Churches of the Day
Pictorial Thought for Today
Aug 14 - St Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) Franciscan martyr
Summary: St Maximilian Kolbe: priest, martyr. Born near Lódz (Poland) in 1894; died at Auschwitz. Oswiecim on this day in 1941. He was a Conventual Franciscan priest, used a printing press in Poland and in Japan to promote devotion to the Virgin Mary. He was interned in Auschwitz in 1941, endured hard labour, offered his life in place of a fellow prisoner who had a family to support, condemned to death by starvation and finally killed by lethal injection. He was noted for his energy, poverty, his compassionate ministry, and self-sacrifice.
St Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan friar who volunteered himself to take the place of a man who pleaded to be spared in a death cell in Auschwitz. He was also a missionary, an evangeliser and publicist of note.
Patrick Duffy tells his story.
Founded the Knights of the Immaculate
Raymond Kolbe was born of religious parents at Zdanska Wola near Lodz in Poland. As a teenager, he became a Conventual Franciscan taking the name Maximilian Mary. He was sent to Rome to study philosophy and theology and was ordained a priest there in 1919. He had a great devotion to Our Lady. Seeing the opposition to Popes Pius X and Benedict XIV he began a religious movement called the Militia Immaculata, or Knights of the Immaculate, and when he returned to Poland he built a religious complex on land given him by Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki just west of Warsaw, which he called the "City of the Immaculate", Niepokalonów. He also published a newspaper and started a radio station.
A Missionary in Japan and India
In 1930 Maximilian went as a missionary to Japan. Here he founded a monastery at the outskirts of Nagasaki, an evangelising newspaper in Japanese and a seminary.
The monastery he founded remains prominent in the Roman Catholic Church in Japan. Kolbe decided to build it on a mountain side that, according to Shinto beliefs, was not the side best suited to be in tune with nature. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Kolbe’s monastery was saved because the blast of the bomb hit the other side of the mountain, which took the main force of the blast. Had Kolbe built the monastery on the preferred side of the mountain as he was advised, his work and all of his fellow monks would have been destroyed. A similar venture started in India did not continue through lack of personnel.
Return to Poland
Due to ill health Kolbe returned to Poland in 1936 to become superior of the religious complex at Niepokalonów with some 762 priests and brother friars. When the war started in 1939 he provided shelter for refugees, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi persecution. On February 17, 1941 he was arrested by the German Gestapo and later transferred to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz August 1941
In July 1941 a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, prompting the deputy camp commander to pick 10 men from the same barracks to be starved to death in a cell in Block 13 (notorious for torture), in order to deter further escape attempts. (The man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.) One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, saying he had a family, Kolbe moved by his pleas, volunteered to take his place. He was allowed to do so.
"A Saint without Relics!"
During the time in the starvation cell he led the men in songs and prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others were still alive. Finally he was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid. When this story and the cremation of his body was reported to the Auschwitz commandant, a former Catholic, he laughed, saying, "A saint without relics!"
Canonisation
The man Kolbe had stood in for, Franciszek Gajowniczek, survived the concentration camp, but found that his teenage sons had died in the Warsaw uprising at the end of the war and his wife never recovered from the death of her children. He went to the Knights of the Immaculate to tell them what Father Kolbe had done for him. His testimony started the process of canonisation. He was present at Maximilian's beatification by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and at his canonisation by Pope John Paul II in 1982.
A 20th Century Martyr
At his canonisation Maximilian Kolbe was proclaimed a martyr, which strictly speaking is not correct, since he was not put to death in odium fidei ("out of hatred of the faith"). He is one of ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world whose statues stand above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, London. After his canonization in 1982 St. Maximilian Kolbe’s feast day was included on 14th August in the General Roman Calendar used of the Roman rite of the Catholic Liturgy (ordinary form).
P.S.
(Here is a commemorative song by Fr Kevin McGee, called Maximilian Kolbe. It is well worth checking on, copying and googling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1EsJdJz2lQ
St Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan friar who volunteered himself to take the place of a man who pleaded to be spared in a death cell in Auschwitz. He was also a missionary, an evangeliser and publicist of note.Patrick Duffy tells his story.
