Catholic Missal of the day: Saturday, February 23 2019
Saturday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time
Saturday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time
1. ReadingLetter 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. 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!"
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.
Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2019 / Catholic Missal of february 2019
Published: 2026-07-14T18:16:35Z | Modified: 2026-07-14T18:16:35Z