Catholic Missal of the day: Friday, December 9 2016
Friday of the Second week of Advent
Friday of the Second week of Advent
1. ReadingBook of Isaiah
48,17-19.]Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.
]If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea;
]Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains, Their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence.
Psalms
1,1-2.3.4.6.]Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
]But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
]He is like a tree
planted near running water,
that yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
]Not so, the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
]For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
11,16-19.]Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,
]'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.'
]For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.'
]The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is vindicated by her works."
St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin(Marian Visionary (1474-1548))
Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548) Juan Diego was chosen by the Holy Virgin Mary to announce salvation in the Americas. Her appearance resulted in tens of thousands converting and in the abolishment of cannibalism. Our Lady's image appeared on the mantle she touched, which remains uncorrupted centuries later - a proof of God's eternal love. Juan Diego's life before the vision is undocumented except in "El Nican Mopohua." It was written in Náhuatl with Latin characters in 1556 by the Indigenous writer Antonio Valeriano. Juan Diego was born in Cuautlitlán, now a part of Mexico City. He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca, the most culturally-advanced group in the Anáhuac Valley. He was named "Cuauhtlatoatzin" ("the talking eagle"). At 50 years old, Juan Diego was baptized by a Franciscan priest, Fr. Peter da Gand. On December 9, 1531, on his way to morning Mass, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill, on the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. She asked him to tell the bishop to build a shrine there in her name and promised to pour out her grace upon those who invoked her. The bishop did not believe Juan Diego and asked for a sign. On December 12, Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac. There, the Blessed Mother told him to climb the hill and pick the flowers in bloom. He obeyed and found roses blooming in the winter. He gathered the roses and took them to Our Lady, who carefully placed them in his mantle and told him to take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego opened his mantle, the roses fell to the ground, and there remained impressed an image of the Blessed Mother. With the bishop's permission, Juan Diego lived near the chapel where the miraculous image was placed for veneration. He cared for the church and the first pilgrims who came to pray to the Mother of God. Much deeper than the exterior grace of having been chosen as Our Lady's messenger, Juan Diego received the grace of interior enlightenment. From that moment, he began a life dedicated to prayer, virtue and love of God and neighbor. He passed away in 1548 and was buried in the first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. He was beatified on May 6, 1990, by Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of Santa Maria di Guadalupe, Mexico City, and canonized on July 31, 2002. The miraculous image, which is preserved in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, shows a woman of mixed native and European heritage. She is supported by an angel whose wings are reminiscent of one of the major gods of the traditional religion of that area. The black girdle around her waist signifies that she is pregnant. Thus, the image depicts that Christ is to be born again among the people of the New World. Laser scanning and scientific instruments determined that the Virgin's eyes rested upon those present at the Cloak's first unveiling. The representation of native traditions in colors and symbols, and the image's miraculous preservation, confirms that the Blessed Virgin is alive and is the Mediatrix of the human race.
St. Leocadia(Virgin and Martyr († c. 304))
SAINT LEOCADIAVirgin and Martyr( c. 304) St. Leocadia was a native of Toledo, Spain. In 304, Governor Dacian had her arrested. Her contemporary, St. Eulalia, had been tortured to death a year earlier. Undeterred, St. Leocadia accepted her fate and was martyred in prison. Three famous churches in Toledo are named after St. Leocadia. Most of the Councils of Toledo took place at one of her churches. She is honored as the city's principal patroness. St. Leocadia's relics were kept in the Toledo Church until the Moorish invasion. Her relics were transferred to Oviedo and later to the abbey of St. Guislain near Mons in Hainault. On April 26, 1589, her relics were returned to the Toledo Cathedral.
St. Peter Fourier()
Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2016 / Catholic Missal of december 2016
Published: 2026-07-14T18:16:06Z | Modified: 2026-07-14T18:16:06Z