PRAYER OF THE DAY

LITANY OF ST. ANGELA

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of heaven,

Have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,

Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

and faithful Guardian of our Mother Saint Angela,

R: Pray for us.

Saint Angela Merici,

St. Angela,

favoured with the choicest gifts of God from thy infancy,

St. Angela,

who didst give thyself to the practice of all the virtues from thy tenderest years,

St. Angela,

who didst always preserve a spotless purity,

St. Angela,

who by thy love for holy purity, didst merit to receive thy name,

St. Angela,

who from childhood found thy delight in solitude,

St. Angela,

who led an angelic life in the house of thy parents,

St. Angela,

who didst daily bear on thy body the mortification of Jesus,

St. Angela,

whose gift it was to reconcile the bitterest enemies,

St. Angela,

who at thirteen become a Tertiary of St. Francis and ever remained faithful,

St. Angela,

gifted with the graces of prayer and contemplation,

St. Angela,

who visited the Holy Land, and there followed the bloody footprints of Jesus,

St. Angela,

who triumphed over the illusions of the devil,

St. Angela,

who was not afflicted at the loss of thy sight in visiting the holy places,

St. Angela,

whose sight was miraculously restored in the Island of Candia,

St. Angela,

whom the love of. God had wounded and whom this same love cured,

St. Angela,

model of perfect self-denial and true humility,

St. Angela,

who, like Jacob, was permitted to see the mysterious ladder,

St. Angela,

chosen by God to be the mother of many holy virgins,

St. Angela,

Foundress of the illustrious Order of the Ursulines,

St. Angela,

to whom God promised that this Order should always subsist,

St. Angela,

who, filled with joy, didst give up thy soul in the embrace of the Lord,

St. Angela,

whose body remained incorruptible after death,

St. Angela,

Patroness of Christian mothers,

St. Angela,

Protectress of young girls,

St. Angela,

our Mother and Advocate,

Lamb of God,

Who takest away the sins of the world:

Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God,

Who takest away the sins of the world:

Hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God,

Who takest away the sins of the world:

Have mercy on us.

V. Pray for us,

O glorious Mother Saint Angela:

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

O God,

Who by means of our blessed Mother Saint Angela

didst cause a new Order of holy virgins

to flourish in Thy Church:

grant, through her intercession,

that we may imitate her angelic virtues,

and, forsaking all earthly things,

may be found worthy of eternal bliss.

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

R. Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Reading

2 SM 5:1-7, 10

All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:

“Here we are, your bone and your flesh.

In days past, when Saul was our king,

it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back.

And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel

and shall be commander of Israel.’”

When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron,

King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD,

and they anointed him king of Israel.

David was thirty years old when he became king,

and he reigned for forty years:

seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah,

and thirty-three years in Jerusalem

over all Israel and Judah.

Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem

against the Jebusites who inhabited the region.

David was told, “You cannot enter here:

the blind and the lame will drive you away!”

which was their way of saying, “David cannot enter here.”

But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.

David grew steadily more powerful,

for the LORD of hosts was with him.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 89:20, 21-22, 25-26

R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.

Once you spoke in a vision,

and to your faithful ones you said:

“On a champion I have placed a crown;

over the people I have set a youth.”

R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.

“I have found David, my servant;

with my holy oil I have anointed him,

That my hand may be always with him,

and that my arm may make him strong.”

R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.

“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,

and through my name shall his horn be exalted.

I will set his hand upon the sea,

his right hand upon the rivers.”

R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.

Gospel

MK 3:22-30

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,

“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and

“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”

Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,

“How can Satan drive out Satan?

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

And if a house is divided against itself,

that house will not be able to stand.

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,

he cannot stand;

that is the end of him.

But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property

unless he first ties up the strong man.

Then he can plunder his house.

Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies

that people utter will be forgiven them.

But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit

will never have forgiveness,

but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”

For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

January 27

St. Angela Merici (1470?-1540)

Angela has the double distinction of founding the first teaching congregation of women in the Church and what is now called a “secular institute” of religious women.

As a young woman she became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis (now known as the Secular Franciscan Order), and lived a life of great austerity, wishing, like St. Francis, to own nothing, not even a bed. Early in life she was appalled at the ignorance among poorer children, whose parents could not or would not teach them the elements of religion. Angela’s charming manner and good looks complemented her natural qualities of leadership. 

Others joined her in giving regular instruction to the little girls of their neighborhood.

She was invited to live with a family in Brescia (where, she had been told in a vision, she would one day found a religious community). Her work continued and became well known. She became the center of a group of people with similar ideals.

