"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Thursday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the day:
St. Narcissus, Bishop (2nd century)
Thursday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time
The Letter to the Romans 8:31 What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all — is it possible that, having given us his Son, he would not give us everything else too? 33 So who will bring a charge against God’s chosen people? Certainly not God — he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous! 34 Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and — more than that — has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf! 35 Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War? 36 As the Tanakh puts it,
“For your sake we are being put to death all day long,
we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.”[Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:23(22)]
37 No, in all these things we are superconquerors, through the one who has loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, 39 neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.
Psalm 109:21 But you, God, Adonai,
treat me as your name demands;
rescue me, because your grace is good.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart within me is wounded.
26 Help me, Adonai, my God!
Save me, in keeping with your grace;
27 so that they will know that this comes from your hand,
that you, Adonai, have done it.
30 I will eagerly thank Adonai with my mouth,
I will praise him right there in the crowd,
31 because he stands alongside a needy person
to defend him from unjust accusers.
The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messaih according to Saint Luke 13:31 Just at that moment, some P’rushim came up and said to Yeshua, “Get out and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you!” 32 He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Pay attention: today and tomorrow I am driving out demons and healing people, and on the third day I reach my goal.’ 33 Nevertheless, I must keep travelling today, tomorrow and the next day; because it is unthinkable that a prophet should die anywhere but in Yerushalayim.
34 “Yerushalayim! Yerushalayim! You kill the prophets! You stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! 35 Look! God is abandoning your house to you! I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai!’”[Luke 13:35 Psalm 118:26]
Thursday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:
Saint Jerome (347-420), priest, translator of the Bible, Doctor of the Church
Treatise on Psalm 95; Letter 58,2-4 : PL 22, 580
It is not because we have been to Jerusalem but because we have lived a good life in Jerusalem that we should pride ourselves. The city we are to seek is not that which killed the prophets and shed the blood of Christ but that which a stream gladdens in its flood (Ps 45[46],5), which, built on a mountain top, cannot be hidden (Mt 5,12), which the apostle Paul declares to be mother of the saints and in which he rejoices to dwell with the just (cf. Gal 4,26-27).
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SAINT NARCISSUS
Bishop
(2nd century)
Bishop
(2nd century)
St Narcissus was consecrated Bishop of Jerusalem about the year 180. He was already an old man, and God attested his merits by many miracles, which were long held in memory by the Christians of Jerusalem.
One Holy Saturday in the church the faithful were in great trouble, because no oil could be found for the lamps which were used in the Paschal feast. St. Narcissus bade them draw water from a neighboring well, and, praying over it, told them to put it in the lamps. It was changed into oil, and long after some of this oil was preserved at Jerusalem in memory of the miracle.
But the very virtue of the Saint made him enemies, and three wretched men charged him with an atrocious crime. They confirmed their testimony by horrible imprecations: the first prayed that he might perish by fire, the second that he might be wasted by leprosy, the third that he might be struck blind, if they charged their bishop falsely. The holy bishop had long desired a life of solitude, and he withdrew secretly into the desert, leaving the Church in peace. But God spoke for his servant, and the bishop's accusers suffered the penalties they had invoked. Then Narcissus returned to Jerusalem and resumed his office.
He died in extreme old age, bishop to the last.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]Thursday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time
The Letter to the Romans 8:31 What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all — is it possible that, having given us his Son, he would not give us everything else too? 33 So who will bring a charge against God’s chosen people? Certainly not God — he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous! 34 Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and — more than that — has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf! 35 Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War? 36 As the Tanakh puts it,
“For your sake we are being put to death all day long,
we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.”[Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:23(22)]
37 No, in all these things we are superconquerors, through the one who has loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, 39 neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.
Psalm 109:21 But you, God, Adonai,
treat me as your name demands;
rescue me, because your grace is good.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart within me is wounded.
26 Help me, Adonai, my God!
Save me, in keeping with your grace;
27 so that they will know that this comes from your hand,
that you, Adonai, have done it.
30 I will eagerly thank Adonai with my mouth,
I will praise him right there in the crowd,
31 because he stands alongside a needy person
to defend him from unjust accusers.
The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messaih according to Saint Luke 13:31 Just at that moment, some P’rushim came up and said to Yeshua, “Get out and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you!” 32 He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Pay attention: today and tomorrow I am driving out demons and healing people, and on the third day I reach my goal.’ 33 Nevertheless, I must keep travelling today, tomorrow and the next day; because it is unthinkable that a prophet should die anywhere but in Yerushalayim.
34 “Yerushalayim! Yerushalayim! You kill the prophets! You stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! 35 Look! God is abandoning your house to you! I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai!’”[Luke 13:35 Psalm 118:26]
Thursday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:
Saint Jerome (347-420), priest, translator of the Bible, Doctor of the Church
Treatise on Psalm 95; Letter 58,2-4 : PL 22, 580
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how many times I yearned to gather your children together"
Christ’s cross supports the human race: upon this column is his house built. When I speak of the cross I’m not thinking about its wood but about the Passion. This cross is to be found as much in Britain as in India, and in the entire world… Happy are they who bear the cross and resurrection in their hearts and the place of Christ’s birth and place of ascension too. Happy are they who possess Bethlehem in their hearts and in whose heart Christ is born each day… Happy are they in whose heart Christ rises to life each day because each day they do penance for their sins, even the lightest. Happy are they who ascend each day from the Mount of Olives to the Kingdom of heaven where the olives are fat ones and the light of Christ is born… It is not because we have been to Jerusalem but because we have lived a good life in Jerusalem that we should pride ourselves. The city we are to seek is not that which killed the prophets and shed the blood of Christ but that which a stream gladdens in its flood (Ps 45[46],5), which, built on a mountain top, cannot be hidden (Mt 5,12), which the apostle Paul declares to be mother of the saints and in which he rejoices to dwell with the just (cf. Gal 4,26-27).
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