Our Lady of Mount Carmel

optional memorial Ordinary Time

Selected Mass Reading

First Reading — Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19

The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to walk in. And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul. My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice. Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us. Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them. As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord. We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen. Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.

Feast Days

Reineldis
Reineldis Virgin, Martyr, Religious figure 630–680

Saint Reineldis was born around 630 in Condacum, identified with either Condé-sur-l’Escaut or Kontich, into a noble and deeply Christian family. She was the daughter of Duke Witger of Lotharingia and Saint Amalberga of Maubeuge, and sister to several holy siblings, including Emebert, a priest of Cambrai. Drawn early to God, Reineldis made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, praying in Jerusalem and returning with a heart more firmly set on Christ. Back in her homeland, she lived at Saintes near Hal in Brabant, either as a recluse in a small cell or in a life devoted to works of charity. When invaders—remembered as Frisians or Huns—swept through the region, Reineldis remained with the deacon Grimoald and her servant Gondulf. In the chapel, clinging to the altar, she was dragged by her hair and beheaded around 680, giving fearless witness to the Lord she loved. She is venerated especially as patroness of Saintes and is invoked for ailments including diseases of the eyes. Her feast day is July 16.