Friday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Phil 3:17—4:1
Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 122:1-2, 3-4AB, 4CD-5 (R.1)
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem. R.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD. R.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David. R.
Gospel – Lk 16:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.”
Featured Saints
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, virgin (†1906). From an early age she sought deep within her heart the knowledge and contemplation of the Blessed Trinity. She died at age twenty-six in the Carmel of Dijon, France. See also: Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity – Laudem Gloriae
Blessed John Duns Scotus, priest (†1308). Scottish Franciscan, professor of Philosophy and Theology in Paris and Cologne. Staunch defender of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
St. Clarus, priest (†c. 396). Disciple of St. Martin of Tours. Entrusted with providing formation to the monks of Marmoutier, France, he selected candidates for the religious life with the gift of discernment.
St. Adeodatus I, Pope (†618). He was the son of a Roman subdeacon, who succeeded Pope Boniface IV.
St. Willehad of Bremen,, bishop (†789). An English monk who went to preach the Gospel in Frisia and in Saxony, after St. Boniface. He was the first Bishop of Bremen, Germany
St. Godfrey, bishop (†1115). Raised in a monastic setting from the age of five; he served as a Benedictine abbot and Bishop of Amiens, France. Greatly persecuted, he withdrew to the Grande Chartreuse. He died shortly after reassuming his episcopal See.
Blessed Maria Crocifissa Satellico,religious (†1745). Abbess of the Clarist monastery in Ostra Vetere, Italy; favoured with mystical graces.
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