Tuesday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, religious (†1639). Born in Lima, Peru, in 1579, of Spanish and negro 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 – Phil 2:5-11
Brothers and sisters: Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and, found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 22:26b-27, 28-30ab, 30e, 31-32 (R.26a)
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him.
The lowly shall eat their fill;
they who seek the LORD shall praise him:
“May your hearts be ever merry!” R.
“All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
All the families of the nations
shall bow down before him. R.
For dominion is the LORD’s,
and he rules the nations.
To him alone shall bow down
all who sleep in the earth. R.
To him my soul shall live;
my descendants shall serve him.
Let the coming generation be told of the LORD
that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born
the justice he has shown. R.
Gospel – Lk 14:15-24
One of those at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’ The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”
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 protect the poor.
St. Ermengol, bishop (†1035). One of the most illustrious prelates dedicated 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 ability to perform miracles.
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