Friday after Ash Wednesday

Book of Isaiah

58,1-9a.

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

51(50),3-4.5-6ab.18-19.

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

9,14-15.

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."

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Bl. Tommaso (Thomas) Maria Fusco((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 born on December 1, 1831, in Pagani, Salerno, in the Diocese of Nocera-Sarno, Italy. His parents were Dr. Antonio, a pharmacist, and Stella Giordano, of noble descent. They were known for their upright moral and religious conduct; and taught their children Christian piety and charity toward the poor. Thomas was baptized on the day he was born in the parish of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo. In 1837, when he was only six years old, his mother died of cholera. He lost his father four years later in 1841. Fr. Guiseppe, an uncle on his father's side, who was also a primary school teacher, then took charge of Thomas' education. Since 1839, the year of the canonization of St. Alphonsus Mary de' Liguori, Thomas was drawn to the priesthood. In 1847, he entered the same diocesan seminary of Nocera, which his brother Raffaele would leave after being ordained a priest in 1849. On April 1, 1851, Thomas received the sacrament of Confirmation. On December 22, 1855, after completing his seminary formation, he was ordained a priest 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, already dear to the entire Fusco family, took root in Thomas. His biographers wrote, "He had a deep devotion to the crucified Christ, which he cherished throughout his life." Right from the start, Fr. Thomas saw to the education and spiritual formation of boys, for whom he opened a morning school in his own home. 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 under the title of St. Vincent de Paul. He became an itinerant missionary, especially in the regions of Southern Italy.In 1860, he was appointed chaplain at the Shrine of our Lady of Carmel (known as Our Lady of the Hens) in Pagani. At the Shrine, Fr. Thomas built up the men's and women's Catholic associations, 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 the ministry of confession, kindling enthusiasm for the love of Christ's Blood. That same year, he founded the (Priestly) Society of the Catholic Apostolate for missions among the common people. In 1874, he received the approval of Pope Pius IX, now blessed. Deeply moved by the sorrowful plight of an orphan girl, and carefully praying for discernment, Fr. Thomas founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood on January 6, 1873, the Solemnity of the Epiphany. This 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 of the area. It was not long before the new religious family and the orphanage also received the Pope's blessing in response to their request. Fr. Thomas continued his dedication to the priestly ministry, spiritual retreats and popular missions. From his apostolic travels sprung foundation-houses and orphanages, which were monuments to charity. Fr. Thomas' supernatural virtues grew even greater in the last twenty years of his life (1870-1891). In addition to his commitments as founder and apostolic missionary, he was parish priest (1874-1887) at the principal church of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo in Pagani, 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. It was not long before Fr. Thomas, envied for the good he achieved in his ministry and for his life as an exemplary priest, was faced with humiliation and calumny. In 1880, a brother priest's accusations affected Fr. Thomas and those around him. However, sustained by the Lord, he lovingly carried that cross which his own pastor, 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."During the harshest of trials, which he bore in silence, he would repeat: "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." Wasting away with liver disease, Fr. Thomas passed away on February 24, 1891, praying like the elderly Simeon, "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word" (Lk 2, 29). 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 intensely in constant meditation on the mystery of the Father's love, contemplated in the crucified Son whose Blood is "the expression, measure and pledge" of divine Charity. In the poor and needy, Fr. Thomas saw the suffering Face of Jesus.His writings, preaching and popular missions marked his vast experience of faith and the light of Christian hope that shone from his vocation and actions. He had a vital, burning love for God; it enflamed his words and his apostolate, made fruitful by love for God and neighbor, by union with the crucified Jesus, by trust in Mary, Immaculate and Sorrowful, and above all by the Eucharist. Fr. Thomas was an Apostle of Charity of the Most Precious Blood, a friend of boys and girls and young people, and attentive to every kind of poverty and human and spiritual misery.For all these reasons, 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, where they carry out their apostolate in communion with the Church. The cause for the beatification of Fr. Thomas was initiated in 1955; and the decree of his heroic Christian 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 an example and a guide to holiness for priests, for the people of God and for his Spiritual Daughters.

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St. Ethelbert()

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misalcatolico.com

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