There is always a choice for saint of the day. There are so many saints out there that several are being celebrated every day. I usually just go by whoever is the saint of the day on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops page. But today they had Saint Aura, virgin, sister of the sainted martyrs Adolphus and John. I couldn't find her picture or any other information about her, so I went with the saint that is on my handy-dandy little church calender. Today, we have the Blessed Virgin Mary listed as an optional memorial, which is on a lot of the Saturdays through spring and summer. I've included my favorite picture of all time of Mary, and you can check the link for more info about her.

First reading today: Micah 2:1-5

It seems that we are entering a new book that I still don't know anything about. This is from the NAB: Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah. Of his personal life and call we know nothing except that he came from the obscure village of Moresheth in the foothills. His were the broad vistas of the Judean lowland and the distant sea on the western horizon. With burning eloquence he attacked the rich exploiters of the poor, fraudulent merchants, venal judges, corrupt priests and prophets. To the man of the countryside the vices of the nation seemed centered in its capitals, for both Samaria and Jerusalem are singled out for judgment. An interesting notice in Jeremiah 26:17, 18 informs us that the reform of Hezekiah was influenced by the preaching of Micah.

I just read the passage. This is definitely a warning. God is always warning the Israelites in the old testament, and they are never listening. I guess hindsight is 20/20. If there were some crazy hillbilly running around the streets of Atlanta screaming this at all of the Christians, we'd ignore him too. We just need to listen with our hearts and minds to what God is saying to us through the world.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 12:14-21

My footnotes tell me that only in Matthew does Jesus know about the Pharisee plot to kill him. He went away, but he didn't escape. I'm pretty sure that a guy healing crowds of people was pretty easy to find, no matter how much he warned them to not talk about him.

Also, if there was all of this talk about gentiles in the prophecies about Jesus, why was it such a big debate among early Christians?

Well, news of the day: Repentant sinners are best Christian witnesses, Pope tells troubled youths