Catholic Missal of the day: Friday, July 21 2017
Friday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time
Friday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time
1. ReadingBook of Exodus
11,10.12,1-14.]Although Moses and Aaron performed various wonders in Pharaoh's presence, the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the Israelites leave his land.
]The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
]"This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year.
]Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.
]If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.
]The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.
]You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
]They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb.
]That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
]It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs.
]None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up.
]"This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD.
]For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first--born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt - I, the LORD!
]But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.
]"This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution."
Psalms
116(115),12-13.15-16bc.17-18.]How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
]The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
]Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
]I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
]you have loosed my bonds.
]To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
]My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
12,1-8.]Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
]When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."
]He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry,
]how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat?
]Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent?
]I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
]If you knew what this meant, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned these innocent men.
]For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."
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 2017 / Catholic Missal of july 2017
Published: 2026-07-14T18:16:15Z | Modified: 2026-07-14T18:16:15Z