Friday, 8 February, 2008
FRIDAY AFTER AS WEDNESDAY (III)
Day of fast and abstinence.

Collect: Further with Thy gracious favour, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the fasts which we have begun: that the bodily observance which we keep, we may be able also to practice with sincere intention. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Lesson: From the Prophet Isaias, 58:1-9.
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, 5:43-48; 6:1-4.

ST. JOHN OF MATHA, Confessor (Comm.)
"With St. Felix of Valois, St. John founded the Order of the Trinitarians for the ransoming of captives who had fallen into the hands of the Mohammedans. He died in A.D. 1213."

Collect: O God, who through St. John didst from heaven deign to institute the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for ransoming captives from the power of the Saracens: help us through his merits, we beseech Thee, to freedom from bondage of body and of souls. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Lesson: From the Book of Ecclesiasticus, 31:8-11.
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke, 12:35-40.

Remarks are abstracted from The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual, from Editio Typica of the Roman Missal and Breviary, 1962
(Baronius Press Limited, London, 2004, in conjunction with the Fraternal Society of St. Peter, www.baroniuspress.com)