Founded the Knights of the Immaculate
Raymond Kolbe was born of religious parents at Zdanska Wola near Lodz in Poland. As a teenager, he became a Conventual Franciscan taking the name Maximilian Mary. He was sent to Rome to study philosophy and theology and was ordained a priest there in 1919. He had a great devotion to Our Lady. Seeing the opposition to Popes Pius X and Benedict XIV he began a religious movement called the Militia Immaculata, or Knights of the Immaculate, and when he returned to Poland he built a religious complex on land given him by Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki just west of Warsaw, which he called the "City of the Immaculate", Niepokalonów. He also published a newspaper and started a radio station.
A Missionary in Japan and India
In 1930 Maximilian went as a missionary to Japan. Here he founded a monastery at the outskirts of Nagasaki, an evangelising newspaper in Japanese and a seminary.
The monastery he founded remains prominent in the Roman Catholic Church in Japan. Kolbe decided to build it on a mountain side that, according to Shinto beliefs, was not the side best suited to be in tune with nature. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Kolbe’s monastery was saved because the blast of the bomb hit the other side of the mountain, which took the main force of the blast. Had Kolbe built the monastery on the preferred side of the mountain as he was advised, his work and all of his fellow monks would have been destroyed. A similar venture started in India did not continue through lack of personnel.
Return to Poland
Due to ill health Kolbe returned to Poland in 1936 to become superior of the religious complex at Niepokalonów with some 762 priests and brother friars. When the war started in 1939 he provided shelter for refugees, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi persecution. On February 17, 1941 he was arrested by the German Gestapo and later transferred to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz August 1941
In July 1941 a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, prompting the deputy camp commander to pick 10 men from the same barracks to be starved to death in a cell in Block 13 (notorious for torture), in order to deter further escape attempts. (The man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.) One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, saying he had a family, Kolbe moved by his pleas, volunteered to take his place. He was allowed to do so."A Saint without Relics!"During the time in the starvation cell he led the men in songs and prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others were still alive. Finally he was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid. When this story and the cremation of his body was reported to the Auschwitz commandant, a former Catholic, he laughed, saying, "A saint without relics!"
Canonisation
The man Kolbe had stood in for, Franciszek Gajowniczek, survived the concentration camp, but found that his teenage sons had died in the Warsaw uprising at the end of the war and his wife never recovered from the death of her children. He went to the Knights of the Immaculate to tell them what Father Kolbe had done for him. His testimony started the process of canonisation. He was present at Maximilian's beatification by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and at his canonisation by Pope John Paul II in 1982.
A 20th Century Martyr
At his canonisation Maximilian Kolbe was proclaimed a martyr, which strictly speaking is not correct, since he was not put to death in odium fidei ("out of hatred of the faith"). He is one of ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world whose statues stand above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, London. After his canonization in 1982 St. Maximilian Kolbe’s feast day was included on 14th August in the General Roman Calendar used of the Roman rite of the Catholic Liturgy (ordinary form).P.S.
(Here is a commemorative song by Fr Kevin McGee, called Maximilian Kolbe. It is well worth checking on, copying and googling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1EsJdJz2lQ
******************************
Memorable Proverb for Today
There ain’t no hell or prison cell where hope can’t enter in.
~Song for Kolbe~
******************************
Liturgical Readings for: Friday, 14th August, 2026
Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2
Saint of the Day: Aug 14 – St Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr
C/f A short look at this saint’s life can be found below today's Readings and Reflection.
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel 16:1-15. 60. 63
You were perfect in beauty because I had clothed you with my own splendour;
and you have made yourself a prostitute.
The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, '
Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her filthy crimes.
Say, "The Lord says this:
By origin and birth you belong to the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. At birth, the very day you were born, there was no one to cut your navel-string, or wash you in cleansing water, or rub you with salt, or wrap you in napkins. No one leaned kindly over you to do anything like that for you. You were exposed in the open fields; you were as unloved as that on the day you were born.
