Give thanks to the Lord, for his great love is without end.
Year: C(I). Psalm week: 3. Liturgical Colour: Green.
Other saints: Bl Archangela Girlani (1460-1495)
29 Jan (where celebrated)
Blessed Archangela Girlani was born Eleanor Girlani in 1460 at Trino, in northern Italy, to a noble family. At age seventeen, she, along with her two sisters, Maria and Frances, took the Carmelite habit in the monastery at Parma. Eleanor took the religious name Archangela. She later become prioress of the monastery at Parma, and then prioress at a new foundation at Mantua in 1492. She died at Mantua in January 1495 in her third year as prioress there. Apart from her role of service to the monasteries in which she was prioress, Archangela’s Carmelite life is remembered as one permeated by strivings in the mystical life of prayer. Her frequent prayer was “Jesus, my Love.”
Other saints: Bl. Villana de' Botti OP (1332 - 1361)
29 Jan (where celebrated)
Lay Dominican and Wife.
Blessed Villana, the daughter of a rich merchant, was born at Florence in 1332. She married the wealthy Pietro Benitendo and together with her husband lived a worldly life which their wealth sustained. Realizing the emptiness of her life, Villana went to the friars of Santa Maria Novella to confess her sins and ask for the habit of the sisters of Penance of St. Dominic. She took up the study of scripture and the contemplation of Christ crucified and drew other women to follow her example. She died on January 29, 1361.
About the author of the Second Reading in today's Office of Readings:
Second Reading: St Ignatius of Antioch (- 107)
He was the second bishop of Antioch after St Peter (the first being Evodius). He was arrested (some writers believe that he must have been denounced by a fellow-Christian), condemned to death, and transported to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. In one of his letters he describes the soldiers who were escorting him as being like “ten leopards, who when they are kindly treated only behave worse.”
In the course of his journey he wrote seven letters to various churches, in which he dealt wisely and deeply with Christ, the organisation of the Church, and the Christian life. They are important documents for the early history of the Church, and they also reveal a deeply holy man who accepts his fate and begs the Christians in Rome not to try to deprive him of the crown of martyrdom.
He was martyred in 107.
Liturgical colour: green
The theological virtue of hope is symbolized by the colour green, just as the burning fire of love is symbolized by red. Green is the colour of growing things, and hope, like them, is always new and always fresh. Liturgically, green is the colour of Ordinary Time, the orderly sequence of weeks through the year, a season in which we are being neither single-mindedly penitent (in purple) nor overwhelmingly joyful (in white).
| Mid-morning reading (Terce) | Romans 1:16-17 © |
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The power of God saves all who have faith – Jews first, but Greeks as well – since this is what reveals the justice of God to us: it shows how faith leads to faith, or as scripture says: The upright man finds life through faith.
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| Noon reading (Sext) | Romans 3:21-22 © |
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God’s justice that was made known through the Law and the Prophets has now been revealed outside the Law, since it is the same justice of God that comes through faith to everyone who believes.
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| Afternoon reading (None) | Ephesians 2:8-9 © |
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It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit.
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