Catholic Missal of the day: Saturday, February 18 2023
Saturday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time
Letter to the Hebrews
11,1-7.Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Because of it the ancients were well attested.
By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being through the invisible.
By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice greater than Cain's. Through this he was attested to be righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts, and through this, though dead, he still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and "he was found no more because God had taken him." Before he was taken up, he was attested to have pleased God.
But without faith it is impossible to please him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Noah, warned about what was not yet seen, with reverence built an ark for the salvation of his household. Through this he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes through faith.
Psalms
145(144),2-3.4-5.10-11.Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
His greatness is unsearchable.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark
9,2-13.Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.
As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.
Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
He told them, "Elijah will indeed come first and restore all things, yet how is it written regarding the Son of Man that he must suffer greatly and be treated with contempt?
But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him."
St. Flavian(Bishop and Martyr (+ 449))
SAINT FLAVIANBishop and Martyr(+ 449) Flavian was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 447. His short, two-year episcopate was a time of conflict and persecution. Chrysaphius, the emperor's favorite, tried extorting a large sum of money from Flavian on the day of his consecration. Bp. Flavian's refusal drew the enmity of the most powerful man in the empire. More trouble soon arose. In 448, Bp. Flavian had to condemn the rising heresy of the monk Eutyches, who obstinately denied that Our Lord was in two perfect natures after His Incarnation. Eutyches drew to his cause all the bad elements which so early gathered about the Byzantine court. His intrigues were long-baffled by Bp. Flavian's vigilance, until he obtained the assembly of a council at Ephesus from the emperor. The assembly (August 449) was presided over by Eutyches' friend, Dioscorus, the Patriarch of Alexandria. He entered into this "robber council" surrounded by soldiers. The Roman legates could not even read the Pope's letters; and at the first sign of resistance, fresh troops entered with drawn swords and terrified most of the bishops into acquiescence. The fury of Dioscorus reached its height when Bp. Flavian appealed to the Holy See. Bp. Flavian was set upon by Dioscorus and others, thrown down, beaten, kicked and finally carried into banishment. Dying from his wounds and the ensuing maltreatment, Bp. Flavian was martyred by Dioscorus and the Eutychian heretics. Miracles following his death attest to St. Flavian's sanctity and the work of the Holy Spirit.
St. Simeon()
St. Simeon In St. Matthew's Gospel, we read that St. Simon or Simeon is one of our Lord's brethren or kinsmen. His father was Cleophas, St. Joseph's brother, and his mother, according to some writers, was our Lady's sister. He would therefore be our Lord's first cousin and is supposed to have been about eight years older than He. No doubt he is one of those brethren of Christ who are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as having received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. St. Epiphanius says that when the Jews massacred St. James the Lesser, his brother Simeon upbraided them for their cruelty. The apostles and disciples afterwards met together to appoint a successor to James as bishop of Jerusalem, and they unanimously chose Simeon, who had probably assisted his brother in governing that church. In 66 A.D., civil war broke out in Palestine as a consequence of Jewish opposition to the Romans. The Christians in Jerusalem were warned of the impending destruction of the city and appear to have been ordered to leave it. That same year, before Vespasian entered Judaea, they retired with St. Simeon at their head to the other side of the Jordan, occupying a small city called Pella. After the capture and burning of Jerusalem, the Christians returned and settled among the ruins until the Emperor Hadrian afterwards razed it entirely. We are told by St. Epiphanius and by Eusebius that the church flourished because of the diaspora, that many Jews were converted, and that miracles were wrought by the saints. During this time, Trajan persecuted the Christians; causing St. Simeon to be arrested, tortured and crucified. Reports are extant that St. Simeon endured his trial with heroic fortitude and courage.
Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2023 / Catholic Missal of february 2023
Published: 2023-11-27T19:31:43Z | Modified: 2023-11-27T19:31:43Z