Mass Readings for second Wednesday of Lent, Mar. 3, 2010

This is an open-book quiz; please take as much time as you need. You have unlimited chances to get it right. Don't forget to read about the life of the saint and answer that question also.
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  1. Reading I: Jeremiah 18:18-20 in the Old Testament of the Bible

    The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem said,
    “Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah.
    It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests,
    nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets.
    And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue;
    let us carefully note his every word.”

    Heed me, O LORD,
    and listen to what my adversaries say.
    Must good be repaid with evil
    that they should dig a pit to take my life?
    Remember that I stood before you
    to speak in their behalf,
    to turn away your wrath from them.



  1. Responsorial Psalm 31:5-6, 14, 15-16 in the Old Testament of the Bible

    R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
    You will free me from the snare they set for me,
    for you are my refuge.
    Into your hands I commend my spirit;
    you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
    R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
    I hear the whispers of the crowd, that frighten me from every side,
    as they consult together against me, plotting to take my life.
    R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
    But my trust is in you, O LORD;
    I say, “You are my God.”
    In your hands is my destiny; rescue me
    from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.
    R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.



  1. Gospel: Matthew 20:17-28 in the New Testament of the Bible

    As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,
    he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves,
    and said to them on the way,
    “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
    and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
    and the scribes,
    and they will condemn him to death,
    and hand him over to the Gentiles
    to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
    and he will be raised on the third day.”

    Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
    and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
    He said to her, “What do you wish?”
    She answered him,
    “Command that these two sons of mine sit,
    one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”
    Jesus said in reply,
    “You do not know what you are asking.
    Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
    They said to him, “We can.”
    He replied,
    “My chalice you will indeed drink,
    but to sit at my right and at my left,
    this is not mine to give
    but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
    When the ten heard this,
    they became indignant at the two brothers.
    But Jesus summoned them and said,
    “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
    and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
    But it shall not be so among you.
    Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
    whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
    Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
    and to give his life as a ransom for many.”



  1. St. Katherine Drexel (b. 1858--d.1955)

    If your father is an international banker and you ride in a private railroad car, you are not likely to be drawn into a life of voluntary poverty. But if your mother opens your home to the poor three days each week and your father spends half an hour each evening in prayer, it is not impossible that you will devote your life to the poor and give away millions of dollars. Katharine Drexel did that.
    She was born in Philadelphia in 1858. She had an excellent education and traveled widely. As a rich girl, she had a grand debut into society. But when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness, she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death, and her life took a profound turn.

    She had always been interested in the plight of the Indians, having been appalled by reading Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor. While on a European tour, she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O’Connor. The pope replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?” His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities.

    Back home, she visited the Dakotas, met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Indian missions.

    She could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O’Connor, she wrote in 1889, “The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.” Newspaper headlines screamed “Gives Up Seven Million!”

    After three and a half years of training, she and her first band of nuns (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored) opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations followed. By 1942 she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 states.

    Two saints met when she was advised by Mother Cabrini about the “politics” of getting her Order’s Rule approved in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic university in the United States for African Americans.

    At 77, she suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently her life was over. But now came almost 20 years of quiet, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations and meditation. She died at 96 and was canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.






Mrs. Moroles
Oratory Athenaeum
Pharr, TX