I saw you struggling in your blood as I was passing, and I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live, and grow like the grass of the fields.You developed, you grew, you reached marriageable age. Your breasts and your hair both grew, but you were quite naked. Then I saw you as I was passing. Your time had come, the time for love. I spread part of my cloak over you and covered your nakedness;
I bound myself by oath, I made a covenant with you - it is the Lord who speaks - and you became mine. I bathed you in water, I washed the blood off you, I anointed you with oil. I gave you embroidered dresses, fine leather shoes, a linen headband and a cloak of silk. I loaded you with jewels, gave you bracelets for your wrists and a necklace for your throat. I gave you nose-ring and earrings; I put a beautiful diadem on your head. You were loaded with gold and silver, and dressed in fine linen and embroidered silks. Your food was the finest flour, honey and oil. You grew more and more beautiful; and you rose to be queen. The fame of your beauty spread through the nations, since it was perfect, because I had clothed you with my own splendour - it is the Lord who speaks.
You have become infatuated with your own beauty; you have used your fame to make yourself a prostitute; you have offered your services to all comers... but I will remember the covenant that I made with you when you were a girl, and I will conclude a covenant with you that shall last for ever. and so remember and be covered with shame, and in your confusion be reduced to silence, when I have pardoned you for all that you have done - it is the Lord who speaks."'
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
_______________________________
Alternative First Reading:
A reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel 16:59- 63
I will remember the covenant that I made: with you and you will be in covered with shame.
The Lord says this:
“Jerusalem, I will treat you as you deserve, you who have despised your oath even to the extent of breaking a covenant, but I will remember the covenant that I made with you when you were a girl, and I will conclude a covenant with you that shall last for ever. And you for your part will remember your past behaviour and be covered with shame when I take your elder and younger sisters and make them your daughters, although this was not included in this covenant. I am going to renew my covenant with you; and you will learn that I am the Lord, and so remember and be covered with shame, and in your confusion be reduced to silence, when I have pardoned you for all that you have done - it is the Lord who speaks."'
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
_______________________________
Responsorial Psalm Is 12: 2-6 r/ v1
Response Your anger has passed, O Lord, and you give me comfort.
1. Truly, God is my salvation, I trust, I shall not fear.
For the Lord is my strength, my song, he became my saviour. Response
2. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Give thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name!
Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples! Response
3. Declare the greatness of his name, sing a psalm to the Lord!
For he has done glorious deeds, make them known to all the earth!
People of Zion, sing and shout for joy
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 110: 7. 8
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your precepts, O Lord, are all of them sure; they stand firm for ever and ever.
Alleluia!
or 1Thess 2: 13
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God's message it for what it really is,
God's message and not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 19:3-12 Glory to you, O Lord
You were so unteachable that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning.
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and to test him they said,'Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?'
He answered, 'Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female and that he said: This is why a man must leave father and mother, and cling to his wife, and the two become one body? They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide'.
They said to him, 'Then why did Moses command that a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce?'
'It was because you were so unteachable' he said 'that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. Now I say this to you: the man who divorces his wife - I am not speaking of fornication - and marries another, is guilty of adultery.'
The disciples said to him, 'If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry'.
But he replied
'It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted.
There are eunuchs born that way from their mother's womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
Let anyone accept this who can.'
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
********************
Gospel Reflection Friday Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 19:3-12
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus turns to the opening chapters of the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, when he is put on the spot by some Pharisees regarding the question of divorce. The Jewish law made provision for divorce. The only issue of debate among the religious leaders was the grounds for divorce. One school of thought favoured very lenient grounds; another school insisted on much stricter grounds. However, both schools followed the Jewish Law in asserting that it was only the man who could initiate divorce proceedings, whatever the grounds. The woman was not free to do the same. The divorce laws gave a freedom to men that it did not give to women, and it left women very vulnerable to being cut adrift by their husbands, for the flimsiest of reasons.
