Daily Gospel for Monday, 9 December 2013
John 6:68 Simon Peter answered him,
“Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. (Messianic
World English Bible)
Monday, 9 December 2013
Monday of the 2nd Week of
Advent
Feast of the Church:
Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Solemnity)
On this day, so dear to every Catholic
heart, we celebrate, in the first place, the moment in which Almighty God
showed Mary, through the distance of ages, to our first parents as the Virgin
Mother of the divine Redeemer, the woman destined to crush the head of the
serpent.
And as by eternal decree she was
miraculously exempt from all stain of original sin, and endowed with the
richest treasures of grace and sanctity, it is meet that we should honor her
glorious prerogatives by this special feast of the Immaculate Conception.
We should join in spirit with the blessed
in heaven, and rejoice with our dear Mother, not only for her own sake, but for
ours, her children, who are partakers of her glory and happiness.
Secondly, we are called upon to celebrate
that ever-memorable day, the 8th of December, 1854, which raised the Immaculate
Conception of Our Blessed Lady from a pious belief to the dignity of a dogma of
the Infallible Church, causing universal joy among the faithful.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler,
Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint of the Day:
Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
(1474-1548)
Little is known about the life of Juan
Diego before his conversion, but tradition and archaelogical and iconographical
sources, along with the most important and oldest indigenous document on the
event of Guadalupe, "El Nican Mopohua" (written in Náhuatl with Latin
characters, 1556, by the Indigenous writer Antonio Valeriano), give some
information on the life of the saint and the apparitions.
Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name
"Cuauhtlatoatzin" ("the talking eagle") in Cuautlitlán,
today part of Mexico City, Mexico. He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca
people, one of the more culturally advanced groups living in the Anáhuac
Valley.
When he was 50 years old he was baptized
by a Franciscan priest, Fr Peter da Gand, one of the first Franciscan
missionaries. On 9 December 1531, when Juan Diego was on his way to morning
Mass, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill, the outskirts of what
is now Mexico City. She asked him to go to the Bishop and to request in her
name that a shrine be built at Tepeyac, where she promised to pour out her
grace upon those who invoked her. The Bishop, who did not believe Juan Diego,
asked for a sign to prove that the apparition was true. On 12 December, Juan
Diego returned to Tepeyac. Here, the Blessed Mother told him to climb the hill
and to pick the flowers that he would find in bloom. He obeyed, and although it
was winter time, he found roses flowering. He gathered the flowers and took
them to Our Lady who carefully placed them in his mantle and told him to take
them to the Bishop as "proof". When he opened his mantle, the flowers
fell on the ground and there remained impressed, in place of the flowers, an
image of the Blessed Mother, the apparition at Tepeyac.
With the Bishop's permission, Juan Diego
lived the rest of his life as a hermit in a small hut near the chapel where the
miraculous image was placed for veneration. Here he cared for the church and
the first pilgrims who came to pray to the Mother of Jesus.
Much deeper than the "exterior
grace" of having been "chosen" as Our Lady's
"messenger", Juan Diego received the grace of interior enlightenment
and from that moment, he began a life dedicated to prayer and the practice of virtue
and boundless love of God and neighbour. He died in 1548 and was buried in the
first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. He was beatified on 6 May
1990 by Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of Santa Maria di Guadalupe, Mexico
City and canonized on 31 July 2002.
The miraculous image, which is preserved
in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, shows a woman with native features
and dress. She is supported by an angel whose wings are reminiscent of one of
the major gods of the traditional religion of that area. The moon is beneath
her feet and her blue mantle is covered with gold stars. The black girdle about
her waist signifies that she is pregnant. Thus, the image graphically depicts
the fact that Christ is to be "born" again among the peoples of the
New World, and is a message as relevant to the "New World" today as
it was during the lifetime of Juan Diego. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice
Vaticana
SAINT LEOCADIA
Virgin and Martyr
(† c. 304)
St. Leocadia was a native of Toledo, and
was apprehended by an order of Dacian, the cruel governor under Diocletian in
304. Hearing of the martyrdom of St. Eulalia, she prayed that God would not
prolong her exile, but unite her speedily with her holy friend in his glory.
