PRAYER OF THE DAY

Precious Blood Prayer to the Mother of God

Dear Mother of God and purest virgin,

do offer to the Heavenly Father the Precious Blood and merits of Jesus Christ

for all poor sinners and for the prevention of mortal sin.

Dear Mother of God and Protectress of the Holy Church,

do offer to the Heavenly Father the Precious Blood and Merits of Jesus Christ for our Holy Mother Church,

for our Holy Father the Pope and his intentions, for our Bishop and his diocese.

Dear Mother of God,

and my Mother also,

do offer to the Heavenly Father the most Precious blood and the merits of Jesus Christ,

His most holy and Divine Heart,

and His infinite merits,

for our cruelly persecuted brethren in every land where Christians suffer persecution.

Offer them also for the unhappy pagans that they may learn to know Jesus,

Thy Son, and their Redeemer,

and for the liberty, victory, and extension of the Catholic Faith in all the countries of the world.

Obtain also for the newly converted fidelity and constancy in our holy Faith.

Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading

GN 46:1-7, 28-30

Israel set out with all that was his.

When he arrived at Beer-sheba,

he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called,

“Jacob! Jacob!”

He answered, “Here I am.”

Then he said: “I am God, the God of your father.

Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,

for there I will make you a great nation.

Not only will I go down to Egypt with you;

I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.”

So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba,

and the sons of Israel

put their father and their wives and children

on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport.

They took with them their livestock

and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan.

Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt.

His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughtersB

all his descendants—he took with him to Egypt.

Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph,

so that he might meet him in Goshen.

On his arrival in the region of Goshen,

Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot

and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen.

As soon as Joseph saw him, he flung himself on his neck

and wept a long time in his arms.

And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die,

now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive.”

Responsorial Psalm

PS 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Trust in the LORD and do good,

that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.

Take delight in the LORD,

and he will grant you your heart’s requests.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The LORD watches over the lives of the wholehearted;

their inheritance lasts forever.

They are not put to shame in an evil time;

in days of famine they have plenty.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Turn from evil and do good,

that you may abide forever;

For the LORD loves what is right,

and forsakes not his faithful ones.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The salvation of the just is from the LORD;

he is their refuge in time of distress.

And the LORD helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.

R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Gospel

MT 10:16-23

Jesus said to his Apostles:

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;

so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.

But beware of men,

for they will hand you over to courts

and scourge you in their synagogues,

and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake

as a witness before them and the pagans.

When they hand you over,

do not worry about how you are to speak

or what you are to say.

You will be given at that moment what you are to say.

For it will not be you who speak

but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Brother will hand over brother to death,

and the father his child;

children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.

You will be hated by all because of my name,

but whoever endures to the end will be saved.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.

Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel

before the Son of Man comes.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

July 12

Sts. John Jones and John Wall (c. 1530-1598; 1620-1679)

These two friars were martyred in England in the 16th and 17th centuries for refusing to deny their faith.

John Jones was Welsh. He was ordained a diocesan priest and was twice imprisoned for administering the sacraments before leaving England in 1590. He joined the Franciscans at the age of 60 and returned to England three years later while Queen Elizabeth I was at the height of her power. John ministered to Catholics in the English countryside until his imprisonment in 1596. He was condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered. John was executed on July 12, 1598.

John Wall was born in England but was educated at the English College of Douai, Belgium. Ordained in Rome in 1648, 

he entered the Franciscans in Douai several years later. In 1656 he returned to work secretly in England.

In 1678 Titus Oates worked many English people into a frenzy over an alleged papal plot 

to murder the king and restore Catholicism in that country. 

In that year Catholics were legally excluded from Parliament, a law which was not repealed until 1829. 

John Wall was arrested and imprisoned in 1678 and was executed the following year.

John Jones and John Wall were canonized in 1970.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open our lips.

And we shall praise your name.

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 66 (67)

Indeed, how good is the Lord:

bless his holy name.

O God, take pity on us and bless us,

and let your face shine upon us,

so that your ways may be known across the world,

and all nations learn of your salvation.

