Daily Gospel for Thursday, 24 April 2014

Daily Gospel for Thursday, 24 April 2014

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

Easter Thursday

Feast of the Church:

Thursday in the Octave of Easter

Today's gospel takes over where yesterday's gospel ended.

Let us imagine the surprise of Cleopus and the other unnamed disciple on encountering the risen Jesus for a second time. This time it is not with the breaking of the bread, but the encounter of the risen Jesus eating baked fish.         

Those now gathered together before the risen Jesus are scared out of their wits thinking that Jesus is a ghost. He simply tells them, «Look at my hands and feet that it is I myself» (Lk 24:39).   Again, Jesus repeats what he said to the two disciples on that road to Emmaus. But this time, besides mentioning Moses and the prophets, Jesus also adds the psalms.      

Here Saint Saint Luke relates that Jesus «opened their minds to understand the Scriptures» (Lk 24:45).  Let us pray that the Holy Spirit enlighten us that we also might see Jesus in writings of Moses, in the writings of the prophets and in the psalms.

This day was made by the Lord;

we rejoice and we are glad.

Alleluia!

Saints of the Day:

Saint Benedict Menni

Priest, O.H.,

Founder of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

(1841-1914)

Benedict Menni, who is being raised to the altars today, was a faithful follower of Saint John of God and, through his words and deeds, was a Herald of the Gospel of Mercy and a new Prophet of Hospitality.

His origins and his Hospitaller vocation

The city of Milan was his cradle: he was born there on 11 March 1841 and baptized the same day. He was named Angelo Ercole, almost as a portent of the Herculean spirit and strength that was to characterize his whole personality.

He was the fifth of 15 children born to Luigi Menni and Luisa Figini. His warm and hospitable home gave him the support and stimulus he needed to develop his intellectual powers and his personality. God's call came early on: faithful to his conscience, he gave up a good position in a bank, and with his selfless attitude to the suffering he volunteered to work as a stretcher-bearer to assist the soldiers wounded on the battlefield at Magenta, near Milan.

Attracted by the spirit of dedication and self-denial which he discovered in the Brothers of St John of God, at the age of 19 he applied to enter the Hospitaller Order. He began his Religious life taking the name Benedict, and consecrated himself to God and to the care of the sick. And today we venerate him with the same name: Saint Benedict Menni.

His Hospitaller formation and mission

It was during his nursing and priestly studies that his Religious Hospitaller personality was gradually fashioned, which he placed at the disposal of his Superiors, embracing the cause of helping the most needy members of society, so many of whom were sick.

At that time Spain, the cradle of the Hospitaller Order, was embroiled in political strife, with open hostility to all the Religious Orders, and the work of St John of God was practically dead. It needed a new lease of life, and Benedict Menni was to be the man of providence to bring it about.

He was sent to Spain in 1867, and it was there that he performed his two great works: he restored the Order of St John of God and founded the Congregation of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Thanks to his magnanimous spirit, his great capabilities and state of mind, he overcame many difficulties and did so much good to help the sick, providing them with comprehensive care.

The Restorer of the Hospitaller Order

Sent to Spain by the Prior General of the Order, Fr Giovanni M. Alfieri, who always supported him, and with the blessing of Pope Visitor and Prior General of the Order Pius IX, even before he left Rome Benedict Menni demonstrated a will of iron and a determined spirit. Only a few months after his arrival in Spain he set up his first children's hospital in Barcelona (1867), marking the beginning of his extraordinary work of restoration, which he was to carry through over the next 36 years.

From the first moment, thanks to his commitment to his vocation, numerous generous followers rallied around him, and it was through them that he was able to guarantee continuity to his new Hospitaller institutions that were springing up in Spain, Portugal and Mexico, to spread subsequently throughout the New World.

The Founder of the Hospitaller Sisters

When he arrived in Granada (1878), Benedict Menni came in contact with two young women, Maria Josefa Recio and Maria Angtistias Gimenez, who set up a new women's hospital specifically to provide psychiatric care in 1881.