She eagerly took the opportunity for a trip to the Holy Land. When they had gotten as far as Crete, she was struck with blindness. Her friends wanted to return home, but she insisted on going through with the pilgrimage, and visited the sacred shrines with as much devotion and enthusiasm as if she had her sight. 

On the way back, while praying before a crucifix, her sight was restored at the same place where it had been lost.

At 57, she organized a group of 12 girls to help her in catechetical work. Four years later the group had increased to 28. She formed them into the Company of St. Ursula (patroness of medieval universities and venerated as a leader of women) for the purpose of re-Christianizing family life through solid Christian education of future wives and mothers. The members continued to live at home, had no special habit and took no formal vows, though the early Rule prescribed the practice of virginity, poverty and obedience. The idea of a teaching congregation of women was new and took time to develop. 

The community thus existed as a “secular institute” until some years after Angela’s death.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will proclaim Your Praise!

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 99 (100)

Let us come before the Lord, giving thanks.

Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth,

and serve him with joy.

Exult as you enter his presence.

Let us come before the Lord, giving thanks.

Know that the Lord is God.

He made us and we are his

– his people, the sheep of his flock.

Let us come before the Lord, giving thanks.

Cry out his praises as you enter his gates,

fill his courtyards with songs.

Proclaim him and bless his name;

for the Lord is our delight.

His mercy lasts for ever,

his faithfulness through all the ages.

Let us come before the Lord, giving thanks.

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.

Let us come before the Lord, giving thanks.

Hymn

O God of truth, prepare our minds

To hear and heed your holy word;

Fill every heart that longs for you

With your mysterious presence, Lord.

Almighty Father, with your Son

And blessed Spirit, hear our prayer:

Teach us to love eternal truth

And seek its freedom everywhere.

Psalm 49 (50)

True reverence for the Lord

Our God comes openly, he keeps silence no longer.

The Lord, the God of gods has spoken:

he has summoned the whole earth, from east to west.

God has shone forth from Zion in her great beauty.

Our God will come, and he will not be silent.

Before him, a devouring fire;

around him, a tempest rages.

He will call upon the heavens above, and on the earth, to judge his people.

“Bring together before me my chosen ones, who have sealed my covenant with sacrifice.”

The heavens will proclaim his justice; for God is the true judge.

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.

Our God comes openly, he keeps silence no longer.

Psalm 49 (50)

Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.

Listen, my people, and I will speak;

Israel, I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

I will not reproach you with your sacrifices,

for your burnt offerings are always before me.

But I will not accept calves from your houses,

nor goats from your flocks.

For all the beasts of the forests are mine,

and in the hills, a thousand animals.

All the birds of the air – I know them.

Whatever moves in the fields – it is mine.

If I am hungry, I will not tell you;

for the whole world is mine, and all that is in it.

Am I to eat the flesh of bulls,

or drink the blood of goats?

Offer a sacrifice to God – a sacrifice of praise;

to the Most High, fulfill your vows.

Then you may call upon me in the time of trouble:

I will rescue you, and you will honor me.

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.

Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.

Psalm 49 (50)

I want love, not sacrifice; 

knowledge of God, not holocausts.

To the sinner, God has said this:

Why do you recite my statutes?

Why do you dare to speak my covenant?

For you hate what I teach you,

and reject what I tell you.

The moment you saw a thief, you joined him;

you threw in your lot with adulterers.

You spoke evil with your mouth,

and your tongue made plans to deceive.

Solemnly seated, you denounced your own brother;

you poured forth hatred against your own mother’s son.

All this you did, and I was silent;

so you thought that I was just like you.

But I will reprove you –

I will confront you with all you have done.

Understand this, you who forget God;

lest I tear you apart, with no-one there to save you.

Whoever offers up a sacrifice of praise gives me true honor;

whoever follows a sinless path in life will be shown the salvation of God.

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 want love, not sacrifice; 

knowledge of God, not holocausts.

Listen, my people, and I shall speak.

– I am God, your God.

First Reading

Deuteronomy 24:1-25:4

Relations with one's neighbor

Supposing a man has taken a wife and consummated the marriage; but she has not pleased him and he has found some impropriety of which to accuse her; so he has made out a writ of divorce for her and handed it to her and then dismissed her from his house; she leaves his home and goes away to become the wife of another man. If this other man takes a dislike to her and makes out a writ of divorce for her and hands it to her and dismisses her from his house (or if this other man who took her as his wife happens to die), her first husband, who has repudiated her, may not take her back as his wife now that she has been defiled in this way. For that is detestable in the sight of the Lord, 

and you must not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God gives for your inheritance.

