Catholic Missal of the day: Friday, March 8 2019

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Friday after Ash Wednesday

1. Reading

Book 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!

Psalm

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.  

Gospel

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. 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.

misalcatolico.com

---

Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2019 / Catholic Missal of march 2019