Mass Readings for first Wednesday of Lent, Feb. 24, 2010

Read the Bible passages below carefully and also the story of the life of the saint for this week. Then answer all the questions. This is an open book quiz; therefore, you may open a second screen with the quiz and check your answers as you take the quiz.
Name: 


  1. Reading I: The book of the prophet Jonah 3:1-10 in the Old Testament

    The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
    “Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
    and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”
    So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
    according to the LORD’s bidding.
    Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
    it took three days to go through it.
    Jonah began his journey through the city,
    and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,
    “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,”
    when the people of Nineveh believed God;
    they proclaimed a fast
    and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
    When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
    he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
    covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
    Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
    by decree of the king and his nobles:
    “Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
    shall taste anything;
    they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
    Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
    every man shall turn from his evil way
    and from the violence he has in hand.
    Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
    so that we shall not perish.”
    When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
    he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
    he did not carry it out.


  1. Responsorial Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19 in the Old Testament

    R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
    Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
    in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
    Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
    and of my sin cleanse me.
    R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
    A clean heart create for me, O God,
    and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
    Cast me not out from your presence,
    and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
    R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
    For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
    should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
    My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
    a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
    R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.


  1. Gospel Reading: Luke 11:29-32 in the New Testament

    While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
    “This generation is an evil generation;
    it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
    except the sign of Jonah.
    Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
    so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
    At the judgment
    the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
    and she will condemn them,
    because she came from the ends of the earth
    to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
    and there is something greater than Solomon here.
    At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
    and condemn it,
    because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
    and there is something greater than Jonah here.”


  1. Saint Polycarp
    Feast day: February 23

    Imagine being able to sit at the feet of the apostles and hear their stories of life with Jesus from their own lips. Imagine walking with those who had walked with Jesus, seen him, and touched him. That was what Polycarp, who lived in the first part of the second century after Jesus, was able to do as a disciple of Saint John the Evangelist, one of Jesus' twelve Apostles.

    After St. John, the last of the apostles, died, heresies (false teachings) sprang up pretending to be true teaching.

    Polycarp, who became bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor, found there was only one answer-- to be true to the life of Jesus and imitate that life. When faced with the heresy (false teaching) of Marcion, who taught that there are two Gods in the Bible: the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, Polycarp denounced Marcion, calling him "the son of Satan."


    Polycarp faced persecution the way Christ did. One day, during a bloody martyrdom when Christians were attacked by wild animals in the arena, the crowd became so mad that they demanded more blood by crying, "Down with the atheists; let Polycarp be found." (The crowd considered Christians "atheists" because they didn't believe in the Roman pantheon of gods.)

    Obeying Jesus' direction to avoid persecution if possible, Polycarp hid at a nearby farm. He spent his time in prayer for people he knew and for the Church. During his prayer, he saw a vision of his pillow turned to fire and announced to his friends that the dream meant he would be burned alive. As the search closed in, he moved to another farm, but the police discovered he was there by torturing two boys. He had a little warning since he was upstairs in the house, but he decided to stay, saying, "God's will be done."

    Then he went downstairs, talked to his captors and fed them a meal. All he asked of them was that they give him an hour to pray. Many of his captors started to wonder why they were arresting this holy, eighty-six-year-old bishop.

    But that didn't stop them from taking him into the arena on the Sabbath. As he entered the arena, the crowd roared like the animals they cheered. But those around Polycarp heard a voice from heaven above the crowd, "Be brave, Polycarp, and act like a man."

    The proconsul begged the eighty-six-year-old bishop to give in because of his age. Polycarp answered, Let me tell you plainly, I am a Christian." The proconsul then told him he would be burned alive.

    When he was tied up to be burned, Polycarp prayed, "Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of you, God of angels and powers, of the whole creation and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your sight, I bless you, for having made me worthy of this day and hour, I bless you, because I may have a part, along with the martyrs, in the chalice of your Christ, to resurrection in eternal life. Amen."

    The fire was lit as Polycarp said Amen and then the eyewitnesses who reported it said they saw a miracle. The fire burst up in an arch around Polycarp, the flames surrounding him like sails, and instead of being burned, he seemed to glow like bread baking, or gold being melted in a furnace. When the captors saw he wasn't being burned, they stabbed him. But the blood that flowed put the fire out.

    The proconsul ordered Polycarp's body burned, but afterwards, the Christians stole his bones in order to celebrate the memory of his martyrdom and prepare others for persecution. The date was about February 23, 156 a.d.







Mrs. Moroles
Oratory Athenaeum
Pharr, TX