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Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani

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Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani

Feast date: Feb 25

Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani was born into a noble family in Naples, Italy in 1806. Her father was an alcoholic and was exiled after being involved in a revolt. Maria’s grandmother raised her. When her grandmother died, the 10 year-old was sent to a boarding school until she was 17.

During these years, Maria declined several marriage proposals because she preferred to lead a quiet life of prayer.

When she turned 21, she entered the Benedictine Community in St. Peter’s Monastery and took the name Maria Adeodata. She made her solemn profession two years later.

In the cloister, Maria was a seamstress, sacristan, porter, teacher and novice mistress. Her fellow nuns and many people outside the cloister benefited from her charity.

Maria Adeodata wrote various works, the most well-known of these is a collection of her personal reflections between the years 1835 and 1843 titled “The mystical garden of the soul that loves Jesus and Mary”.

She was an abbess from 1851 to 1853 but had to retire from her duties because she suffered from heart problems.

On Feb. 25, 1855, at the age of 48 and in poor health, she dragged herself to the chapel for Mass, against her nurse’s advice. After receiving Communion, she had to be carried back to bed where she died soon afterward.

She had a simple funeral and was buried in the monastery’s crypt the following day.

Maria was remembered for her sanctity, love of the poor, self-imposed sacrifices, and ecstasies so complete that she was seen levitating.

She was beatified by Blessed John Paul II in 2001.

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Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

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Reading I Jas 5:1-6

Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.
You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers
who harvested your fields are crying aloud;
and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;
you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.
You have condemned;
you have murdered the righteous one;
he offers you no resistance.

Responsorial Psalm 49:14-15ab, 15cd-16, 17-18, 19-20

R.        (Matthew 5:3)  Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
This is the way of those whose trust is folly,
            the end of those contented with their lot:
Like sheep they are herded into the nether world;
            death is their shepherd and the upright rule over them.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Quickly their form is consumed;
            the nether world is their palace.
But God will redeem me
            from the power of the nether world by receiving me.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Fear not when a man grows rich,
            when the wealth of his house becomes great,
For when he dies, he shall take none of it;
            his wealth shall not follow him down.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed,
            “They will praise you for doing well for yourself,”
He shall join the circle of his forebears
            who shall never more see light.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!

Alleluia See 1 Thes 2:13

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Receive the word of God, not as the word of men,
but as it truly is, the word of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mk 9:41-50

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,  
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed  
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled  
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

“Everyone will be salted with fire.
Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid,
with what will you restore its flavor?
Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.”

– – –

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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St. Victorinus

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Feast date: Feb 24

On February 24, the Church remembers St. Victorinus. Not much is known about the life and history St. Victorinus, but we do know that he died in 284 A.D. as a martyr with companions. He was a citizen of Corinth, Greece, and was exiled with a group of fellow Christians to Egypt during the persecutions under Emperor Numerian. Victorinus and the others had been exiled in 249 and had been living in Egypt. They were arrested again under Governor Sabinus, and were brutally tortured, and finally executed at Diospolis. 

Printed with permission from Catholic-Defense.

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Blessed Thomas Maria Fusco

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Blessed Thomas Maria Fusco

Feast date: Feb 24

Thomas was born to a noble family in 1831 in Pagani, Italy. He was the seventh of eight children.

When he was only six years old, his mother died of cholera. A few years later, his father also died.

His uncle, a primary school teacher, took charge of Thomas’ education.

The canonization of St. Alphonsus Liguori in 1839 stirred aspirations for the priesthood in Thomas’ heart.

He entered the seminary in 1847 and was ordained a priest in 1855.

Immediately Thomas opened a morning school for the formation of boys and organized evening prayers for youth and adults.

During these years, Thomas nurtured a deep devotion to the crucified Christ and to his Blessed Sorrowful Mother because of the deaths of his uncle and younger brother.

In 1862 he opened a school of moral theology in his home to train priests for the ministry of confession. That same year he also founded the priestly Society of the Catholic Apostolate for missions among the faithful.

In 1873, Thomas was deeply moved by the plight of an orphaned street girl. After careful discernment, he founded the Congregation of the “Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood”.

For the remainder of his years, he was completely dedicated to his priestly ministry, preaching spiritual retreats and missions, teaching catechism to youth and organizing prayer for young people and adults at his parish. He worked to build a strong devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus among the people he served.

In 1891, Thomas died of liver disease at the age of 59.

The cause for his beatification was opened in 1955 and the decree of his heroic Christian virtues was published in 2001.

At Thomas’ beatification, Pope St. John Paul II presented him as “an example and a guide to holiness for priests, for the people of God and for his spiritual daughters, the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood.”

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Memorial of Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr

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Reading I Jas 4:13-17

Beloved:
Come now, you who say,
“Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town,
spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”–
you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.
You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.
Instead you should say,
“If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.”
But now you are boasting in your arrogance.
All such boasting is evil.
So for one who knows the right thing to do
and does not do it, it is a sin.

Responsorial Psalm 49:2-3, 6-7, 8-10, 11

R.        (Matthew 5:3)  Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Hear this, all you peoples;
            hearken, all who dwell in the world,
Of lowly birth or high degree,
            rich and poor alike.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Why should I fear in evil days
            when my wicked ensnarers ring me round?
They trust in their wealth;
            the abundance of their riches is their boast.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Yet in no way can a man redeem himself,
            or pay his own ransom to God;
Too high is the price to redeem one’s life; he would never have enough
            to remain alive always and not see destruction.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
For he can see that wise men die,
            and likewise the senseless and the stupid pass away,
            leaving to others their wealth.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!

Alleluia Jn 14:6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mk 9:38-40

John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.”

– – –

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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