Daily Gospel for Wednesday, September 16, 2015

 

Daily Gospel for Wednesday, September 16, 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Thursday of the Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the day:
St. Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (1542-1621)

SAINT ROBERT BELLARMINE
(1542-1621)
Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Saint Robert Bellarmine was born in Tuscany in the town of Monte Pulciano in 1542, became a Jesuit and was ordained priest. He was a vigourous defender of the faith at the time of the Reformation. He also taught theology in the Roman College. He was made a Cardinal in 1599, but after a disagreement with the Pope was sent as bishop to Capua in 1602. He was a very pastoral bishop, visiting, preaching and teaching, and giving the example of a truly Christian life. He returned to Rome in 1605, and died in 1621.

God our Father,
you gave Robert Bellarmine wisdom and goodness
to defend the faith of your Church.
By his prayers
may we always rejoice in the profession of our faith.

The Weekday Missal -Collins- Breviary 
Thursday of the Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time
First Letter to Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because of your youth; on the contrary, set the believers an example in your speech, behavior, love, trust and purity. 13 Until I come, pay attention to the public reading of the Scriptures. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which you were given through a prophecy when the body of elders gave you s’mikhah. 15 Be diligent about this work, throw yourself into it, so that your progress may be clear to everyone. 16 Pay attention to yourself and to the teaching, continue in it, for by so doing you will deliver both yourself and those who hear you.
Psalms 111:7 The works of his hands are truth and justice;
all his precepts can be trusted.
8 They have been established forever and ever,
to be carried out truly and honestly.
9 He sent redemption to his people
and decreed that his covenant should last forever.
His name is holy and fearsome —
10 the first and foremost point of wisdom is the fear of Adonai;
all those living by it gain good common sense.
His praise stands forever.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 7:36 One of the P’rushim invited Yeshua to eat with him, and he went into the home of the Parush and took his place at the table. 37 A woman who lived in that town, a sinner, who was aware that he was eating in the home of the Parush, brought an alabaster box of very expensive perfume, 38 stood behind Yeshua at his feet and wept until her tears began to wet his feet. Then she wiped his feet with her own hair, kissed his feet and poured the perfume on them.
39 When the Parush who had invited him saw what was going on, he said to himself, “If this man were really a prophet, he would have known who is touching him and what sort of woman she is, that she is a sinner.” 40 Yeshua answered, “Shim‘on, I have something to say to you.” “Say it, Rabbi,” he replied. 41 “A certain creditor had two debtors; the one owed ten times as much as the other. 42 When they were unable to pay him back, he canceled both their debts. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Shim‘on answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “Your judgment is right,” Yeshua said to him.
44 Then, turning to the woman, he said to Shim‘on, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house — you didn’t give me water for my feet, but this woman has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair! 45 You didn’t give me a kiss; but from the time I arrived, this woman has not stopped kissing my feet! 46 You didn’t put oil on my head, but this woman poured perfume on my feet! 47 Because of this, I tell you that her sins — which are many! — have been forgiven, because she loved much. But someone who has been forgiven only a little loves only a little.” 48 Then he said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49 At this, those eating with him began saying among themselves, “Who is this fellow that presumes to forgive sins?” 50 But he said to the woman, “Your trust has saved you; go in peace.”
Thursday of the Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:
Saint Romanos Melodios (?-c 560), composer of hymns
Hymn 21 (SC 114)

“Her sins, her many sins have been forgiven”

When she saw Christ’s words poured out like ointment everywhere, the sinful woman…began to loathe the stench of her deeds…: “I have not paid due heed to the mercy with which Christ surrounds me, seeking for me when I stray through my own fault. For it is for me that he goes seeking everywhere; it is for my sake he dines at the Pharisee’s house, he who gives food to the whole world. Out of the table he makes an altar of sacrifice where he offers himself, repaying his debtors’ debts so that they might draw near in confidence, saying: “Lord, deliver me from the pit of my own works.”
Eagerly she runs there and, ignoring the crumbs, takes hold of the bread. More famished than even the Canaanite woman (Mk 7, 24f.) she has satisfied her empty soul since she had equal faith. It is not her cry for help that has saved her but her silence, for she said, weeping: “Lord, deliver me from the pit of my own works”…
She hastened to the Pharisee’s house, rushing in her repentance. “Come on, my soul,” she said, “this is the moment you were asking for! The one who makes you pure is waiting there, why remain in the pit of your works? I will go to him since it is for me that he came; I will leave behind my former friends since I desire so passionately him who is there today. And, since he loves me, my perfume and my tears are for him… Longing for the one I long for transforms me and I love him who loves me as he wishes to be loved. I repent and bow low as he expects; the silence and withdrawal that please him are what I seek. I am breaking with the past, renouncing the pit of my works.
“Thus will I go to him to be enlightened, as Scripture says, I will draw close to Christ and will not blush with shame (Ps 33,6; 1Pet 2,6). He will never reproach me; he will not say to me: ‘Only now you were in darkness and you come to see me who am the sun!’ That is why I will take perfume and turn the Pharisee’s house into a baptistery where I will wash away my iniquity and cleanse myself of my sin. I will fill the baptismal font with tears, with oil and perfume in which I shall wash, in which I shall purify myself, and I shall escape from the pit of my own works.”
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