Andrew Dũng-Lạc and 116 companions, Vietnamese martyrs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were canonized as a company of bishops, priests, and lay faithful. They would not trample the Cross. The Church keeps their memorial on 24 November as a company, not a single hero. Farmers, mothers, and priests stood in the same confession. Ask today for the Church in Vietnam and for a faith that will not buy safety by denying the Name, whether in a village or in a city.
Original – Prayer on Fire.
Calendar
Today’s first reading is from the New Testament.
First reading
Mass – First Reading
Revelation 14:14–19
I saw, and behold, a white cloud. And upon the cloud was one sitting, resembling a son of man, having a crown of gold on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
And another Angel went forth from the temple, crying out in a great voice to the one sitting upon the cloud: “Send out your sickle and reap! For the hour of reaping has arrived, because the harvest of the earth has ripened.”
And the one who was sitting upon the cloud sent out his sickle to the earth, and the earth was reaped.
And another Angel went forth from the temple that is in heaven; he also had a sharp sickle.
And another Angel went forth from the altar, who held power over fire. And he cried out in a great voice to him who held the sharp sickle, saying: “Send out your sharp sickle, and harvest the clusters of grapes from the vineyard of the earth, because its grapes have matured.”
And the Angel sent out his sharp sickle to the earth, and he harvested the vineyard of the earth, and he cast it into the great basin of the wrath of God.
Text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV) · Mass – First Reading