of the Virgin Mary.
St. Sylvia (†seventh century). Mother of Pope St. Gregory the Great. She abandoned the world to better dedicate herself to prayer and penance.
Blessed Alpais, virgin (†1211). Peasant who lived alone in a small cell in Cudot, France, where she received the gift of counsel and of performing miracles.
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