It was at Ciempozuelos, Madrid, that the Mother House of the "Congregation of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" was founded, receiving the approval of the Holy See in 1901. Six words summarize their identity in the Hospitaller service: "pray, work, endure, suffer, a love God and silence".

The new Institution soon spread its wings of merciful charity by becoming established in several countries in Europe and Latin America, and later on in Africa and Asia. At the present time, as the Congregation celebrates the canonization of its founder, Benedict Menni, the Sisters are present in 24 countries, with over 100 Hospitaller Centres.

Benedict Menni, their Founder and spiritual Father, imbued them with his own charismatic spirit of St John of God and for over 30 years continued to provide them with his guidance and formation in Hospitaller ascetics.

Visitor and Prior General of the Order

The opera magna wrought by Benedict Menni as a Restorer and Founder spread, at the request of the Holy See, to the whole Order when he was appointed Apostolic Visitor (1909-1911) and subsequently Prior General (1911), which he had to resign one year later as a result of misunderstandings, and for health reasons.

He spent the last two years of his life in humility and purification, and died a holy death at Dinan, France, on 24 April 1914. His mortal remains were taken by the Spanish Brothers to Ciempozuelos, and today are venerated under the high altar in the Founders' Chapel in the Hospitaller Sisters' Mother House there.

In the glory of the saints

The process to acknowledge his holiness opened in the diocese of Madrid where he is buried, in 1945-1947, and his virtues were recognized as heroic by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints on 11 May 1982, so that he was able to be called " Venerable". After official acceptance of the miraculous healing of Asuncion Cacho thanks to his intercession, he was proclaimed "Blessed" in St Peter's Basilica on June 23, 1985 and « Saint » on November 21, 1999 by Pope John Paul II.

His message of Hospitality

In addition to his total dedication which bore such fruit, his holy and sanctifying conduct, his life offered entirely to God and to the sick with total generosity, the witness borne by Benedict Menni has regained all its topical relevance today with his canonization, which is offering him to the universal Church as a model and an example to be followed, particularly by those working in health care.

Humanization and evangelization are challenges to the new millennium. St Benedict Menni recalls to us and enlightens the words of our Lord, "I was sick and you visited me... Come, O blessed of my Father".

Health care uses the benefits brought by scientific and technological progress, but frequently it is the "heart" which is missing in patient care. Health care is often concerned more with the sickness than the sick, who are often viewed as numbers or clinical cases rather than as brothers and sisters to be cared for and ministered to, as persons made in the image of a suffering God.

© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

SAINT FIDELIS OF SIGMARINGEN

Capuchin Priest and Martyr

(1577-1622)

Fidelis was born at Sigmaringen in 1577, of noble parents. In his youth he frequently approached the sacraments, visited the sick and the poor, and spent moreover many hours before the altar. For a time he followed the legal profession, and was remarkable for his advocacy of the poor and his respectful language towards his opponents.

Finding it difficult to become both a rich lawyer and a good Christian, Fidelis entered the Capuchin. Order, and embraced a life of austerity and prayer. Hair shirts, iron-pointed girdles, and disciplines were penances too light for his fervor; and being filled with a desire of martyrdom, he rejoiced at being sent to Switzerland by the newly-founded Congregation of Propaganda, and braved every peril to rescue souls from the diabolical heresy of Calvin.

When preaching at Sevis he was fired at by a Calvinist, but the fear of death could not deter him from proclaiming divine truth. After his sermon he was waylaid by a body of Protestants headed by a minister, who attacked him and tried to force him to embrace their so-called. reform. But he said, "I came to refute your errors, not to embrace them; I will never renounce Catholic doctrine, which is the truth of all ages, and I fear not death." On this they fell upon him with their poignards, and the first martyr of Propaganda went to receive his palm.

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

BLESSED MARIA ELISABETTA HESSELBLAD

(1870-1957)

Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad was born in the little village of Faglavik, in the province of Alvsborg, on the 4 June 1870, the fifth of thirteen children born to Augusto Roberto Hesselblad and Cajsa Pettesdotter Dag. The following month she was baptized and received into the Reformed Church of Sweden in her parish in Hundene. Her childhood was lived out in various places, since economic difficulties forced the family to move on several occasions.

