Saturday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time
Featured Saints
St. Joseph of Cupertino, priest (†1663). Religious from the Order of Friars Minor Conventual of Osimo (Italy). Although little endowed with natural gifts, he was, nonetheless, favoured with extraordinary mystical graces.
St. Dominic Trach, priest and martyr (†1840). Arrested during the religious persecution in Vietam, he succeeded, while in prison, in leading St. Thomas Toán back to the Faith which he had abandoned out of weakness. Defying threats and torture, he refused to tread upon a cross e was decapitated.
St. Ferreolus, martyr (†third century). Roman tribune in the city of Vienne (France), he was imprisoned during the time of persecution, tortured, and finally decapitated for refusing to arrest Christians.
St. Richardis (†895). Spouse of Holy Roman Emperor Charles III. After her husband’s death, she retired to the monastery of Andlau, which she had founded.
Blesseds Fernando García Sendra and José García Mas, priests and martyrs (†1936). Captured and executed during the Spanish Civil War.
Blessed Joseph Kut, priest and martyr (†1942). Polish priest, imprisoned and tortured in Dachau concentration camp, where he died.
Blessed David Okelo and Gildo Irwa, martyrs (†1918). Two youths speared with lances in a village in northern Uganda for having proclaimed the Gospel to their people.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Tm 6:13-16
Brothers and sisters:
Beloved: I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession, to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ that the blessed and only ruler will make manifest at the proper time, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no human being has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5 (R. 2)
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Sing joyfully to the LORD all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
For he is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations. R.
Gospel –Lk 8:4-15
When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another
journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable.
“A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled,
and the birds of the sky ate it up.
Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew,
it withered for lack of moisture.
Some seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew,
it produced fruit a hundredfold.”
After saying this, he called out,
“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
Then his disciples asked him
what the meaning of this parable might be.
He answered,
“Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God
has been granted to you;
but to the rest, they are made known through parables
so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.
“This is the meaning of the parable.
The seed is the word of God.
Those on the path are the ones who have heard,
but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts
that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear,
receive the word with joy, but they have no root;
they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.
As for the seed that fell among thorns,
they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along,
they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life,
and they fail to produce mature fruit.
But as for the seed that fell on rich soil,
they are the ones who, when they have heard the word,
embrace it with a generous and good heart,
and bear fruit through perseverance.”