In that context, Jesus’ teaching on marriage was intended to protect women. It reminded men of their obligation to love and honour their wives as they would their own body. Jesus went back beyond what the Jewish law allowed to God’s original intention as expressed in the Book of Genesis, according to which husband and wife are to become one in love, faithful to each other all the days of their lives. It is a wonderful vision for married life and, yet, we all know from experiences that people’s marriages don’t always reflect this vision of Jesus. Jesus has a desire for all our lives, whether we are married or single; it is that we would love one another as he loves us. We don’t always live out of that vision of Jesus, but it is always worth striving towards, and if we open ourselves to the help of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord’ love, we will manage to give expression to this vision, at least from time to time.
________________________________
The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings: The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
________________
Saint of the Day: Aug 14 – St Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr
Maximilian was born near Lódz (Poland) in 1894; died at Auschwitz on this day in 1941. He was a Conventual Franciscan priest, used a printing press in Poland and in Japan to promote devotion to the Virgin Mary. He was interned in Auschwitz in 1941, endured hard labour, offered his life in place of a fellow prisoner who had a family to support, condemned to death by starvation and finally killed by lethal injection. He was noted for his energy, poverty, his compassionate ministry, and self-sacrifice.
St Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan friar who volunteered himself to take the place of a man who pleaded to be spared in a death cell in Auschwitz. He was also a missionary, an evangeliser and publicist of note.Patrick Duffy tells his story.
Founded the Knights of the Immaculate
Raymond Kolbe was born of religious parents at Zdanska Wola near Lodz in Poland, As a teenager, he became a Conventual Franciscan taking the names Maximilian Mary. He had a great devotion to Our Lady. He was sent to Rome to study philosophy and theology and was ordained a priest there in 1919. Seeing the opposition to Popes Pius X and Benedict XIV he began a religious movement called the Militia Immaculata, or Knights of the Immaculate, and when he returned to Poland he built a religious complex on land given him by Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki just west of Warsaw, which he called the "City of the Immaculate", Niepokalonów. He also published a newspaper and started a radio station.
A Missionary in Japan and India
[caption id="attachment_84555" align="alignright" width="272"]
With little money and no knowledge of Japanese, St. Maximilian and four brothers travelled to Nagasaki, Japan, where they began their missionary work teaching children.[/caption]In 1930 Maximilian went as a missionary to Japan. Here he founded a monastery at the outskirts of Nagasaki, an evangelising newspaper in Japanese and a seminary.
The monastery he founded remains prominent in the Roman Catholic Church in Japan. Kolbe decided to build it on a mountain side that, according to Shinto beliefs, was not the side best suited to be in tune with nature. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Kolbe’s monastery was saved because the blast of the bomb hit the other side of the mountain, which took the main force of the blast. Had Kolbe built the monastery on the preferred side of the mountain as he was advised, his work and all of his fellow monks would have been destroyed. A similar venture started in India did not continue through lack of personnel.
Return to Poland
Due to ill health Kolbe returned to Poland in 1936 to become superior of the religious complex at Niepokalonów with some 762 priests and brother friars. When the war started in 1939 he provided shelter for refugees, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi persecution. On February 17, 1941 he was arrested by the German Gestapo and later transferred to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz August 1941
In July 1941 a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, prompting the deputy camp commander to pick 10 men from the same barracks to be starved to death in a cell in Block 13 (notorious for torture), in order to deter further escape attempts. (The man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.) One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, saying he had a family, Kolbe moved by his pleas, volunteered to take his place. He was allowed to do so."A Saint without Relics!"During the time in the starvation cell he led the men in songs and prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others were still alive. Finally he was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid. When this story and the cremation of his body was reported to the Auschwitz commandant, a former Catholic, he laughed, saying, "A saint without relics!"
Canonisation
The man Kolbe had stood in for, Franciszek Gajowniczek, survived the concentration camp, but found that his teenage sons had died in the Warsaw uprising at the end of the war and his wife never recovered from the death of her children. He went to the Knights of the Immaculate to tell them what Father Kolbe had done for him. His testimony started the process of canonisation. He was present at Maximilian's beatification by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and at his canonisation by Pope John Paul II in 1982.
