Catholic Missal of the day: Wednesday, March 8 2017

Wednesday of the First week of Lent

Wednesday of the First week of Lent

1. Reading

Book of Jonah

3,1-10.

]The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
]"Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
]So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD'S bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it.
]Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day's walk announcing, "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
]when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
]When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
]Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his nobles: "Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
]Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; every man shall turn from his evil way and from the violence he has in hand.
]Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath, so that we shall not perish."
]When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.

Psalm

Psalms

51(50),3-4.12-13.18-19.

]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.
]A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
]Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from 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.  

Gospel

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke

11,29-32.

]While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.
]Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
]At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.
]At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here."

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St. John of God(Religious (1495-1550))

SAINT JOHN OF GOD Religious (1495-1550) Nothing in John's early life foreshadowed his future holiness. He ran away from home in Portugal, tended sheep and cattle in Spain, and served as a soldier against the French and afterward against the Turks. Around 40 years old, feeling remorse for his wild life, John devoted himself to ransoming Christian slaves in Africa. He went there with the family of an exiled nobleman, whom he supported with his labor. After returning to Spain, he began selling holy pictures and books at low prices. At length, the hour of grace struck. In Granada, a sermon by the celebrated John of Avila shook his soul to its depths; and his expressions of self-abhorrence were so extraordinary that he was taken to an asylum. There, he comforted and ministered to the sick. After leaving the asylum, John sheltered the homeless and supported them byworking and begging. One night, he found a man who was nearly dead lying in the street. He carried the man to the hospital and washed the latter's feet. John knelt, and was awestruck: The feet were pierced and the print of nails bright and radiant. He raised his eyes to look and heard the words, "John, to Me thou doest all that thou doest to the poor ... I reach forth My hand for the alms thou givest; Me dost thou clothe, Mine are the feet thou dost wash." The bishop became John's patron and named him John of God. When John's hospital was on fire, he was seen rushing uninjured amidst the flames until he had rescued all his poor. After ten years of serving the poor, he passed away from an illness. He contracted the illness after diving into the river Xenil to save a drowning boy. He was 55 years old and was welcomed by Jesus Christ into Heaven.

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2017 / Catholic Missal of march 2017