Gospel 9-17-24. Matt 16:24-27. Commemoration of the Imprinting of the Holy Stigmata on the Body of St Francis.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Tunc Jesus dixit discipulis suis : Si quis vult post me venire, abneget semetipsum, et tollat crucem suam, et sequatur me.
25 For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it.
Qui enim voluerit animam suam salvam facere, perdet eam : qui autem perdiderit animam suam propter me, inveniet eam.
26 For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?
Quid enim prodest homini, si mundum universum lucretur, animae vero suae detrimentum patiatur? aut quam dabit homo commutationem pro anima sua?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works.
Filius enim hominis venturus est in gloria Patris sui cum angelis suis : et tunc reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus.
Two years his before his death, while at prayer on Mount Alvernia, the Seraphic Patriarch St Francis of Assisi, was rapt in contemplation, and received in his own body the impression of the sacred Wounds of Christ. Pope Benedict the XI ordered the Feast of the Stigmat of St Francis to be observed on September 17th. Pope Paul V extended it to the whole Catholic world.
