Catholic Missal of the day: Saturday, March 17 2018

Saturday of the Fourth week of Lent

Saturday of the Fourth week of Lent

1. Reading

Book of Jeremiah

11,18-20.

]I knew their plot because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.
]Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: "Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more."
]But, you, O Lord of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!

Psalm

Psalms

7,2-3.9bc-10.11-12.

]O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
]Lest I become like the lion's prey,
to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.
]Do me justice, O LORD, because I am just,
]and because of the innocence that is mine.
]Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,
but sustain the just,
O searcher of heart and soul, O just God.
]A shield before me is God,
who saves the upright of heart;
]A just judge is God,
a God who punishes day by day.

Gospel

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John

7,40-53.

]Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, "This is truly the Prophet."
]Others said, "This is the Messiah." But others said, "The Messiah will not come from Galilee, will he?
]Does not scripture say that the Messiah will be of David's family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?"
]So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
]Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
]So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why did you not bring him?"
]The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this one."
]So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?
]Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
]But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed."
]Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
]Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?
]They answered and said to him, "You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee."
]Then each went to his own house,

---

St. Patrick(Bishop (c. 385-461))

SAINT PATRICKBishop, Apostle of Ireland(c. 385-461) If the virtue of children reflects an honor on their parents, the name of St. Patrick is illumined by the countless lights of sanctity from Ireland's Church and the saints she sent to other countries. He was born in Bonaven Taberniæ, present-day Kilpatrick, at the mouth of the river Clyde in Scotland, between Dumbarton and Glasgow. He was a Briton and a Roman. His father's name was Calphurnius. He witnessed the Roman empire's collapse and Britain's separation from Rome in 409. Historians say that his mother was Conchessa, St. Martin of Tours' niece. St. Patrick was kidnapped when he was 16, taken to Ireland and forced to tend cattle in the mountains and forests. God quickened him with grace, new spiritual lights and fervor. After six years under one master, God told him to return to Scotland. He found a boat, but could not pay the fare. He was sent back - when the sailors suddenly called him on board. They sailed for three days and reached land. However, they lacked provisions and wandered for 27 days. St. Patrick said they would be saved if they prayed and gave their hearts to God; and later, they found a herd of swine. A few after returning to Scotland, St. Patrick was kidnapped again. He escaped after two months, returned to Scotland and received visions of Ireland's conversion. He became a religious, was formed in Gaul and Italy, met St. Martin and St. Germanus, and was blessed by Pope Celestine. His relatives and the clergy opposed his mission and consecration, yet he persevered. In the character and person of Christ, St. Patrick went to Ireland and preached the Gospel where idolatry and paganism were commonplace. He spread the faith without military force. The kings of Ireland received faith during and after St. Patrick's lifetime. Clergymen were ordained, married and unmarried people lived chastely, religious vocations blossomed and monasteries were founded. Persecution came in the form of piracy and enslavement. Prince Corotick plundered the country of St. Patrick's neophytes and enslaved them. St. Patrick declared that Corotick was separated from Jesus Christ after the neophytes were sold as slaves to the Picts and Scots. The writer Jocelin said that Corotick was eventually overtaken by divine justice. St. Bernard wrote that St. Patrick's metropolitan see was in Armagh. He founded a monastery in Armagh, another called Domnach-Padraig or Patrick's church and a third named Sabhal-Padraig. In the first year of his mission, he preached in the general assembly of the kings and states of all Ireland. The assembly took place yearly in Tara, the chief king's island residence and the principal seat of the Druids. The chief king, the son of Neill, was hostile to St. Patrick, but the Icings of Dublin, Munster and the seven sons of the king of Connaught converted. St. Patrick nominated St. Benignus' father in line for kingship. St. Patrick was buried in Down, Ulster. His relics were rediscovered at his church in 1185. Glastonbury, Lindisfarne, Ripon and Malmesbury in England received Catholicism thanks to Ireland's apostles. Irish saints like Columban, Fiacre, Gall and others evangelized France and Switzerland. In recent times, America and Australia received Catholicism thanks to the sons and daughters of St. Patrick. His monastery of Iona Abbey in western Scotland is a coastal pilgrimage site.

misalcatolico.com

---

Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2018 / Catholic Missal of march 2018