Daily Gospel for Monday, 1 June 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Monday of the Ninth week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the day:
SAINT JUSTIN
Martyr
(+ c. 165)
Martyr
(+ c. 165)
St. Justin was born of heathen parents at. Neapolis in Samaria , about the year 103. He was well educated, and gave himself to the study of philosophy, but always with one object, that he might learn the knowledge of God. He sought this knowledge among the contending schools of philosophy, but always in vain, till at last God himself appeased the thirst which He had created.
One day, while Justin was walking by the seashore, meditating on the thought of God, an old man met him and questioned him on the subject of his doubts; and when he had made Justin confess that the philosophers taught nothing certain about God, he told him of the writings of the inspired prophets and of Jesus Christ whom they announced, and bade him seek light and understanding through prayer .
The Scriptures and the constancy of the Christian martyrs led Justin from the darkness of human reason to the light of faith. In his zeal for the Faith he travelled to Greece, Egypt, and Italy, gaining many to Christ.
At Rome he sealed his testimony with his blood, surrounded by his disciples. "Do you think," the prefect said to Justin, "that by dying you will enter heaven, and be rewarded by God?" "I do not think," was the Saint's answer; "I know."
Then, as now, there were many religious opinions, but only one certain-the certainty of theCatholic faith . This certainty should be the measure of our confidence and our zeal.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
SAINT PAMPHILUS
Priest and Martyr
(+ 308)
Priest and Martyr
(+ 308)
St. Pamphilus was of a rich and honorable family, and a native of Berytus, in which city, at that time famous for its schools, he in his youth ran through the whole circle of the sciences, and was afterward honored with the first employments of the magistracy.
After he began to know Christ, he could relish no other study but that of salvation, and renounced everything else that he might apply himself wholly to the exercise of virtue and the studies of the Holy Scriptures. This accomplished master in profane sciences, and this renowned magistrate, was not ashamed to become the humble scholar of Pierius, the successor of Origen, in the great catechetical school of Alexandria.
He afterward made Cæsarea, in Palestine, his residence, where, at his private expense, he collected a great library, which he bestowed on the church of that city. The Saint established there also a public school of sacred literature, and to his labors the Church was indebted for a most correct edition of the Holy Bible , which, with infinite care, he transcribed himself.
But nothing was more remarkable in this Saint than his extraordinary humility. His paternal estate he at length distributed among the poor; towards his slaves and domestics his behavior was always that of a brother or a tender father. He led a most austere life, sequestered from the world and its company, and was indefatigable in labor.
Such a virtue was his apprenticeship to the grace of martyrdom. In the year 307, Urbanus, the cruel governor of Palestine, caused him to be apprehended, and commanded him to be most inhumanly tormented. But the iron hooks which tore the martyr's sides served only to cover the judge with confusion. After this, the Saint remained almost two years in prison. Urbanus, the governor, was himself beheaded by an order of the Emperor Maximinus, but was succeeded by Firmilian, a man not less barbarous than bigoted and superstitious.
After several butcheries, he caused St. Pamphilus to be brought before him, and passed sentence of death upon him. His flesh was torn off to the very bones, and his bowels exposed to view, and the torments were continued a long time without intermission, but he never once opened his mouth so much as to groan.
He finished his martyrdom by a slow fire, and died invoking Jesus, the Son of God.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Monday of the Ninth week in Ordinary Time Book of Tobit 1:3 I, Tobit, was trustworthy and behaved righteously during my entire life. I would help support my relatives and others of my country who were captured and taken with me to Nineveh in the country of the Assyrians.
2:1 When I returned to my house in the time of King Esarhaddon, my wife Anna and my son Tobias were restored to me.
Tobit is blinded
During our Festival of Pentecost, which is the holy Festival of Weeks, a splendid meal was cooked for me, and I lay down to eat. 2 The table was set before me, and many fine foods were brought to me. Then I said to my son Tobias, “Go, my son, and find one of our poorer relatives captive here in Nineveh, someone who pays attention to God with all his heart. Bring him here to eat with me. I will wait here, son, until you return.”
3 Tobias left to find some poor person among our relatives. When he returned, he said, “Father?”
I answered, “I’m here, my son.”
He exclaimed, “Father, one of our people has been murdered and tossed into the marketplace; his strangled body is just lying there.”
4 I got up and left the meal before tasting it. I removed the body from the street and placed it in one of the smaller houses until sunset when I would bury it. 5 Then, when I returned, I washed myself and ate my food in sadness. 6 I remembered the word that Amos the prophet pronounced against Bethel: Your festivals will be transformed into sadness and all your songs[a] into sorrowful wailing.[b] And I wept.
7 After sunset I went out, dug a hole, and buried him. 8 My neighbors made fun of me, saying, “Is he no longer afraid that he will be killed for doing this kind of thing? He ran away, but now look: he is burying the dead again!”[Footnotes:
Tobit 2:6 Gk paths
Tobit 2:6 Amos 8:10]
Psalm 112:1 Halleluyah!
