Sunday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
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Mass Readings
First Reading – Ex 17:8-13
In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel. Moses, therefore, said to Joshua, “Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur. As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight. Moses’ hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 (R. cf. 2)
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;
whence shall help come to me?
My help is from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth. R.
May He not suffer your foot to slip;
may He slumber not Who guards you:
indeed He neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel. R.
The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;
He is beside you at your right hand.
The sun shall not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night. R.
The LORD will guard you from all evil;
He will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever R.
Second Reading – 2 Tm 3:14-4:2
Beloved: Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who will judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.
Gospel – Lk 18:1-8
Jesus told His disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'” The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to Him day and night? Will He be slow to answer them? I tell you, He will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
Featured Saints
St. Marie-Maguerite D’Youville, religious (†1771). Sunday takes precedence over her Memorial in Canada. As a young widow, she founded a religious Association dedicated to serving the poor and the sick, which eventually became the Order of the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, commonly known as the Grey Nuns. First native-born Canadian to be canonized.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, virgin. Sunday takes precedence over her Optional Memorial. At the age of 24 she entered the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial (France). Our Lord appeared to her several times, asking that a feast be dedicated to His Sacred Heart. It was the Jesuit St. Claude de La Colombière, her spiritual director, who supported her in the initiative to make these requests known. She died in 1690, at the age of 43. (In Canada: transferred to Oct. 20.)
St. Hedwig, religious. Sunday takes precedence over her Optional Memorial. Duchess of Silesia and of Greater Poland, she was the aunt of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Born in Baveria, she was married at the age of 12 and had 7 children. Together with her husband, she was an advocate of the poor and founded the hospital at Wroclaw, among others. After the death of her husband, she took the habit of the Cistercians in the convent of Trebnitz, where her daughter was abbess. She died in 1243. (In Canada: transferred to Oct. 20.)
St. Gerard Majella, religious (†1755). Redemptorist coadjutor brother, he sanctified himself by fulfilling the humble duties of sacristan, gardener, gatekeeper, nurse and tailor in the monastery.
St. Gall, abbot (†645). Formed in the monastery of Bangor, Ireland, he became a disciple of St. Columban and one of his twelve companions on the mission to continental Europe, where he worked tirelessly to spread the Gospel, particularly in the region of present-day St. Gallen in Switzerland, where the Abbey-Cathedral of St. Gall stands in the place of the original hermitage he built. See: Western Civilization Passed through Their Hands.
Blessed Augustine Thevarparampil, priest (†1973). He carried out his apostolate as a parish pastor in Ramapuram, India, and laboured for the conversion of many, finding his strength in the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Lullus, bishop (†786). A monk from Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire, England, who joined St. Boniface in the evangelization of Germany, becoming his closest assistant and successor, being appointed by him as Archbishop of Mainz.
St. Longinus. (†first century). Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus crucified with a lance. According to tradition, the lymph that flowed from the divine side cured him of near-blindness and converted him.
St. Anastasius, hermit ( †c. 1085). When he was a hermit on the island of Tombelaine, close to Mont Saint-Michel, he was invited by St. Hugh to enter the monastery of Cluny. He died in Pamiers, having spent his final years in solitude.
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