Catholic Missal of the day: Friday, February 24 2017
Friday of the Seventh week in Ordinary Time
Friday of the Seventh week in Ordinary Time
1. ReadingBook of Sirach
6,5-17.]A kind mouth multiplies friends and appeases enemies, and gracious lips prompt friendly greetings.
]Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.
]When you gain a friend, first test him, and be not too ready to trust him
]For one sort of friend is a friend when it suits him, but he will not be with you in time of distress.
]Another is a friend who becomes an enemy, and tells of the quarrel to your shame.
]Another is a friend, a boon companion, who will not be with you when sorrow comes.
]When things go well, he is your other self, and lords it over your servants;
]But if you are brought low, he turns against you and avoids meeting you.
]Keep away from your enemies; be on your guard with your friends.
]A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.
]A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth.
]A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds;
]For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.
Psalms
119(118),12.16.18.27.34.35.]Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes.
]In your statutes I will delight;
I will not forget your words.
]Open my eyes, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
]Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.
]Give me discernment, that I may observe your law
and keep it with all my heart.
]Lead me in the path of your commands,
for in it I delight.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark
10,1-12.]Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them.
]The Pharisees approached and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" They were testing him.
]He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
]They replied, "Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her."
]But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment.
]But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.
]For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (and be joined to his wife),
]and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh.
]Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate."
]In the house the disciples again questioned him about this.
]He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;
]and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
Bl. Tommaso (Thomas) Maria Fusco(Founder (1831-1891))
Blessed Tommaso (Thomas) Maria Fusco Priest and Founder of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood (1831-1891) Bl. Thomas was the seventh of eight children. He was baptized on the day he was born, December 1, 1831, in Pagani, the Diocese of Nocera-Sarno, Italy. His parents were Dr. Antonio, a pharmacist, and Stella Giordano, of noble descent. His mother died of cholera in 1837 and his father died four years later in 1841. Fr. Guiseppe, an uncle on his father's side and a primary school teacher, took charge of his education. Since 1839, the year of St. Alphonsus Mary de' Liguori's canonization, Thomas felt drawn to the priesthood. In 1847, he entered the diocesan seminary of Nocera, where his brother Raffaele was ordained in 1849.He received the Sacrament of Confirmation on April 1, 1851, and was ordained to the priesthood on December 22, 1855, by Bp. Agnello Giuseppe D'Auria. The deaths of his uncle in 1847 and younger brother Raffaele in 1852 were deeply sorrowful. However, devotion to the Patient Christ and to His Blessed Sorrowful Mother took root. His biographers wrote, "He had a deep devotion to the crucified Christ, which he cherished throughout his life." Fr. Thomas opened a morning school in his own home for boys' education and spiritual formation. For young people and adults, he organized evening prayers at the parish church of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo. This was a true place of conversion and prayer, just as it had been for St. Alphonsus. In 1857, Fr. Thomas was admitted to the Congregation of the Missionaries of Nocera and worked in southern Italy.In 1860, he was appointed chaplain at the Shrine of our Lady of Carmel in Pagani. He set up the altar of the Crucified Christ and established the Pious Union for the Adoration of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus.In 1862, he opened a school of moral theology in his own home to train priests for confession. That same year, he founded the (Priestly) Society of the Catholic Apostolate for missions among the people. In 1874, he received the approval of Pope Pius IX, now blessed. Deeply moved by the sorrowful plight of an orphaned girl, Fr. Thomas founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood on January 6, 1873, the Solemnity of the Epiphany. The institute was inaugurated at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the presence of Bp. Raffaele Ammirante. With the religious habits of the first three sisters, Bp. Ammirante blessed the first orphanage for seven poor orphan girls. It was not long before the new religious family and the orphanage received the pope's blessing. Fr. Thomas continued his priestly ministry, spiritual retreats and popular missions. From his apostolic travels sprung foundation-houses and orphanages. He was also parish priest at the principal church of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo in Pagani (1874-1887), extraordinary confessor to the cloistered nuns in Pagani and Nocera and spiritual father of the lay congregation at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In 1880, a brother priest accused him out of envy. He lovingly carried the cross that Bp. Ammirante had foretold at the time of the institute's foundation: "Have you chosen the title of the Most Precious Blood? Well, may you be prepared to drink the bitter cup." Fr. Thomas bore the trials meekly. He repeated, "May work and suffering for God always be your glory; and in your work and suffering, may God be your consolation on this earth and your recompense in heaven. Patience is the safeguard and pillar of all the virtues." Fr. Thomas passed away on February 24, 1891, from liver disease. He was only 59 years old. In the notice issued by the town council of Pagani on February 25, 1891, the witness of his life was summarized in these words: "Tommaso Maria Fusco, Apostolic Missionary, Founder of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood, an exemplary priest of indomitable faith and ardent charity, worked tirelessly in the name of the Redeeming Blood for the salvation of souls: in life he loved the poor and in death forgave his enemies." Fr. Thomas' life was directed to the highest devotion of Christian virtues by the priestly life, lived in constant meditation on the Father's love, and contemplated in the crucified Son, whose Blood is "the expression, measure and pledge" of divine Charity. He was an Apostle of the Most Precious Blood, a friend of young people, and attentive to every kind of poverty and human and spiritual misery. He enjoyed the fame of holiness among the diocesan priests, among the people and among his spiritual daughters. The Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood witness the Founder's charism in various parts of the world. The cause for the beatification of Fr. Thomas was initiated in 1955; and the decree of his heroic virtues was published on April 24, 2001. The miraculous healing of Mrs. Maria Battaglia on August 20, 1964, in Sciacca, Agrigento, Sicily, through the intercession of Fr. Thomas was recognized on July 7, 2001. With his beatification, Pope John Paul II presented Fr. Thomas as a guide to holiness for priests, the people of God and his Spiritual Daughters.
St. Ethelbert()
Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2017 / Catholic Missal of february 2017
Published: 2026-07-14T18:16:15Z | Modified: 2026-07-14T18:16:15Z