Daily Gospel ~ Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Daily Gospel ~ Tuesday, 5 November 2013

At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.(John 6:68, Messianic WEB)

Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day:

SAINT BERTILLA
Abbess
(7th century)

St. Bertilla was born of one of the most illustrious families in the territory of Soissons (France), in the reign of Dagobert I. As she grew up she learned perfectly to despise the world, and earnestly desired to renounce it. Not daring to tell this to her parents, she first consulted St. Ouen, by whom she was encouraged in her resolution.

The Saint's parents were then made acquainted with her desire, which God inclined them not to oppose. They conducted her to Jouarre, a great monastery in Brie, four leagues from Meaux, where she was received with great joy and trained up in the strictest practice of monastic perfection.

By her perfect submission to all her sisters she seemed every one's servant, and acquitted herself with such great charity land edification that she was chosen prioress to assist the abbess in her administration.

About the year 646 she was appointed first abbess of the abbey of Chelles, which she governed for forty-six years with equal vigor and discretion, until she closed her penitential life in 692.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Saint Sylvia

Feastday: November 5

Patron of Pregnant Women

St. Sylvia, Mother of St. Gregory the Great (Feast - November 5) The Church venerates the sanctity of Sylvia and Gordian, the parents of St. Gregory the Great, as well as his two aunts, Tarsilla and Emiliana. St. Sylvia was a native of the region of Sicily while St. Gordian, her husband, came from the vicinity of Rome. They had two sons: Gregory and another whose name has not survived the ages. Gordian died about 573 and Gregory converted his paternal home into a monastery. Sylvia therefore retired to a solitary and quasi-monastic life in a little abode near the Church of St. Sava on the Aventine. It became her custom frequently to send fresh vegetables to her son on a silver platter. One day, when Gregory found himself with nothing to give a poor beggar, he presented him with the platter. St. Sylvia is thought to have gone on to her heavenly reward between 592 and 594. After her death, the holy Pontiff had a picture of both his parents depicted in the Church of St. Andrew. In the sixteenth century, Pope Clement VIII had St. Sylvia inscribed in the Roman Martyrology.

Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Book of Romans 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Messiah, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; 7 or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with liberality; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. 10 In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another; 11 not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 contributing to the needs of the holy ones; given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.(Messianic WEB)

Psalm 131:A Song of Ascents. By David.

1 LORD, my heart isn’t haughty, nor my eyes lofty;

nor do I concern myself with great matters,

or things too wonderful for me.

2 Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul,

like a weaned child with his mother,

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 Israel, hope in the LORD,

from this time forward and forever more.(Messianic WEB)

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 14:15 When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will feast in God’s Kingdom!”

16 But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people. 17  He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ 18  They all as one began to make excuses.

“The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’

19  “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’

20  “Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I can’t come.’

21  “That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’

22  “The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’

23  “The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24  For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.’”(Messianic WEB)

Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day:

Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church 

Commentary on Saint Luke's Gospel, 7, 200-203 ; SC 52

"Make people come in that my home may be filled"

The guests excuse themselves, whereas the Kingdom is closed to no one who does not exclude himself by his own decision. Our Lord kindly invites everyone in but it is our own laziness or distraction that keeps us out. Someone who prefers buying a farm has no place in the Kingdom! In Noah's day, buyers and sellers were engulfed by the flood (Lk 17,26-28),... and so it is for anyone who excuses himself because he has just married, since it is written: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother and wife... cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14,26)...
And so, following the proud disdain of the wealthy Christ turned to the pagans. He brought in good and wicked that the good might be made greater and the inclinations of the wicked improve... He invited the poor, the sick, the blind, thus demonstrating that physical handicap keeps no one out of the Kingdom..., or rather, that the infirmity of sin is healed by the mercy of the Lord...
Then he sends people out seeking at intersections in the roads, for “Wisdom cries aloud in the streets” (Prv 1,20). He sends them out to the crossroads that sinners might be told to abandon broad ways and meet up on the narrow way that leads to life (Mt 7,13). He sends them out along roads and hedgerows because people who are hastening towards the blessings to come without being held back by present blessings, who are committed to the way of good will, will attain the Kingdom of Heaven just like people who are able to make a distinction between good and evil as fields are divided by a hedge: that is to say, those who set up the rampart of faith against the temptations of sin.

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