Catholic Missal of the day: Thursday, February 23 2017

Thursday of the Seventh week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the Seventh week in Ordinary Time

1. Reading

Book of Sirach

5,1-10.

]Rely not on your wealth; say not: "I have the power."
]Rely not on your strength in following the desires of your heart.
]Say not: "Who can prevail against me?" for the LORD will exact the punishment.
]Say not: "I have sinned, yet what has befallen me?" for the LORD bides his time.
]Of forgiveness be not overconfident, adding sin upon sin.
]Say not: "Great is his mercy; my many sins he will forgive."
]For mercy and anger alike are with him; upon the wicked alights his wrath.
]Delay not your conversion to the LORD, put it not off from day to day;
]For suddenly his wrath flames forth; at the time of vengeance, you will be destroyed.
]Rely not upon deceitful wealth, for it will be no help on the day of wrath.

Psalm

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.

Gospel

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark

9,41-50.

]Jesus said to his disciples: "Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
]Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
]If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.
]
]And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
]
]And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
]where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
]Everyone will be salted with fire.
]Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."

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St. Polycarp(Bishop and Martyr († 167))

SAINT POLYCARP Bishop and Martyr( 167) St. Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of St. John. He exhorted the Philippians to practice fraternal love and to refute heresy. After meeting the apostate Marcion in Rome, he linked heresy with Satan. In the year 167, a persecution erupted in Smyrna. When St. Polycarp heard his pursuers at the door, he resigned himself to the will of God. He was offered freedom in exchange for cursing Jesus; and replied: "Eighty-six years I have served Him and He never did me wrong. How can I blaspheme my Savior?" When threatened with immolation, he told the proconsul, "Your fire lasts only a little, but the fire prepared for the wicked lasts forever." During St. Polycarp's execution, he was unharmed by the flames. His tormentor then stabbed him in the heart. His remains were burned and discarded. St. Polycarp's biographers wrote, "We took up the bones, more precious than the richest jewels or gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, at which may God grant us to assemble with joy to celebrate the birthday of the martyr to his life in Heaven!"

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St. Serenus(Martyr († 307))

SAINT SERENUS Martyr( 307) St. Serenus was a Grecian. He quitted estate, friends and country to serve God in celibacy, penance and prayer. He bought a garden in Sirmium, Pannonia, modern Serbia, cultivated it with his own hands and lived on its fruits and herbs. One day, St. Serenus was approached by a woman and her two daughters. He asked them to withdraw out of consideration, but the woman became incensed. She told her husband that Serenus had insulted her. The husband demanded justice and sent a letter to the province's governor enabling him to obtain satisfaction. When St. Serenus appeared in court, he testified that the women came into his garden uninvited and that he asked them to withdraw for privacy's sake. The officer dropped the prosecution; but the governor, suspecting St. Serenus was Christian, asked him, "Who are you, and what is your religion?" St. Serenus, prompted by the Holy Spirit, replied that he was Christian. He was then sentenced to death for eluding the emperor's edicts and refusing to sacrifice to Roman gods. No sooner was the sentence pronounced than St. Serenus was carried off and beheaded. He was martyred on February 23, 307. He gained the beatific vision and sees God face to face forever.

misalcatolico.com

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2017 / Catholic Missal of february 2017