Daybreak

Friday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Phocas the Gardener; lived in the Third and Fourth Centuries in Sinope, earning his living cultivating a garden; he shared with the poor, and provided lodging to travelers; when his identity as a Christian became known to the pagan Roman authorities, soldiers were dispatched to arrest Phocas; they stopped at his home for lodging, unaware of who he was; Phocas revealed himself the next morning, and the soldiers--though reluctant to carry out their orders--ultimately beheaded him, around 303 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 9/22/23 Gospel: Luke 8:1-3