Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi
St. Francis of Assisi (†1226). Son of a wealthy merchant of Assisi, as a young man he took part in military expeditions during the conflicts erupting between Italian cities at that time. After he heard Our Lord Crucified asking him to rebuild His Church, which was in ruins, he abandoned the world and founded the Order of Friars Minor, and, with St. Clare, the Franciscan Clarist Order.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Bar 4:5-12, 27-29
Fear not, my people! Remember, Israel, You were sold to the nations not for your destruction; It was because you angered God that you were handed over to your foes. For you provoked your Maker with sacrifices to demons, to no-gods; You forsook the Eternal God who nourished you, and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you. She indeed saw coming upon you the anger of God; and she said: “Hear, you neighbors of Zion! God has brought great mourning upon me, For I have seen the captivity that the Eternal God has brought upon my sons and daughters. With joy I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go. Let no one gloat over me, a widow, bereft of many: For the sins of my children I am left desolate, because they turned from the law of God. Fear not, my children; call out to God! He who brought this upon you will remember you. As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God, turn now ten times the more to seek him; For he who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 69:33-35, 36-37 (R.34)
R. The Lord listens to the poor.
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!” R.
For God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
They shall dwell in the land and own it,
and the descendants of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall inhabit it. R.
Gospel – Lk 10:17-24
The seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” At that very moment he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
Featured Saints
St. Petronius of Bologna, bishop (†c. 450). He renounced the office he held in the Roman Empire and dedicated himself the the service of the Church. He is celebrated for his learning and his miracles.
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, priest (†1867). Redemptorist religious of Bavarian origin, sent on mission to the United States, he dedicated himself to the assistance of youth and of German-speaking immigrants. (USA: transferred to Ocober 5.)
St. Peter of Damascus, bishop and martyr (†1750). When his diocese of Damascus in Syria was invaded by Muslims, he was blinded and crucified, before being beheaded.
St. Aurea of Paris, abbess (†c. 667). Superior of the Abbey of St. Martial, in Paris, where 300 virgins lived under the Rule of St. Columbanus.
Blessed José Canet Giner, priest and martyr (†1936). Parish priest of the Archdiocese of Valencia who was killed by firing squad at the age of thirty-three in Gandia, as part of the anti-Catholic persecution of the Spanish Civil War.
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