Daily Gospel for Thursday, 09 July 2015

Daily Gospel for Thursday, 09 July 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Thursday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the day:

Sts. Agostino Zhao Rong (+ 1815) and Companions, Martyrs in China

AGOSTINO ZHAO RONG
Priest and martyr (+ 1815)
and Companions
Martyrs in China

A period of persecution in regard to the Christian religion occurred in the nineteenth century.
While Catholicism had been authorised by some Emperors in the preceding centuries, Emperor Kia-Kin (1796-1821) published, instead, numerous and severe decrees against it. The first was issued in 1805. Two edicts of 1811 were directed against those among the Chinese who were studying to receive sacred orders, and against priests who were propagating the Christian religion. A decree of 1813 exonerated voluntary apostates from every chastisement, that is, Christians who spontaneously declared that they would abandon their faith, but all others were to be dealt with harshly.
In 1815 there came two other decrees, with which approval was given to the conduct of the Viceroy of Sichuan who had beheaded Monsignor Dufresse, of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P), and some Chinese Christians. As a result, there was a worsening of the persecution.
St. John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, M.E.P, Bishop, was arrested on the 18th of May 1815, taken to Chengdu, condemned and executed on the 14th of September 1815.
Saint Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese diocesan priest. Having first been one of the soldiers who had escorted Monsignor Dufresse from Chengdu to Beijing, he was moved by his patience and had then asked to be numbered among the neophytes. Once baptised, he was sent to the seminary and then ordained a priest. Arrested, he had to suffer the most cruel tortures and then died in 1815. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Saint Nicholas Pick and CompanionsJuly 9
Saint Nicholas Pick and Companions
(d. 1572)
It is not always possible to choose when and how we will witness to our faith.
In 1568 the Low Countries revolted against Spain. In the northern part (now the Netherlands), the revolt was also directed against Catholicism. This rebellion ultimately led to the recognition in 1648 of an independent Republic of United Provinces (Netherlands).
Nicholas and his companions (11 Franciscans and eight diocesan priests) are also known as "the martyrs of Gorcum," where they were arrested by Calvinist soldiers. They were taken to Briel and urged to renounce the Roman Catholic teaching on Christ’s presence in the Eucharist and on the pope’s primacy. They refused and were hung from crossbeams. The execution was clumsily handled; it took two hours for some of them to strangle. They were canonized in 1867.
Comment:
Notice which teachings were presented to these martyrs. Turning the Eucharist into some vague remembrance of Christ and denying the leadership of the successor of Peter might have seemed easy. Nicholas and his companions knew these teachings were part of God’s plan for his people, and so they would not deny their faith. Both the Eucharist and the successor of Peter will eventually be instrumental in restoring unity among Christians.
Quote:
"'The hour is now at hand,' Father Nicholas said, 'to receive from the hand of the Lord the long desired reward of the struggle, the crown of eternal happiness.' He encouraged them [his companions] not to fear death nor to lose through cowardice the crown prepared for them and soon to be placed on their brows. Finally he prayed that they would joyfully follow the path on which they saw him leading the way. With these and similar words he joyfully mounted the ladder without ceasing to exhort his companions until strangulation deprived him of the use of his voice" (contemporary account of the martyrdom).

St. Veronica Giuliani, Virgin (1660-1727)

Saint Veronica Giuliani
Virgin
(1660-1727)

Ursula Giuliani was born at Mercatello in Urbino, Italy, in 1660. Her parents, Francesco Giuliana and Benedetta Mancini, were both of gentle birth. In baptism she was named Ursula, and showed marvelous signs of sanctity. When but eighteen months old she uttered her first words to upbraid a merchant who was serving a false measure of oil, saying distinctly: "Do justice, God sees you." At the age of three years old she began to be favored with Divine communications, and to show great compassion for the poor. She would set apart a portion of her food for them, and even part with her clothes when she met a poor child in scantily clad. These traits and a great love for the Cross developed as she grew older. Ursula's father presented suitors in hopes that they would marry her; the girl became ill at the idea of not devoting her life to God, and she finally received her father's blessing on her call to religious life.
She joigned the Poor Clares in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy, on July 17th, 1677 at the age of 17, receiving the veil on the 28th of October and taking the name of Veronica in memory of the Passion. She became totally submissive to the will of her superiors, though her novitiate was marked by extraordinary interior trials and temptations to return to the world. At her profession in 1678 she experienced a great desire to suffer in union with our Savior crucified for the conversion of sinners. At this time, she had a vision of Christ bearing His cross and from that moment on, suffered an acute physical pain in her heart. After her death, the figure of the cross was found impressed upon her heart.
At the age of 37, she received the stigmata in her hands, feet, and side during a long period of ecstasy on April 5th, 1697. By order of the bishop she submitted to medical treatment, but obtained no relief. She impressed her fellow nuns by remaining remarkably practical despite her numerous ecstatic experiences. Veronica was elected abbess of the convent in 1716. She wrote a ten volume Diary of the Passion, which recorded her mystical experiences.
On July 9th, 1727 Veronica died of a stroke caused by a brain hemorrhage at the age of 67. Her heart was examined after death and "miraculously" showed images of a cross, crown of thorns, and chalice, as she had said it would. Examination also revealed a curvature of the right shoulder as if she had carried a heavy cross.
Veronica was canonized by Gregory XVI in 1839.

