Catholic Missal of the day: Saturday, February 20 2016
Saturday of the First week of Lent
Saturday of the First week of Lent
1. ReadingBook of Deuteronomy
26,16-19.]Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
]Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice.
]And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments,
]he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."
Psalms
119(118),1-2.4-5.7-8.]Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
]Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
Who seek him with all their heart.
]You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
]Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
]I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
]I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
5,43-48.]Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
]But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,
]that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
]For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same?
]And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?
]So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
St. Eucherius(Bishop († 743))
SAINT EUCHERIUS Bishop( 743) When St. Eucherius was born in Orleans, his parents dedicated him to God. He was formally educated starting age 7, and his virtues kept pace with his learning. He meditated assiduously on Sacred Scriptures: especially on St. Paul's discourses about the human heart's deceitfulness. Around 714, St. Eucherius entered the abbey of Jumiége in Normandy. He spent six or seven years practicing penitential austerities and obedience. When his uncle, Suavaric, the bishop of Orleans passed away, he was elected to the vacant see and consecrated in 721. He prayed to know God's will and asked his monks to pray for him. When Charles Martel stripped the churches of alms to fund his wars, St. Eucherius rebuked him. In retaliation, Charles banished St. Eucherius to Cologne in 737. St. Eucherius was then transferred to the territory of Liege, where he distributed Governor Robert's alms. He retired to Sarchinium's monastery of St. Tron's and passed away in the Holy Family's presence on February 20, 743.
Bl. Francisco and Jacinta Marto(Apostles of Our Lady of Fatima)
Francisco Marto (June 11, 1908 - April 4, 1919) and his sister Jacinta Marto (March 11, 1910 - February 20, 1920), together with their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, were children from Aljustrel, near Fatima, Portugal. They witnessed three apparitions of an angel in 1916 and several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1917. Their reported visions were politically controversial, but gave rise to a major center of world Christian pilgrimage. The youngest children of Manuel and Olimpia Marto, Francisco and Jacinta were typical of Portuguese village children at the time. They were illiterate, but had a rich oral tradition. They worked with their cousin Lucia taking care of the family's sheep. According to Lucia's memoirs, Francisco had a placid disposition, was somewhat musically inclined and liked to be by himself to think. Jacinta was affectionate if a bit spoiled and emotionally labile. She had a sweet singing voice and a gift for dancing. All three children gave up singing and dancing after the visions began: believing those led to occasions of sin and that God preferred prayer. After the apparitions were brought to public notice, they were witnessed by thousands of others. Some could not explain what their eyes had seen: perhaps from the weakness of their spirit to see the Holy Mother of God. Others reported dazzling visions, but all concluded that something beyond the world had transpired. The Blessed Virgin warned of the Second World War and the ensuing persecution of the Church, but Her secrets were kept hidden and only revealed gradually. Following their experiences, the children's fundamental personalities remained the same. Francisco preferred to pray alone: as he said, "to console Jesus for the sins of the world." Jacinta was deeply affected by a terrifying vision of Hell reportedly shown to the children at the third apparition. She became deeply convinced of the need to save sinners through penance and self-denial as the Virgin had reportedly instructed them to do. All three children, but particularly Francisco and Jacinta, practiced stringent self-mortifications to this end.
St. Wulfric()
Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2016 / Catholic Missal of february 2016
Published: 2026-07-14T18:16:07Z | Modified: 2026-07-14T18:16:07Z