Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr (†107). Disciple of St. John the Evangelist, he was the Bishop of Antioch. He died torn by wild beasts in the Amphitheatre of Rome.
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Mass Readings
First Reading – Eph 2:1-10
Brothers and sisters: You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you once lived following the age of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest. But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of the great love He had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved), raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are His handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.
Responsorial Psalm – PS 100:1B-2, 3, 4AB, 4C-5 (R.3b)
R.The Lord made us, we belong to Him.
Sing joyfully to the LORD all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before Him with joyful song. R.
Know that the LORD is God;
He made us, His we are;
His people, the flock He tends. R.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
His courts with praise. R.
Give thanks to Him; bless His name, for He is good:
the LORD, Whose kindness endures forever,
and His faithfulness, to all generations. R.
Gospel – Ll 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” Then He told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
Featured Saints
St. Francois Isidore Gagelin, priest and martyr (†1833). As a small boy in a devout French family that provided refuge for faithful clerics during the French Revolution, he longed to be a priest and a martyr. He became a priest of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris and died during the persecutions in Vietnam.
St. Richard Gwyn, martyr (†1584). Father of a family and schoolteacher in Wales, he converted to the Catholic Faith and was imprisoned for four years and executed for his efforts to lead others to the Faith.
St. Hosea, Prophet. By his words and example of life, he proclaimed the Lord as the ever-faithful Spouse of infinite mercy.
Blessed Jacques Burin, priestand martyr (†1794). He clandestinely carried out his pastoral ministry during the French Revolution, until being shot to death while celebrating Mass in Laval.
Blessed Peter of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Casani, presbítero (†1647). priest (†1647). Piarist religious who died in Rome; He was a child educator and also attracted multitudes with his preaching.
Blessed Gilbert the Cistercian, abbot (†1167). Born in England, he was a Cistercian abbot; a man of great knowledge, he defended St. Thomas Beckett in exile.
Blesseds Marie Natalie of St. Louis Vanot and companions, virgins and martyrs (†1794). Religious of the Ursuline Order guillotined in Valenciennes during the French Revolution.
Blessed Tarsila Cordoba Belda, mother of a family, martyr (†1936). In Valencia, Spain, during the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Civil War, she hid Church goods and cared for nuns in hiding until she was discovered, imprisoned and killed.
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