How happy is anyone who fears Adonai,
who greatly delights in his mitzvot.
2 His descendants will be powerful on earth,
a blessed generation of upright people.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness stands forever.
4 To the upright he shines like a light in the dark,
merciful, compassionate and righteous.
5 Things go well with the person who is merciful and lends,
who conducts his affairs with fairness;
6 for he will never be moved.
The righteous will be remembered forever.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 12:1 Yeshua began speaking to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower; then he rented it to tenant-farmers and left. 2 When harvest-time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the crop from the vineyard. 3 But they took him, beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. 4 So he sent another servant; this one they punched in the head and insulted. 5 He sent another one, and him they killed; and so with many others — some they beat up, others they killed. 6 He had still one person left, a son whom he loved; in the end, he sent him to them, saying, ‘My son they will respect.’ 7 But the tenants said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 So they seized him, killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others! 10 Haven’t you read the passage in the Tanakh that says,
‘The very rock which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone!
11 This has come from Adonai,
and in our eyes it is amazing’?”[a]
12 They set about to arrest him, for they recognized that he had told the parable with reference to themselves. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.[Footnotes:
Mark 12:11 Psalm 118:22–23]
Monday of the Ninth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:
John Tauler (c.1300-1361), Dominican
Sermon 7
Become a vine that bears fruit
As for vines, we bind them, tie them to posts, bend the branches over and attach them to stout stakes to hold them. By this we can understand the sweet and holy life and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ who, in everything, is to be the support of the well-meaning person. Such a person has to be bent over, what is highest in him has to be brought low and he has to go down in true, humble submission from the depth of his heart. All our interior and exterior faculties, the sensitive and acquisitive as well as our rational ones, have to be bound in their place, in true submission to the will of God.
2:1 When I returned to my house in the time of King Esarhaddon, my wife Anna and my son Tobias were restored to me.
Tobit is blinded
During our Festival of Pentecost, which is the holy Festival of Weeks, a splendid meal was cooked for me, and I lay down to eat. 2 The table was set before me, and many fine foods were brought to me. Then I said to my son Tobias, “Go, my son, and find one of our poorer relatives captive here in Nineveh, someone who pays attention to God with all his heart. Bring him here to eat with me. I will wait here, son, until you return.”
3 Tobias left to find some poor person among our relatives. When he returned, he said, “Father?”
I answered, “I’m here, my son.”
He exclaimed, “Father, one of our people has been murdered and tossed into the marketplace; his strangled body is just lying there.”
4 I got up and left the meal before tasting it. I removed the body from the street and placed it in one of the smaller houses until sunset when I would bury it. 5 Then, when I returned, I washed myself and ate my food in sadness. 6 I remembered the word that Amos the prophet pronounced against Bethel: Your festivals will be transformed into sadness and all your songs[a] into sorrowful wailing.[b] And I wept.
7 After sunset I went out, dug a hole, and buried him. 8 My neighbors made fun of me, saying, “Is he no longer afraid that he will be killed for doing this kind of thing? He ran away, but now look: he is burying the dead again!”[Footnotes:
Tobit 2:6 Gk paths
Tobit 2:6 Amos 8:10]
Psalm 112:1 Halleluyah!
How happy is anyone who fears Adonai,
who greatly delights in his mitzvot.
2 His descendants will be powerful on earth,
a blessed generation of upright people.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness stands forever.
4 To the upright he shines like a light in the dark,
merciful, compassionate and righteous.
5 Things go well with the person who is merciful and lends,
who conducts his affairs with fairness;
6 for he will never be moved.
The righteous will be remembered forever.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 12:1 Yeshua began speaking to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower; then he rented it to tenant-farmers and left. 2 When harvest-time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the crop from the vineyard. 3 But they took him, beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. 4 So he sent another servant; this one they punched in the head and insulted. 5 He sent another one, and him they killed; and so with many others — some they beat up, others they killed. 6 He had still one person left, a son whom he loved; in the end, he sent him to them, saying, ‘My son they will respect.’ 7 But the tenants said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 So they seized him, killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others! 10 Haven’t you read the passage in the Tanakh that says,
‘The very rock which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone!
11 This has come from Adonai,
and in our eyes it is amazing’?”[a]
12 They set about to arrest him, for they recognized that he had told the parable with reference to themselves. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.[Footnotes:
Mark 12:11 Psalm 118:22–23]
Monday of the Ninth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:
John Tauler (c.1300-1361), Dominican
Sermon 7
Next we turn over the earth at the foot of the vine and hoe up the weeds. This is how a person has to hoe himself, giving profound attention to what might still remain to pull up from deep within himself, so that the divine Sun may come right up close and shine there. So if you allow the power from on high to carry out its work in it, the sun will draw up the humidity from the soil into the sap hidden in the wood and the bunches will grow magnificently. Then, with its heat, the sun acts on the bunches and causes them to burst into flower and these flowers have a noble and wholesome scent… Then the fruit becomes indescribably sweet. Oh, may this be granted to all of us!
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