Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850–1917), born in Lombardy, founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and crossed the ocean to serve Italian immigrants in the United States. She built schools, hospitals, and orphanages, and became a citizen of the country she served. The United States keeps her obligatory memorial on 13 November as a daughter who became a mother to immigrants. Ask today for a missionary heart toward the stranger at our docks and doorways, and for houses of mercy that outlast a generation.
Original – Prayer on Fire.
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Gospel
Mass Lectionary · Gospel
Luke 17:26–37
Just as it happened in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of man.
They were eating and drinking; they were taking wives and being given in marriage, even until the day that Noah entered the ark. And the flood came and destroyed them all.
It shall be similar to what happened in the days of Lot. They were eating and drinking; they were buying and selling; they were planting and building.
Then, on the day that Lot departed from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and it destroyed them all.
According to these things, so shall it be in the day when the Son of man will be revealed.
In that hour, whoever will be on the rooftop, with his goods in the house, let him not descend to take them. And whoever will be in the field, similarly, let him not turn back.
Remember Lot’s wife.
Whoever has sought to save his life, will lose it; and whoever has lost it, will bring it back to life.
I say to you, in that night, there will be two in one bed. One will be taken up, and the other will be left behind.
Two will be at the grindstone together. One will be taken up, and the other will be left behind. Two will be in the field. One will be taken up, and the other will be left behind.”
Responding, they said to him, “Where, Lord?”
And he said to them, “Wherever the body will be, in that place also, the eagles shall be gathered together.”
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Prayer on Fire Gospel Lesson
As it was in the days of Noah, and in the days of Lot, so it will be when the Son of Man is revealed. They were eating, drinking, marrying, buying, planting, building, until the day. On that day, one will be taken and one left. Where the corpse is, there the vultures gather.
Where this sits
This continues the word to the disciples about the day. Ordinary life is the setting.
Ordinary until it is not
The judgment does not arrive after a pause in normal life. It arrives into eating and building. The ones taken and left are doing the same things. Readiness is not a different schedule. It is a different allegiance inside the ordinary day. The last line refuses a map. Do not ask where. Ask whether you are ready.
What to take
The day does not wait for you to finish the ordinary. Live the ordinary as one who knows it ends.
Original – Prayer on Fire
Gospel of the Day · Text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV) · Mass Lectionary · Gospel
The Mass of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini may also use this Gospel. (Matthew 28:16–20)
Optional memorial Gospel
Matthew 28:16–20
Now the eleven disciples went on to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And, seeing him, they worshipped him, but certain ones doubted.
And Jesus, drawing near, spoke to them, saying: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Therefore, go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have ever commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the age.”
Not the weekday Gospel of the day · Text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV) · Matthew 28:16–20
