Daily Gospel for Sunday, 9 March 2014

Daily Gospel for Sunday, 9 March 2014

"Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life." John 6:68

First Sunday of Lent - Year A

Saint(s) of the day:

SAINT FRANCES OF ROME

Religious

(1384-1440)

Frances was born at Rome in 1384. Her parents were, of high rank. They overruled her desire to become a nun, and at twelve years of age married her to Rorenzo Ponziano, a Roman noble. During the forty years or their married life they never had a disagreement. While spending her days in retirement and prayer, she attended promptly to every household duty, saying, "A married woman must leave God at the altar to find Him in her domestic cares;" and she once found the verse of a psalm in which she had been four times thus interrupted completed for her in letters of gold. Her ordinary food was dry bread. Secretly she would exchange with beggars good food for their hard crusts; her drink was water, and her cup a human skull.

During the invasion of Rome, in 1413, Ponziano was banished, his estates confiscated, his house destroyed, and his eldest son taken as a hostage. Frances saw in these losses only the finger of God, and blessed His holy name. When peace was restored Ponziano recovered his estate, and Frances founded the Oblates.

After her husband's death, barefoot and with a cord about her neck she begged admission to the community, and was soon elected Superioress. She lived always in the presence of God, and amongst many visions was given constant sight of her angel guardian, who shed such brightness around him that the Saint could read her midnight Office by this light alone. He shielded her in the hour of temptation, and directed her in every good act. But when she was betrayed into some defect, he faded from her sight; and when some light words were spoken before her, he covered his face in shame.

She died on the day she had foretold, March 9, 1440.

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

First Sunday of Lent - Year A

Genesis 2: 7 Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die, 5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves.

Psalm 51: 3 For I know my transgressions.

    My sin is constantly before me.

4 Against you, and you only, have I sinned,

    and done that which is evil in your sight;

that you may be proved right when you speak,

    and justified when you judge.

5 Behold, I was born in iniquity.

    In sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.

    You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

    Uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways.

    Sinners shall be converted to you.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

    A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Romans 5: 12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned. 13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come. 15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification. 17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. 18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 4: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”[a]

5 Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and,

‘On their hands they will bear you up,

    so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”[b]

7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”[c]

8 Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. 9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me,[d] Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’” [e]

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.

Footnotes:

a. Matthew 4:4 Deuteronomy 8:3

b. Matthew 4:6 Psalm 91:11-12

c. Matthew 4:7 Deuteronomy 6:16

d. Matthew 4:10 TR and NU read “Go away” instead of “Get behind me”

e. Matthew 4:10 Deuteronomy 6:13

First Sunday of Lent - Year A  

Commentary of the Day:

Saint Gregory the Great (c.540-604), Pope, Doctor of the Church

Homilies on the Gospel, no. 14[16] (trans. ©Cistercian publications)

« Just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous » (Rm 5,19)

If we look at the progress of our Lord's temptation, we see how great the struggle was that set us free. from temptation. Our ancient enemy rose up against the first human being, our ancestor, in three temptations. He tempted him by gluttony, by vain glory and by avarice... He tempted him by gluttony when he showed him the forbidden food of the tree, and told him: “Taste it.” He tempted him by vain glory when he said, “You will be like gods” (Gn 3,5). He tempted him by adding avarice when he said: “knowing good and evil.” Avarice is concerned not only with money but also with high position...

But the means by which the devil overcame the first Adam (1Cor 15,47) were the same ones which caused him to yield when he tempted the second. He tempted him by gluttony when he said, “Tell these stones to become bread.” He tempted him by vain glory when he said, “If you are the son of God, cast yourself down.” He tempted him by an avaricious desire for high position when he showed him all the kingdoms of the world, saying: “I  will give you all these if you will fall down and worship me”... As a captive the devil would depart from our hearts by the same avenue which had given him entrance when he possessed us.

But there is something else we have to consider too in this temptation of the Lord's...: he could have plunged his tempter into the depths. He did not reveal the power of his might, but he only brought forth the precepts of Scripture. This was to give us an example of his patience, so that as often as we suffer something from vicious persons we should be aroused to teach rather than to exact revenge. Consider how great God's patience is, how great our impatience! If we are provoked by injuries, or by some attack, we are influenced by rage...; the Lord endured the devil's opposition, and he answered him with nothing except words of meekness.

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