Daily Gospel for Saturday, 28 March 2015

Daily Gospel for Saturday, 28 March 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]Saturday of the Fifth week of Lent
Saints of the day:

SAINT GONTRAN 
King
(545-592)

St. Gontran was the son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I. and St. Clotildis. Being the second son, whilst his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Ostrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned king of Orleans and Burgundy in 561, making Chalons his capital.

When compelled to take up arms against his ambitious brothers and the Lombards, he made no other use of his victories, under the conduct of a brave general called Mommol, than to give peace to his dominions. The crimes in which the barbarous manners of his nation involved him he effaced by tears of repentance.

The prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war, condemns those who think that human policy cannot be modelled by the maxims of the Gospel, whereas nothing can render a government more flourishing.

He always treated the pastors of the Church with respect and veneration. He was the protector of the oppressed, and the tender parent of his subjects. He gave the greatest attention to the care of the sick. He fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to God night and day as a victim ready to be sacrificed on the altar of His justice, to avert

His indignation which he believed he himself had provoked and drawn down upon hisinnocent people. He was a severe punisher of crimes in his officers and others, and, by many wholesome regulations, restrained the barbarous licentiousness of his troops; but no man was more ready to forgive offences against his own person.

With royal magnificence he built and endowed many churches and monasteries.

This good king died in 592, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, having reigned thirty-one years and some months.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saturday of the Fifth week of Lent
Book of Ezekiel 37:21 Then say to them that Adonai Elohim says: ‘I will take the people of Isra’el from among the nations where they have gone and gather them from every side and bring them back to their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Isra’el; and one king will be king for all of them. They will no longer be two nations, and they will never again be divided into two kingdoms.
23 “‘They will never again defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, or any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the places where they have been living and sinning; and I will cleanse them, so that they will be my people, and I will be their God. 24 My servant David will be king over them, and all of them will have one shepherd; they will live by my rulings and keep and observe my regulations. 25 They will live in the land I gave to Ya‘akov my servant, where your ancestors lived; they will live there — they, their children, and their grandchildren, forever; and David my servant will be their leader forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give to them, increase their numbers, and set my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My home will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 The nations will know that I am Adonai, who sets Isra’el apart as holy, when my sanctuary is with them forever.’”
(Psalm) Jeremiah 31:10 (11) For Adonai has ransomed Ya‘akov,
redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
11 (12) They will come and sing on the heights of Tziyon,
streaming to the goodness of Adonai,
to the grain, the wine, the olive oil,
and the young of the flock and the herd.
They themselves will be like a well-watered garden,
never to languish again.
12 (13) “Then the virgin will dance for joy,
young men and old men together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy,
comfort and gladden them after their sorrow.
13 (14) I will give the cohanim their fill of rich food,
and my people will be satisfied with my bounty,” says Adonai.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 11:45 At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.
46 But some of them went off to the P’rushim and told them what he had done. 47 So the head cohanim and the P’rushim called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? — for this man is performing many miracles. 48 If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” 49 But one of them, Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that year, said to them, “You people don’t know anything! 50 You don’t see that it’s better for you if one man dies on behalf of the people, so that the whole nation won’t be destroyed.” 51 Now he didn’t speak this way on his own initiative; rather, since he was cohen gadol that year, he was prophesying that Yeshua was about to die on behalf of the nation, 52 and not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of God.
53 From that day on, they made plans to have him put to death. 54 Therefore Yeshua no longer walked around openly among the Judeans but went away from there into the region near the desert, to a town called Efrayim, and stayed there with his talmidim.
55 The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach. 56 They were looking for Yeshua, and as they stood in the Temple courts they said to each other, “What do you think? that he simply won’t come to the festival?”
Saturday of the Fifth week of Lent
Commentary of the day:
Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church 
28th Homily on the Song of Songs 
"It is better that one man should die instead of the people"
The darkening of one makes many bright… "It is better," said Caiaphas, "for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” It is better that one be darkened "in the likeness of sinful flesh," (Rm 8:3) for the sake of all than for the whole of mankind to be lost by the darkness of sin; that the splendor and image of the substance of God should be shrouded in the form of a slave, in order that a slave might live; that the brightness of eternal light should become dimmed in the flesh for the purifying of the flesh; that he who surpasses all mankind in beauty (Ps 44:2) should be eclipsed by the darkness of the Passion for the enlightening of mankind; that he should suffer the ignominy of the cross, grow pale in death, be totally deprived of beauty and comeliness that he might gain the Church as a beautiful and comely bride, without spot or wrinkle (Ep 5:27). 
But under his dark covering (Sg 1:5) I recognize the King…; I recognize him and I embrace him. For though he presents this dark exterior… within is the brightness of divine life, the beauty of his strength, the splendor of grace, the purity of innocence. But covering it all is the abject hue of infirmity, his face as it were hidden and despised: "one tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning" (He 4:15). 
I recognize here the image of our sin-darkened nature; I recognize the garments that clothed our first parents after their sin (Gn 3:21). My God has clothed himself in them by assuming the condition of a slave, and becoming as men are, he was seen in their likeness (Ph 2:7). Under the skin that Jacob wore (Gn 27:16), symbol of sin, I recognize both the hand that committed no sin and the neck which never bowed to evil; no word of treachery was found in his mouth. I know, Lord, that you are gentle by nature, meek and humble of heart, pleasing in appearance and loveable in your ways, "anointed with the oil of gladness above your companions" (Mt 11:29; Ps 44:8). Why then this disfigured likeness to Esau? Whose haggard image this?... Ah! It is mine. He has taken my likeness, taken on my sin… And beneath the rough skin of my sinfulness I recognize my God and my Savior.
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