Friday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorials: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, virgin. 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. 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 and of 6 children, she took the habit of the Cistercians in the convent of Trebnitz, where her only surviving daughter was abbess. She died in 1243. (In Canada: transferred to Oct. 20.)
Mass Readings
First Reading – Eph 1:11-14
Brothers and sisters: In Christ we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ. In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of his glory.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 130:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab (R.12)
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises. R.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full. R.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind. R.
Gospel – Lk 12:1-7
At that time: So many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot.Jesus began to speak, first to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven–that is, the hypocrisy–of the Pharisees.“There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more. I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one.Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins?Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.Even the hairs of your head have all been counted.Do not be afraid.You are worth more than many sparrows.”
Featured Saints
In Canada, Memorial of St. Marie-Marguerite D’Youville, religious (†1771). 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. 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). He 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). As 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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