Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Eccl 1:2-11
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays. The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises. Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds. All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going. All speech is labored; there is nothing one can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear satisfied with hearing. What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!” has already existed in the ages that preceded us. There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17BC (R.1)
R. In every age, O Lord, You have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night. R.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades. R.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on Your servants! R.
Fill us at daybreak with Your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
Prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands! R.
Gospel – Lk 9:7-9
Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.” But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.
Featured Saints
St. Maurice and companions, martyrs, (third century). St. Maurice commanded the Roman Theban Legion, which was made up of Christians. Ordered to sacrifice to idos, they refused, and were killed by the sword.
St. Silvanus of Levroux, French hermit, (fifth century).
St. Salaberga, abbess (c.664). As a child, she was cured of blindness by St. Columban, who led her to the service of God. She was abbess of the monastery of St. John the Baptist in Laon (France).
St. Emmeram of Regensburg, bishop (†690).
St. Ignatius of Santhià (Vercelli), priest (†1770). ). Italian Capuchin, he was as untiring in the confessional as he was in serving the poor and sick.
Blessed Otto, Bispo (†1158). A Cistercian monk, he never relinquished his religious habit, even after being appointed Bishop of Freising, Germany. He adopted the Gregorian reform.
Blessed Joseph Marchandon, priest and martyr (†1794). Pastor of Marsac, France, he was imprisoned during the French Revolution in a galley in Rochefort, where he fell ill and died of starvation.
Blessed Maria de la Purifición Vidal Pastor, virgin and martyr (†1936). A fervent Catholic, she was outstanding for her care of the sick, as well as for her participation in religious ceremonies. During the Spanish Civil War, she was arrested and killed along a highway in Valencia, and buried while still agonizing.
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