Catholic Missal of the day: Tuesday, July 21 2026

Tuesday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time

Book of Micah

Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, That dwells apart in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old;
As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt, show us wonderful signs.
Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency,
And will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;
You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, As you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

Psalms

You have favored, O LORD, your land;
you have brought back the captives of Jacob.
You have forgiven the guilt of your people;
you have covered all their sins.
You have withdrawn all your wrath;
you have revoked your burning anger.
Restore us, O God our savior,
And abandon your displeasure against us.
Will you be ever angry with us,
prolonging your anger to all generations?
Will you not instead give us life;
and shall not your people rejoice in you?
Show us, O LORD, your kindness,
and grant us your salvation.  

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him.
Someone told him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you."
But he said in reply to the one who told him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother."

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 stopped an Islamic invasion of Europe and championed Marian doctrine. 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 teaching.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 Victor's faith was discovered, he was arrested and tried in court by prefects Asterius and Eutychius. When the prefects insisted that he apostate, he refused and declared his love for Jesus. After his witnessing, a lynch mob dragged him through the streets. They brought him back half dead for the judge to carry out the sentence. Victor was stretched on a rack and his limbs were disjointed. Afterward, he was imprisoned. At midnight, God's Holy Angels visited him: the prison was filled with light and he sang the praises of God. Three soldiers who witnessed the apparition 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 Victor's body. The Saint 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. Victor's heroic life attests to the action of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and gives life. The martyrs' witness begs the question: Do we look to Jesus and Mother Mary as we speak with others about our faith?

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2026 / Catholic Missal of july 2026