Daily Prayer: a resource of Forward Movement

The Forward Day by Day Meditation for January 21, 2021

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THURSDAY, January 21 Agnes [and Cecilia] of Rome

Mark 4:24 And [Jesus] said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.”

Agnes and Cecilia are among only seven women, including the Virgin Mary, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church. Agnes was twelve years old when she was martyred. Cecilia was older and married when she was put to death.

Under torture, both Agnes and Cecilia absolutely refused to worship the pagan gods and to denounce Jesus. At Agnes’s namesake church in Rome, two lambs are blessed on her feast day. The lambs’ wool is woven into a scarf called a pallium, which the Pope uses for the investiture of archbishops.

Agnes and Cecilia were females in a world dominated and controlled by men, and their tremendous strengths of personality and steadfast faith are models for us all.

MOVING FORWARD: Do a little research about the other women commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.

PRAY for the Dioceses of Liverpool (England), Saint Asaph (Wales), and Grafton (Australia)

Ps 37:1-18 * 37:19-42 | Isaiah 45:5-17 | Ephesians 5:15-33 | Mark 4:21-34