A 20th Century Martyr
At his canonisation Maximilian Kolbe was proclaimed a martyr, which strictly speaking is not correct, since he was not put to death in odium fidei ("out of hatred of the faith"). He is one of ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world whose statues stand above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, London. After his canonization in 1982 St. Maximilian Kolbe’s feast day was included on 14th August in the General Roman Calendar used of the Roman rite of the Catholic Liturgy (ordinary form).P.S. (Here is a commemorative song the 'Song for Kolbe' by Fr Kevin McGee, called Maximilian Kolbe. It is well worth checking on, copying and googling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1EsJdJz2lQ
******************************
Memorable Proverb for Today
There ain’t no hell or prison cell where hope can’t enter in.
~Song for Kolbe~
******************************
Liturgical Readings for: Friday, 14th August, 2026
CÉAD LÉACHT Sliocht as Leabhar Ezícéal, Fáidh. 16:1-15, 60. 63
Craoladh clú do scéimhe ar fud na gciníocha
Tháinig briathar an Tiarna chugam arís:
“A mhic an duine, cuir in iúl a himeachtaígránna do Iarúsailéim. Abair:
Seo mar a deir an Tiarna Dia le Iarúsailéim:
Is de thír na gCanánach do bhunadh agus do bhreith; ba Amórach d’athair agus Hiteach do?mháthair. Ar bhreith duit, ar lá do bhreithe féin, níor gearradh d’imleacán, níor níodh in uisce thú le do ghlanadh; níor sailleadh thú ná níor cuireadh i gcrios ceangail thú. Níor?dhearc aon duine ort le trua duit, le haon ghníomh trócaire díobh seo a dhéanamh duit;?teilgeadh amach thú ar an mblár folamh i d’ábhar déistine an lá a rugadh thú.
Ar ghabháil tharat dom agus tú a fheiceáil i do chróluí féin, dúirt mé leat agus an?fhuil umat: ‘Mair, agus fás amhail féar na páirce.’ D’fhás tú, mhéadaigh agus tháinig ann?duit; bhí do chíocha cumtha agus do ghruaig fásta, ach bhí tú lom tarnocht go fóill.
Arghabháil tharat arís dom d’amharc mé ort. Bhí tú aibí chun grá; leath mé beann mo?chlóca ort agus chlúdaigh do tharnochtacht: sea, thug mé mionn duit, chuaigh mé i?gconradh leat – an Tiarna Dia a labhraíonn – agus ba liomsa thú.
Ansin nigh mé thú le?huisce, nigh mé fós do fhuil uait agus chuir mé ola ort. Thug mé éadach bróidnéirithe?duit, bróga leathair, filéad lín agus clóca síoda. Sciamhaigh mé thú le hornáidí, le?bráisléid thar chaolta do lámh agus slabhra faoi do mhuineál. Chuir mé fáinne ar do shrón, cluasfháinní ar do chluasa agus coróin niamhrach ar do cheann. Mar sin a?maisíodh thú le hór agus le hairgead. Ba de líon mín agus de shíoda bróidnéirithe do?chuid éadaí; plúr mín, mil agus ola a bhí mar bhia agat. D’éirigh tú an-sciamhach agus tháinig tú in inmhe banríona. Craoladh clú do scéimhe ar fud na gciníocha, óir bhí sí foirfe de thairbhe na niamhrachta a bhronn mise ort
– an Tiarna Dia a labhraíonn.
“Ach d’éirigh tú teann as clú d’áilleachta; bhain tú feidhm as do chlú le haghaidh striapachais agus dhoirt tú do dhrúis amach ar chách a chuaigh an bealach.
Ach cuimhneoidh mise ar an gconradh a rinne mé leat nuair a bhí tú óg, agus bunóidh mé conradh leat a mhairfidh go deo. ionas go mba chuimhin leat agus go gcuirfí cotadh ort agus go gcuirfí i do thost go deo thú de bharr do náire, nuair a mhaithfidh mise duit a bhfuil déanta agat – an Tiarna Dia a labhraíonn.”
