← Prev Calendar Next →

First Sunday of Lent

Sunday Lent

Holy Day of Obligation

Mass Readings → Liturgy of the Hours →

Selected Mass Reading

First Reading — Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7

And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed. And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.

Feast Days

Margaret of Cortona
Margaret of Cortona Franciscan tertiary, Penitent, Mystic, Religious 1247–1297

Saint Margaret of Cortona was born in 1247 to farming parents in Laviano, near Perugia, in central Italy. Orphaned of her mother at seven and strained by life with a stepmother, she grew restless and, at seventeen, fled with a young nobleman. For nine years she lived as his mistress and bore him a son. When he was murdered, Margaret was shaken into conversion. Renouncing her former life, she returned seeking forgiveness, but was turned away; she then found refuge with the Franciscans in Cortona. There Margaret embraced a life of public penitence, prayer, and mercy. Received into the Third Order of Saint Francis in 1277, she became known for deep contemplation and a tender love for the poor and sick. She helped found a hospital for the homeless and infirm, gathered other women to serve, and formed a confraternity to support works of mercy. In her later years she lived in solitude and prayer near a small oratory, dying in Cortona on February 22, 1297. She is venerated especially as patroness of Camucia and Cortona, and of penitents and those in desperate need. Her feast day is February 22.