Catholic Missal of the day: Thursday, July 23 2026

Thursday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time

Book of Jeremiah

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

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

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. Bridget of Sweden(Co-patron of Europe (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 many years, Bridget's husband entered the Cistercian Order. Bridget then founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior at 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 received visions and personal revelations that she submitted to her confessor. Her mystical experiences led her on pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Amidst the places of our Lord's Passion and Resurrection, she received further instruction in sacred mysteries. Bridget's ministries included caring for the marginalized together with St. Catherine of Sweden. She honored Our Lord's designation of a leader for His flock and worked tirelessly to support the pope and return him to Rome. Sheis the Patron Saint of Sweden and a patron saint of women.

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 and his mother was left to care for him. Vasil's mother left for the United States in 1908 to find work and placed him in his grandfather's care. When Vasil' 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' entered 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. 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 Unionand contributed to the building of the city's Greek-Catholic parish. 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 and served as a spiritual father at 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 made time to write, published 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" along with its 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. Fr. Vasil' became the newly-appointed auxiliary bishop and was consecrated on May 11, 1947. He helped Bp. Gojdic immensely and strengthened others 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," which they held without the presence of bishops. 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 arrests, Bp. Hopko underwent interrogation and torture. It was aimed at coercing him to deny his faith and confessing to false accusations. On October 24, 1951, after more than a year of cruel and diabolical 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, he was tortured and given small doses of arsenic, which caused chronic poisoning and 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 maltreatment, the Bishop suffered from grave physical ailments and mental depression. 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 reestablished after 18 years of open persecution. From 1968 onward, 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. 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, in Bratislava.

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