Wednesday of the 27th in Ordinary Time
Optional memorials: St. John Leonardi, priest (†1609). Founder of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, in 1574, and of the Congregation of Christian Doctrine, for the purpose of catechising youth and instructing adults against the errors of the Protestant Reformation. In Rome, he became a a close friend of St. Philip Neri and founded there a seminary for formation of missionary priests.
St. Denis, bishop and companions, martyrs, (†third century). First Bishop of Paris, he was decapitated together with the priest Rusticus and the deacon Eleutherius on the hill of Montmartre, in the vicinity of the city. The chapel that was built over his tomb grew into the Abbey of Saint-Denis.
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
St. Abraham, patriarch. Heeding God’s call, he left Ur of the Chaldeans in order to settle in the land where God led him and promised to make him the father of many nations. For his persevering faith in God’s covenant, St. Paul called him the father of all who believe (Rom 4).
St. Louis Bertrand, priest (†1581). Spanish Dominican missionary who preached the Gospel to South American Indians and defended them against the abuse of colonizers .
St. Deusdedit, martyr (†c. 834). Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, Italy. Imprisoned by order of the tyrant Sicardus, he died as a result of starvation and neglect.
St. Gunther, hermit (†1045). Abandoning all earthly goods, he embraced the monastic life in the Benedictine Order. After some years, he opted for the hermitic life, withdrawing to the forests of Bavaria and Bohemia.
St. Publia (†fourth century). A holy widow of Antioch who lived with a group of consecrated women after after her husband’s death. She suffered flogging by order of Emperor Julian for singing psalms which condemned idolatry.
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