Thursday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Genesis 44:18 Then Y’hudah approached Yosef and said, “Please, my lord! Let your servant say something to you privately; and don’t be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father? or a brother?’ 20 We answered my lord, ‘We have a father who is an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one whose brother is dead; so that of his mother’s children he alone is left; and his father loves him.’ 21 But you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I can see him.’

23 You said to your servants, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 24 We went up to your servant my father and told him what my lord had said; 25 but when our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us some food,’ 26 we answered, ‘We can’t go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go down, because we can’t see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons: 28 the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I haven’t seen him since. 29 Now if you take this one away from me too, and something happens to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sh’ol with grief.’

45:1 At last Yosef could no longer control his feelings in front of his attendants and cried, “Get everybody away from me!” So no one else was with him when Yosef revealed to his brothers who he was. 2 He wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard, and Pharaoh’s household heard. 3 Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef! Is it true that my father is still alive?” His brothers couldn’t answer him, they were so dumbfounded at seeing him. 4 Yosef said to his brothers, “Please! Come closer.” And they came closer. He said, “I am Yosef, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 But don’t be sad that you sold me into slavery here or angry at yourselves, because it was God who sent me ahead of you to preserve life.

Psalms 105:16 He called down famine on the land,

broke off all their food supply,

17 but sent a man ahead of them —

Yosef, who was sold as a slave.

18 They shackled his feet with chains,

and they bound him in irons;

19 until the time when his word proved true,

God’s utterance kept testing him.

20 The king sent and had him released,

the ruler of peoples set him free;

21 he made him lord of his household,

in charge of all he owned,

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10:7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is near,’ 8 heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those afflicted with tzara’at, expel demons. You have received without paying, so give without asking payment. 9 Don’t take money in your belts, no gold, no silver, no copper; 10 and for the trip don’t take a pack, an extra shirt, shoes or a walking stick — a worker should be given what he needs.

11 “When you come to a town or village, look for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. 12 When you enter someone’s household, say, ‘Shalom aleikhem!’ 13 If the home deserves it, let your shalom rest on it; if not, let your shalom return to you. 14 But if the people of a house or town will not welcome you or listen to you, leave it and shake its dust from your feet! 15 Yes, I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the people of S’dom and ‘Amora than for that town!

Thursday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:
Saint Cyprian (c.200-258), Bishop of Carthage and martyr
The Unity of the Church, § 24-25 (trans. Fathers of the Church, Inc.; 1958)

"Let your peace come upon it"

The Holy Spirit warns us, saying: “Which of you desires life and takes delight in prosperous days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Ps 34[33],13-15). A child of peace ought to seek and follow peace; those who know and love the bond of charity ought to restrain their tongues from the evil of dissension. Among his divine commands and salutary instructions the Lord, now very near his Passion, added the following: “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you” (Jn 14,27). This is the inheritance he bequeathed us: all the gifts and rewards he promised us he made dependant on the conservation of peace. So if we are heirs of Christ, let us remain in the peace of Christ; if we are children of God, we ought to be peace-makers. “Blessed,” he said, “are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Mt 5,9). God’s children should be peace-makers, gentle in heart, simple in speech, harmonious in affection, clinging to one another faithfully in the bonds of unanimity.
This unanimity existed of old among the Apostles (Acts 4,32); thus the new assembly of believers, guards the commandments of the Lord and maintain charity. Scripture proves this in the following words: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind” (Acts 4,32). And again: 'And all all devoted themselves with one accord to prayer with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (1,14). In this way they prayed with efficacious prayers; they were able with confidence to obtain whatever they asked of God's mercy.
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