DAILY GOSPEL for Friday, 27 February 2015

DAILY GOSPEL for Friday, 27 February 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Friday of the First week of Lent
Saints of the day:

SAINT LEANDER 
Bishop 
(c. 540-596)

St. Leander was born of an illustrious family at Carthagena in Spain. He was the eldest of five brothers, several of whom are numbered among the Saints. He entered into a monastery very young, where he lived many years and attained to an eminent degree of virtue and sacred learning.

These qualities occasioned his being promoted to the see of Seville; but his change of condition made little or no alteration in his method of life, though it brought on him a great increase of care and solicitude.

Spain at that time was in possession of the Visigoths. These Goths, being infected withArianism, established this heresy wherever they came; so that when St. Leander was made bishop it had reigned in Spain a hundred years. This was his great affliction; however, by his prayers to God, and by his most zealous and unwearied endeavors, he became the happy instrument of the conversion of that nation to the Catholic faith. Having converted, among others, Hermenegild, the king's eldest son and heir apparent, Leander was banished by King Leovigild. This pious prince was put to death by his unnatural father, the year following, for refusing to receive Communion from the hands of an Arian bishop. But, touched with remorse not long after, the king recalled our Saint; and falling sick and finding himself past hopes of recovery, he sent for St. Leander, and recommended to him his son Recared. This son, by listening to St. Leander, soon became a Catholic, and finally converted the whole nation of the Visigoths. He was no less successful with respect to the Suevi, a people of Spain, whom his father Leovigild had perverted.

St. Leander was no less zealous in the reformation of manners than in restoring the purity of faith; and he planted the seeds of that zeal and fervor which afterwards produced so many martyrs and Saints.

This holy doctor of Spain died about the year 596, on the 27th of February, as Mabillon proves from his epitaph.

The Church of Seville has been a metropolitan see ever since the third century. The cathedral is the most magnificent, both as to structure and ornament, of any in all Spain.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

Feastday: Febuary 27
Death: 1862
Passionist monk who died young. Born Francis Possenti in Assisi, Italy, in 1838, he was seriously ill as a child. He joined the Passionists in Morovalle in 1856 and died in Isola of consumption six years later. Gabriel was canonized in 1920. His cult was confined to local calendars in 1969.

Friday of the First week of Lent
Book of Ezekiel 18:21 “However, if the wicked person repents of all the sins he committed, keeps my laws and does what is lawful and right; then he will certainly live, he will not die. 22 None of the transgressions he has committed will be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done, he will live. 23 Do I take any pleasure at all in having the wicked person die?” asks Adonai Elohim. “Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?

24 “On the other hand, when the righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits wickedness by acting in accordance with all the disgusting practices that the wicked person does, will he live? None of the righteous deeds he has done will be remembered; for the trespasses and sins he has committed, he will die.

25 “So now you say, ‘Adonai’s way isn’t fair.’ Listen, house of Isra’el! Is it my way that is unfair? or your ways that are unfair? 26 When the righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits wickedness, he will die for it — for the wickedness he commits he will die. 27 And when the wicked person turns away from all the wickedness he has committed and does what is lawful and right, he will save his life. 28 Because he thinks it over and repents of all the transgressions he committed, he will certainly live, not die.

Psalms 130: (0) A song of ascents. By David:

(1) Adonai, I call to you from the depths;

2 hear my cry, Adonai!

Let your ears pay attention

to the sound of my pleading.

3 Yah, if you kept a record of sins,

who, Adonai, could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness,

so that you will be feared.

5 I wait longingly for Adonai;

I put my hope in his word.

6 Everything in me waits for Adonai

more than guards on watch wait for morning,

more than guards on watch wait for morning.

7 Isra’el, put your hope in Adonai!

For grace is found with Adonai,

and with him is unlimited redemption.

8 He will redeem Isra’el

from all their wrongdoings.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

21 “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Do not murder,’[a] and that anyone who commits murder will be subject to judgment. 22 But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger against his brother will be subject to judgment; that whoever calls his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be brought before the Sanhedrin; that whoever says, ‘Fool!’ incurs the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom! 23 So if you are offering your gift at the Temple altar and you remember there that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift where it is by the altar, and go, make peace with your brother. Then come back and offer your gift. 25 If someone sues you, come to terms with him quickly, while you and he are on the way to court; or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer of the court, and you may be thrown in jail! 26 Yes indeed! I tell you, you will certainly not get out until you have paid the last penny.[Footnotes:

Matthew 5:21 Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17]

Friday of the First week of Lent
Commentary of the day:
Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
Homilies to the people of Antioch, XX, 12
"Go first and be reconciled with your brother"
This is what I proclaim, what I testify, what I cry out with a resounding voice: Let no one who has an enemy draw near the holy table to receive the Body of the Lord! Let no one who does approach it have an enemy! Do you have an enemy? Do not come near! If you want to do so then first go and be reconciled, then receive the sacrament.
It is not I who say this but the Lord : he who was crucified for our sake. To reconcile us to his Father he did not refuse to be sacrificed nor to shed his blood; as for you, won’t you so much as say a word and take the initiative of going to find him so as to be reconciled with your brother? Listen to what the Lord says with regard to people like you: “If you are brining your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you…” He doesn’t say: “Wait until he comes to find you, or until he receives a visit from one of your friends as intermediary”, or again: “Send someone else to him”, but: “You, run up to him in person!” Go on, he says, first go and be reconciled with your brother.”
It’s incredible ! Whereas God doesn’t think himself insulted to see the gift you were about to offer him set aside, as for you, do you consider it a dishonour to take the first step towards being reconciled with your brother? What sort of excuse do you find for such behaviour? When you see one of your members cut off, don’t you try by every means to attach it again to the rest of your body? Do the same thing for your brothers and sisters: when you see them cut off from your friendship, go quickly to bring them back. Don’t wait for them to come back to you first but be the first yourself; hasten to accomplish it!
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