Daily Gospel for Saturday, 15 February 2014

Daily Gospel for Saturday, 15 February 2014

“Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life.”(John 6:68, the Message).

Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time  

Saint of the Day:

Claude La Colombière

Priest S.I.

(1641-1682)

Claude La Colombière, third child of the notary Bertrand La Colombière and Margaret Coindat, was born on 2nd February 1641 at St. Symphorien d'Ozon in the Dauphine, southeastern France. After the family moved to Vienne Claude began his early education there, completing his studies in rhetoric and philosophy in Lyon.

It was during this period that Claude first sensed his vocation to the religious life in the Society of Jesus. We know nothing of the motives which led to this decision. We do know, however, from one of his early notations, that he "had a terrible aversion for the life embraced". This affirmation is not hard to understand by any who are familiar with the life of Claude, for he was very close to his family and friends and much inclined to the arts and literature and an active social life. On the other hand, he was not a person to be led primarily by his sentiments.

At 17 he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Avignon. In 1660 he moved from the Novitiate to the College, also in Avignon, where he pronounced his first vows and completed his studies in philosophy. Afterwards he was professor of grammar and literature in the same school for another five years.

In 1666 he went to the College of Clermont in Paris for his studies in theology. Already noted for his tact, poise and dedication to the humanities, Claude was assigned by superiors in Paris the additional responsibility of tutoring the children of Louis XIV's Munster of Finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert.

His theological studies concluded and now a priest, Claude returned to Lyon. For a time he was teacher in the College, then full-time preacher and moderator of several Marian congregations.

Claude became noted for solid and serious sermons. They were ably directed at specific audiences and, faithful to their inspiration from the gospel, communicated to his listeners serenity and confidence in God. His published sermons produced and still produce significant spiritual fruits. Given the place and the short duration of his ministry, his sermons are surprisingly fresh in comparison with those of better-known orators.

The year 1674 was a decisive one for Claude, the year of his Third Probation at Maison Saint-Joseph in Lyon. During the customary month of the Exercises the Lord prepared him for the mission for which he had been chosen. His spiritual notes from this period allow one to follow step-by-step the battles and triumphs of the spirit, so extraordinarily attracted to everything human, yet so generous with God.

He took a vow to observe all the constitutions and rules of the Society of Jesus, a vow whose scope was not so much to bind him to a series of minute observances as to reproduce the sharp ideal of an apostle so richly described by St. Ignatius. So magnificent did this ideal seem to Claude that he adopted it as his program of sanctity. That it was indeed an invitation from Christ himself is evidenced by the subsequent feeling of interior liberation Claude experienced, along with the broadened horizons of the apostolate he witnesses to in his spiritual diary.

On 2nd February 1675 he pronounced his solemn profession and was named rector of the College at Paray-le-Monial. Not a few people wondered at this assignment of a talented young Jesuit to such an out-of the-way place as Paray. The explanation seems to be in the superiors' knowledge that there was in Paray an unpretentious religious of the Monastery of the Visitation, Margaret Mary Alacoque, to whom the Lord was revealing the treasures of his Heart, but who was overcome by anguish and uncertainty. She was waiting for the Lord to fulfill his promise and send her "my faithful servant and perfect friend" to help her realize the mission for which he had destined her: that of revealing to the world the unfathomable riches of his love.

After Father Colombière's arrival and her first conversations with him, Margaret Mary opened her spirit to him and told him of the many communications she believed she had received from the Lord. He assured her he accepted their authenticity and urged her to put in writing everything in their regard, and did all he could to orient and support her in carrying out the mission received. When, thanks to prayer and discernment, he became convinced that Christ wanted the spread of the devotion to his Heart, it is clear from Claude's spiritual notes that he pledged himself to this cause without reserve. In these notes it is also clear that, even before he became Margaret Mary's confessor, Claude's fidelity to the directives of St. Ignatius in the Exercises had brought him to the contemplation of the Heart of Christ as symbol of his love.

After a year and half in Paray, in 1676 Father La Colombière left for London. He had been appointed preacher to the Duchess of York - a very difficult and delicate assignment because of the conditions prevailing in England at the time. He took up residence in St. James Palace in October.

