The Daily Gospel for Sunday, 16 August 2015

The Daily Gospel for Sunday, 16 August 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
Saints of the day:
St. Stephen of Hungary (977-1038)

SAINT STEPHEN 
King of Hungary
(977-1038)

Geysa, fourth Duke of Hungary, was, with his wife, converted to the Faith, and saw in a vision the martyr St. Stephen, who told him that he should have a son who would perfect the work he had begun. This son was born in 977, and received the name of Stephen. He was most carefully educated, and succeeded his father at an early age. He began to root out idolatry, suppressed a rebellion of his pagan subjects, and founded monasteries and churches all over the land. He sent to Pope Sylvester, begging him to appoint bishops to the eleven sees he had endowed, and to bestow on him, for the greater success of his work, the title of king. The Pope granted his requests, and sent him a cross to be borne before him, saying that he regarded him as the true apostle of his people.
His devotion was fervent. He placed his realms under the protection of our blessed Lady, and kept the feast of her Assumption with peculiar affection. He gave good laws, and saw to their execution. Throughout his life, we are told, he had Christ on his lips, Christ in his heart, and Christ in all he did. His only wars were wars of defence, and he was always successful. God sent him many and sore trials. One by one his children died, but he bore all with perfect submission to the will of God.
When St. Stephen was about to die, he summoned the bishops and nobles, and gave them charge concerning the choice of a successor. Then he urged them to nurture and cherish the Catholic Church, which was still as a tender plant in Hungary, to follow justice, humility, and charity, to be obedient to the laws, and to show ever a reverent submission to the Holy See. Then, raising his eyes towards heaven, he said, "O Queen of Heaven, august restorer of a prostrate world, to thy care I commend the Holy Church, my people, and my realm, and my own departing soul." And then, on his favorite feast of the Assumption, in 1038, he died in peace.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
Book of Proverbs 9:1 Wisdom has built herself a house;
she has carved her seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her food, spiced her wine,
and she has set her table.
3 She has sent out her young girls [with invitations];
she calls from the heights of the city,
4 “Whoever is unsure of himself, turn in here!”
To someone weak-willed she says,
5 “Come and eat my food!
Drink the wine I have mixed!
6 Don’t stay unsure of yourself, but live!
Walk in the way of understanding!”
Psalm 34:2 (1) I will bless Adonai at all times;
his praise will always be in my mouth.
3 (2) When I boast, it will be about Adonai;
the humble will hear of it and be glad.
4 (3) Proclaim with me the greatness of Adonai;
let us exalt his name together.
5 (4) I sought Adonai, and he answered me;
he rescued me from everything I feared.
6 (5) They looked to him and grew radiant;
their faces will never blush for shame.
7 (6) This poor man cried; Adonai heard
and saved him from all his troubles. 
The Letter to the Ephesians 5:15 Therefore, pay careful attention to how you conduct your life — live wisely, not unwisely. 16 Use your time well, for these are evil days. 17 So don’t be foolish, but try to understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 Don’t get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled with the Spirit — 19 sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to each other; sing to the Lord and make music in your heart to him; 20 always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 
The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint John 6:51 I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Furthermore, the bread that I will give is my own flesh; and I will give it for the life of the world.”
52 At this, the Judeans disputed with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Then Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life — that is, I will raise him up on the Last Day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so also whoever eats me will live through me. 58 So this is the bread that has come down from heaven — it is not like the bread the fathers ate; they’re dead, but whoever eats this bread will live forever!”
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
Commentary of the day:
Saint Gaudentius of Brescia (?-after 406), Bishop
Paschal Homily ; CSEL 68, 30 
"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him" The heavenly sacrifice that Christ instituted is indeed the inheritance bequeathed to us through his new covenant. He left it to us on the night he was delivered up to be crucified as a token of his presence. It is viaticum for our journey, food on our life's path until we come to it on quitting this world. That is why our Lord said: “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you do not have life within you.” 

He wished his deeds of kindness to remain among us and the souls he redeemed by his precious blood always to be made holy in the image of his own Passion. This is why he commanded his faithful disciples, instituted as the first priests of his Church, to celebrate these mysteries of eternal life in perpetuity... Thus all the faithful would have before their eyes day by day a representation of Christ's Passion. Taking him in our hands, receiving him in our mouths and hearts, we will hold fast to an indelible remembrance of our redemption.
The bread should be made with the flour of innumerable grains of wheat mixed with water and finished off in the fire. Thus we shall find a close likeness of the body of Christ in it for, as we know, he forms a single body with the multitude of humankind brought to completion by the fire of the Holy Spirit... In the same way, the wine of his blood is taken from many grapes - that is to say the fruit of vine he planted - is crushed beneath the press of his cross, poured into the hearts of the faithful and ferments within them by means of his own power.
This is the Passover sacrifice bringing salvation to all those set free from bondage of Egypt and Pharaoh, that is to say the devil. Receive it in union with us with all the eagerness of a pious heart. 

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