Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Book of Deuteronomy

Moses said to the people: "Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,
by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Psalms

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.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke

Jesus said to his disciples: "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised."
Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?"

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

SAINT POLYCARP Bishop, Martyr(+ 167) St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was a disciple of St. John. He wrote to the Philippians, exhorting them to mutual love and refuting heresy. When the apostate, Marcion, met Bp. Polycarp at Rome, the latter associated heresies with Satan. In 167 A.D., a persecution erupted in Smyrna. When Bp. Polycarp heard his pursuers at the door, he resigned himself to the will of God, saying, "Not my will, but your will be done" (Lk. 22:42). After his arrest, Bp. Polycarp was offered freedom in exchange for cursing Jesus. He replied: "Eighty-six years I have served Him and He never did me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and Savior?" When threatened with fire, Bp. Polycarp told the proconsul, "Your fire lasts only a little, but the fire prepared for the wicked lasts forever." During immolation, Bp. Polycarp was unharmed by the fire. He was then stabbed in the heart, and his dead body burned. His 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(Gardener and Martyr (+ 307))

SAINT SERENUS Gardener and Martyr(+ 307) St. Serenus was by birth a Grecian. He quitted estate, friends and country to serve God in celibacy, penance and prayer. With this design, he bought a garden in Sirmium, Pannonia, which he cultivated with his own hands, living on the fruits and herbs it produced. One day, there came thither a woman with her two daughters. Serenus, seeing them come up, advised them to withdraw, and to conduct themselves in the future as decency required of persons in their sex and condition. The woman, stung at our Saint's charitable remonstrance, retired in confusion, but resolved on revenging the supposed affront. The woman wrote to her husband that Serenus had insulted her. On receiving her letter, the woman's husband demanded justice from the emperor. The emperor sent a letter to the governor of the province enabling the husband to obtain satisfaction. Serenus was then ordered to appear at court. Upon hearing the charge, Serenus answered, "I remember that, some time ago, a lady came into my garden at an unseasonable hour; and I took the liberty of telling her that it was against decency for one of her sex and quality to be abroad at such an hour." This plea of Serenus put the officer to the blush, and he dropped his prosecution. However, the governor suspected Serenus was Christian and asked, "Who are you, and what is your religion?" Serenus answered, "I am a Christian." The governor flew into a rage and said, "Since you sought to elude the emperor's edicts, and have positively refused to sacrifice to the gods, I condemn you to lose your head." The sentence was no sooner pronounced than the Saint was carried off and beheaded. St. Serenus was martyred on February 23, 307 A.D. He gained the beatific vision: reigning with Jesus Christ and Mother Mary forever.

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2023 / Catholic Missal of february 2023