Saturday of the Fifth week of Lent

Book of Ezekiel

37,21-28.

Thus says the Lord GOD: I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have come, and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one prince for them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.
No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, and all their transgressions. I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy, and cleanse them so that they may be my people and I may be their God.
My servant David shall be prince over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children's children, with my servant David their prince forever.
I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

Book of Jeremiah

31,10.11-12ab.13.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
Proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
He guards them as a shepherd his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings:
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John

11,45-56.

Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation."
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish."
He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to kill him.
So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"

---

St. Hugh(Bishop (1053-1132))

SAINT HUGH Bishop (1053-1132) St. Hugh was born in 1053 at Chateau-neuf, in the territory of Valence, in Dauphiné. He received faith from the example, instruction and prayers of his parents. He excelled at studies by relying on the will of God and practicing diligently and consistently. Hugh matured and discerned his vocation to serve God in an ecclesiastical state. With the full freedom of love, he accepted a canonry in the cathedral of Valence. Hugh's father, Odilo, served in the army. He labored to make his soldiers faithful servants of their Creator and restrained vice through regulations and punishments. At the advice of his son, he afterward became a Carthusian monk. He passed away at the age of one hundred after receiving Extreme Unction and Viaticum from Hugh. Hugh likewise assisted his mother during her last moments. Hugh's reliance on the will of God disposed him to receive great graces during his canonry at the cathedral of Valence. Using the Means, he conformed his will and intellect to the Divine. He was consecrated Bishop of Grenoble and set to work reproving vice and enacting reforms to tackle abuses. In a short time, Hugh's diocese was modeled on God's love through Jesus. After two years, he privately resigned his bishopric, presuming on the tacit consent of the Holy See. Putting on the habit of St. Bennet, he began a novitiate in the austere abbey of Casa-Dei in Auvergne. After one year, Pope Gregory VII commanded him, in virtue of holy obedience, to resume his pastoral charge. Hugh solicited Pope Innocent II for permission to resign his bishopric and pass away in solitude, but was denied. God purified Hugh with a lingering illness before he passed away. Near the end, Hugh lost memory for everything except his prayers. St. Hugh closed his penitential course on April 1, 1132, two months before his eightieth birthday. He had spent the last fifty-two years serving as bishop. Miracles attested the sanctity of his happy death, and he was canonized by Innocent II in 1134.

---

St. Mary of Egypt(Hermit (c.344-421))

---

SAINT MARY OF EGYPTHermit(c. 344-421) At the tender age of twelve, Mary left her father's house and sinned without restraint. For seventeen years, she lived in shame at Alexandria. When she accompanied a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, she entangled many in grievous sin. Once, when she was in Jerusalem during the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, she went with the crowd to a church containing the true cross. The rest entered and adored, but Mary was invisibly held back. In that instant, her misery and uncleanliness dawned upon her. Turning to the Immaculate Mother, whose picture faced her in the porch, she vowed to do penance if she might enter and stand like Magdalen beside the Cross. She then entered the church and knelt by the Cross. On leaving, she knelt before Our Lady, and a voice came to her which said, "Pass over Jordan, and thou shalt find rest." Mary went into the wilderness and passed over Jordan. In 420, forty-seven years later, the Abbot Zosimus met her. She told him that for seventeen years, the old songs and scenes haunted her, but she had perfect peace ever after. At her request, Ab. Zosimus brought her the sacred body of Christ on Holy Thursday.She bade him return again after a year. When he returned the following year, he found that Mary had passed away. The Bollandists claim St. Mary passed away on April 1, 421. The Greek Church celebrates her feast on April 1, while the Roman Martyrology assigns it to April 2, and the Roman Calendar to April 3. The Greek date is more likely to be correct; and the others may be due to the fact that on those days portions of her relics reached the West.

misalcatolico.com

---

Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2023 / Catholic Missal of april 2023