DAILY GOSPEL for Sunday, 22 February 2015

DAILY GOSPEL for Sunday, 22 February 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
First Sunday of Lent - Year B
Feast of the Church:

THE CHAIR OF SAINT PETER
FEAST

BENEDICT XVI

"On this rock I will build my Church'

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, the Latin-rite liturgy celebrates the Feast of the Chair of St Peter. This is a very ancient tradition, proven to have existed in Rome since the fourth century. On it we give thanks to God for the mission he entrusted to the Apostle Peter and his Successors.

"Cathedra" literally means the established seat of the Bishop, placed in the mother church of a diocese which for this reason is known as a "cathedral"; it is the symbol of the Bishop's authority and in particular, of his "magisterium", that is, the evangelical teaching which, as a successor of the Apostles, he is called to safeguard and to transmit to the Christian Community.

When a Bishop takes possession of the particular Church that has been entrusted to him, wearing his mitre and holding the pastoral staff, he sits on the cathedra. From this seat, as teacher and pastor, he will guide the journey of the faithful in faith, hope and charity. 
So what was the "Chair" of St Peter? Chosen by Christ as the "rock" on which to build the Church (cf. Mt 16: 18), he began his ministry in Jerusalem, after the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost. The Church's first "seat" was the Upper Room, and it is likely that a special place was reserved for Simon Peter in that room where Mary, Mother of Jesus, also prayed with the disciples.

Subsequently, the See of Peter was Antioch, a city located on the Oronte River in Syria, today Turkey, which at the time was the third metropolis of the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria in Egypt. Peter was the first Bishop of that city, which was evangelized by Barnabas and Paul, where "the disciples were for the first time called Christians" (Acts 11: 26), and consequently where our name "Christians" came into being. In fact, the Roman Martyrology, prior to the reform of the calendar, also established a specific celebration of the Chair of Peter in Antioch.

From there, Providence led Peter to Rome. Therefore, we have the journey from Jerusalem, the newly born Church, to Antioch, the first centre of the Church formed from pagans and also still united with the Church that came from the Jews. Then Peter went to Rome, the centre of the Empire, the symbol of the "Orbis" - the "Urbs", which expresses "Orbis", the earth, where he ended his race at the service of the Gospel with martyrdom.

So it is that the See of Rome, which had received the greatest of honours, also has the honour that Christ entrusted to Peter of being at the service of all the particular Churches for the edification and unity of the entire People of God.

The See of Rome, after St Peter's travels, thus came to be recognized as the See of the Successor of Peter, and its Bishop's "cathedra" represented the mission entrusted to him by Christ to tend his entire flock.

This is testified by the most ancient Fathers of the Church, such as, for example, St Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, but who came from Asia Minor, who in his treatise Adversus Haereses, describes the Church of Rome as the "greatest and most ancient, known by all... founded and established in Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul"; and he added:  "The universal Church, that is, the faithful everywhere, must be in agreement with this Church because of her outstanding superiority" (III, 3, 2-3).

Tertullian, a little later, said for his part:  "How blessed is the Church of Rome, on which the Apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood!" (De Praescriptione Hereticorum, 36). 
Consequently, the Chair of the Bishop of Rome represents not only his service to the Roman community but also his mission as guide of the entire People of God. 
Celebrating the "Chair" of Peter, therefore, as we are doing today, means attributing a strong spiritual significance to it and recognizing it as a privileged sign of the love of God, the eternal Good Shepherd, who wanted to gather his whole Church and lead her on the path of salvation.

Among the numerous testimonies of the Fathers, I would like to quote St Jerome's. It is an extract from one of his letters, addressed to the Bishop of Rome. It is especially interesting precisely because it makes an explicit reference to the "Chair" of Peter, presenting it as a safe harbour of truth and peace.

