Saturday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Col 1:21-23
Brothers and sisters: You once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds; God has now reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, am a minister.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 54:3-4, 6 and 8 (R.39a)
R. God himself is my help.
O God, by your name save me,
and by your might defend my cause.
O God, hear my prayer;
hearken to the words of my mouth. R.
Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord sustains my life.
Freely will I offer you sacrifice;
I will praise your name, O LORD, for its goodness. R.
Gospel – Lk 6:1-5
While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
Featured Saints
St. Zechariah, Prophet. Foretold the end of the Babylonian exile and made many announcements regarding the Messiah, including the entrance into Jerusalem commemorated on Palm Sunday: “Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion, […] Behold: your king is coming to you, a just saviour is he, humble and riding on a donkey” (cf. Zec 9:9).
Sts. Donatian, Praesidius, Mansuetus, Germanus, Fusculus and Laetus, bishops (†Fifth century). Cruelly scourged and exiled from Africa by Hunneric, the Arian king of the Vandals, for their proclamation of true doctrine. Laetus was burned alive after a long imprisonment.
St. Cagnoald, bishop (†circa 632). Disciple of St. Columban, he was his sole assistant in the Hermitage of Bregenz, beside Lake Constance. He died in Laon, France, as bishop of that diocese.
St. Onesiphorus (†First century). Disciple of St. Paul, who collaborated closely with him in Ephesus and during his imprisonment in Rome.
St. Eleutherius, Italian abbot, Sixth century.
St. Bega, virgin (†660). An Irish princess who renounced marriage with a Norwegian prince to embrace the monastic life. She founded the Priory of St. Bees, in England, and served as its abbess until her death.
Blessed Michael Czartoryski, martyr († 1944). Priest of the Dominican Order, killed in Warsaw (Poland) during the Communist invasion.
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