Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs (Commemoration)

“Neither can I call myself by any other name 

than what I am — a Christian.”

~ Perpetua ~

Saints. Perpetua and Felicity were two young North African woman who chose to die as martyrs under the Roman empire for their Christian faith in the third century on on 7 March, 203. Their names are familiar to Catholics because Perpetua and Felicity are mentioned in the Eucharistic prayer of the Mass (Roman Canon of the Mass). Both women were mothers and highly respected members of their Christian community. Perpetua and Felicity bravely chose to separate themselves from their families in order to pursue what they saw as their destiny of martyrdom. Perpetua’s last words were to her brothers in the faith: “Stand fast in the faith and love one another.”

God will not leave us bereft, 

either of the Divine presence or 

of beloved ones to walk 

the difficult path with us. 

Prayer

God, Perpetua and Felicity faced fear with love, met cruelty with kindness, and encountered the unknown with arms wide open. As I struggle in life, help me to live each day as Perpetua and Felicity did: fearlessly and with knowledge that I am a child of God. AMEN. 

O God, at the urging of whose love the Martyrs Saints Perpetua and Felicity defied their persecutors and overcame the torment of earth, grant, we ask, by their prayers, that we may ever grow in your love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN.

Friday, 7 March, 2014
Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs (Commemoration)

Reading 1

Isaiah 58:1-9A
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!


Responsorial Psalm 

Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 18-19
R. (19b) 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.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
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.


Gospel 

Matthew 9:14-15
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”