Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Book of Jeremiah

In those days, the princes said to the king: “Jeremiah ought to be put to death; he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such things to them; he is not interested in the welfare of our people, but in their ruin.”
King Zedekiah answered: "He is in your power"; for the king could do nothing with them.
And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, which was in the quarters of the guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
and Ebed-melech went there from the palace and said to him,
"My lord king, these men have been at fault in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, casting him into the cistern. He will die of famine on the spot, for there is no more food in the city."
Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Cushite to take three men along with him, and draw the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he should die.

Psalms

I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
The LORD heard my cry.
He drew me out of the pit of destruction,
out of the mud of the swamp;
he set my feet upon a crag;
he made firm my steps.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
Many shall look on in awe
and trust in the LORD.
Though I am afflicted and poor,
yet the LORD thinks of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, hold not back!

Letter to the Hebrews

Brothers and sisters : since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.
Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

St. Maximilian Kolbe(Priest and Martyr (1894-1941))

St. Maximilian KolbePriest and Martyr(1894-1941) Raymond Kolbe was born on the 8th of January 1894 in Zdunska Wola, which at that time was occupied by Russia. The Kolbe home was poor but full of love. The parents, hardworking and religious, educated their three sons with rectitude. Around 1906, an event took place that marks a fundamental milestone in the life of the young boy. His mother herself related the event a few months after her son's martyrdom. "I knew ahead of time, based on an extraordinary event that took place in his infancy, that Maximilian would die a martyr. I just don't recall if it took place before or after his first confession. Once I did not like one of his pranks and I reproached him for it: 'My son, what ever will become of you?!' Later, I did not think of it again, but I noticed that the boy had changed so radically, he was hardly recognizable. We had a small altar hidden between two dressers before which he used to often retire without being noticed and he would pray there crying. In general, he had a conduct superior to his age, always recollected and serious and when he prayed he would burst into tears. I was worried, thinking he had some sort of illness so I asked him: 'Is there anything wrong? You should share everything with your mommy!' Trembling with emotion and with his eyes flooded in tears, he shared: 'Mama, when you reproached me, I pleaded with the Blessed Mother to tell me what would become of me. At Church I did the same; I prayed the same thing again. So then the Blessed Mother appeared to me holding in her hands two crowns: one white the other red. She looked at me with tenderness and asked me if I wanted these two crowns. The white one signified that I would preserve my purity and the red that I would be a martyr. I answered that I accepted them...(both of them). Then the Virgin Mary looked at me with sweetness and disappeared.' The extraordinary change in the boys' behavior testified to me the truth of what he related. He was fully conscious and as he spoke to me, with his face radiating; it showed me his desire to die a martyr." When he was 13 years old he entered the Franciscan Fathers Seminary in the Polish city of Lvov, which was at that time occupied by Austria. It was in the seminary where he adopted the name Maximilian. He completed his studies in Rome. Before his ordination as a priest in 1918, Maximilian founded the Immaculata Movement devoted to our Lady. He spread the movement through a magazine entitled "The Knight of the Immaculata." "We should conquer the universe and each soul, now and in the future until the end of time, for the Immaculata and through her for the Sacred Heart of Jesus." (St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, The Knight of the Immaculata) Maximilian went to Japan and then on to India where he furthered the Movement. After a few years in Japan, he was summoned back to Poland, largely due to his ever-declining health. Three years later, in the midst of the Second World War, he was imprisoned along with other friars and sent to concentration camps in Germany and Poland. In February of 1941, he was again imprisoned and sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where in spite of the terrible living conditions, he continued his ministry. On July 31st, 1941, in reprisal for one prisoner's escape, ten men were chosen to die. Father Kolbe offered himself in place of a young husband and father. He was the last to die after two weeks of starvation, thirst, and neglect. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982 as a Martyr of Charity.

Bl. Eberhard()

misalcatolico.com

Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2022 / Catholic Missal of august 2022