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
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Malairt Léacta Gearr
Sliocht as Leabhar Ezícéal, Fáidh 16:59-63
Cuimhneoidh tú ansin ar do ghníomhartha agus beidh náire ort.
“Seo mar a deir an Tiarna Dia:
Sea, roinnfidh mé leat mar atá tuillte agat, tusa a mhaslaigh an gealltanas nuair a bhris tú an conradh; ach cuimhneoidh mise ar an gconradh a rinne mé leat nuair a bhí tú óg, agus bunóidh mé conradh leat a mhairfidh go deo. Cuimhneoidh tú ansin ar do ghníomhartha agus beidh náire ort nuair a ghlacfaidh mé do dheirfiúracha, an sinsear agus an t-óg, lena mbronnadh ort mar iníonacha, cé nach den chonradh leat é seo. Daingneoidh mé mo chonradh leat agus tuigfidh tú gur mise an Tiarna, ionas go mba chuimhin leat agus go gcuirfí cotadh ort agus go gcuirfí i do thostt go deo thú de bharr do náire, nuair a mhaithfidh mise duit a bhfuil déanta aga –an Tiarna Dia a labhraíonn.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
____________________________________
Salm le Freagra Is 12: 2-6. R/v 1
Freagra Tá d’fhearg síothlaithe, a Thiarna agus thug tú sólás dom
1. An bhfeiceann sibh, is é Dia mo shlánaitheoir, tá muinín agam agus nílim eaglach níos mó,
óir is é an Tiarna mo neart agus mo cheol; is é mo shlánú é.” Freagra
2. Agus beidh sibh ag tarraingt uisce go lúcháireach as toibreacha an tslánaithe.
“Tugaigí buíochas don Tiarna, glaoigí air ina ainm! Fógraígí a éachtaí don phobal. Freagra
3. Meabhraígí gurb oirirc dá ainm. Canaigí don Tiarna, óir tá iontais déanta aige;
ní mór iad a fhoilsiú ar fud an domhain iomláin. Gáirigí le háthas agus liúirigí,
sibhse a bhfuil cónaí oraibh i Síón, óir is mór le rá é in bhur measc Neach Naofa Iosrael.” Freagra
SOISCÉAL
Go raibh an Tiarna libh. Agus le do spiorad féin
Sliocht as an Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Matha 19:3-12 Glóir duit, a Thiarna.
Is de dheasca bhur gcroí a bheith stuacach,” ar seisean leo, “a thug Maois cead daoibh bhur mná a scaoileadh uaibh; ach ní mar sin a bhí ó thús.
San am sin tháinig Fairisínigh chuig Íosa agus dúradar leis, ag baint trialach as:“An dleathach do dhuine a bhean a scaoileadh uaidh ar gach uile shórt cúise?”
D’fhreagair sé agus dúirt:
“Nár léigh sibh go ndearna an Cruthaitheoir ó thús iad fireann agus baineann agus go ndúirt: ‘Mar gheall air sin, fágfaidh duine a athair agus a mháthair chun bheith go dlúth i bpáirt lena bhean, agus aon cholainn amháin a bheidh sa bheirt acu.’ Dá réir sin, ní beirt iad feasta ach aon cholainn amháin. Dá bhrí sin, an ní a cheangail Dia ná scaoileadh duine é.”
Dúirt siad leis:
“Cén fáth, más ea, ar ordaigh Maois litir idirscartha a thabhairt le linn í a scaoileadh?”
“Is de dheasca bhur gcroí a bheith stuacach,” ar seisean leo, “a thug Maois cead daoibh bhur mná a scaoileadh uaibh; ach ní mar sin a bhí ó thús. Ach deirimse libh, duine ar bith a scaoileann uaidh a bhean agus nach de dheasca striapachais é, agus a phósann bean eile, déanann sé adhaltranas, agus an té a phósann bean a scaoileadh, déanann sé adhaltranas.”
