Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth week in Ordinary Time

Book of Nehemiah

In the month Nisan of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when the wine was in my charge, I took some and offered it to the king. As I had never before been sad in his presence,
the king asked me, "Why do you look sad? If you are not sick, you must be sad at heart." Though I was seized with great fear,
I answered the king: "May the king live forever! How could I not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been eaten out by fire?"
The king asked me, "What is it, then, that you wish?" I prayed to the God of heaven
and then answered the king: "If it please the king, and if your servant is deserving of your favor, send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors' graves, to rebuild it."
Then the king, and the queen seated beside him, asked me how long my journey would take and when I would return. I set a date that was acceptable to him, and the king agreed that I might go.
I asked the king further: "If it please the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of West-of-Euphrates, that they may afford me safe-conduct till I arrive in Judah;
also a letter for Asaph, the keeper of the royal park, that he may give me wood for timbering the gates of the temple-citadel and for the city wall and the house that I shall occupy." The king granted my requests, for the favoring hand of my God was upon me.

Psalms

By the rivers of Babylon
we sat mourning and weeping
when we remembered Zion.
On the poplars of that land
we hung up our harps.
There our captors asked us
for the words of a song;
Our tormentors, for a joyful song:
"Sing for us a song of Zion!"
But how could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand wither.
May my tongue stick to my palate
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem
beyond all my delights.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke

As Jesus and His disciples were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
And to another he said, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
Jesus answered him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."

St. Therese of Lisieux(Virgin and Doctor of the Church (1873-1897) - Memorial)

Saint Therese of LisieuxVirgin and Doctor of the Church(1873-1897) Thérèse Martin was born in Alençon, France, on January 2, 1873. Two days later, she was baptized Marie Frances Thérèse at Notre Dame Church. Her parents were Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin. After her mother's passing on August 28, 1877, the family moved to Lisieux. Toward the end of 1879, Thérèse went to confession for the first time. On the Feast of Pentecost in 1883, she received the singular grace of being healed from a serious illness through the intercession of Our Lady of Victories. Taught by the Benedictine Nuns of Lisieux, and after an intense immediate preparation culminating in a vivid experience of intimate union with Christ, she received First Holy Communion on May 8, 1884. Some weeks later, on June 14, she received the Sacrament of Confirmation, fully aware of accepting the Holy Spirit and the grace of Pentecost. Thérèse wanted to embrace the contemplative life as her sisters Pauline and Marie had done in the Carmel of Lisieux, but was prevented by her young age. After she visited the House of Loreto and the holy places of the Eternal City, during an audience granted by Pope Leo XIII to Lisieux's pilgrims on November 20, 1887, she asked the Holy Father with childlike daring to be able to enter the Carmel at age 15. On April 9, 1888, she entered the Carmel of Lisieux. She received the habit on January 10, 1889. She made her religious profession on September 8, 1890, on the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Carmel, Sr. Thérèse embraced the way of perfection outlined by the Foundress, Saint Teresa of Jesus. She fulfilled her community responsibilities with genuine fervor and fidelity. Her faith was tested by the sickness of her beloved father, Louis Martin, who passed away on July 29, 1894. She grew in sanctity, enlightened by the Word of God and inspired by the Gospel to place love at the center of everything. In her autobiographical manuscripts, she left us not only her recollections of childhood and adolescence, but also a portrait of her soul and spiritual experiences. She discovered the little way of spiritual childhood and taught it to the novices entrusted to her care. She considered it a special gift to receive the charge of accompanying two "missionary brothers" with prayer and sacrifice. Seized by the love of Christ, her only Spouse, Sr. Thérèse penetrated ever more deeply into the mystery of the Church and became increasingly aware of her apostolic and missionary vocation to draw everyone in her path. On June 9, 1895, on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Sr. Thérèse offered herself as a sacrificial victim to the merciful Love of God. At this time, she wrote her first autobiographical manuscript, which she presented to Mother Agnes on January 21, 1896. On April 3, on the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday, she suffered a haemoptysis, the first sign of the illness that would claim her life. She welcomed this event as a mysterious visitation of the Divine Spouse. From this point forward, Sr. Thérèse entered a trial of faith that would last until her death. In September 1896, Sr. Thérèse completed Manuscript B, which gave striking evidence of her spiritual maturity, particularly the discovery of her vocation in the heart of the Church. Her health declined even further and the time of trial continued. In June 1897, she began work on Manuscript C and dedicated it to Mother Marie de Gonzague. New graces led her to higher perfection and she discovered fresh insights for the diffusion of her message in the Church. Sr. Thérèse was transferred to the infirmary on July 8, 1897. Meanwhile, her sisters and other religious women collected her sayings. Although her sufferings and trials intensified, she bore the pain with heroic virtue. She accepted them with patience up to the moment of her death in the afternoon of September 30, 1897. "I am not dying, I am entering life," she wrote to her missionary spiritual brother, Father M. Bellier. Her final words, "My God..., I love you!", seal a life that was completed on earth at age 24. Thus began, as was her desire, a new phase of apostolic presence on behalf of souls in the Communion of Saints. St. Thérèse was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. The same pope proclaimed her Universal Patron of the Missions, alongside Saint Francis Xavier, on December 14, 1927. Her teaching and example of holiness has been received with great enthusiasm by all sectors of the faithful, as well as by people outside the Catholic Church and outside Christianity. On the occasion of the centenary of her passing, many Episcopal Conferences asked the pope to declare her a Doctor of the Church: in view of the soundness of her spiritual wisdom inspired by the Gospel, the originality of her theological intuitions, and the universal acceptance of her spiritual message, which has been welcomed throughout the world and spread by the translation of her works into over fifty languages.Mindful of these requests, Pope John Paul II asked the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with regard to her teaching, to study the suitability of proclaiming St. Thérèse a Doctor of the Church. On August 24, at the close of the Eucharistic Celebration at the Twelfth World Youth Day in Paris, in the presence of hundreds of bishops and an immense crowd of young people from every nation, Pope John Paul II announced his intention to proclaim Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face a Doctor of the Universal Church on World Mission Sunday, October 19, 1997.

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2025 / Catholic Missal of october 2025