Catholic Missal of the day: Saturday, March 18 2023
Saturday of the Third week of Lent
Book of Hosea
6,1-6.Come, let us return to the LORD, it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.
He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence.
Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD; as certain as the dawn is his coming, and his judgment shines forth like the light of day! He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth."
What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away.
For this reason I smote them through the prophets, I slew them by the words of my mouth;
For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts.
Psalms
51(50),3-4.18-19.20-21ab.Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Be bountiful, O LORD, to Zion in your kindness
by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem;
Then shall you be pleased with due sacrifices,
burnt offerings and holocausts.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke
18,9-14.Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.
"Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity--greedy, dishonest, adulterous--or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.'
But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
St. Cyril of Jerusalem(Doctor of the Church (+386))
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEMBishop and Doctor of the Church(+386) Cyril was born at or near Jerusalem around the year 315. He was ordained by St. Maximus, who gave him the important charge of instructing and preparing candidates for baptism. Cyril performed this duty for several years, and we still have one series of his instructions from the year 347 or 348. They are of singular interest as being the earliest record of the systematic teaching of the Church on the creed and sacraments, and as having been given in the church built by Constantine on Mount Calvary. They are solid, simple and profound; saturated with Holy Scripture; exact, precise, and terse; and, as a witness and exposition of the Catholic faith, invaluable. When St. Maximus passed away, Cyril was consecrated Bishop of Jerusalem in apostolic succession. At the beginning of his episcopate, a cross was seen in the air reaching from Mount Calvary to Mount Olivet, and so bright that it shone at noonday. Pope Cyril gave an account of it to the emperor, and the faithful regarded it as a presage of victory over the Arian heretics. Around this time, the apostate Julian resolved to falsify Jesus' words by rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem. He employed the power and resources of a Roman emperor. The Jews thronged enthusiastically and gave munificently. When the attempt was made, a secular writer tells us that flames came from the earth, rendering the place inaccessible to workmen. The attempt was made again and again, and then abandoned. Soon after, the emperor perished in a war against the Persians. Like the other great bishops of his time, Cyril was persecuted and driven again and again from his see; but on the death of the Arian Emperor Valens, he returned to Jerusalem. He was present at the second General Council at Constantinople; and passed away peacefully in 386, after a troubled episcopate of thirty-five years.
Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2023 / Catholic Missal of march 2023
Published: 2023-11-27T19:31:36Z | Modified: 2023-11-27T19:31:36Z