Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 30 December 2014
"Peter replied, 'Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.'"(John 6:68-69)
The 6th Day in the Octave of Christmas 
Feast of the Day:
Saint of the Day:
SAINT SABINUS
Bishop
and his Companions
Martyrs
(† c. 303)
The cruel edicts of Diocletian and Maximin against the Christians being published in the year 303, Sabinus, Bishop of Assisium, and several of his clergy, were apprehended and kept in custody till Venustianus, the Governor of Etruria and Umbria, came thither. Upon his arrival in that city he caused the hands of Sabinus, who had made a glorious confession of his Faith before him, to be cut off; and his two deacons, Marcellus and Exuperantius, to be scourged, beaten with clubs, and torn with iron nails, under which torments they both expired.
Sabinus is said to have cured a blind boy, and a weakness in the eyes of Venustianus himself, who was thereupon converted, and afterward beheaded for the Faith. Lucius, his successor, commanded Sabinus to be beaten to death with clubs at Spoleto. The martyr was buried a mile from that city, but his relics have been since translated to Faënza.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Anysius
Feastday: December 30
Death: 407
Bishop successor of St. Ascolus in the see of Salonika, in Greece. A friend of St. Ambrose, Anysius was appointed bishop in 383. Pope Damasus also named him vicar apostolic of Illyricum. A loyal defender of St. John Chrysostom, Anysius was one of the sixteen Macedonian bishops to appeal to Pope Innocent in 404 on St. John's behalf.
The 6th Day in the Octave of Christmas
First Letter of John 2:Loving the World
12-13 I remind you, my dear children: Your sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name. You veterans were in on the ground floor, and know the One who started all this; you newcomers have won a big victory over the Evil One.
13-14 And a second reminder, dear children: You know the Father from personal experience. You veterans know the One who started it all; and you newcomers—such vitality and strength! God’s word is so steady in you. Your fellowship with God enables you to gain a victory over the Evil One.
15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
Psalms 96:7 Bravo, God, Bravo!
Everyone join in the great shout: Encore!
In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might.
8-9 Bring gifts and celebrate,
Bow before the beauty of God,
Then to your knees—everyone worship!
10 Get out the message—God Rules!
He put the world on a firm foundation;
He treats everyone fair and square.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 2:36-38 Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.
39-40 When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.
The 6th Day in the Octave of Christmas 
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Clement of Alexandria (150- c.215), theologian 
Protreptic 1,6-8 ;  SC 2 (trans. Ante-Nicene Fathers, rev.)
The new song : "Anne gave thanks to God"
Inasmuch as the Word was from above, he was and is the divine source of all things; but inasmuch as he has now received the name Christ, consecrated of old and worthy of power, he has been called by me “a new song” (Pss 33[34], 144[145], 149[150], etc.). This Word, then, the Christ, the cause of both our being (for He was in God) and of our well-being, this very Word has now appeared to us - he alone being both God and man—the author of all blessings to us. Having been taught by him to live well, we are introduced by him to life eternal. For, according to that inspired apostle of the Lord: “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this present age as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit 2,11-13).
This is the new song, the manifestation of the Word that was in the beginning and who comes to shine in our midst. The Savior, who has existed before all time, has in recent days appeared… For the Word, who “was with God,” and by whom all things were created (Jn 1,10), has appeared as our teacher. The Word, who in the beginning bestowed life on us as our creator, taught us to live well when he appeared as our teacher that, as God, he might afterwards lead us to the life that never ends. It was not only now that he took pity us because of our sins; but he pitied us from the first, from the beginning.
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