Saturday of the First week of Lent

Book of Deuteronomy

26,16-19.

Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice.
And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments,
he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."

Psalms

119(118),1-2.4-5.7-8.

Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
Who seek him with all their heart.
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew

5,43-48.

Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

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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 born on December 1, 1831, in Pagani, the Diocese of Nocera-Sarno, Italy. His parents were Dr. Antonio, a pharmacist, and Stella Giordano, of noble descent. They were known for being morally upright and pious. Thomas was baptized on the day he was born in the parish of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo. In 1837, his mother died of cholera. 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 Thomas' education. Since 1839, the year of the canonization of St. Alphonsus Mary de' Liguori, Thomas felt drawn to the priesthood. In 1847, he entered the same diocesan seminary of Nocera, where his brother Raffaele was ordained in 1849. On April 1, 1851, Thomas received the Sacrament of Confirmation. On December 22, 1855, he was ordained to the priesthood 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 in Thomas. 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, on 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.

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St. Ethelbert()

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misalcatolico.com

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2024 / Catholic Missal of february 2024