Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 22 January 2014 and Thursday, 23
January 2014
“Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words
of real life, eternal life.”(John 6:68, The Message).
Wednesday and Thursday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
Feast of the Church: Week of prayer for Christian unity
Saint of the Day:
SAINT VINCENT
Deacon and Martyr
(+ 304)
St. Vincent was archdeacon of the church at Saragossa. Valerian,
the bishop, had an impediment in his speech; thus Vincent preached in his
stead, and answered in his name when both were brought before Dacian, the
president, during the persecution of Diocletian. When the bishop was sent into
banishment, Vincent remained to suffer and to die.
First of all, he was stretched on the rack; and, when he was
almost torn asunder, Dacian, the president, asked him in mockery "how he
fared now." Vincent answered, with joy in his face that he had ever prayed
to be as he was then. It was in vain that Dacian struck the executioners and
goaded them on in their savage work. The martyr's flesh was torn with hooks; he
was bound in a chair of red-hot iron; lard and salt were rubbed into his
wounds; and amid all this he kept his eyes raised to heaven, and remained
unmoved.
He was cast into a solitary dungeon, with his feet in the
stocks; but the angels of Christ illuminated the darkness, and assured Vincent
that he was near his triumph. His wounds were now tended to prepare him for
fresh torments, and the faithful were permitted to gaze on his mangled body.
They came in troops, kissed the open sores, and carried away as relics cloths
dipped in his blood.
Before the tortures could recommence, the martyr's hour came,
and he breathed forth his soul in peace.
Even the dead bodies of the saints are precious in the sight of
God, and the hand of iniquity cannot touch them, A raven guarded the body of
Vincent where it lay flung upon the earth. When it was sunk out at sea the
waves cast it ashore; and his relics are preserved to this day in the
Augustinian monastery at Lisbon, for the consolation of the Church of Christ.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
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SAINT JOHN THE ALMONER
Patriarch of Alexandria
(+ c. 620)
St. John was married, but when his wife and two children died he
considered it a call from God to lead a perfect life. He began to give away all
he possessed in alms, and became known throughout the East as the Almoner. He
was appointed Patriarch of Alexandria; but before he would take possession of
his see he told his servants to go over the town and bring him a list of his
lords-meaning the poor. They brought word that there were seventy-five hundred
of them, and these he undertook to feed every day.
On Wednesday and Friday in every week he sat on a bench before
the church, to hear the complaints of the needy and aggrieved; nor would he
permit his servants to taste food until their wrongs were redressed. The fear
of death was ever before him, and he never spoke an idle word. He turned those
out of church whom he saw talking, and forbade all detractors to enter his
house. He left seventy churches in Alexandria, where he had found but seven.
A merchant received from St. John five pounds weight of gold to
buy merchandise. Having suffered shipwreck and lost all, he had again recourse
to John, who said, "Some of your merchandise was ill-gotten," and
gave him ten pounds more; but the next voyage he lost ship as well as goods.
John then said, "The ship was wrongfully acquired. Take fifteen pounds of
gold, buy corn with it, and put it on one of my ships." This time the
merchant was carried by the winds without his own knowledge to England, where
there was a famine; and he sold the corn for its weight in tin, and on his
return he found the tin changed to finest silver.
St. John died in Cyprus, his native place, about the year 620.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Thursday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
1 Samuel 17: 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail
because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 Saul
said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with
him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
37 David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion
and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.”
So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!”
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth
stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his
sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.
41 The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his
shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he
disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43
The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?”
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David,
“Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild
animals of the field.” 45 But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me
with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of
hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This very day
the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off
your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day
to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the
earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may
know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the
Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.”
48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran
quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in
his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead;
the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a
stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in
David’s hand. 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his
sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with
it.
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they
fled.
Psalm 144: Prayer for National Deliverance and Security
Of David.
1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands
for war, and my fingers for battle;
2 my rock[a] and my fortress,
my stronghold and my
deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues the
peoples[b] under me.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 144:2 With 18.2 and 2 Sam 22.2: Heb my steadfast love
b. Psalm 144:2 Heb Mss Syr Aquila Jerome: MT my people
9 I will sing a new song to you, O God;
upon a ten-stringed
harp I will play to you,
10 the one who gives victory to kings,
who rescues his
servant David.
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Psalm 56: 2 my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many fight against
me.
O Most High, 3 when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
9 Then my enemies will retreat
in the day when I
call.
This I know, that[a]
God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose
word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I am not afraid.
What can a mere mortal
do to me?