In addition to sermons in the palace chapel and unremitting spiritual direction both oral and written, Claude dedicated his time to giving thorough instruction to the many who sought reconciliation with the Church they had abandoned. And even if there were great dangers, he had the consolation of seeing many reconciled to it, so that after a year he said: "I could write a book about the mercy of God I've seen Him exercise since I arrived here!"

The intense pace of his work and the poor climate combined to undermine his health, and evidence of a serious pulmonary disease began to appear. Claude, however, made no changes in his work or life style.

Of a sudden, at the end of 1678, he was calumniously accused and arrested in connection with the Titus Oates "papist plot". After two days he was transferred to the severe King's Bench Prison where he remained for three weeks in extremely poor conditions until his expulsion from England by royal decree. This suffering further weakened Claude's health which, with ups and downs, deteriorated rapidly on his return to France.

During the summer of 1681 he returned to Paray, in very poor condition. On 15th February 1682, the first Sunday of Lent, towards evening Claude suffered the severe hemorrhage which ended his life.

On the 16th of June 1929 Pope Pius XI beatified Claude La Colombière, whose charism, according to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, was that of bringing souls to God along the gospel way of love and mercy which Christ revealed to us. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

SAINTS FAUSTINUS and JOVITA

Martyrs

(+ c. 121)

Faustinus and Jovita were brothers, nobly born, and zealous professors of the Christian religion, which they preached without fear in their city of Brescia, while, the bishop of that place lay concealed during the persecution.

Their remarkable zeal excited the fury of the heathens against them, and procured them a glorious death for their faith at Brescia in Lombardy, under the Emperor Adrian. Julian, a heathen lord, apprehended them: and the emperor himself, passing through Brescia, when neither threats nor torments could shake their constancy, commanded them to be beheaded. They seem to have suffered about the year 121.

The city of Brescia honors them as its chief patrons, possesses their relics, and a very ancient church in that city bears their names.

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

Blessed Michał Sopoćko

Priest

(1888-1975)

Michał Sopoćko was born on November 1, 1888 in Nowosady (Juszewszczyzna), then under Imperial Russia. The Czarist authority persecuted the Catholic Church as well as both the Polish and Lithuanian people within in its territories. In the Sopoćko family, of noble lineage, the Polish and Catholic traditions were conserved and developed. The young Michael matured in this religious and patriotic atmosphere. Motivated by a desire for unconditional service to God, the Church and humanity, he entered the Major Seminary in Vilnius. On June 15, 1914, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Franciszek Karewicz.

For four years (1914-1918) he worked as a parochial vicar in Taboryszki, where he opened two mission churches at Miedniki and at Onżadòw, as well as various schools.

As informed by someone that the German authorities who checks that zone may arrest him,he left the parish and went to Warsaw. There he became a military chaplain for the Polish army. While dedicated to his ministry as chaplain, he enrolled as a student in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Warsaw and from which he obtained a doctoral degree. At the same time, he graduated from the National Pedagogical Institute. In 1924, he became a coordinator of the regional military chaplaincies, based in Vilnius.

In 1927, Archbishop Romuald Jalbrzykowski entrusted to him the responsibility of being Spiritual Director for the Major Seminary. During this same period he taught for the faculty of Theology at Stefan Batory University, also in Vilnius. He eventually requested the Archbishop to release him from both the military pastoral care and from the seminary duties. His desire was to dedicate himself entirely to theological pursuits. In 1934, he received the title of 'docent' in pastoral theology. While teaching, he never forgot the importance of pastoral service. He was rector of St. Michael Church and also served as confessor for Religious Sisters.

One of the most significant events of Fr. Sopoćko's life occurred in 1933, when he became the Spiritual Director of Sr. (now Saint) Faustina Kowalska of the Congregation of Sisters of Mary Mother of Mercy. He continued to assist the Saint after his transfer to Łagiewniki, and where she died on October 5, 1938. As her confessor, he undertook a thorough evaluation of Sr. Faustina's mystical experiences concerning devotion to the Divine Mercy. Following his advice, she wrote of these in her "Diary." To this day this remains a spiritual classic.

