Catholic Missal of the day: Friday, March 3 2017
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Friday after Ash Wednesday
1. ReadingBook of Isaiah
58,1-9a.]Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.
]They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
]"Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?" Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
]Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
]Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
]This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
]Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
]Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
]Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
Psalms
51(50),3-4.5-6ab.18-19.]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 I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
]"Against you only have I sinned,
]and done what is evil in your sight."
]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.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
9,14-15.]The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?"
]Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."
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 2017 / Catholic Missal of march 2017
Published: 2026-07-14T18:16:16Z | Modified: 2026-07-14T18:16:16Z