Mass Readings

First Reading – Mal 3:13-20b

You have defied Me in word, says the LORD, yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?” You have said, “It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping His command, And going about in penitential dress in awe of the LORD of hosts? Rather must we call the proud blessed; for indeed evildoers prosper, and even tempt God with impunity.” Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened attentively; And a record book was written before him of those who fear the LORD and trust in His name. And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my own special possession, on the day I take action. And I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. Then you will again see the distinction between the just and the wicked; Between the one who serves God, and the one who does not serve him. For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear My name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

Responsorial Psalm – Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 (R. Ps 40:5a)

R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on His law day and night. R.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers. R.

Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes. R.

Gospel – Lk 11:5-13

Jesus said to His disciples: “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Featured Saints

St. Seraphin of Montegranaro, religious (†1604). Capuchin from the convent of Ascoli Piceno, Italy, he learned from two main “books”: the crucifix and the Rosary.

St. Edwin of Northumbria, king (†633). Pagan king of Northumbria, who embraced Christianity under the influence of his Catholic wife, St. Ethelburga of Kent, and of St. Paulinus of York, by whom he was baptized in 627. Great-uncle of St. Hilda of Whitby, he contributed greatly to the evangelization of his domain, which rapidly adopted Christianity under his rule.

Blessed Thomas Bullaker, priest and martyr (†1642). Religious name: John the Baptist. English Friar Minor, having receiving his formation and ordination in Spain. He then laboured in the English mission for nearly 12 years among the poor Catholics in London before being seized during the celebration of the Holy Mass. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, during the reign of Charles I.

St. Felix IV, Pope (†530). He condemned semi-pelagianism  transformed two pagan temples from the Roman Forum into the Basilica dedicated to Sts. Cosmas and Damian.

St. Felix and Cyprian, bishops, and companions, martyrs (†483). Put to death along with approximately five thousand faithful Catholics by the Arian Vandal king, Hunneric.

St. Rotobald, bishop (†1254). He governed the Diocese of Pavia, Italy, dedicating himself especially to divine worship and gathering relics of the Saints.

Blessed Roman Sitko, priest and martyr (†1942). Rector of the Seminary of Tarnów, Poland, he was imprisoned and underwent severe torture in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Blessed Pacifico Salcedo Puchades, religious and martyr (†1936). Capuchin lay brother shot during the anti-Catholic persecutions of the civil war in Massamagrell, near Valencia.