Dúirt na deisceabail leis: “Más amhlaidh sin atá an scéal ag an bhfear i leith na mná, is fearr gan pósadh.”
Dúirt sé leo:
“Ní hé gach aon duine a ghabhann an chaint sin chuige, ach an mhuintir dá bhfuil sé tugtha.
Óir tá coillteáin ann ar mar sin a tháinig siad as broinn a máthar,
agus tá coillteáin ann ar ag daoine a coilleadh iad,
agus tá coillteáin ann arb iad féin a choill iad féin ar son ríocht na bhflaitheas.
Gabhadh chuige an té a fhéadann!”
Soiscéal an Tiarna. Moladh duit, a Chriost
AN BÍOBLA NAOFA
© An Sagart
Liturgical Readings for: Sunday, 16th August, 2026
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah 56:1. 6-7
I will bring foreigners to my holy mountain
Thus says the Lord:Have a care for justice, act with integrity, for soon my salvation will come and my integrity be manifest.
Foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love his name and be his servants - all who observe the sabbath, not profaning it, and cling to my covenant - these I will bring to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their holocausts and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 66: 2-3. 5-6. 8. R/v 4
Response Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
1. O God, be gracious and bless us and let your face shed its light upon us
So will your ways be known upon earth and all nations learn your saving help. Response
2. Let the nations be glad and exult for you rule the world with justice.
With fairness you rule the peoples, you guide the nations on earth. Response
3. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
May God still give us his blessing. till the ends of the earth revere him. Response
SECOND READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans 11:13-15. 29-32
With Israel, God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice.
Let me tell you pagans this:
I have been sent to the pagans as their apostle, and I am proud of being sent, but the purpose of it is to make my own people
envious of you, and in this way save some of them. Since their rejection meant the reconciliation of the world, do you know what their admission will mean? Nothing less than a resurrection from the dead! God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice.Just as you changed from being disobedient to God, and now enjoy mercy because of their disobedience, so those who are disobedient now - and only because of the mercy shown to you - will also enjoy mercy eventually. God has imprisoned all men in their own disobedience only to show mercy to all mankind.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation Jn 10: 27
Alleluia, alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord,
I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
or Ps 129: 5
Alleluia, alleluia!
My Soul is waiting on the Lord, I count on his word
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 15:21-28 Glory to you, O Lord
Woman, you have great faith.
Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting,'Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.'
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. 'Give her what she wants,' they said 'because she is shouting after us.'
He said in reply, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel'.
But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. 'Lord,' she said 'help me.'
He replied, 'It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the house-dogs'.
She retorted, 'Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master's table'.
Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.'
And from that moment her daughter was well again.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here: https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/
Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966, by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.
Liturgical Readings for: Sunday, 16th August, 2026
CÉAD LÉACHT Sliocht as an Leabhar Íseáia, Fáidh 56:1. 6-7
Déanfaidh mé clanf na n-eachtranrdch a chinnireacht go dtí shliabh beannaithe.
Seo mar a deir an Tiarna:Coinnígí an ceart, cleachtaigí an fhíréantacht, óir tá m’fhuascailt ar tí teacht agus m’fhíréantacht ar tí a foilsithe.
Agus clann na n-eachtrannach chomh maith, a chloígh leis an Tiarna chun fónamh dó, chun grá a thabhairt d’ainm an Tiarna agus chun bheith ina seirbhísigh aige, iad siúd uile a choinníonn an tsabóid gan truailliú agus a chloíonn go docht le mo chonradh, déanfaidh mé a gcinnireacht go dtí mo shliabh beannaithe. Tabharfaidh mé aoibhneas dóibh i mo theach urnaí. Glacfar air m’altóir lena dtabhartais loiscthe agus lena n-íobairtí, óir gairfear de mo theachsa teach urnaí na gciníocha go léir.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Salm le Freagra Sm 66: 2-3. 5-6. 8. R/v 4
Freagra Go mola na ciníocha thú, a Dhia; go mola na ciníocha go léir thú.
