Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 7 January 2014
“Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words
of real life, eternal life.”(John 6:68, The Message).
Tuesday after Epiphany
Saint of the Day:
SAINT RAYMUND OF PEÑAFORT
Priest
(C. 1175-1275)
Born A. D. 1175, of a noble Spanish family, Raymund, at the age
of twenty, taught philosophy at Barcelona with marvellous success. Ten years
later his rare abilities won for him the degree of Doctor in the University of
Bologna, and many high dignities.
A tender devotion to our blessed Lady, which had grown up with
him from childhood, determined him in middle life to renounce all his honors
and to enter her Order of St. Dominic. There, again, a vision of the Mother of
Mercy instructed him to cooperate with his penitent St. Peter Nolasco, and with
James, King of Aragon, in founding the Order of Our Lady of Ransom for the
Redemption of Captives. He began this great work by preaching a crusade against
the Moors, and rousing to penance the Christians, enslaved in both soul and
body by the infidel. King James of Aragon, a man of great qualities, but held
in bond by a ruling passion, was bidden by the Saint to put away the cause of
his sin. On his delay, Raymund asked for leave to depart from Majorca, since he
could not live with sin. The king refused, and forbade, under pain of death,
his conveyance by others. Full of faith, Raymund spread his cloak upon the
waters, and, tying one end to his staff as a sail, made the sign of the cross
and fearlessly stepped upon it. In six hours he was borne to Barcelona, where,
gathering up his cloak dry, he stole into his monastery. The king, overcome by
this miracle, became a sincere penitent and the disciple of the Saint till his
death.
In 1230, Gregory IX. summoned Raymund to Rome, made him his
confessor and grand penitentiary, and directed him to compile "The
Decretals," a collection of the scattered decisions of the Popes and
Councils. Having refused the archbishopric of Tarragona, Raymund found himself
in 1238 chosen third General of his Order; which post he again succeeded in
resigning, on the score of his advanced age. His first act when set free was to
resume his labors among the infidels, and in 1256 Raymund, then eighty-one, was
able to report that ten thousand Saracens had received Baptism. He died A. D.
1275.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
SAINT LUCIAN
Priest and Martyr
(† 312)
St. Lucian was born at Samosata in Syria. Having lost his
parents in his youth, he distributed all his worldly goods, of which he
inherited an abundant share, to the poor, and withdrew to Edessa, to live near
a holy man named Macarius, who imbued his mind with a knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures, and led him to the practice of the Christian virtues.
Having become a priest, his time was divided between the
external duties of his holy state, the performance of works of charity, and the
study of sacred literature. He revised the books of the Old and New Testaments,
expunging the errors which had found their way into the text either through the
negligence of copyists or the malice of heretics, thus preparing the way for
St. Jerome, who shortly after was to give to the world the Latin translation
known as "The Vulgate."
Having been denounced as a Christian, Lucian was thrown into
prison and condemned to the torture, which was protracted for twelve whole
days. Some Christian visited him in prison, on the feast of the Epiphany, and
brought bread and wine to him; while bound and chained down on his back, he
consecrated the divine mysteries upon his own breast, and communicated the
faithful who were present.
He finished his glorious career in prison, and died with the
words, "I am a Christian," on his lips.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Tuesday after Epiphany
First Letter of John 4: God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God;
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does
not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way:
God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In
this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be
the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Psalm 72: Prayer for Guidance and Support for the King
Of Solomon.
1 Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness
to a king’s son.
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with
justice.
3 May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in
righteousness.
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to
the needy,
and crush the
oppressor.
7 In his days may righteousness flourish
and peace abound,
until the moon is no more.
8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to
the ends of the earth.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6: 34 As he went
ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were
like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35 When
it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place,
and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the
surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37
But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are
we to go and buy two hundred denarii[a] worth of bread, and give it to them to
eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they
had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he ordered them to get
all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in
groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish,
he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his
disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all.
42 And all ate and were filled; 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of
broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five
thousand men.
Footnotes:
a. Mark 6:37 The denarius was the usual day’s wage for a laborer
Tuesday after Epiphany
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Romanos Melodios (?-c.560), composer of hymns
Hymns for Epiphany, I, 1-2 ; II, 3
"On those who dwelt in a land of shadow and of death a
great light has shone"
You have manifested yourself to the world today, my Lord, and
your light has appeared to us. Therefore we sing to you before this revelation:
You have come and you have manifested yourself, O inaccessible light! (cf 1Tim
6,16)...
In Galilee of the nations, in the country of Zebulun and the
land of Naphtali, Christ, the great light, has shone, as spoken by the prophet
(Is 8,23-9,1); on those who dwelt in darkness a great light has shone, arising
from Bethlehem. The Lord born of Mary, the Sun of Justice, spreads his rays
over the whole universe (Mal 3,20). Let us who are naked, sons of Adam, let us
come, let us put him on and warm ourselves. It is to clothe the naked, to
enlighten those who are in darkness that you have manifested yourself, O light
inaccessible.
God has not despised the one who, by means of a trick, had been
stripped of his clothing in Paradise and lost the robe woven by God's own
hands. He comes back to him and calls with his holy voice to the one who
disobeyed him: “Adam, where are you? (Gn 3,9). Hide from me no more. However,
naked, however poor you are, I want to see you. Fear not; I have made myself
like you. You wanted to become god (Gn 3,5) and were not able. Now, because I
wanted to, I have become flesh. Come close, then; acknowledge me and say: You
have come, you have manifested yourself, O light inaccessible”...
Sing, sing, O Adam; worship him who is coming to you. While you
were drawing away he manifested himself to you so as to be seen, touched,
welcomed. The one you were afraid of after you had been deceived by the devil
has made himself like you for your sake. He has come down to earth to take you
to heaven; he has become mortal that you might become God and regain your first
beauty. Desiring to open to you the gates of Eden, he dwelt in Nazareth. For
all this, sing, O man, sing and praise him who has manifested himself and has
illumined all the world.
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