This is what Jerome wrote:  "I decided to consult the Chair of Peter, where that faith is found exalted by the lips of an Apostle; I now come to ask for nourishment for my soul there, where once I received the garment of Christ. I follow no leader save Christ, so I enter into communion with your beatitude, that is, with the Chair of Peter, for this I know is the rock upon which the Church is built" (cf.Le lettere I, 15, 1-2).(General Audience - Wednesday, 22 February 2006 ) - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Saints of the day:

Blessed Isabel of France
(1225 - 1270)

Isabel was sister of St. Louis and daughter of King Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. When still a child at court, Isabel, or Elizabeth, showed an extraordinary devotion to exercises of piety, modesty, and other virtues.  She refused offers of marriage from several noble suitors to continue her life of virginity consecrated to God.

She ministered to the sick and the poor, and after the death of her mother, founded the Franciscan Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Longchamps in Paris. She lived there in austerity but never became a nun and refused to become abbess.

She died there on February 22, and after nine days her body was exhumed, when it showed no signs of decay, and many miracles were wrought at her grave. Her cult was approved in 1521.

First Sunday of Lent - Year B

Book of Genesis 9:(v) 8 God spoke to Noach and his sons with him; he said, 9 “As for me — I am herewith establishing my covenant with you, with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you — the birds, the livestock and every wild animal with you, all going out of the ark, every animal on earth. 11 I will establish my covenant with you that never again will all living beings be destroyed by the waters of a flood, and there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God added, “Here is the sign of the covenant I am making between myself and you and every living creature with you, for all generations to come: 13 I am putting my rainbow in the cloud — it will be there as a sign of the covenant between myself and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the rainbow is seen in the cloud; 15 I will remember my covenant which is between myself and you and every living creature of any kind; and the water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings.

Psalms 25:4 Make me know your ways, Adonai,

teach me your paths.

5 Guide me in your truth, and teach me;

for you are the God who saves me,

my hope is in you all day long.

6 Remember your compassion and grace, Adonai;

for these are ages old.

7 Don’t remember my youthful sins or transgressions;

but remember me according to your grace

for the sake of your goodness, Adonai.

8 Adonai is good, and he is fair;

this is why he teaches sinners the way [to live],

9 leads the humble to do what is right

and teaches the humble [to live] his way.

First Letter of Peter 3:18 For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit; 19 and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, 20 to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water. 21 This also prefigures what delivers us now, the water of immersion, which is not the removal of dirt from the body, but one’s pledge to keep a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah. 22 He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,[a] with angels, authorities and powers subject to him.[Footnotes:

1 Peter 3:22 Psalm 110:1]

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 1:12 Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by the Adversary. He was with the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.

14 After Yochanan had been arrested, Yeshua came into the Galil proclaiming the Good News from God:

15 “The time has come,

God’s Kingdom is near!

Turn to God from your sins

and believe the Good News!”

First Sunday of Lent - Year B
Commentary of the day:
Saint Gregory Nazianzen (330-390), Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Sermon XL, 10
Temptation after baptism
If, after baptism, you are attacked by the persecutor, tempter of the light, you will have substance for victory. It is certain he will attack you since he even set himself against the Word of my God, deceived by the human appearance that concealed from him his uncreated light. Don’t be daunted by the combat. Oppose him with the water of baptism, oppose him with the Holy Spirit in whom all the fiery darts thrown by the Wicked One are quenched…
If he uncovers the neediness that overwhelms you – and he did not fail to do so to Jesus -, if he brings to mind the fact that you are hungry, don’t pretend you are unaware of his suggestions. Teach him what he does not know; set the Word of life against him, the true Bread from heaven which gives life to the world.
If he sets before you the stumbling block of vanity – he used it against Christ when he caused him to go up to the parapet of the Temple and said: “Throw yourself down” so as to make him manifest his divinity – take care you don’t fall because you wished to raise yourself up…
If he tempts you with ambition by showing you in an instant all the kingdoms of the earth under his power and if he demands your worship, despise him: he’s nothing but a false brother. Confident in the divine seal, say to him: “I, too, am in God’s image; unlike you, I have not yet been thrown down from the height of my glory because of my pride! I am clothed with Christ; through my baptism I have become another Christ; it’s for you to worship me!” I am certain he will depart, overcome and shamed by these words. Coming from someone who is enlightened by Christ, they will be felt by him as though they came from Christ himself, the supreme light. These are the advantages conveyed by the water of baptism to those who acknowledge its power.
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