Her prayer was heard, and she happily expired in prison.
Three famous churches in Toledo bear her
name, and she is honored as principal patroness of that city. In one of those
churches most of the councils of Toledo were held. Her relics were kept in that
church with great respect, till, in the incursions of the Moors, they were
conveyed to Oviedo, and some years afterward to the abbey of St. Guislain, near
Mons in Hainault. They were finally carried back to Toledo with great pomp, and
placed in the great church there on the 26th of April, 1589.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler,
Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Peter Fourier
Feastday: December 9
1565 - 1640
Beatified By: 1730 by Pope Benedict XIII
Canonized By: 1897 by Pope Leo XIII
Founder of the Congregation of Notre
Dame. A native of Mirecourt, Lorraine, France, he entered the Augustinian
canons regular and received ordination in 1585. He then served as head of the
deteriorated parish of Mattaincourt, striving to restore it to a flowering
community. Part of his effort included establishing the Congregation of Notre
Dame to educate young girls. He failed to win approval for a similar
organization to teach boys, but enjoyed much success with the other community.
He was canonized in 1897.
Monday of the 2nd Week of
Advent
Genesis 3: 9 But the Lord God called to the man,
and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of you in the
garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 He said,
“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I
commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with
me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to
the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent
tricked me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you among
all animals
and among all wild
creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your
life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the
woman,
and between your
offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike
his heel.” 20 The man named his
wife Eve,[a] because she was the mother of all living.
Footnotes:
Genesis 3:20 In Heb Eve resembles the
word for living
Psalm 98: Praise the Judge of the World
A Psalm.
1 O sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done
marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
have gotten him
victory.
2 The Lord has made known his victory;
he has revealed his
vindication in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love
and faithfulness
to the house of
Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the victory of our
God.
4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all
the earth;
break forth into
joyous song and sing praises.
Ephesians 1: Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ[a] before the
foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He
destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the
good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely
bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Footnotes:
Ephesians 1:4 Gk in him 11 In Christ we
have also obtained an inheritance,[a] having been destined according to the
purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the
praise of his glory.
Footnotes:
Ephesians 1:11 Or been made a heritage
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to
Saint Luke 1: The Birth of Jesus
Foretold
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to
a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with
you.”[a] 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of
greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for
you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and
bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne
of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of
his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be,
since I am a virgin?”[b] 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the
child to be born[c] will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now,
your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is
the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be
impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Footnotes:
Luke 1:28 Other ancient authorities add
Blessed are you among women
Luke 1:34 Gk I do not know a man
Luke 1:35 Other ancient authorities add
of you
Monday of the 2nd Week of
Advent
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Andrew of Crete (660-740), monk and
Bishop
Sermon 1 for the Nativity of the Mother
of God ; PG 97, 812
"Hail, full of grace!"
The degeneration caused by sin had
obscured the beauty of our original nobility. But when the mother of supreme
Beauty is born, our nature finds its purity once more and sees itself molded
according to the perfect model, worthy of God (Gn 1,26)... We had all preferred
the world below to that above. There no longer remained any hope of salvation.
The state of our nature cried aloud to heaven to come the rescue... Then at
last, in his good pleasure, the world's divine Artificer determined to make a
new world appear, a different world full of harmony and youth.
Now was it not fitting that a most pure
virgin without stain should place herself at the service of this mysterious
plan first of all?... And where was this virgin to be found if not in this
woman, alone of her kind, chosen by the world's Creator before all generations?
Yes, she indeed is Mother of God, divinely named Mary, whose womb gave birth to
God incarnate and whom he himself had supernaturally prepared as his temple...
In this way, then, the design of the
Redeemer of our race was to bring about a birth and, as it were, a new creation
to replace the one that went before. Therefore, just as in Paradise he had
taken a litle clay out of the pure and spotless earth to fashion the first Adam
(Gn 2,7), so, at the moment of bringing about his own incarnation, he made use
of another earth, so to speak, namely this pure and immaculate Virgin, chosen
from among all other beings he had created. It is in her that he, Adam's
Creator, has remade us in our very substance and become a new Adam (1Cor 15,45)
that the old might be saved by the new and eternal.
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