Friday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Col 1:15-20
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5 (R.2b)
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
TSing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song. R.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends. R.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name. R.
For he is good,
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations. R.
Gospel – Lk 5:33-39
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.'”
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 Florent Dumontet de Cardaillac, priest and martyr (†1794). Vicar General of Chartres; he was imprisoned in a galley in Rochefort during the French Revolution and 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.
Image gallery
