Thursday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of St. Robert Bellarmine, bishop and Doctor of the Church. He entered the Company of Jesus at 18 years of age. An outstanding exegete and theologian, he fought the errors of protestantism. As a professor and Spiritual Father of the Roman College, he was the spiritual director of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, whom he guided during his last years, and as a Cardinal, he was adviser to several Popes. He died in Rome in 621.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Cor 15:1-11
I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. After that he appeared to James, then to all the Apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the Apostles, not fit to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me. Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 118:1b-2, 16ab-17, 28 (R. 1)
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.” R.
The right hand of the LORD is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord has struck with power.”
I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the LORD. R.
You are my God, and I give thanks to you;
O my God, I extol you. R.
Gospel – Lk 7:36-50
A certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”
Featured Saints
St. Hildegard of Bingen, virgin and Doctor of the Church (†1179). Optional Memorial. Religious from the Monastery of Mount St. Rupert in Bingen (Germany), she was favoured with special mystical gifts, based upon which she composed several musical works and and wrote books on medicine, natural sciences and mystical contemplation.
St. Peter Arbues, priest and martyr (†1485). Canon Regular of the Order of St. Augustine, who fought against superstitions and heresies in the kingdom of Aragon, and was killed by hired assassins at the foot of the altar of the Cathedral of Zaragoza, Spain.
St. Satyrus of Milan, layman(†377). Brother of Sts. Ambrose and Marcellina. He lived his Faith with utmost integrity, being an example of uprightness. In his obsequies St. Ambrose delivered a sermon which is read in the Office for the Dead until today.
St. Francis Mary of Camporosso, religious(†1866). Capuchin brother, he offered his life for the salvation of the victims of a cholera epidemic that devastated Genoa, Italy.
St. Colomba of Cordoba, virgin and martyr (†853). She dedicated herself to the study of the Sacred Scriptures. During the persecutions of Muhammad I, she was beheaded and her body cast into the Guadalquivir River, whence it was retrieved by Christians.
Blessed Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, priest (†1701). Founder of the Marina Cleric of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, in Gora Kalwaria, Poland.
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