1. Bí trócaireach linn, a Dhia, agus beannaigh sinn; taispeáin duinn solas do ghnúise,
chun go n-aithnítear do shlí ar talamhagus do shlánú i measc na náisiún uile. Freagra
2. Go nd’eana na náisiúin lúcháir agus gairdeas toisc go rialaíonn tú an domhan go fíréanta.
Rialaíonn tú na ciníocha le cothromas; treoraíonn tú na náisiún ar talamh. Freagra
3. Go mola na ciníocha thú, a Dhia; go mola na ciníocha go léir thú.
Go mbeannaí ar nDia i gcónaí sinn, is gurb eagal Ie críocha na cruinne ‘e. Freagra
DARA LÉACHT
Sliocht as Litir Naomh Pól chuig na Rómhánaigh 11:13-15. 29-32
Ní cús alféala choiche do Dhia a thíolaicí ná an rogha a bhíonn déanta aige.
Tá rud le rá agam libhse, a ghintlithe:
Sa mhéid gurb aspal na ngintlithe mé, is ag méadú m’fheidhmeannais a bheidh mé le mo chine féin a spreagadh
iomaíochta agus cuid éigin acu a shlánú. Mar, má tugadh an domhan chun athmhuintearais trína gcaitheamh amach, cad a thiocfaidh dá nglacadh ar ais ach beatha ó mhairbh? mar ní cúis aiféala choíche do Dhia a thíolacthaí ná an rogha a bhíonn déanta aige.Bhí sibhse tráth easumhal do Dhia ach tá trócaire déanta anois oraibh trína n-easumhlaíochtsan. Is é an dála céanna acu siúd é: tá siadsan éirithe easumhal anois nuair atá trócaire déanta oraibhse chun go ndéanfaí trócaire orthu chomh maith. Mar chuir Dia an uile dhuine i ngeibheann san easumhlaíocht d’fhonn trócaire a dhéanamh orthu uile.
Briathar an Tiarna Buíochas le Dia
Alleluia Véarsa Eo 10: 27
Alleluia,alleluia!
Éisteann mo chaoirigh le mo ghlór, a deir an Tiarna
agus aithním iad, agus leanann siad mé.
Alleluia!
SOISCÉAL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
Sliocht as Soiscéal naofa de réir Naomh Mhatha 15:21-28 Glory to you, O Lord
Ó, is mór é do chreideamh, a bhean!
San am sin chuaigh Íosa i leataobh go dtí ceantar na Tuíre agus Shíodóine. Agus bhí bean Chanánach a tháinig amach as na críocha sin agus thosaigh sí ag glaoch os ard: “Déan trócaire orm, a Thiarna, a mhic Dháiví,” ar sise, “tá iníon agam agus í á crá go géar ag deamhan.”Ach ní dúirt Íosa focal ar bith á freagairt. Tháinig a dheisceabail chuige agus bhí siad ag impí air: “Scaoil uait í,” ar siad, “tá sí ag glaoch inár ndiaidh.”
D’fhreagair agus dúirt: “Níor cuireadh mé ach amháin go dtí caoirigh caillte theaghlach Iosrael.” Ach tháinig an bhean agus d’fhan ar a dhá glúin ina láthair:
“A Thiarna,” ar sise, “fóir orm.”
D’fhreagair agus dúirt: “Níl sé oiriúnach arán na leanaí a thógáil agus é a chaitheamh chun na gcoileán.”
Dúirt sise: “Cinnte, a Thiarna, agus itheann na coileáin féin na grabhróga a thiteann ó bhord a máistrí.”
Ansin dúirt Íosa léi á freagairt: “Ó, is mór é do chreideamh, a bhean! Bíodh agat mar is áil leat.”
Agus bhí a hiníon leigheasta ón nóiméad sin.
Soiscéal an Tiarna. Moladh duit, a Chriost
AN BÍOBLA NAOFA
© An Sagart
