21 February 2026 (Saturday) / Saturday After Ash Wednesday/ Saint Peter Damian, Bishop, Doctor of the Church

21 February 2026 (Saturday)

Saturday After Ash Wednesday/ Saint Peter Damian, Bishop, Doctor of the Church.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Isaiah 58: 9b-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 86: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Verse Before the Gospel: Ezekiel 33: 11
Gospel: Luke 5: 27-32

First Reading: Isaiah 58: 9b-14

9b Thus says the Lord: If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not.
10 When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail.
12 And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest.
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found: to speak a word:
14 Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 86: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R. (11ab) Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
1 A prayer for David himself. Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me: for I am needy and poor.
2 Preserve my soul, for I am holy: save thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in thee.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to thee all the day.
4 Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
5 For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer: and attend to the voice of my petition.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

Verse Before the Gospel: Ezekiel 33: 11
11 I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may live.

Gospel: Luke 5: 27-32

27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom, and he said to him: Follow me.
28 And leaving all things, he rose up and followed him.
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house; and there was a great company of publicans, and of others, that were at table with them.
30 But the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying to his disciples: Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
31 And Jesus answering, said to them: They that are whole, need not the physician: but they that are sick.
32 I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance.

For our reflection today:

Without humility, without the ability to publicly acknowledge your sins and your own human frailty, you cannot attain salvation nor proclaim Christ, nor pretend to be his witness. Pope Francis invited everyone to reflect on the theme of Christian humility during his homily at Mass on Friday morning, 14 June, in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Concelebrating with him among others were Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, President of the Governorate, and Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. Also present were officials and employees from the Congregation. Accompanying Cardinal Bertello were relatives of the late Archbishop Ubaldo Calabresi, who was Apostolic Nuncio to Argentina for many years. During the prayers of the faithful, the Holy Father asked for prayers for the Archbishop to whom he was bound by a deep friendship.

The day’s readings from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (4:7-15) and the Gospel of Matthew (5:27-32) were at the centre of the reflection of the Pope, who linked the image of the “beauty of Jesus, of the power of Jesus, and of the salvation that Jesus brings us”, which the Apostle Paul speaks of, with that of the “earthen vessels” in which the treasure of faith is contained.
Christians are like clay vases because they are weak, since they are sinners.

Nevertheless, the Pope said, between “us poor, earthen vessels” and “the power of Jesus Christ” is a dialogue; it is the “dialogue of salvation”. He warned however that when this dialogue assumes the tone of self- justification, it means that something is not working and that there is no salvation. The humility of a Christian is that of one who follows the path pointed out by the Apostle. “We must really recognize our sins, and not present ourselves with a false image”.

“Brothers, we have a treasure: the Saviour Jesus Christ, the Cross of Jesus Christ is the treasure in which we rejoice”, but let us not forget “to also confess our sins” for it is only in this way “the dialogue is Christian, Catholic, and concrete”. “Jesus Christ did not save us with an idea, or an intellectual programme. He saved us with his flesh, with the concreteness of the flesh. He lowered himself, became man, and was made flesh until the end”. You can only understand a treasure like this if you are transformed into clay vases. (Pope Francis, Real Christian humility
Friday, 14 June 2013).

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Pelayan Atasan Tertinggi / Most High Servant,
Yesus, Maria, Yusuf Pelayanan Kasih / Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love 
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)

My vocation is Blessed and Saints.

"I am the most humble of all the Saints in Heaven" Mary, Mother of God.

"I am the handmaid of the Lord, said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me."

Mother Mary is the most humble Saint in Heaven and she is also the Mother of God for us all
(Luke 1:38)