Wednesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska,virgin, religious (†1938). She had an intense mystical life marked by revelations on Divine Mercy, which she dedicated herself to spreading for the good of souls.
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Mass Readings
First Reading – Gal 2:1-2, 7-14
Brothers and sisters: After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. I went up in accord with a revelation, and I presented to them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles– but privately to those of repute– so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter to the circumcised, for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the circumcised worked also in me for the Gentiles, and when they recognized the grace bestowed upon me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas their right hands in partnership, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, we were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do. And when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not on the right road in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all, “If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 117: 1bc, 2
R. Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News.
Praise the LORD, all you nations,
glorify him, all you peoples! R.
For steadfast is His kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever. R.
Gospel – Lk 11:1-4
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”
Featured Saints
USA: Optional Memorial of Blessed Francis Seelos, priest († 1867). (Celebrated October 4 in the General Calendar.)
Blessed William Hartley, priest and martyr (†1588). He left England, to be ordained a priest in Chalons, France; he returned to assist St. Edmund Campion in the England mission. Deported by the authorities, he returned to the perilous mission, was captured, and was executed at Shoreditch.
St. Placidus, monk († Fourth century). Disciple of St. Benedict from a young age; patron saint of Benedictine novices.
St. Apollinaris, bishop (†c. 520). As head of the diocese of Valence, he fearlessly upheld the authority of the Church to condemn error, and was renowned for his miracles.
St. Froilan, bishop (†905). First a monk and then bishop of Leon (Spain), he toiled particularly in the evangelization of the regions recaptured from the Moors.
St. Flora, virgin (†1347). Religious of the Hospitaller nuns of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. She dedicated herself to serving the poor and the sick in the Hospital of Beaulieu, France.
Blessed Raymund of Capua, priest (†1399). Dominican priest, spiritual director of St. Catherine of Sienna.
St. Anna Schäffer, virgin (+1925). From Bavaria, Germany, as a young woman she suffered an accident at work in which her legs were severely burned; she never recovered from her injuries, which left her bedridden. Offering her sufferings for the salvation of souls, she led a life of exemplary abnegation and prayer.
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