The Divine Mercy devotion became a life-giving inspiration for Fr. Sopoćko. Due to his assistance, and under the direction of Sister Faustina, the artist Eugeniusz Kazimirowski painted the first portrait of Jesus as the Divine Mercy. Fr. Sopoćko wrote extensively on the subject of the Divine Mercy, and, in 1938, he established a committee charged with building the Divine Mercy Church in Vilnius. However, this attempt had to be halted due to the onset of World War II. But despite the war and German occupation, Fr. Sopoćko persisted in his efforts to promote the devotion to the Divine Mercy. Filled with zeal, he constantly helped those who were oppressed and threatened with extermination, for example, numerous Jewish people. Fortunately, he managed to avoid arrest and  imprisonment. In 1942, along with his fellow seminary professors and students, he was forced to go into hiding near Vilnius. He remained concealed for two years. Yet it was during that very time when 

Fr. Sopoćko played a major role in establishing a new Religious Congregation. According to the revelations of Sr. Faustina, this Congregation was to promote love for the Divine Mercy. After the War, he wrote the Congregation's constitution.  And he became actively engaged in the growth and development of what we know as the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Mercy.

In 1947, Archbishop Jałbrzykowski, since two years at Białystok with his diocesan Curia, sought that Fr. Sopoćko come to the same city. He therefore accepted a position as professor in the Archdiocesan Major Seminary. There he taught pedagogy, catechetics, homiletics, pastoral theology, and spirituality. Additionally, he continued to further the apostolate of the Divine Mercy. He also made serious efforts to obtain official approval for the Divine Mercy devotion from the Church authorities. Fr. Sopoćko worked tirelessly on the biblical, theological, and pastoral bases by which to explain the doctrinal truth concerning the Divine Mercy devotion. His publications were translated into numerous languages including: Latin, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese.

Fr. Michal Sopoćko died on February 15, 1975, in his apartment on Poleska Street. He was popularly acclaimed for his sanctity. He was buried in the parish cemetery in Białystok. Following the inauguration of the process for his Beatification, his body was moved to the Church of the Divine Mercy (November 30, 1988). He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on September 28, 2008.

© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Saint Sigfrid of Vaxjo

Onesimus of the Seventy and Sigfrid of Sweden

Posted by Your Intrepid Blogger on February 15, 2013 in Church Calendar, Hagiography, Satire

Onesimus of the SeventyOn this day in 1946, ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, was formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Experts disagree on how many hours lapsed before the support staff first uttered the words “Have you tried rebooting?”

Orthodox today commemorate Onesimus of the Seventy (d. ca. 109), who is proof that even a slave, if he eats all his vegetables and washes behind his ears, can grow up to be a bishop. Onesimus first enters the scene as the subject of St. Paul’s Epistle to Philemon. Apparently Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, and had run away to Rome after stealing something from him. There he somehow bumped into Paul, learned about the Christian faith from the great apostle, and was baptized. Somewhere in there Paul let fall that he knew Philemon, and he allowed that he should probably try to reconcile the two men, proposing to send Onesimus back to Philemon with a letter. We can picture Onesimus waving his hands and saying, “I can cook. I can clean for you. I can run errands. . . . ”

Nevertheless Paul did write to Philemon (as witnessed by the book in the New Testament of the same name), imploring him to forgive Onesimus and welcome him as a brother. Hint, hint. Philemon got the letter, took the hint, and gave Onesimus his freedom, sending him back to Paul. After Paul died, Onesimus become bishop of Gaza, Byzantium, and/or Ephesus. One source says he traveled around the Mediterranean preaching the Gospel, which seems a bit odd for a bishop. Sometime after he became eligible for the senior citizen discount, he was arrested and tried and sentenced and executed, either by stoning, or beating, or beheading, or some combination of the above. (Sources. You can’t live with ’em, you can’t live without ’em.) After his death an “illustrious” (but otherwise anonymous) woman buried him in a silver casket. No word on where his relics might be.

Sigfrid of Sweden Catholics today commemorate Sigfrid of Växjö, the Apostle of Sweden (d. 1045), or “Sigfrid of Sweden” for short. Born in Glastonbury (despite what the Germans say; they’re just jealous), Sigfried was sent to Norway by Æthelred the Unready (not to be confused with Eveready the Unread, illiterate inventor of the “D” cell). Somehow the archbishop of Bremen got involved in this (hence the German claim), but the sources are murky on this point. After converting lots of Norwegians, Sigfrid moved to Sweden, which had sadly lapsed back into paganism after Saint Ansgar’s heroic effort in the ninth century. He built a wooden church in Växjö, and used it as a base for his missionary jaunts around the area. King (later Saint) Olaf heard about the rich fabrics and fancy vessels Sigfrid had schlepped with him from England, and came to see what it was all about. When he saw the exemplary lives Sigfrid & Co. were living, he was baptized in Sigfrid’s Spring, which wasn’t called that until later.

