Catholic Missal of the day: Friday, February 20 2026

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Book of Isaiah

Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;  Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
"Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?" Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

Psalms

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.  

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."

St. Eucherius(Bishop († 743))

SAINT EUCHERIUS Bishop( 743) When 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, 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. Bp. Eucherius was 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, Bp. Eucherius rebuked him. In retaliation, Charles banished Bp. Eucherius to Cologne in 737. Bp. 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()

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2026 / Catholic Missal of february 2026