Universal Roman Catholic Faith and Traditions

Abstinence First Reading: Jeremiah 20: 10 - 13 Psalm 18 Gospel: John 10: 31 - 42 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: The Jews then picked up stones to throw at him; so Jesus said, “I have openly done many good works among you which the Father gave me to do. For which of these do you stone me?” The Jews answered, “We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for insulting God; you are only a man and you make yourself God.” Then Jesus replied, “Is this not written in your Law: I said: you are gods? So those who received this word of God were called gods and the Scripture is always true. Then what should be said of the one anointed and sent into the world by the Father? Am I insulting God when I say: ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do them, even if you have no faith in me, believe because of the works I do, and know that the Father is in me and I in the Father.” Again they tried to arrest h...

Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr First Reading: Genesis 17: 3 - 9 Psalm 105 Gospel: John 8: 51 - 59 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: Truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never experience death.” The Jews replied, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets as well, but you say: ‘Whoever keeps my word will never experience death.’ Who do you claim to be? Do you claim to be greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets also died.” Then Jesus said, “If I were to praise myself, it would count for nothing. But he who gives glory to me is the Father, the very one you claim as your God, although you don’t know him. I know him and if I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I know him and I keep his word. As for Abraham, your ancestor, he looked forward to the day when I would come; and he rejoiced when he saw it.” The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have see...

First Reading: Daniel 3: 14 - 20, 91 - 92, 95 Daniel 3 Gospel: John 8: 31 - 42 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: Jesus went on to say to the Jews who believed in him: “You will be my true disciples if you keep my word. Then you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” hey answered him, “We are the descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves of anyone. What do you mean by saying: You will be free?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave. But the slave doesn’t stay in the house forever; the son stays forever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be really free. I know that you are the descendants of Abraham; yet you want to kill me because my word finds no place in you. For my part I speak of what I have seen in the Father’s presence, but you do what you have learned from your father.” They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Then Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did. But now ...

First Reading: Numbers 21: 4 - 9 Psalm 102 Gospel: John 8: 21 - 30 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: Jesus spoke to them again, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have light and life.” The Pharisees replied, “Now you are speaking on your own behalf, your testimony is worthless.” Then Jesus said, “Even though I bear witness to myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I have come from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; as for me, I don’t judge anyone. But if I had to judge, my judgment would be valid for I am not alone: the Father who sent me is with me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid; so I am bearing witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me.” They asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father as ...

First Reading: Daniel 13: 1 - 9, 15 - 17, 19 - 30, 33 - 62 Psalm 23 Gospel John 8: 12 - 20 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: Jesus spoke to them again, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have light and life.” The Pharisees replied, “Now you are speaking on your own behalf, your testimony is worthless.” Then Jesus said, “Even though I bear witness to myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I have come from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; as for me, I don’t judge anyone. But if I had to judge, my judgment would be valid for I am not alone: the Father who sent me is with me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid; so I am bearing witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me.” They asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father; if you knew me, you ...

5th Sunday of Lent First Reading: Ezekiel 37: 12 - 14 Psalm 130 Second Reading: Romans 8: 8 - 11 Gospel: John 11: 1 - 45 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: There was a sick man named Lazarus who was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the same Mary who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent this message to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” On hearing this Jesus said, “This illness will not end in death; rather it is for God’s glory and the Son of God will be glorified through it.” It is a fact that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus; yet, after he heard of the illness of Lazarus, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Only then did he say to his disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” They replied, “Master, recently the Jews wanted to stone you. Are you going there again?” Jesus said to them, “Are not twelve working hours needed to c...

First Reading: Jeremiah 11: 18 - 20 Psalm 7 Gospel: John 7: 40 - 53 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: Many who had been listening to these words began to say, “This is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some wondered, “Would the Christ come from Galilee? Doesn’t Scripture say that the Christ is a descendant of David and from Bethlehem, the city of David?” The crowd was divided over him. Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers of the Temple went back to the chief priests who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man.” The Pharisees then said, “So you, too, have been led astray! Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? Only these cursed people, who have no knowledge of the Law!” Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, “Does our law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?” They replied, ...

Abstinence First Reading: Wisdom 2: 1, 12 - 22 Psalm 34 Gospel: John 7: 1 - 2, 10, 25 - 30 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: After this Jesus went around Galilee; he would not go about in Judea because the Jews wanted to kill him. Now the Jewish feast of the Tents was at hand. But after his brothers had gone to the festival, he also went up, not publicly but in secret. Some of the people of Jerusalem said, “Is this not the man they want to kill? And here he is speaking freely, and they don’t say a word to him? Can it be that the rulers know that this is really the Christ? Yet we know where this man comes from; but when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus announced in a loud voice in the Temple court where he was teaching, “You say that you know me and know where I come from! I have not come of myself; I was sent by the One who is true, and you don’t know him. I know him for I come from him and he sent me.” They would have arrested him...

First Reading: Exodus 32: 7 - 14 Psalm 106 Gospel: John 5: 31 - 47 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: If I bore witness to myself, my testimony would be worthless. But Another One is bearing witness to me and I know that his testimony is true when he bears witness to me. John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, but I do not seek such human testimony; I recall this for you, so that you may be saved. John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were willing to enjoy his light. But I have greater evidence than that of John – the works which the Father entrusted to me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness: the Father has sent me. Thus he who bears witness to me is the Father who sent me. You have never heard his voice and have never seen his likeness; then, as long as you do not believe his messenger, his word is not in you. You search in the Scriptures thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to me....

First Reading: Isaiah 49: 8 - 15 Psalm 145 Gospel: John 5: 17 - 30 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: Jesus replied, “My Father goes on working and so do I.” And the Jews tried all the harder to kill him, for Jesus not only broke the Sabbath observance, but also made himself equal with God, calling him his own Father. Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by himself, but only what he sees the Father do. And whatever he does, the Son also does. The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does; and he will show him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed. As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom he wills. In the same way the Father judges no one, for he has entrusted all judgment to the Son, and he wants all to honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever ignores the Son, ignores as well the Father who sent him. Truly, I say to you, anyone who hears my word and believes hi...

Saint Pedro Calungsod, Martyr Ezekiel 47: 1 - 9, 12 Psalm 46 John 5: 1 - 3, 5 - 16 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: After this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool (called Bethzatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people – blind, lame and paralyzed. There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him, and since he knew how long this man had been lying there, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” And the sick man answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; so while I am still on my way, another steps down before me.” Jesus then said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, “It is the Sabbath and the Law doesn’t ...

First Reading: Isaiah 65: 17 - 21 Psalm 30 Gospel: John 4: 43 - 54 Holy Gospel According to Saint John: When the two days were over, Jesus left for Galilee. Jesus himself said that no prophet is recognized in his own country. Yet the Galileans welcomed him when he arrived, because of all the things he had done in Jerusalem during the Festival and which they had seen. For they, too, had gone to the feast. Jesus went back to Cana of Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. At Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill, and when he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked him to come and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus said, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe!” The official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” And Jesus replied, “Go, your son is living.” The man had faith in the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. He was already going down the hilly road when his servants m...