Daily Gospel for Friday, 4 April 2014

Daily Gospel for Friday, 4 April 2014

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

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Saints of the Day:

SAINT ISIDORE

Archbishop

(c. 560-636)

Isidore was born of a ducal family, at Carthagena in Spain. His two brothers, Leander, Archbishop of Seville, Fulgentius, Bishop of Ecija, and his sister Florentina, are Saints. As a boy he despaired at his ill success in study, and ran away from school. Resting in his flight at a roadside spring, he observed a stone, which was hollowed out by the dripping water. This decided him to return, and by hard application he succeeded where he had failed. He went back to his master, and with the help of God became, even as a youth, one of the most learned men of the time. He assisted in converting Prince Recared, the leader of the Arian party; and with his aid, though at the constant peril of his own life, he expelled that heresy from Spain.

Then, following a call from God, he turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of his friends, and embraced a hermit's life. Prince Recared and many of the nobles and clergy of Seville went to persuade him to come forth, and represented the needs of the times, and the good he could do, and had already done, among the people. He refused, and, as far as we can judge, that refusal gave him the necessary opportunity of acquiring the virtue and the power which afterwards made him an illustrious Bishop and Doctor of the Church.

On the death of his brother Leander he was called to fill the vacant see. As a teacher, ruler, founder, and reformer, he labored not only in his own diocese, but throughout Spain, and even in foreign countries.

He died in Seville on April 4, 636, and within sixteen years of his death was declared a Doctor of the Catholic Church.

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

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Book of Wisdom 2:1  For, not thinking rightly, they said among themselves:

“Brief and troubled is our lifetime;

there is no remedy for our dying,

nor is anyone known to have come back from Hades.

12 Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us;

he opposes our actions,

Reproaches us for transgressions of the law

and charges us with violations of our training.

13 He professes to have knowledge of God

and styles himself a child of the LORD.

14 To us he is the censure of our thoughts;

merely to see him is a hardship for us,

15 Because his life is not like that of others,

and different are his ways.

16 He judges us debased;

he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.

He calls blest the destiny of the righteous

and boasts that God is his Father.

17 Let us see whether his words be true;

let us find out what will happen to him in the end.

18 For if the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him

and deliver him from the hand of his foes.

19 With violence and torture let us put him to the test

that we may have proof of his gentleness

and try his patience.

20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death;

for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”

21 These were their thoughts, but they erred;

for their wickedness blinded them,

22 And they did not know the hidden counsels of God;

neither did they count on a recompense for holiness

nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.

Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears,

    and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart,

    and saves those who have a crushed spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

    but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

20 He protects all of his bones.

    Not one of them is broken.

21 Evil shall kill the wicked.

    Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.

23 The LORD is the redeemer of the souls of his servants;

and none are condemned who take refuge in him.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 7:1 After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand.

10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret.

25 Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? 26 Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ? 27 However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”

28 Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

30 They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Commentary of the Day:

Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church

Sermons on Saint John's gospel, no.31, 3-4 ; CCL 36, 294-295

You know me and you do not know me

“Jesus cried out in the temple area:'You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.'” Which goes to say: “You know me but you do not know me”, or even: “You know where I come from and you do not know. You know where I come from: Jesus of Nazareth. And you know my family.” The only thing that was hidden from them in this area was his virginal birth... They knew everything about Jesus with respect to his human nature: his appearance, his home, family and birthplace. Thus the Lord was right in saying to them: “You know me and you know where I come from” according to the flesh and the human appearance he had assumed.

Whereas according to his divinity, he said: “I did not come on my own but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.” Now, if you want to know him, believe in him whom he has sent and you will know him. So, if you want to know him, believe in the one he has sent and you will get to know him. For “No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son who is in the Father's heart: he has made him known” (Jn 1,18). And again: “No one knows who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Lk 10,22)... “I know him”: ask me, therefore, to make him known to you... “I come from him and it is he who sent me”. A magnificent affirmation of a twofold truth...: the Son proceeds from the Father and all that the Son is he takes from him whose Son he is. That is why we say the Lord Jesus is “God from God” (Creed), whereas we simply call the Father... 'God'. We also say that our Lord Jesus is “Light from Light”, whereas we simply call the Father... 'Light'. This is what those words mean: “I come from him.”

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