READING I: 2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31
RESPONSORIAL: Psalms 17:1bcd, 5-6, 8b and 15
GOSPEL: Luke 19:11-28

This is a week of feasts. St Margaret of Scotland was born in Hungary and married Malcolm, king of Scotland. She had eight children and is honoured because she is an outstanding example of duty and motherhood. Feast of St Margaret of Scotland and St Gertrude.
The other saint of the day is St Gertrude who was born in Thuringia in 1156. She was highly educated for a woman of her time, studying philosophy and the humanities. Gertrude was a true mystic and her legacy to the church were her writings on the intimate friendship of God.
We remember saints for their holiness and what they teach us about the spiritual life or about God himself.