Catholic Missal of the day: Thursday, March 8 2018

Thursday of the Third week of Lent

Thursday of the Third week of Lent

1. Reading

Book 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.

Psalm

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.”  

Gospel

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."

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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 2018 / Catholic Missal of march 2018