Daily Gospel for Sunday, 23 September 2015

 

Daily Readings for Sunday, 23 September 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
Saints of the day:
St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (1576-1660) - Memorial

SAINT VINCENT OF PAUL
Priest
(1576-1660)

St. Vincent was born in 1576. In after-years, when adviser of the queen and oracle of the Church in France, he loved to recount how, in his youth, he had guarded his father's pigs. Soon after his ordination he was captured by corsairs, and carried into Barbary. He converted his renegade master, and escaped with him to France.
Appointed chaplain-general of the galleys of France, his tender charity brought hope into those prisons where hitherto despair had reigned. A mother mourned her imprisoned son. Vincent put on his chains and took his place at the oar, and gave him to his mother. His charity embraced the poor, young and old, provinces desolated by civil war, Christians enslaved by the infidel. The poor man, ignorant and degraded, was to him the image of Him Who became as "a leper and no man." "Turn the medal," he said, "and you then will see Jesus Christ."
He went through the streets of Paris at night, seeking the children who were left there to die. Once robbers rushed upon him, thinking he carried a treasure, but when he opened his cloak, they recognized him and his burden, and fell at his feet.
Not only was St. Vincent the saviour of the poor, but also of the rich, for he taught them to do works of mercy. When the work for the foundlings was in danger of failing from want of funds, he assembled the ladies of the Association of Charity. He bade his most fervent daughters be present to give the spur to the others. Then he said, "Compassion and charity have made you adopt these little creatures as your children. You have been their mothers according to grace, when their own mothers abandoned them. Cease to be their mothers, that you may become their judges; their life and death are in your hands. I shall now take your votes: it is time to pronounce sentence" The tears of the assembly were his only answer, and the work was continued.
The Society of St. Vincent, the Priests of the Mission, and 25,000 Sisters of Charity still comfort the afflicted with the charity of St. Vincent of Paul.
He died in 1660.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
Numbers 11:25 Adonai came down in the cloud, spoke to him, took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied — then but not afterwards.
26 There were two men who stayed in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad, and the Spirit came to rest on them. They were among those listed to go out to the tent, but they hadn’t done so, and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moshe, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!” 28 Y’hoshua, the son of Nun, who from his youth up had been Moshe’s assistant, answered, “My lord, Moshe, stop them!” 29 But Moshe replied, “Are you so zealous to protect me? I wish all of Adonai’s people were prophets! I wish Adonai would put his Spirit on all of them!”
Psalm 19:8 (7) The Torah of Adonai is perfect,
restoring the inner person.
The instruction of Adonai is sure,
making wise the thoughtless.10 (9) The fear of Adonai is clean,
enduring forever.
The rulings of Adonai are true,
they are righteous altogether,12 (11) Through them your servant is warned;
in obeying them there is great reward.
13 (12) Who can discern unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from hidden faults.
14 (13) Also keep your servant from presumptuous sins,
so that they won’t control me.
Then I will be blameless
and free of great offense.
James 5:1 Next, a word for the rich: weep and wail over the hardships coming upon you! 2 Your riches have rotted, and your clothes have become moth-eaten; 3 your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat up your flesh like fire! This is the acharit-hayamim, and you have been storing up wealth! 4 Listen! The wages you have fraudulently withheld from the workers who mowed your fields are calling out against you, and the outcries of those who harvested have reached the ears of Adonai-Tzva’ot. 5 You have led a life of luxury and self-indulgence here on earth — in a time of slaughter, you have gone on eating to your heart’s content. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the innocent; they have not withstood you.
Mark 9:38 Yochanan said to him, “Rabbi, we saw a man expelling demons in your name; and because he wasn’t one of us, we told him to stop.” 39 But Yeshua said, “Don’t stop him, because no one who works a miracle in my name will soon after be able to say something bad about me. 40 For whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Indeed, whoever gives you even a cup of water to drink because you come in the name of the Messiah — yes! I tell you that he will certainly not lose his reward.
42 “Whoever ensnares one of these little ones who trust me — it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be thrown in the sea. 43 If your hand makes you sin, cut it off! Better that you should be maimed but obtain eternal life, rather than keep both hands and go to Gei-Hinnom, to unquenchable fire! 45 And if your foot makes you sin, cut it off! Better that you should be lame but obtain eternal life, rather than keep both feet and be thrown into Gei-Hinnom! 47 And if your eye makes you sin, pluck it out! Better that you should be one-eyed but enter the Kingdom of God, rather than keep both eyes and be thrown into Gei-Hinnom,
48 where their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.[Mark 9:48 Isaiah 66:24]
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

Commentary of the day:
Saint Clement of Rome, Pope from about 90 to 100
Letter to the Corinthians 7-9 (trans. Roberts - Donaldson)

The grace of conversion

Let us look steadfastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious that blood is to God, which, having been shed for our salvation, has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. Let us turn to every age that has passed, and learn that, from generation to generation, the Lord has “granted a place of repentance” (Sir 17,24) to all who would be converted to him. Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved. Jonah proclaimed destruction to the Ninevites; but they, repenting of their sins, propitiated God by prayer, and obtained salvation, although they were aliens to God.
The ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, "As I live, says the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance" (Ez 18,23) adding, moreover, this gracious declaration: "Repent O house of Israel, of your iniquity. Say to the children of my people, Though your sins reach from earth to heaven, and though they be redder than scarlet, and blacker than sackcloth, if you turn to me with your whole heart, and say: Father! I will listen to you, as to a holy people." (cf. Is 1,16-20; Neh 9,1)…
Desiring, therefore, that all his beloved should be partakers of repentance, he has, by his almighty will, established [these declarations]. So let us yield obedience to his excellent and glorious will; and imploring his mercy and loving-kindness, while we forsake all fruitless labours, and strife, and envy, which leads to death, let us turn and have recourse to His compassion.

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