Daily Gospel for Sunday, 31 January 2016

Daily Gospel for Sunday, 31 January 2016
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Saints of the day: St. John Bosco, Priest (1815-1888) - Memorial

SAINT JOHN BOSCOPriest
(1815-1888)

Born in the diocese of Turin in 1815, and brought up in poverty, John Bosco devoted his life to the education of working youth.
He founded religious congregations -the Salesian Order, and the Congregation of the Helpers of Mary -to carry on his ideals.
He fell asleep in the Lord on January 30, 1888 at the age of seventy-two.

St. Marcella, Widow (325-410)

SAINT MARCELLA
Widow
(325-410)

St. Marcella, whom St. Jerome called the glory of the Roman women, became a widow in the seventh month after her marriage. Having determined to consecrate the remainder of her days to the service of God, she rejected the hand of Cerealis, the consul, uncle of Gallus Caesar, and resolved to imitate the lives of the ascetics of the East. She abstained from wine and flesh-meat, employed all her time in pious reading, prayer, and visiting the churches, and never spoke with any man alone. Her example was followed by many who put themselves under her direction, and Rome was in a short time filled with monasteries.
When the Goths under Alaric plundered Rome in 410, our Saint suffered severely at the hands of the barbarian, who cruelly scourged her in order to make her reveal the treasures which she had long before distributed in charity. She trembled only, however, for the innocence of her dear spiritual daughter, Principia, and falling at the feet of the cruel soldiers, she begged with many tears that they would offer no insult to that pure virgin. God moved them to compassion, and they conducted our Saint and her pupil to the Church of St. Paul, to which Alaric had granted the right of sanctuary, with that of St. Peter.
St. Marcella, who survived this but a short time, closed her eyes by a happy death, in the arms of St. Principia, about the end of August, 410.[Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]]
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Book of Jeremiah 1:4 Here is the word of Adonai that came to me:
5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;
before you were born, I separated you for myself.
I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”
17 “But you, dress for action; stand up and tell them
everything I order you to say.
When you confront them, don’t break down;
or I will break you down in front of them!
18 For today, you see, I have made you into
a fortified city, a pillar of iron,
a wall of bronze against the whole land —
against the kings of Y’hudah, against its princes,
against its cohanim and the people of the land.
19 They will fight against you,
but they will not overcome you,
for I am with you,” says Adonai,
“to rescue you.”
Psalms 71:1 In you, Adonai, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness, rescue me;
and help me to escape.
Turn your ear toward me,
and deliver me.
3 Be for me a sheltering rock,
where I can always come.
You have determined to save me,
because you are my bedrock and stronghold.
4 My God, help me escape from the power of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.
5 For you are my hope, Adonai Elohim,
in whom I have trusted since I was young.
6 From birth I have relied on you;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
15 All day long my mouth will tell
of your righteous deeds and acts of salvation,
though their number is past my knowing.
17 God, you have taught me since I was young,
and I still proclaim your wonderful works.
First Letter to the Corinthians 12:31 Eagerly seek the better gifts.
But now I will show you the best way of all.,13:1 I may speak in the tongues of men, even angels;
but if I lack love, I have become merely
blaring brass or a cymbal clanging.
2 I may have the gift of prophecy,
I may fathom all mysteries, know all things,
have all faith — enough to move mountains;
but if I lack love, I am nothing.
3 I may give away everything that I own,
I may even hand over my body to be burned;
but if I lack love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful,
5 not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered,
and it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not gloat over other people’s sins
but takes its delight in the truth.
7 Love always bears up, always trusts,
always hopes, always endures.
8 Love never ends; but prophecies will pass,
tongues will cease, knowledge will pass.
9 For our knowledge is partial, and our prophecy partial;
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child,
thought like a child, argued like a child;
now that I have become a man,
I have finished with childish ways.
12 For now we see obscurely in a mirror,
but then it will be face to face.
Now I know partly; then I will know fully,
just as God has fully known me.
13 But for now, three things last —
trust, hope, love;
and the greatest of these is love.
The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint Luke 4:21 He started to speak to them: “Today, as you heard it read, this passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled!” 22 Everyone was speaking well of him and marvelling that such appealing words were coming from his mouth. They were even asking, “Can this be Yosef’s son?”
23 Then Yeshua said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me this proverb — ‘“Doctor, cure yourself!” We’ve heard about all the things that have been going on over in K’far-Nachum; now do them here in your home town!’ 24 Yes!” he said, “I tell you that no prophet is accepted in his home town. 25 It’s true, I’m telling you — when Eliyahu was in Isra’el, and the sky was sealed off for three-and-a-half years, so that all the Land suffered a severe famine, there were many widows; 26 but Eliyahu was sent to none of them, only to a widow in Tzarfat in the land of Tzidon. 27 Also there were many people with tzara‘at in Isra’el during the time of the prophet Elisha; but not one of them was healed, only Na‘aman the Syrian.”
28 On hearing this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with fury. 29 They rose up, drove him out of town and dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which their town was built, intending to throw him off. 30 But he walked right through the middle of the crowd and went away.
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Commentary of the day:
Saint Cyril of Alexandria (380-444), Bishop, Doctor of the Church 
On the Prophet Isaiah, 5, 5; PG 70, 1352 (trans. ©Friends of Henry Ashworth) 
“But he slipped through the midst of them and walked away” Christ desired to win over the whole world and bring its inhabitants to God the Father… They are those among the Gentiles who, enriched by faith in Christ, have gained the divine, the heavenly treasure, which is the saving proclamation of the gospel. Through this they have become sharers in the kingdom of heaven and companions of the saints (Ephesians 2:19; 3:6)... To the brokenhearted Christ promises healing and release, and to the blind he gives sight. For those who worship created things, thus failing to recognize him who is really and truly God, are they not blind? Are not their hearts devoid of the spiritual and divine light? To these the Father sends the light of true knowledge of God. Having been called by faith, they know God, or rather, they are known by him. They were children of night and of darkness, but they have become children of light (Ephesians 5:8). The Day has shone upon them the Sun of Righteousness has risen (Mal 3:20), the Morning Star has appeared in all its brilliance (Revelation 22:16). 

All that has been said, however, could also be applied to the Israelites, for they too were poor, brokenhearted, captives in a certain sense, and in darkness. But Christ came, and it was to the Israelites first that he made known the purpose of his coming: he came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:19), and the day of retribution. 
That was the acceptable year, when Christ was crucified for us, for then we became acceptable to God the Father. Through Christ we bear fruit as he himself taught us when he said: “I tell you truly that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains as it is, a single grain; but if it dies, it bears a rich harvest” (John 12:24); and again: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw the whole world to myself” (John 12:32). Moreover, on the third day he came to life again, after trampling death's power underfoot. He then addressed these words to his holy disciples: “All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthe 28:18-19). 

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