Catholic Missal of the day: Thursday, July 21 2016
Thursday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time
Thursday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time
1. ReadingBook of Jeremiah
2,1-3.7-8.12-13.]This word of the LORD came to me:
]Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown.
]Sacred to the LORD was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; Should anyone presume to partake of them, evil would befall him, says the LORD.
]When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, You entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome.
]The priests asked not, "Where is the LORD?" Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols.
]Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.
]Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.
Psalms
36(35),6-7ab.8-9.10-11.]O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven;
your faithfulness, to the clouds.
]Your justice is like the mountains of God;
]your judgments, like the mighty deep.
]How precious is your mercy, O God!
The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
]They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house;
from your delightful stream you give them to drink.
]For with you is the fountain of life,
and in your light we see light.
]Keep up your mercy toward your friends,
your just defense of the upright of heart.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
13,10-17.]The disciples approached Jesus and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"
]He said to them in reply, "Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
]To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
]This is why I speak to them in parables, because 'they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.'"
]Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: 'You shall indeed hear but not understand you shall indeed look but never see.
]Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.'
]But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.
]Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it".
St. Lawrence of Brindisi(Priest and Doctor of the Church (1559-1619))
SAINT LAWRENCE OF BRINDISIPriest and Doctor of the Church(1559-1619) Saint Lawrence championed Marian doctrine and stopped an Islamic invasion of Europe. While Ottoman Turks waged jihad and enslaved Christians, and Protestantism caused disunity, St. Lawrence unified German and European leaders and founded religious communities. His writings and response to Protestant challenges led the Church forward through history. St. Lawrence was born on July 22, 1559, to William and Elizabeth Russo. After his parents' untimely passing, he was educated by his uncle at the College of St. Mark in Venice. Aside from his native Neapolitan, he was fluent in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, German, Bohemian, Spanish and French. He entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order in Venice and received his religious name at 16 years old. He completed his studies at the University of Padua, was ordained a priest at 23 and preached to Jews at Pope Clement's request. At 31 years old, St. Lawrence was elected major superior of the Capuchin Franciscan province of Tuscany. He was promoted to minister general in 1602, expanded the Order and defended Marian doctrine. He forged alliances and was called to preach a crusade against Ottoman armies invading Europe. Ottoman armies captured the Hungarian city of Székesfehérvár in the 16th century and used it to launch invasions of Europe. St. Lawrence forged alliances among German nobles and helped raise armies to retake the city. When the seige to retake the city stalled, St. Lawrence, dressed in his friar's robe and holding a Rosary, clutched the army's standard and marched into battle crying, "Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands!" At St. Lawrence's charge, the united Christians surged forward and cast down their enemies. After the battle, St. Lawrence was summoned to negotiate peace between Spain and his native kingdom of Naples. After visiting the king of Spain in Lisbon, a serious illness took his life in 1619. In 1956, the Capuchins completed a fifteen-volume edition of his writings. Eleven of those fifteen contain his sermons as well as scriptural quotations to illustrate the teachings.Quote: “God is love, and all his operations proceed from love. Once he wills to manifest that goodness by sharing his love outside himself, then the Incarnation becomes the supreme manifestation of his goodness and love and glory. So, Christ was intended before all other creatures and for his own sake. For him all things were created and to him all things must be subject, and God loves all creatures in and because of Christ. Christ is the first-born of every creature, and the whole of humanity as well as the created world finds its foundation and meaning in him. Moreover, this would have been the case even if Adam had not sinned” (St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Universal Church, Capuchin Educational Conference, Washington, D.C.).
St. Victor(Martyr (3rd century))
SAINT VICTOR Martyr(3rd century) Emperor Maximian martyred the Thebæan legion and many others before arriving in Marseilles. Against this backdrop, Victor, a Christian officer in the Roman army, visited and encouraged the faithful. When his Christian identity was discovered, he was arrested and tried in court by prefects Asterius and Eutychius. When the prefects goaded him to apostatize, he refused. After his witnessing, a mob dragged him through the streets before bringing him back for sentencing. Victor was stretched on a rack and his limbs were disjointed. Afterward, he was imprisoned. At midnight, God's Holy Angels visited him and filled the prison with light. Three soldiers present cast themselves at Victor's feet and asked for pardon and baptism. He instructed them, had them baptized by priests at the seaside and returned with them to prison. The next morning, Maximian was informed of the guards' conversion and had them beheaded. Victor was tortured once again. Three days later, he was summoned before a tribunal and commanded to offer incense to a statue of Jupiter. Allegedly, Victor kicked the statue and toppled it. The emperor then ordered Victor's foot to be chopped off. Victor was afterward put under a hand-mill's grindstone. Miraculously, the mill broke every time the executioner bruised or crushed a part of his body. Victor still breathed a little, but was then beheaded. St. Victor's body was thrown into the sea, but was later cast ashore and buried by the Christians in a grotto hewn out of rock. His heroic life attests to the action of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and gives life. The martyrs' witness encourages us to speak with others about our faith.
Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2016 / Catholic Missal of july 2016
Published: 2026-07-14T18:16:08Z | Modified: 2026-07-14T18:16:08Z