In 1886, in order to make a living and to support her family, she went to work first of all in Karlosborg and then in the United States of America. She went to nursing school at the Roosevelt hospital in New York and dedicated herself to home care of the sick. This meant that she continually had to make many sacrifices, which did not do her health any good, but certainly helped her soul to flourish. The contact she had with so many sick catholics and her thirst for truth helped to keep alive in her heart her search for the true flock of Christ. Through prayer, personal study and a deep daughterly devotion to the Mother of the Redeemer, she was decisively led to the Catholic Church and, on the 15 August 1902, in the Convent of the Visitation in Washington, she received conditional baptism from Fr. Giovani Giorgio Hagen, S.J., who also became her spiritual director. Looking back on that moment of grace, she wrote, "In an instant the love of God was poured over me. I understood that I could respond to that love only through sacrifice and a love prepared to suffer for His glory and for the Church. Without hesitation I offered Him my life, and my will to follow Him on the Way of the Cross." Two days later she was nourished by the Eucharist, and then she left for Europe.

In Rome she received the Sacrament of Confirmation and she clearly perceived that she was to dedicate herself to the unity of Christians. She also visited the church and house of Saint Bridget of Sweden (+ 1373), and came away with a deep and lasting impression: "It is in this place that I want you to serve me." She returned to the United States but, her poor health notwithstanding, she left everything and on 25 March 1904 she settled in Rome at the Casa di Santa Brigida, receiving a wonderful welcome from the Carmelite Nuns who lived there. In silence and in prayer she made great progress in her knowledge and love of Christ, fostered devotion to Saint Bridget and Saint Catherine of Sweden, and nourished a growing concern for her people and the Church.

In 1906 Pope Saint Pius X allowed her to take the habit of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget and profess vows as a spiritual daughter of the Swedish saint. In the years that followed she strove to bring back to Rome the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, and to that end she visited the few existing Brigettine monasteries in Europe, an experience that brought joys, disappointments and no concrete help. Her dream of bringing to birth a Brigettine community in Rome that was made up of members coming from monasteries of ancient observance, was not realized. However Divine Providence, in ways that were quite unexpected, enabled a new branch to grow from the ancient Brigettine trunk. In fact, on the 9 November 1911, the Servant of God welcomed three young English postulants and refounded the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget, whose particular mission was to pray and work, especially for the unity of Scandinavian Christians with the Catholic Church.

In 1931 she experienced the great joy of receiving the Holy See's permission to have permanent use of the church and house of Saint Bridget in Rome. These became the centre of activity for the Order which, driven on by its missionary zeal, also established foundations in India (1937).

During and after the Second World War, the Servant of God performed great works of charity on behalf of the poor and those who suffered because of racial laws; she promoted a movement for peace that involved catholics and non-catholics; she multiplied her ecumenical endeavours and for many people who belonged to other religions or other christian confessions, she was part of their journey towards the Catholic Church.

From the very beginning of her Foundation she was particularly attentive to the formation of her spiritual daughters, for whom she was both a mother and a guide. She implored them to live in close union with God, to have a fervent desire to be conformed to our Divine Saviour, to possess a great love for the Church and the Roman Pontiff, and to pray constantly that there be only one flock and one shepherd, adding, "This is the prime goal of our vocation." She also devoted herself to fostering a unity of spirit within the Order. "The Lord has called us from different nations," she wrote, "but we must be united with one heart and one soul. In the divine Heart of Jesus we will always meet one another and there we seek our strength to face the difficulties of life. May we be strengthened to practice the beautiful virtues of charity, humility and patience. Then our religious life will be the antechamber to Heaven." On other occasions she said, "Our religious houses must be formed after the example of Nazareth: prayer, work, sacrifice. The human heart can aspire to nothing greater."