If a man is newly married, he shall not join the army nor is he to be pestered at home; he shall be left at home free of all obligations for one year to bring joy to the wife he has taken.

No man may take a mill or a millstone in pledge; that would be to take life itself in pledge.

If anyone is found kidnapping one of his brothers, one of the sons of Israel, whether he makes him his slave or sells him, that thief must die. You must banish this evil from your midst.

In a case of leprosy, take care you faithfully observe and follow exactly all that the levitical priests direct you to do. 

You are to keep and observe all that I have commanded them. 

Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam when you were on your way out of Egypt.

If you are making your fellow a loan on pledge, you are not to go into his house and seize the pledge, whatever it may be. You must stay outside, and the man to whom you are making the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. And if the man is poor, you are not to go to bed with his pledge in your possession; you must return it to him at sunset so that he can sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be a good action on your part in the sight of the Lord your God.

You are not to exploit the hired servant who is poor and destitute, whether he is one of your brothers or a stranger who lives in your towns. You must pay him his wage each day, not allowing the sun to set before you do, for he is poor and is anxious for it; otherwise he may appeal to the Lord against you, and it would be a sin for you.

Fathers may not be put to death for their sons, nor sons for fathers. Each is to be put to death for his own sin.

You must not pervert justice in dealing with a stranger or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I lay this charge on you.

When reaping the harvest in your field, if you have overlooked a sheaf in that field, do not go back for it. Leave it for the stranger, the orphan and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.

When you beat your olive trees you must not go over the branches twice. 

Let anything left be for the stranger, the orphan and the widow.

When you harvest your vineyard you must not pick it over a second time. 

Let anything left be for the stranger, the orphan and the widow.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. 

That is why I lay this charge on you.

If men have any dispute they must go to court for the judges to decide between them; these must declare the one who is right to be in the right, the one who is wrong to be in the wrong. If the one who is in the wrong deserves a flogging, the judge shall make him lie down and have him flogged in his presence with the number of strokes proportionate to his offense. 

He may impose forty strokes but no more, 

lest the flogging be too severe and your brother be degraded in your eyes.

You must not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the corn.

Responsory

Master, you have truly said that God is one; and to love him with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves is far more than any burnt offerings or sacrifices.

A kindness repaid is an offering of flour; the way to please the Lord is to renounce evil, and to love him with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves is far more than any burnt offerings or sacrifices.

Second Reading

Vatican II, "Gaudium et spes"

The holiness of married life and family life

A man and a woman, who by the marriage covenant of conjugal love ‘are no longer two, but one flesh’, 

render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions.

Through this union they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day. As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union, as well as the good of the children, 

imposes total fidelity on the spouses and argues for an unbreakable oneness between them.

Christ the Lord abundantly blessed this many-faceted love, 

welling up as it does from the fountain of divine love and structured as it is on the model of his union with the Church.

As God of old made himself present to his people through a covenant of love and fidelity, so now the Savior of men and the spouse of the Church comes into the lives of married Christians through the sacrament of matrimony. He abides with them thereafter so that, just as he loved the Church and handed himself over on her behalf, the spouses may love each other with perpetual fidelity through mutual self-bestowal.

Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and enriched by Christ’s redeeming power and the saving activity of the Church. Thus this love can lead the spouses to God with powerful effect and can aid and strengthen them in the sublime office of being a father or a mother.

For this reason, Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state. By virtue of this sacrament, as spouses fulfill their conjugal and family obligations, they are penetrated with the spirit of Christ. This spirit suffuses their whole lives with faith, hope, and charity. Thus they increasingly advance their own perfection, as well as their mutual sanctification, and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God.

As a result, with their parents leading the way by example and family prayer, children and indeed everyone gathered around the family hearth will find a readier path to human maturity, salvation, and holiness. Graced with the dignity and office of fatherhood and motherhood, parents will energetically acquit themselves of a duty which devolves primarily on them, 

namely education, and especially religious education.

As living members of the family, children contribute in their own way to making their parents holy. For they will respond to the kindness of their parents with sentiments of gratitude, with love and trust. 

They will stand by them as children should when hardships overtake their parents and old age brings its loneliness.

Responsory

This is a great mystery, concerning Christ and the Church.

Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.

Let each one of you love his wife as himself,

and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.

Let us pray.

All-powerful, ever-living God,

direct our steps in the way of your love,

so that our whole life may be fragrant

with all we do in the name of Jesus, your beloved Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let us praise the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.