Catholic Missal of the day: Saturday, March 26 2016

Holy Saturday (Vigil Mass)

Holy Saturday (Vigil Mass)

1. Reading

Book of Exodus

14,15-31.15,1a.

]The LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.
]And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two, that the Israelites may pass through it on dry land.
]But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and charioteers.
]The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers."
]The angel of God, who had been leading Israel's camp, now moved and went around behind them. The column of cloud also, leaving the front, took up its place behind them,
]so that it came between the camp of the Egyptians and that of Israel. But the cloud now became dark, and thus the night passed without the rival camps coming any closer together all night long.
]Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided,
]the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
]The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers went after them right into the midst of the sea.
]In the night watch just before dawn the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic;
]and he so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians.
]Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and their charioteers."
]So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth. The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea, when the LORD hurled them into its midst.
]As the water flowed back, it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh's whole army which had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not a single one of them escaped.
]But the Israelites had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
]Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians. When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore
]and beheld the great power that the LORD had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.
]Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

Psalm

Book of Exodus

15,1b-2.3-4.5-6.17-18.

]I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
]My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him.
]The LORD is a warrior,
LORD is his name!
]Pharaoh's chariots and army he hurled into the sea;
the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.
]The flood waters covered them,
they sank into the depths like a stone.
]Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power,
your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
]And you brought them in and planted them
on the mountain of your inheritance—
the place where you made your seat, O LORD,
the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands established.  
]The LORD shall reign forever and ever.

2. Reading

Letter to the Romans

6,3-11.

]Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
]We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.
]For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
]We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
]For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
]If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.
]We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.
]As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.
]Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as (being) dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke

24,1-12.

]At daybreak on the first day of the week the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
]They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;
]but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
]While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.
]They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, "Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
]He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,
]that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day."
]And they remembered his words.
]Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others.
]The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,
]but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them.
]But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.

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St. Ludger(Bishop (c. 743-809))

SAINT LUDGER Bishop (c. 743-809) St. Ludger was a nobleman from Friesland. He was born around 743 and was educated by St. Gregory, St. Boniface's disciple. St. Ludger studied at St. Gregory's monastery in Utrech and wore the clerical tonsure. In response to the Holy Spirit's prompting, he trained for four and a half years with Alcuincin in York. In 773, St. Ludger returned to Friesland. When St. Gregory passed away in 776, St. Ludger was ordained a priest. After his ordination, he preached the Gospel in Friesland. Providentially, he founded several monasteries and churches. When the pagan Saxons ravaged the country, St. Ludger travelled to Rome to consult Pope Adrian I. The Saxons opposed foreign influence and St. Ludger was forced to retire to Monte Casino for three and a half years. Hence, he donned the habit of the Order and conformed to its rule. In 787, Charlemagne defeated the Saxons and conquered Friesland and the coast of the Germanic Ocean as far as Denmark. St. Ludger returned to East Friesland and converted the Saxons to the Faith, including the province of Westphalia. He founded the monastery of Werden, twenty-nine miles from Cologne. In 802, Hildebald, the Archbishop of Cologne, consecrated St. Ludger to the Bishopric of Munster. St. Ludger afterward appointed five cantons from Friesland and founded the Monastery of Helmstad in the duchy of Brunswick. When charges were brought against St. Ludger for wasting the Church's donations, he was summoned to court by Emperor Charlemagne. The chamberlain sent to fetch him reported that St. Ludger would attend after praying. By the time St. Ludger finished praying, Emperor Charlemagne was frustrated and asked, "Why did you make me wait so long?" St. Ludger replied that his respect for Charlemagne was profound, but God was infinitely above him. While we are occupied with Him, it is our duty to forget everything else. This answer, and St. Ludger's account of himself, made the Emperor dismiss the charges. St. Ludger was favored with the gifts of miracles and prophecy. His last sickness, though painful, did not hinder his daily activities. Up to the last day of his life, Passion Sunday, St. Ludger preached very early in the morning, said Mass towards nine, and preached again before night. He passed away on March 26, midnight, at the hour he foretold.

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Bl. Maddalena Caterina Morano((1847-1908))

BLESSED MADDALENA CATERINA MORANO (1847-1908) Blessed Maddalena Caterina Morano came from a large family in Chieri, Italy. Her father and older sister passed away when she was 8 years old. She worked and received education simultaneously. In 1866, she received her diploma as an elementary school teacher. Maddalena studied Christian doctrine and wanted to be a saint. She postponed entering religious life to provide for her family and worked as a rural school teacher in Montaldo. She taught catechism at the local parish for 12 years. In 1878, after securing her mother's retirement, Maddalena entered the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a congregation founded six years earlier by Don Bosco. She was a model religious and took first vows after a brief but intense novitiate. In 1881, with Don Bosco's blessing, she was sent to Trecastagni (Diocese of Catania), Sicily, and was put in charge of an existing institute for women. She gave the institute a new orientation inspired by Salesian principles. Sicily became Mother Maddalena's second home, where she carried out a varied and fruitful apostolate. She opened new houses, set up after-school activities and sewing classes, trained teachers and conducted apostolic activities. Her real love, though, was for catechism class. She was convinced that the formation of Christian conscience was the basis of personal maturity and all social improvement. She coordinated catechetical instruction in eighteen of Catania's churches and trained lay and religious catechists. Mother Maddalena spent 25 years in Sicily and served her community as local and provincial superior. She was an attentive mother and cared for many local vocations, faithfully living the charism of Mother Maria Mazzarello, the institue's co-foundress. She passed away in Catania at 61 years old on March 26, 1908.She was beatified in Catania on November 5, 1994, by Pope John Paul II.

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St. Margaret Clitherow()

misalcatolico.com

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2016 / Catholic Missal of march 2016