Saturday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time

Book of Jeremiah

The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Stand at the gate of the house of the LORD, and there proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD!
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place.
Put not your trust in the deceitful words: "This is the temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!"
Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor;
if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm,
will I remain with you in this place, in the land which I gave your fathers long ago and forever.
But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss!
Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, go after strange gods that you know not,
and yet come to stand before me in this house which bears my name, and say: "We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again"?
Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I too see what is being done, says the LORD.

Psalms

My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young?
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
Blessed are they who dwell in your house!
Continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

St. Bridget of Sweden (1304-1373)()

SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN Patron saint of Sweden and co-patron of Europe (1304-1373) St. Bridget was born to the Swedish royal family in 1304. In obedience to her father, she married Prince Ulpho of Sweden. She had eight children, one of whom, Catherine, is a Saint. After a many years, Bridget's husband entered the Cistercian Order. Bridget then founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior in the Abbey of Wastein. Raising a family, attending to court affairs and founding an Order reflects Bridget's zealousness for the House of the Lord and the Kingdom of God. In 1344, Bridget became a widow. She later received a series visions and personal revelations, which she submitted to the judgment of her confessor. Her locutions led to pilgrimages in the Holy Land. Amidst the places of our Lord's Passion and Resurrection, Bridget received further instruction in sacred mysteries. Her ministries included caring for the marginalized, alongside St. Catherine of Sweden. Honoring our Lord's designation of a leader for His flock, St. Bridget worked tirelessly to support the Pope and return him to Rome. Her desire for unity was expressed with uncountable works. "If everything He did were written, there would not be enough room in the world for the books that would be written. (Jn. 21:25)" St. Bridget is the Patron Saint of Sweden and all women. She bravely followed in our Lord's footsteps; and from her miracles, was surely welcomed by Him on the threshold of heaven.

Bl. Vasil' Hopko(Bishop and martyr († 1976))

Blessed Vasiľ Hopko(1904-1976)Bishop and martyr Vasil' Hopko was born on April 21, 1904, in Hrabské, a small village in eastern Slovakia. His father died when he was 1 year old, leaving his mother to care for him. Vasil's mother left for the United States in 1908 to find work, putting Vasil' under the care of his grandfather. When he was 7, he went to live with his uncle, Demeter Petrenko, a Greek-Catholic priest. His uncle's example awakened a call to the priesthood. In 1923, Vasil' decided to enter the Greek-Catholic Seminary of Presov. He was ordained a priest on February 3, 1929, and was entrustedwiththe pastoral care of the Greek-Catholic faithful in Prague. Here, he was involved in many different activities: work with youth, the elderly, the unemployed and orphans. Fr. Vasil' founded the MovementofGreek-Catholic Students and the Greek-Catholic Youth Union, and contributed to the building of the city's Greek-Catholic parish, becoming its priest. It was also in Prague that, after 22 years, the young priest met his mother who had returned from the United States. In 1936, Fr. Vasil' returned to Slovakia where he served as spiritual father in the Greek-Catholic Seminary of Presov. In 1941, he was appointed as secretary of the Bishop's Curia. He became professor of moral and pastoral theology at the Theological Faculty in Presov in 1943. He also found free moments to write and publish various works and became the first editor of the magazine Blahovistnik (The Gospel Messenger). After World War II, the Czechoslovakian Republic fell under a growing Soviet Bolshevik and atheist influence. Foreseeing a systematic "Sovietization" and the resulting totalitarian-atheistic Marxism, Bishop Gojdic of Presov asked the Holy See for an Auxiliary Bishop to help him defend against attacks on the Greek-Catholic faithful and the Church. Fr. Vasil' became the newly-appointed Auxiliary Bishop and was ordained on May 11, 1947. He helped the Bishop greatly, preparing the people against the encroaching darkness. Little by little, the Czechoslovakian Communist Party prepared for the violent elimination of the Greek-Catholic Church. On April 28, 1950, the Communists carried out their work of "liquidation" during the so-called "Council of Presov," held without the presence of Bishops. Here, they declared that the Greek-Catholic Church of Czechoslovakia no longer existed and that all its priests, faithful and churches were to be transferred over to the Orthodox Church. Bishops Gojdic and Hopko were arrested. Following the arrest, Bp. Hopko underwent interrogation and torture. It was aimed at coercing him to deny his faith and confess to fabricated accusations. On October 24, 1951, after more than a year of cruel and diabolic interrogation, he was condemned by the State Court to 15 years in prison and a loss of all civil rights for 10 years. While in prison, in addition to the torture he received, he was given small doses of arsenic which caused a chronic poisoning, which was later verified by an analysis of his bones. On May 12, 1964, Bp. Hopko was released from prison for health reasons. After years of mistreatment, the Bishop suffered from grave physical ailments and mental depression caused by the constant torture and inhuman treatment. Notwithstanding all this, he continued to contribute actively to the resurgence of the Greek-Catholic Church. On June 13, 1968, the renewal of the Greek-Catholic Church of Czechoslovakia was re-estabilized after 18 years of open persecution. From 1968, Bp. Hopko began living in Presov. On December 20, 1968, Pope Paul VI confirmed his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop for all Greek-Catholic faithful in Czechoslovakia. He carried out this responsibility with great care, encouraging the faithful and ordaining priests. Bp. Hopko passed away on July 23, 1976 in Presov. He made for his own the words of his friend, Bp. Gojdic: "For me, it is not important if I die in the Bishop's Palace or in prison; what matters is entering into Paradise." Bp. Vasil' Hopko was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 14, 2003 at Bratislava.

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2022 / Catholic Missal of july 2022