Full Text of Readings[DAY TITLE]The Saint of the day is Saint Agnes of AssisiSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsTuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 498The Saint of the day is Dedication of Churches of Saints Peter and PaulSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsMemorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious Lectionary: 497The Saint of the day is Saint Elizabeth of HungarySaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsThirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 159The Saint of the day is Saint Margaret of ScotlandSaint Margaret of Scotland’s Story Margaret of Scotland was a truly liberated woman in the sense that she was free to be herself. For her, that meant freedom to love God and serve others. Not Scottish by birth, Margaret was the daughter of Princess Agatha of Hungary and the Anglo-Saxon Prince Edward Atheling. She spent much of her youth in the court of her great-uncle, the English king, Edward the Confessor. Her family fled from William the Conqueror and was shipwrecked off the coast of Scotland. King Malcolm befriended them and was captivated by the beautiful, gracious Margaret. They were married at the castle of Dunfermline in 1070. Malcolm was good-hearted, but rough and uncultured, as was his country. Because of Malcolm’s love for Margaret, she was able to soften his temper, polish his manners, and help him become a virtuous king. He left all domestic affairs to her, and often consulted her in state matters. Margaret tried to improve her adopted country by promoting the arts and education. For religious reform she encouraged synods and was present for the discussions which tried to correct religious abuses common among priests and laypeople, such as simony, usury, and incestuous marriages. With her husband, she founded several churches. Margaret was not only a queen, but a mother. She and Malcolm had six sons and two daughters. Margaret personally supervised their religious instruction and other studies. Although she was very much caught up in the affairs of the household and country, she remained detached from the world. Her private life was austere. She had certain times for prayer and reading Scripture. She ate sparingly and slept little in order to have time for devotions. She and Malcolm kept two Lents, one before Easter and one before Christmas. During these times she always rose at midnight for Mass. On the way home she would wash the feet of six poor persons and give them alms. She was always surrounded by beggars in public and never refused them. It is recorded that she never sat down to eat without first feeding nine orphans and 24 adults. In 1093, King William Rufus made a surprise attack on Alnwick castle. King Malcolm and his oldest son, Edward, were killed. Margaret, already on her deathbed, died four days after her husband. Reflection There are two ways to be charitable: the “clean way” and the “messy way.” The “clean way” is to give money or clothing to organizations that serve the poor. The “messy way” is dirtying your own hands in personal service to the poor. Margaret’s outstanding virtue was her love of the poor. Although very generous with material gifts, Margaret also visited the sick and nursed them with her own hands. She and her husband served orphans and the poor on their knees during Advent and Lent. Like Christ, she was charitable the “messy way.” Learn more about Saint Margaret of Scotland! Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsSaturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 496The Saint of the day is Saint Albert the GreatSaint Albert the Great’s Story Albert the Great was a 13th-century German Dominican who decisively influenced the Church’s stance toward Aristotelian philosophy brought to Europe by the spread of Islam. Students of philosophy know him as the master of Thomas Aquinas. Albert’s attempt to understand Aristotle’s writings established the climate in which Thomas Aquinas developed his synthesis of Greek wisdom and Christian theology. But Albert deserves recognition on his own merits as a curious, honest, and diligent scholar. He was the eldest son of a powerful and wealthy German lord of military rank. He was educated in the liberal arts. Despite fierce family opposition, he entered the Dominican novitiate. His boundless interests prompted him to write a compendium of all knowledge: natural science, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, ethics, economics, politics, and metaphysics. His explanation of learning took 20 years to complete. “Our intention,” he said, “is to make all the aforesaid parts of knowledge intelligible to the Latins.” He achieved his goal while serving as an educator at Paris and Cologne, as Dominican provincial, and even as bishop of Regensburg for a short time. He defended the mendicant orders and preached the Crusade in Germany and Bohemia. Albert, a Doctor of the Church, is the patron of scientists and philosophers. Reflection An information glut faces us Christians today in all branches of learning. One needs only to read current Catholic periodicals to experience the varied reactions to the findings of the social sciences, for example, in regard to Christian institutions, Christian life-styles, and Christian theology. Ultimately, in canonizing Albert, the Church seems to point to his openness to truth, wherever it may be found, as his claim to holiness. His characteristic curiosity prompted Albert to mine deeply for wisdom within a philosophy his Church warmed to with great difficulty. Saint Albert the Great is a Patron Saint of: Educators/TeachersMedical TechniciansPhilosophersScientists Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsFriday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 495The Saint of the day is Saint Gertrude the GreatSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsMemorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin [In the Dioceses of the United States] Lectionary: 494The Saint of the day is Saint Frances Xavier CabriniSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsMemorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr Lectionary: 493The Saint of the day is Saint JosaphatSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsMemorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop Lectionary: 492The Saint of the day is Saint Martin of ToursSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsMemorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church Lectionary: 491The Saint of the day is Saint Leo the GreatSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsFeast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome Lectionary: 671The Saint of the day is Dedication of Saint John Lateran BasilicaSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsSaturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 490The Saint of the day is Blessed John Duns ScotusSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsFriday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 489The Saint of the day is Saint DidacusSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsThursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 488The Saint of the day is Saint Nicholas Tavelic and CompanionsSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsWednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 487The Saint of the day is Saint Peter ChrysologusSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsMemorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop Lectionary: 486The Saint of the day is Saint Charles BorromeoSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsMonday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 485The Saint of the day is Saint Martin de PorresSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsThe Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls) Lectionary: 668The Saint of the day is Commemoration of All the Faithful DepartedThe Story of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity. “If we had no care for the dead,” Augustine noted, “we would not be in the habit of praying for them.” Yet pre-Christian rites for the deceased retained such a strong hold on the superstitious imagination that a liturgical commemoration was not observed until the early Middle Ages, when monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for the departed members. In the middle of the 11th century, Saint Odilo, abbot of Cluny, France, decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church. The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgment of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some period of purification seems necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God. The Council of Trent affirmed this purgatory state and insisted that the prayers of the living can speed the process of purification. Superstition easily clung to the observance. Medieval popular belief held that the souls in purgatory could appear on this day in the form of witches, toads or will-o’-the-wisps. Graveside food offerings supposedly eased the rest of the dead. Observances of a more religious nature have survived. These include public processions or private visits to cemeteries and decorating graves with flowers and lights. This feast is observed with great fervor in Mexico. Reflection Whether or not one should pray for the dead is one of the great arguments which divide Christians. Appalled by the abuse of indulgences in the Church of his day, Martin Luther rejected the concept of purgatory. Yet prayer for a loved one is, for the believer, a way of erasing any distance, even death. In prayer we stand in God’s presence in the company of someone we love, even if that person has gone before us into death. Read St. Anthony Messenger‘s practical guide to death for Catholics Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsSolemnity of All Saints Lectionary: 667The Saint of the day is Solemnity of All SaintsSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Full Text of ReadingsFriday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 483The Saint of the day is Saint Wolfgang of RegensburgSaint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
Tom Lips
What happened to the Holy Thursday readings?