Catholic Missal of the day: Thursday, March 3 2016
Thursday of the Third week of Lent
Thursday of the Third week of Lent
1. ReadingBook of Jeremiah
7,23-28.]Thus says the LORD: This is what I commanded my people: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper.
]But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
]From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.
]Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.
]When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you.
]Say to them: This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.
Psalms
95(94),1-2.6-7.8-9.]Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
]Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
]Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
]For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
]Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
]Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke
11,14-23.]Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
]Some of them said, "By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons."
]Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
]But he knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.
]And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
]If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
]But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
]When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe.
]But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils.
]Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."
St. Katharine Drexel(Religious (1858-1955))
St. Katharine DrexelReligious (1858-1955) Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on November 26, 1858, Katharine Drexel was the second daughter of Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth. Her father was a well-known banker and philanthropist. Both parents instilled their daughters with knowledge that wealth is simply loaned and should be shared. When the family took a trip to the Western part of the United States, Katharine saw the natives' plight and sought to alleviate their suffering. Her experience was the beginning of a lifelong personal and financial support of numerous missions and missionaries in the United States. The first school she established was St. Catherine Native American School in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1887). When visiting Pope Leo XIII in Rome, she requested for missionaries to staff some of the native missions that she was financing. She was surprised when the pope invited her to become a missionary. After consulting her spiritual director, Bishop James O'Connor, Katharine decided to give herself totally to God, along with her inheritance, through service to natives and blacks. Katharine's wealth was now her poverty of spirit amidst the bare necessities. On February 12, 1891, she professed vows as a religious. She founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to share the message of the Gospel and the life of the Eucharist among natives and blacks. Always a woman of intense prayer, Sr. Katharine experienced the Eucharist as the summit of Christian life. It was her source of courage and love for the oppressed. Knowing that many blacks lived as sharecroppers and underpaid laborers, and were denied educational and constitutional rights, Sr. Katharine felt the urgency to change racial attitudes in the United States. Founding and staffing schools for natives and blacks became Sr. Katherine's priority. During her lifetime, she opened, staffed and directly supported nearly sixty schools and missions, especially in the Western and Southwestern United States. Her crowning educational focus was the establishment of Xavier University of Louisiana in 1925, the only predominantly black Catholic university in the United States. Her ministry also included visiting homes, hospitals and prisons. In her quiet way, Sr. Katharine combined total dependence on Divine Providence with determined activism. Her joyous incisiveness, attuned to the Holy Spirit, penetrated obstacles and facilitated her advances for social justice. Through her initiatives, the Church in the United States became aware of the need for apostolate among natives and blacks. Sr. Katharine left a four-fold, dynamic legacy to her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament:– Love for the Eucharist, a spirit of prayer and a Eucharistic perspective on the unity of all peoples;– Courageous initiative in addressing social iniquities (one hundred years before the civil rights movement);– Belief in the importance of quality education for all;– Total giving of self to victims of injustice. For the last eighteen years of her life, Sr. Katharine was rendered almost completely immobile because of a serious illness. During these years, she gave herself to a life of adoration and contemplation, which she had desired since childhood. Sr. Katharine passed away on March 3, 1955. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1980.
St. Cunegundes(Empress († 1040))
SAINT CUNEGUNDESEmpress( 1040) St. Cunegundes was the daughter of Siegfried, the first Count of Luxembourg, and Hadeswige, a Nordgauian maiden. They married her to St. Henry, the duke of Bavaria. When Emperor Otho III passed away, Henry became emperor on June 6, 1002. St. Cunegundes was crowned in Paderborn on St. Laurence's day. St. Cunegundes consecrated her virginity prior to marrying Henry. Together, they received the imperial crown from Pope Benedict VIII on February 14, 1014. When St. Cunegundes was accused of infidelity, she walked unhurt over red-hot ploughshares and proved her innocence. She was vindicated as proved by her lasting queenship. During a retreat in Hesse, St. Cunegundes fell dangerously ill and vowed to found a monastery if she recovered. After recovering, she founded a monatery in Kaffungen, near Cassel, in the diocese of Paderborn, and gave it to Benedictine nuns. Before it was finished, King Henry passed away on July 13, 1024. She sought to join the Benedictine nuns after founding bishoprics, monasteries and relieving the poor. St. Cunegundes embraced perfect poverty to serve God without obstacle. She was consecrated during her church's dedication in Kaffungen in 1025, on the anniversary of her husband's passing. She offered a piece of the True Cross on the altar, put off her imperial robes and clothed herself with a poor habit. She received a ring and a veil from the bishop as symbols of betrothal to Christ. After the consecration, she forgot her imperial dignity and behaved as the last in the house. She prayed and read, worked with her hands and comforted the sick. She served for fifteen years until her mortifications exacerbated a final illness. When she perceived her community was preparing a shroud fringed with gold, St. Cunegundes insisted on being buried as a poor religious. She passed away on March 3, 1040, and was buried near her husband in Bamberg. She was canonized by Pope Innocent III in 1200. She is the patron saint of Luxembourg and Bamberg.
Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2016 / Catholic Missal of march 2016
Published: 2026-07-14T18:16:09Z | Modified: 2026-07-14T18:16:09Z