Throughout her life she remained faithful to what she had written in 1904: "Dear Lord, I do not ask to see the path. In darkness, in anguish and in fear, I will hang on tightly to your hand and I will close my eyes, so that you know how much trust I place in you, Spouse of my soul." Hope in God and in His providence supported her in every moment, especially in times of testing, solitude and the cross. She put the things of Heaven before the things of earth, God's will before her own, the good of her neighbour before her own benefit.

Contemplating the infinite love of the Son of God, who sacrificed Himself for our salvation, she fed the flame of love in her heart, as manifested by the goodness of her works. Repeatedly to her daughters she said, "We must nourish a great love for God and our neighbors; a strong love, an ardent love, a love that burns away imperfections, a love that gently bears an act of impatience, or a bitter word, a love that lets an inadvertence or act of neglect pass without comment, a love that lends itself readily to an act of charity." The Servant of God was like a garden in which the sun of charity brought to bloom the flowers of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. She was filled with care and concern for her Sisters, for the poor, the sick, the persecuted Jewish people, for priests, for the children to whom she taught Christian doctrine, for her family and for the people of Sweden and Rome. She was a humble Sister and most obliging to all who sought her help. She always felt a sense of duty and great joy in sharing with others the gifts she had received from the Lord, and this she did with gentleness, graciousness and simplicity. She was prudent in her work for the Kingdom of God, in her speaking, acting, advising and correcting. She had great respect for the religious freedom of non-christians and non-catholics, whom she received gladly under her roof. She practiced justice towards God and neighbour, temperance, self-control, reserve, detachment from the honours and things of the world, humility, chastity, obedience, fortitude in tribulation, perseverance in her praise and service of God, faithfulness to her religious consecration.

She walked with God, clinging to the cross of Christ, who was her companion from the days of her youth. "For me," she said, "the way of the Cross has been the most beautiful of all because on this path I have met and known my Lord and Saviour." Unremittingly her physical suffering went hand in hand with her moral suffering. The cross became particularly heavy and painful during the final years of her life, when the Holy See prepared the Canonical Visit of her Order as her health got progressively worse. In prayer and peaceful submission to God's will she prepared herself for the final meeting with the Divine Spouse, who called her to Himself in the early hours of 24 April 1957.

The reputation for holiness which surrounded her in life increased after her death, and almost immediately the Vicariate of Rome began the cause for Beatification. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 9, 2000 at Rome. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Easter Thursday

Acts 3: 11 As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

17 “Now, brothers,[a] I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.

19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets. 22 For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you. 23 It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’[b] 24 Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. 25 You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your offspring[c] will all the families of the earth be blessed.’[d] 26 God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”

Footnotes:

a. Acts 3:17 The word for “brothers” here may be also correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”

b. Acts 3:23 Deuteronomy 18:15,18-19

c. Acts 3:25 or, seed

d. Acts 3:25 Genesis 22:18; 26:4

Psalm 8:2 2 From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength,

    because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

5 For you have made him a little lower than God,[a]

    and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You make him ruler over the works of your hands.

    You have put all things under his feet:

7 All sheep and cattle,

    yes, and the animals of the field,

8     The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea,

    and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

9 Yahweh, our Lord,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Footnotes:

a. Psalm 8:5 Hebrew: Elohim. The word Elohim, used here, usually means “God”, but can also mean “gods”, “princes”, or “angels”. The Septuagint reads “angels” here.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24:35 They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

36 As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

37 But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

42 They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 He took them, and ate in front of them. 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”

45 Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. 46 He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

Easter Thursday

Commentary of the Day:

Saint Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173), Armenian patriarch

Jesus, Only Son of the Father, §771-774 ; SC 203

"He stood in their midst"

On the evening of the resurrection,

The first day of the week, the Sunday,

You appeared to the Eleven by night

When the doors were shut.

And the first breath

We had lost in Paradise

You bestowed on them once again

And, through them, to our human nature (Jn 20,22).

I, who hold in my soul the doors of the spirit

Shut to your word,

And who dwell in darkness, without light,

As though in the house of the shades,

Do not leave for evermore

To live without light with the Evil One under my roof,

But open wide the nuptial chamber of my heart;

Make your brilliant light flame up within me.

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