Indeed, how good is the Lord:

bless his holy name.

Let the peoples praise you, O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and rejoice,

for you judge the peoples with fairness

and you guide the nations of the earth.

Indeed, how good is the Lord:

bless his holy name.

Let the peoples praise you, O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has produced its harvest:

may God, our God, bless us.

May God bless us,

may the whole world revere him.

Indeed, how good is the Lord:

bless his holy name.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Indeed, how good is the Lord:

bless his holy name.

Hymn

God has spoken by his prophets,

Spoken his unchanging word,

Each from age to age proclaiming

God the One, the righteous Lord.

Mid the world’s despair and turmoil,

one firm anchor holdeth fast:

God is King, his throne eternal,

God the first and God the last.

God has spoken by Christ Jesus,

Christ, the everlasting Son,

Brightness of the Father’s glory,

With the Father ever one;

Spoken by the Word incarnate,

God of God, ere time began,

Light of Light, to earth descending,

Man, revealing God to man.

Psalm 37 (38)

The plea of a sinner in great peril

Do not punish me, Lord, in your rage.

Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath,

do not ruin me in your anger:

for I am pierced by your arrows

and crushed beneath your hand.

In the face of your anger

there is no health in my body.

There is no peace for my bones,

no rest from my sins.

My transgressions rise higher than my head:

a heavy burden, they weigh me down.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Do not punish me, Lord, in your rage.

Psalm 37 (38)

O Lord, you know all my longing.

My wounds are corruption and decay

because of my foolishness.

I am bowed down and bent,

bent under grief all day long.

For a fire burns up my loins,

and there is no health in my body.

I am afflicted, utterly cast down,

I cry out from the sadness of my heart.

Lord, all that I desire is known to you;

my sighs are not hidden from you.

My heart grows weak, my strength leaves me,

and the light of my eyes – even that has gone.

My friends and my neighbors

keep far from my wounds.

Those closest to me keep far away,

while those who would kill me set traps,

those who would harm me make their plots:

they plan mischief all through the day.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

O Lord, you know all my longing.

Psalm 37 (38)

I confess my guilt to you, Lord; 

do not forsake me, my savior.

But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;

like one who is dumb, I do not open my mouth.

I am like someone who cannot hear,

in whose mouth there is no reply.

For in you, Lord, I put my trust:

you will listen to me, Lord, my God.

For I have said, “Let them never triumph over me:

if my feet stumble, they will gloat.”

For I am ready to fall:

my suffering is before me always.

For I shall proclaim my wrongdoing:

I am anxious because of my sins.

All the time my enemies live and grow stronger;

they are so many, those who hate me without cause.

Returning evil for good they dragged me down,

because I followed the way of goodness.

Do not abandon me, Lord:

my God, do not leave me.

Hurry to my aid,

O Lord, my savior.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

I confess my guilt to you, Lord; 

do not forsake me, my savior.

My eyes are weary with longing for your salvation

– and for your words of justice.

First Reading

1 Kings 1:11-35,2:10-12

Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, ‘Have you not heard that unknown to our lord David, Adonijah, Haggith’s son, has become king? Well, this is my advice to you if you want to save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go straight in to King David and say, “My lord king, did you not make your servant this promise on oath: Your son Solomon is to be king after me; he is the one who is to sit on my throne? How is it, then, that Adonijah is king?” 

And while you are still there talking to the king, I will come in after you and confirm what you say.’

So Bathsheba went to the king in his room (he was very old and Abishag of Shunem was in attendance on him). She knelt down and did homage to the king, and the king said, ‘What is your wish?’ ‘My lord,’ she answered ‘you swore this to your servant by the Lord your God, “Your son Solomon is to be king after me; he is the one who is to sit on my throne.” And now here is Adonijah king and you, my lord king, knowing nothing about it. He has sacrificed quantities of oxen and fatted calves and sheep, and invited all the royal princes, the priest Abiathar, and Joab the army commander; but he has not invited your servant Solomon. Yet you are the man, my lord king, to whom all Israel looks, to name for them the successor of my lord the king. And when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, 

my son Solomon and I will be made to suffer for this.’

