Daily Gospel for Monday,
21 April 2014
“Simon Peter
answered him, ‘Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.’”—John
6:68
Easter Monday
Feast of the Church:
The Octave of Easter
Monday in the Octave of Easter
Easter, the most
important feast of the Church year, has an "octave", that is, it is
celebrated for eight days -- through the following Sunday or ""Low
Sunday", the Octave of Easter Day.
Sequence
This is beautiful
sequence written in 1048. Sublime, poetic, and beautiful, this hymn is
considered extremely precious by the Church.
She only makes use of it once a year, during the greatest feast of the
liturgical year!
How beautiful it is,
to see that the same things were believed at the beginning of the second
millenium! This hymn is almost a thousand years old, yet our Faith is the same
today as it was then.
How marvellous is
the Catholic Faith, which doesn't change with the times, but always remains the
same - "Jesus Christ yesterday, today, and tomorrow". The essentials
of our Faith must never change, as there is no change with God or Jesus Christ.
God is the Unchanging One.
May you praise the
Paschal Victim, immolated for
Christians.
The Lamb redeemed
the sheep: Christ, the innocent one,
has reconciled sinners to the Father.
A wonderful duel to behold,
as death and life struggle: The Prince of life dead, now reigns alive.
Tell us, Mary Magdalen, what did you see
in the way? I saw the sepulchre of the living Christ, and I saw the glory of
the Resurrected one: The Angelic witnesses,
the winding cloth, and His garments. The risen Christ is my hope: He
will go before His own into Galilee. We know Christ to have risen truly from the dead: And thou, victorious
King, have mercy on us. Amen. Alleluia.
Saints of the Day:
SAINT ANSELM
Archbishop and Doctor of the Church
(1033-1109)
Anselm was a native
of Piedmont. When a boy of fifteen, being forbidden to enter religion, he for a
while lost his fervor, left his home, and went to various schools in France. At
length his vocation revived, and he became a monk at Bec in Normandy.
The fame of his
sanctity in this cloister led William Rufus, when dangerously ill, to take him
for his confessor, and to name him to the vacant see of Canterbury. Now began
the strife of Anselm's life. With new health the king relapsed into his former
sins, plundered the Church lands, scorned the archbishop's rebukes, and forbade
him to go to Rome for the pallium.
Anselm went, and
returned only to enter into a more bitter strife with William's successor,
Henry I. This sovereign claimed the right of investing prelates with the ring
and crozier, symbols of the spiritual jurisdiction which belongs to the Church
alone. The worldly prelates did not scruple to call St. Anselm a traitor for
his defence of the Pope's supremacy; on which the Saint rose, and with calm
dignity exclaimed, "If any man pretends that I violate my faith to my king
because I will not reject the authority of the Holy See of Rome, let him stand
forth, and in the name of God I will answer him as I ought" No one took up
the challenge; and to the disappointment of the king, the barons sided with the
Saint, for they respected his courage, and saw that his cause was their own.
Sooner than yield, the archbishop went again into exile, till at last the king
was obliged to submit to the feeble but inflexible old man.
In the midst of his
harassing cares, St. Anselm found time for writings which have made him
celebrated as the father of scholastic theology; while in metaphysics and in
science he had few equals.
He is yet more
famous for his devotion to our blessed Lady, whose Feast of the Immaculate
Conception he was the first to establish in the West.
He died in 1109.
Lives of the Saints,
by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Easter Monday
Acts of the Apostles
2: 14 But Peter, standing up
with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea,
and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my
words.
22 “Men of Israel,
hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty
works and wonders and signs which God did by him among you, even as you
yourselves know, 23 him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and
killed; 24 whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death,
because it was not possible that he should be held by it. 25 For David says
concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord
always before my face,
For he is on my right hand, that I should
not be moved.
26 Therefore my
heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced.
Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;
27 because you will
not leave my soul in Hades,[a]
neither will you allow your Holy One to see
decay.
28 You made known to
me the ways of life.
You will make me full of gladness with your
presence.’[b]
29 “Brothers, I may
tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and
his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing
that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according
to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he
foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was
his soul left in Hades,[c] nor did his flesh see decay. 32 This Jesus God
raised up, to which we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted by the
right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy
Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.
Footnotes:
a. Acts 2:27 or,
Hell
b. Acts 2:28 Psalm
16:8-11
c. Acts 2:31 or,
Hell
Psalm 16: A Poem by
David.
1 Preserve me, God,
for in you do I take refuge.
2 My soul, you have
said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord.
Apart from you I have no good thing.”
5 Yahweh assigned my
portion and my cup.
You made my lot secure.
7 I will bless
Yahweh, who has given me counsel.
Yes, my heart instructs me in the night
seasons.
8 I have set Yahweh
always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I shall not
be moved.
9 Therefore my heart
is glad, and my tongue rejoices.
My body shall also dwell in safety.
10 For you will not
leave my soul in Sheol,[a]
neither will you allow your holy one to see
corruption.
11 You will show me
the path of life.
In your presence is fullness of joy.
In your right hand
there are pleasures forever more.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 16:10 Sheol
is the place of the dead.
The Holy Gospel of Jesus
Christ according to Saint Matthew 28:8 They departed quickly from the tomb with
fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 9 As they went to tell
his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!”
They came and took
hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
10 Then Jesus said
to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers[a] that they should go into
Galilee, and there they will see me.”
11 Now while they
were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief
priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they were assembled with the
elders, and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the
soldiers, 13 saying, “Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away
while we slept. 14 If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him
and make you free of worry.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were
told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 28:10 The
word for “brothers” here may be also correctly translated “brothers and
sisters” or “siblings.”
Easter Monday
Commentary of the
Day:
Pope Francis
Homily of 24/03/2013 (trans. © copyright Libreria Editrice
Vaticana)
« Jesus came to meet them and said to them : « Rejoice! » (original
Greek text)
“Blessed is the King
who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
(Lk 19,38)... Joy fills the air. Jesus has awakened great hopes, especially in
the hearts of the simple, the humble, the poor, the forgotten, those who do not
matter in the eyes of the world. He understands human sufferings, he has shown
the face of God’s mercy, and he has bent down to heal body and soul. This is
Jesus. This is his heart which looks to all of us, to our sicknesses, to our
sins. The love of Jesus is great... Jesus is God, but he lowered himself to
walk with us. He is our friend, our brother...
And here is the
first word that I wish to say to you: joy! Do not be men and women of sadness:
a Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement! Ours is not a
joy born of having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person:
Jesus, in our midst; it is born from knowing that with him we are never alone,
even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up against
problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them!
And in this moment the enemy, the devil, comes, often disguised as an angel
(2Cor 11,14), and slyly speaks his word to us. Do not listen to him! Let us
follow Jesus! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we know that he
accompanies us and carries us on his shoulders (Lk 15,5). This is our joy, this
is the hope that we must bring to this world. Please do not let yourselves be
robbed of hope! Do not let hope be stolen! The hope that Jesus gives us.
--------
No comments:
Post a Comment