Friday of the First week of Lent

Book of Ezekiel

18,21-28.

Thus says the Lord GOD: If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced.
Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord GOD. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live?
And if the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil, the same kind of abominable things that the wicked man does, can he do this and still live? None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered, because he has broken faith and committed sin; because of this, he shall die.
You say, "The LORD'S way is not fair!" Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?
When a virtuous man turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.
But if a wicked man, turning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life;
since he has turned away from all the sins which he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Psalms

130(129),1-2.3-4.5-7a.7bc-8.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than sentinels for dawn.
Let Israel wait for the LORD.
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
and he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew

5,20-26.

Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.'
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Raqa,' will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."

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St. Katharine Drexel()

St. Katharine DrexelReligious (1858-1955) Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, 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 in their daughters that wealth was simply loaned and should be shared. When the family took a trip to the Western part of the United States, Katharine, as a young woman, saw the plight of the natives. This experience inflamed her desire to do something specific to help alleviate their condition. This was the beginning of her 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). Later, when visiting Pope Leo XIII in Rome, she asked him for missionaries to staff some of the native missions that she as a lay person was financing. She was surprised to hear the pope suggest that she become a missionary herself. After consulting her spiritual director, Bishop James O'Connor, she made the decision to give herself totally to God, along with her inheritance, through service to natives and Blacks. Katharine's wealth was now transformed into a poverty of spirit that became a daily constant in a life supported only by the bare necessities. On February 12, 1891, she professed her first 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 the source of her love for the oppressed and gave her the courage to combat the effects of racism. Knowing that many Blacks lived in substandard conditions as sharecroppers or underpaid laborers, denied educational and constitutional rights, Sr. Katharine felt a compassionate urgency to change racial attitudes in the United States. The plantation was an entrenched social institution; and the oppression of colored people was a deep affront to Sr. Katharine's sense of justice. The need for quality education loomed before her, and she discussed this need with others. At the time, restrictions of law prevented colored people from obtaining a basic education in the rural South. Founding and staffing schools for natives and Blacks became a priority for Sr. Katharine and her congregation. 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 institution of higher learning in the United States. Religious education and social services, and visiting homes, hospitals and prisons, were also included in her ministries. In her quiet way, Sr. Katharine combined prayerful and 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 the prophetic witness of Sr. Katharine Drexel's initiatives, the Church in the United States became aware of the grave domestic need for an apostolate among natives and Blacks. Sr. Katharine did not hesitate to speak out against injustice, taking a public stance when racial discrimination was in evidence. Sr. Katharine left a four-fold dynamic legacy to her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament who continue her apostolate:– her love for the Eucharist, her spirit of prayer and her Eucharistic perspective on the unity of all peoples;– her undaunted spirit of courageous initiative in addressing social iniquities among minorities — one hundred years before such concern aroused public interest in the United States;– her belief in the importance of quality education for all, and her efforts to achieve it;– her total giving of self, of her inheritance and all material goods in selfless service of the 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 desired from early childhood. Sr. Katharine passed away on March 3, 1955. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1980.

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St. Cunegundes(Empress (+ 1040))

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SAINT CUNEGUNDESEmpress(+1040) St. Cunegundes was the daughter of Siegfried, the first Count of Luxemburg, and Hadeswige, his pious wife. They raised Cunegundes in the faith; and married her to St. Henry, Duke of Bavaria. When Emperor Otho III passed away, Henry was chosen king of the Romans, and crowned on June 6, 1002. Queen Cunegundes was crowned at Paderborn on St. Laurence's day. On February 14, 1014, Queen Cunegundes and King Henry received the imperial crown from Pope Benedict VIII. Cunegundes had, by Henry's consent before their marriage, made a vow of virginity. When calumniators made vile accusations against her, the holy empress walked unhurt over red-hot ploughshares: thus proving her innocence and removing the scandal. Emperor Henry condemned his fears and credulity; and from that time on, they lived in the strictest union of hearts: conspiring to promote in everything God's honor and the advancement of piety. Going once to make a retreat in Hesse, Queen Cunegundes fell dangerously ill. She made a vow to found a monastery if she recovered. After recovering, she founded a monatery at Kaffungen, near Cassel, in the diocese of Paderborn, and gave it to nuns of the Order of St. Benedict. Before it was finished, King Henry passed away on July 13, 1024. She recommended his soul to the prayers of others, especially to her dear nuns, and expressed her desire of joining them. She had already exhausted her treasures in founding bishoprics and monasteries and in relieving the poor, and she had little left to give. Still thirsting to embrace perfect poverty, and to renounce all to serve God without obstacle, she assembled a great number of prelates to the dedication of her church of Kaffungen, in 1025, on the anniversary of her husband's passing. After the gospel was sung at Mass, she offered a piece of the true cross on the altar. Putting off her imperial robes, she clothed herself with a poor habit: Her hair was cut off, and the bishop put a veil and a ring on her as a pledge of fidelity to her heavenly Spouse. After she was consecrated to God in religion, Sr. Cunegundes seemed to forget entirely that she had been empress, and behaved as the last in the house, being persuaded that she was so before God. She prayed and read much, worked with her hands, and took a singular pleasure in visiting and comforting the sick.Thus she passed the last fifteen years of her life. Her mortifications at length reduced her to a very weak condition, and brought on her last sickness. Perceiving that they were preparing a cloth fringed with gold to cover her body after death, she changed color and ordered it to be taken away. She was not at rest till promised she would be buried as a poor religious in her habit. She passed away on March 3, 1040. Her body was carried to Bamberg and buried near that of her husband. She was solemnly canonized by Pope Innocent III in 1200.

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2023 / Catholic Missal of march 2023