She was still speaking when the prophet Nathan entered. ‘The prophet Nathan is here’ they told the king; and he came into the king’s presence and bowed down to the ground on his face before the king. ‘My lord king,’ said Nathan ‘is this, then, your decree: “Adonijah is to be king after me; he is the one who is to sit on my throne”? For he has gone down today and sacrificed quantities of oxen and fattened calves and sheep, and invited all the royal princes, the army chiefs, and the priest Abiathar; and they are there now, eating and drinking in his presence and shouting, “Long live King Adonijah!” He has not, however, invited me your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, or your servant Solomon. Is this with my lord the king’s approval? 

Or have you not told those loyal to you who is to succeed to the throne of my lord the king?’

Then King David spoke. ‘Call Bathsheba to me’ he said. And she came into the king’s presence and stood before him. Then the king swore this oath, ‘As the Lord lives, who has delivered me from all adversity, just as I swore to you by the Lord the God of Israel that your son Solomon should be king after me and take my place on the throne, so I will bring it about this very day.’ Bathsheba knelt down, her face to the ground, and did homage to the king. ‘May my lord King David live for ever!’ she said. Then King David said, ‘Summon Zadok the priest, the prophet Nathan and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.’ So they came into the king’s presence. ‘Take the royal guard with you,’ said the king ‘mount my son Solomon on my own mule and escort him down to Gihon. There Zadok the priest and the prophet Nathan are to anoint him king of Israel; then sound the trumpet and shout, “Long live King Solomon!” Then you are to follow him up and he is to come and take his seat on my throne and be king in place of me, 

for he is the man I have appointed as ruler of Israel and of Judah.’

Responsory

Come out, O daughters of Zion,

and see King Solomon wearing the crown 

that was his mother’s gift to him,

on his day of triumph.

Grant to the king, O God,

your own skill in judgement:

may he deal out justice to the people 

and to your poor, redress,

on his day of triumph.

Second Reading

From a letter to the Corinthians

by Saint Clement, pope

We are blessed if we fulfill the commands of the Lord 

in the harmony of love

Beloved, see what a marvelous thing love is; its perfection is beyond our expression. Who can truly love save those to whom God grants it? We ought to beg and beseech him in his mercy that our love may be genuine, unmarred by any too human inclination. From Adam down to the present time all generations have passed away; but those who were perfected in love by God’s grace have a place among the saints who will be revealed when the kingdom of Christ comes to us. As it is written: Enter your chambers for a little while, until my wrath and anger pass away; and I shall remember a good day and raise you from your graves. We are blessed, beloved, if we fulfill the commands of the Lord in harmonious, loving union, so that through love our sins may be forgiven. For it is written: Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose mouth there is no deceit. This is the blessing that has been given to those who have been chosen by God 

through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

We should pray then that we may be granted forgiveness for our sins and for whatever we may have done when led astray by our adversary’s servants. And for those who were the leaders of the schism and the sedition, they too should look to the common hope. For those who live in pious fear and in love are willing to endure torment rather than have their neighbor suffer; and they more willingly suffer their own condemnation than the loss of that harmony that has been so nobly and righteously handed down to us. For it is better for a man to confess his sins than to harden his heart.

Who then among you is generous, who is compassionate, who is filled with love? He should speak out as follows: If I have been the cause of sedition, conflict and schisms, then I shall depart; I shall go away wherever you wish, and I shall do what the community wants, if only the flock of Christ live in peace with the presbyters who are set over them. Whoever acts thus would win great glory for himself in Christ, and he would be received everywhere, 

for the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. 

Thus have they acted in the past and will continue to act in the future who live without regret as citizens in the city of God.

Responsory

This is the commandment that Christ gave us:

he who loves God must love his brother also.

The whole law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.

He who loves God must love his brother also.

Let us pray.

Lord God,

when our world lay in ruins,

you raised it up again on the foundation of your Son’s Passion and Death.

Give us grace to rejoice in the freedom from sin

which he gained for us,

and bring us to everlasting joy.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let us praise the Lord.

-Thanks be to God.