Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Featured Saints
St. Bertin, abbot (circa 698). With two companions, he founded the Monastery of Sithiu in Saint-Omer (France), and served as its abbot for almost 60 years.
St. Peter Nguyen Van Tu, priest and martyr (†1838). Dominican religious who ministered clandestinely during the religious persecution in Vietnam. When discovered, he was arrested and put to death.
St. Herculianus, martyr, Second century.
Sts. Urban, Theodore, Medimnus and companions, martyrs (†370). By order of Emperor Valens they were put on a ship in Nicomedia, present-day Turkey, and burned alive at high sea.
Blessed Florence Dumontet de Cardaillac, priest and martyr (†1794). Vicar General of Chartres; he was imprisoned in a galley in Rochefort during the French Revolution. He died a victim of his charity and zeal in assisting sick prisoners.
Blessed William Browne, martyr (†1605). Layman put to death during the reign of James I of England, for having actively spread the Catholic Faith among his compatriots.
Blessed John the Good of Siponto, abbot (†Twelfth century). He built the monastery of St. Michael on the coast of Dalmatia, present-day Croatia. As its first abbot, he established a community there with a hermetic way of life modelled upon that of his spiritual master, Bl. John of Matera.
Mass Readings
First reading Is 35:4-7a
Responsorial Psalm Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10 (R.1b)
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The God of Jacob keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free. R.
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers. R.
The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia. R.
Second Reading Jas 2:1-5
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality
as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes
comes into your assembly,
and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in,
and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes
and say, “Sit here, please, ”
while you say to the poor one, “Stand there, ” or “Sit at my feet, ”
have you not made distinctions among yourselves
and become judges with evil designs?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.
Did not God choose those who are poor in the world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
that he promised to those who love him?
Gospel Mk 7:31-37
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