Sigfrid’s constant companions were his three nephews, Unaman, Sunaman, and Winaman. (His sister clearly bought the baby name book from the wrong end of the shelf.) Sadly when Sigfrid was on a missionary trip to Denmark (and boy could they use it), a band of bad guys came in and killed them. Their heads were placed in a box and thrown into a lake. Upon his return Sigfrid found the box, and with a little ventriloquism convinced the onlookers that his dead nephews were prophesying the avenging of their murders. The heads were placed in a shrine, and the murderers were placed in jail. The king wanted to execute them, but Sigfrid forbade it. The king then proposed a heavy fine to be paid into the coffers of Sigfrid’s church, but again Sigfrid turned it down. This apparently awed the neighbors even more than the ventriloquism, because we are told that from that point on, nobody messed with Sigfrid. He died an old man, and rests beneath the high altar at in the Växjö cathedral. Needless to say his relics are associated with many miracles. Needless to say, our sources don’t relate any.

Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

1 Kings 12:26 And Jerobo′am said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David; 27 if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehobo′am king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehobo′am king of Judah.” 28 So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods,[a] O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin, for the people went to the one at Bethel and to the other as far as Dan.[b] 31 He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. 32 And Jerobo′am appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar; so he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.

Footnotes:

a. 12.28 Behold your gods: Jeroboam seems to have had no intention of introducing false gods. These were to be images of Yahweh. But in doing this he debased the whole idea of true worship and made it more like pagan religion, to which it was bound to lead in the end; cf. 16.31. Judah, with all its advantages of temple and dynasty, was no better at this time, but reforms were instituted at intervals.

b. 1 Kings 12:30 Gk: Heb went to the one as far as Dan

13:33 After this thing Jerobo′am did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who would, he consecrated to be priests of the high places. 34 And this thing became sin to the house of Jerobo′am, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

Psalm 106:6 Both we and our fathers have sinned;

    we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,

    did not consider thy wonderful works;

they did not remember the abundance of thy steadfast love,

    but rebelled against the Most High[a]

    at the Red Sea.

Footnotes:

a. Psalm 106:7 Cn Compare 78.17, 56: Heb at the sea

19 They made a calf in Horeb

    and worshiped a molten image.

20 They exchanged the glory of God

    for the image of an ox that eats grass.

21 They forgot God, their Savior,

    who had done great things in Egypt,

22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,

    and terrible things by the Red Sea.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 8: Feeding the Four Thousand

1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him, and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; 3 and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these men with bread here in the desert?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish; and having blessed them, he commanded that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate, and were satisfied; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. 10 And he sent them away; and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanu′tha.[a]

Footnotes:

a. Mark 8:10 Other ancient authorities read Magadan or Magdala

Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day:

Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church

Homilies on Saint Matthew's Gospel, no.82 ; PG 87, 737

Our Shepherd gives himself as our  food

“Who can tell the mighty deeds of the Lord or proclaim all his praises?” (Ps 106[105],2). What shepherd has ever fed his sheep with his own body? But what am I saying? A shepherd? Mothers often entrust their infants to a nurse from their birth on. Jesus Christ, however, cannot agree to this for his sheep. He feeds us himself with his own blood and so makes us into one body with himself.

Consider, my brethren, that Christ was born of our own human substance. Are you going to say, then: What does that matter? It doesn't affect everyone else! Pardon me, my brother, it is of great profit to all of them. If he became man, if he came to take on our human nature, then that affects the salvation of all men. And if he came on behalf of all then he also came on behalf of each one in particular. Perhaps you will say: So how is it that everyone hasn't received the fruit they ought to be gaining from this coming? Don't blame Jesus who chose this means for the salvation of all; the fault lies with those who reject this blessing. For Jesus Christ unites himself to each of the faithful in the eucharist. He gives them rebirth, feeds them with himself, does not abandon them to others and, thus, convinces them yet again that he has truly taken our flesh.

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