Daily Gospel for Friday, 6 June 2014

Daily Gospel for Friday, 6 June 2014
"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"(John 6:68)
Friday of the Seventh week of Easter
Saints for the Day:

ST. NORBERT

Bishop

(c.1080-1134)

Of noble rank and rare talents, Norbert passed a most pious youth, and entered the ecclesiastical state. By a strange contradiction, his conduct now became a scandal to his sacred calling, and at the court of the Emperor Henry IV he led, like many clerics of that age, a life of dissipation and luxury.
One day when he was thirty years of age, he was thrown half dead from his horse, and on recovering his senses, resolved upon a new life. After a severe and searching preparation, he was ordained a priest and began to expose the abuses of his Order. Silenced at first by a local council, he obtained the Pope's sanction and preached penance to listening crowds in France and the Netherlands.
In the wild vale of Prémontré he gave some trained disciples the rule of St. Augustine and a white habit to denote the angelic purity proper to the priesthood. The Canons Regular, or Premonstratensians, as they were called, were to unite the active work of the country clergy with the obligations of the monastic life. Their fervor renewed the spirit of the priesthood, quickened the faith of the people, and drove out heresy.
A vile heretic named Tankelin, appeared at Antwerp and denied the reality of the priesthood and especially blasphemed the Blessed Eucharist. The Saint was sent for and by his burning words, exposed the impostor and rekindled faith in the Blessed Sacrament.
Many of the apostates had shown their contempt for the Blessed Sacrament by burying it in filthy places. Norbert bade them to search for the Sacred Hosts. They found them whole and undamaged, and the Saint bore them back in triumph to the tabernacle. Hence he is generally painted with the monstrance in his hand.
In 1126 Norbert found himself appointed Bishop of Magdeburg; and there, at the risk of his life, he zealously carried on his work of reform, and died, worn out with toil, at the age of fifty-three.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Friday of the Seventh week of Easter
Acts of the Apostles 25:13 Now when some days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea, and greeted Festus. 14 As he stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix; 15 about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, asking for a sentence against him. 16 To whom I answered that it is not the custom of the Romans to give up any man to destruction, before the accused has met the accusers face to face, and has had opportunity to make his defense concerning the matter laid against him. 17 When therefore they had come together here, I didn’t delay, but on the next day sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought. 18 Concerning whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought no charge of such things as I supposed; 19 but had certain questions against him about their own religion, and about one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. 20 Being perplexed how to inquire concerning these things, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters. 21 But when Paul had appealed to be kept for the decision of the emperor, I commanded him to be kept until I could send him to Caesar.”
Psalms 103: By David.
1 Praise Yahweh, my soul!
    All that is within me, praise his holy name!
2 Praise Yahweh, my soul,
    and don’t forget all his benefits;
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
    so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
    so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 21:15 So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.”
He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.”
He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?”
Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself, and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you, and carry you where you don’t want to go.”
19 Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Friday of the Seventh week of Easter
Commentary for the Day:

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

Sermon 46, On the Shepherds, §30 (trans. cf breviary, Friday of the 25th week) 

"Do you love me?"

Here I find all good shepherds in the one shepherd (Jn 10,14). Good shepherds are not lacking, but they are in the one. To speak of many implies division... If the Lord entrusted them at the time we speak of, it was because he found Peter: indeed, in Peter himself he recommended unity. There were many apostles, but to one is said: “Feed my sheep”... When he entrusted his sheep to Peter, as one to another, he wished to make him one with himself, and so to entrust the sheep to him as to be himself the Head, while Peter assumed the figure of the body (Col 1,18)... What, then, does he first say to Peter, in order to entrust the sheep to him yet avoid entrusting them as if to another? “Peter, do you love me?” And he answered: “I do love you.” And again: “Do you love me?” And he answered: “I do love you.” And a third time: “Do you love me?” And he answered a third time: “I do love you.” He makes sure of love so as firmly to establish unity. 
Jesus, the one shepherd, feeds his sheep in these shepherds, and they in the him... It was not because of a scarcity of shepherds (as though the prophet were foretelling bad times to come) that he said: “I will feed my sheep myself” as though he had no one to whom to entrust them. Even when Peter himself was alive, and the apostles were still alive in the flesh, he, the one in whom all the shepherds are one reality, said: “I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; them also must I bring, that there may be one flock and one shepherd” (Jn 10,16). So let them all be in the one shepherd, and speak with the one shepherd's voice... All should him speak with the one voice, and not with different voices. “I beseech you, brethren, that you all say the same thing, and there be no divisions among you” (1Cor 1,10). Let the sheep hear this voice, cleared of all division and cleansed of all heresy, and let them follow their shepherd as he says: “Those who are my sheep hear my voice and follow me” (Jn 10,27). 

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