12 My vows to you I must perform, O God;
I will render thank
offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death,
and my feet from
falling,
so that I may walk before God
in the light of life.
Footnotes:
Psalm 56:9 Or because
1 Samuel 18: 6 As they were coming home, when David returned
from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel,
singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy,
and with musical instruments.[a] 7 And the women sang to one another as they
made merry,
“Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten
thousands.”
8 Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said,
“They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed
thousands; what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 So Saul eyed David from
that day on.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Samuel 18:6 Or triangles, or three-stringed instruments 19:
Jonathan Intercedes for David
1 Saul spoke with his son Jonathan and with all his servants
about killing David. But Saul’s son Jonathan took great delight in David. 2
Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is trying to kill you; therefore be on
guard tomorrow morning; stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 I will go
out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to
my father about you; if I learn anything I will tell you.” 4 Jonathan spoke
well of David to his father Saul, saying to him, “The king should not sin
against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because
his deeds have been of good service to you; 5 for he took his life in his hand
when he attacked the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for
all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced; why then will you sin against an innocent
person by killing David without cause?” 6 Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan;
Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 So Jonathan
called David and related all these things to him. Jonathan then brought David
to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3: The Man
with a Withered Hand
1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a
withered hand. 2 They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the
sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the
withered hand, “Come forward.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good
or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5
He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart
and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand
was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the
Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
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Mark 3: A Multitude at the Seaside
7 Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great
multitude from Galilee followed him; 8 hearing all that he was doing, they came
to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and
the region around Tyre and Sidon. 9 He told his disciples to have a boat ready
for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; 10 for he had
cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11
Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted,
“You are the Son of God!” 12 But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.
Wednesday and Thursday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:
Pope Francis
Encyclical « Lumen fidei / The Light of Faith», § 16-17 (trans.
© Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
“If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through
the death of his Son,how much more... will we be saved through the life of the
risen Christ” (cf Rm 5,10)
The clearest proof of the reliability of Christ’s love is to be
found in his dying for our sake. If laying down one’s life for one’s friends is
the greatest proof of love (Jn 15:13), Jesus offered his own life for all, even
for his enemies, to transform their hearts. This explains why the evangelists
could see the hour of Christ’s crucifixion as the culmination of the gaze of
faith; in that hour the depth and breadth of God’s love shone forth. It was
then that Saint John offered his solemn testimony, as together with the Mother
of Jesus he gazed upon the pierced one (Jn 19:37; Zac 12,10): "He who saw
this has borne witness, so that you also may believe. His testimony is true,
and he knows that he tells the truth" (Jn 19,35)...
It is precisely in contemplating Jesus’ death that faith grows
stronger and receives a dazzling light; then it is revealed as faith in
Christ’s steadfast love for us, a love capable of embracing death to bring us
salvation. This love, which did not recoil before death in order to show its
depth, is something I can believe in; Christ’s total self-gift overcomes every
suspicion and enables me to entrust myself to him completely.
Christ’s death discloses the utter reliability of God’s love
above all in the light of his resurrection. As the risen one, Christ is the
trustworthy witness, deserving of faith (Rv 1:5; Heb 2:17), and a solid support
for our faith.
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Julian of Norwich (1342-after 1416), recluse
Revelations of divine love, ch. 36
"Those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch
him"
And so long as we are in this life, whenever we in our folly
revert to the contemplation of those who are damned, our Lord tenderly teaches
us and blessedly calls us, saying in our souls: “Leave me alone, my beloved
child, attend to me. I am enough for you, and rejoice in your saviour and in
your salvation.” And I am sure that this is our Lord working in us. The soul
which is pierced with this by grace will see it and feel it. And even though
this deed may truly be accepted as done for men in general, still this does not
exclude particular men...
And furthermore, he gave special understanding and teaching
about the working and revelation of miracles, thus: “It is known that I have performed
miracles in time past, many, most great and wonderful, glorious and splendid,
and what I have done I always go on doing, and I shall in times to come.” It is
known that before miracles come sorrows and anguish and trouble, and that
because we ought to know our own weakness and the harm that we have fallen into
through sin, to humble us and make us cry to God for help and grace. And
afterwards great miracles come, and that is from God's great power great power
and wisdom and goodness, showing his might and the joys of heaven, so much as
this may be in this passing life, and that is for the strengthening of our
faith, and as this may increase our hope in love. Therefore it pleases him to
be known and worshipped in miracles. Then this is his intention: He wishes us
not to be oppressed because of the sorrows and travails which come to us, for
it has always been so before the coming of miracles!
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