Friday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
Featured Saints
Blessed Emilie Tavernier Gamelin, religious (†1851). Optional Memorial in Canada. After the death of her husband and three sons, she founded the community of Sisters of Providence in Quebec, Canada, for the care of the poor and sick, as well as for the instruction of children.
Blessed Dalmácio Moner, priest (†1341). Dominican religious of the Convent of Girona, Spain. He spent three years of recollection in the grotto of St. Mary Magdalene, near Marseille, France.
St. Gerard Sagredo, bishop and martyr. (1046). He was the tutor of Prince St. Emeric, son of King St.Stephen. He is one of the patron saints of Hungary.
St. Antonio González, priest and martyr (†1637). Spanish Dominican religious sent to Japan with five other religious. He was imprisoned and subjected to water torture and other torments; he died consumed by fever.
St. Pacificus, priest (†1721). Italian Capuchin. A serious illness left him blind, deaf, and crippled. Following the example of Job, he transformed suffering into a means of attaining sanctity.
Blesseds William Spenser, priest, and Robert Hardesty, layman, martyrs (†1589). A professor at Oxford, William Spenser left for Rheims where he was received into the Catholic Church and ordained a priest. He returned to England and laboured as a missionary until his martyrdom in York together with Robert Hardesty, who had given him shelter.
Blessed Anthony Martin Slomšek, bishop (†1862). He was zealous in his care of ecclesiastical institutions and the Christian life of families, working for the unity of the Church in Slovenia.
Blessed Colomba Gabriel, abbess (†1926). A Benedictine nun from Ukraine, she founded in Rome the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Charity, as well as a shelter called the “Family Home”, for girls engaged in the labour force or far from their families.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Hg 2:1-9
In the second year of King Darius, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: Tell this to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people: Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes? But now take courage, Zerubbabel, says the LORD, and take courage, Joshua, high priest, son of Jehozadak, And take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD, and work! For I am with you, says the LORD of hosts. This is the pact that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, And my spirit continues in your midst; do not fear! For thus says the LORD of hosts: One moment yet, a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come in, And I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. Mine is the silver and mine the gold, says the LORD of hosts. Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former, says the LORD of hosts; And in this place I will give you peace, says the LORD of hosts!
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 43:1, 2, 3, 4 (R.5)
R. Hope in God; I will praise him, my savior and my God.
Do me justice, O God, and fight my fight
against a faithless people;
from the deceitful and impious man rescue me. R.
For You, O God, are my strength.
Why do You keep me so far away?
Why must I go about in mourning,
with the enemy oppressing me? R.
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling place. R.
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God! R.
Gospel – Lk 9:18-22
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with Him,
He asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
Then He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
