The Daily Gospel for Sunday, 17 January 2016

The Daily Gospel for Sunday, 17 January 2016
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Saints of the day: St. Anthony the Abbot, (251-356)

SAINT ANTONY 
Patriarch of Monks
(251-356)

St. Antony was born in the year 251, in Upper Egypt. Hearing at Mass the words, "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor," he gave away all his vast possessions. He then begged an aged hermit to teach him the spiritual life. He also visited various solitaries, copying in himself the principal virtue of each.

To serve God more perfectly, Antony entered the desert and immured himself in a ruin, building up the door so that none could enter. Here the devils assaulted him most furiously, appearing as various monsters, and even wounding him severely; but his courage never failed, and he overcame them all by confidence in God and by the sign of the cross.

One night, whilst Antony was in his solitude, many devils scourged him so terribly that he lay as if dead. A friend found him thus, and believing him dead carried him home. But when Antony came to himself he persuaded his friend to carry him, in spite of his wounds, back to his solitude. Here, prostrate from weakness, he defied the devils, saying, "I fear you not; you cannot separate me from the love of Christ." After more vain assaults the devils fled, and Christ appeared to Antony in glory.

His only food was bread and water, which he never tasted before sunset, and sometimes only once in two, three, or four days. He wore sackcloth and sheepskin, and he often knelt in prayer from sunset to sunrise.

Many souls flocked to him for advice, and after twenty years of solitude he consented to guide them in holiness-thus founding the first monastery. His numerous miracles attracted such multitudes that he fled again into solitude, where he lived by manual labor.

He expired peacefully at a very advanced age. St. Athanasius, his biographer, says that the mere knowledge of how St. Antony lived is a good guide to virtue.[Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]]

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Book of Isaiah 62:1 For Tziyon’s sake I will not be silent,

for Yerushalayim’s sake I will not rest,

until her vindication shines out brightly

and her salvation like a blazing torch.

2 The nations will see your vindication

and all kings your glory.

Then you will be called by a new name

which Adonai himself will pronounce.

3 You will be a glorious crown in the hand of Adonai,

a royal diadem held by your God.

4 You will no longer be spoken of as ‘Azuvah [Abandoned]

or your land be spoken of as ‘Sh’mamah [Desolate];

rather, you will be called Heftzi-Vah [My-Delight-Is-In-Her]

and your land Be‘ulah [Married].

For Adonai delights in you,

and your land will be married —

5 as a young man marries a young woman,

your sons will marry you;

as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

your God will rejoice over you.

Psalms 96:1 Sing to Adonai a new song!

Sing to Adonai, all the earth!

2 Sing to Adonai, bless his name!

Proclaim his victory day after day!

3 Declare his glory among the nations,

his wonders among all peoples!

7 Give Adonai his due, you families from the peoples;

give Adonai his due of glory and strength;

8 give Adonai the glory due to his name;

bring an offering, and enter his courtyards.

9 Worship Adonai in holy splendor;

tremble before him, all the earth!

10 Say among the nations, “Adonai is king!”

The world is firmly established, immovable.

He will judge the peoples fairly.

First Letter to the Corinthians 12:4 Now there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. 5 Also there are different ways of serving, but it is the same Lord being served. 6 And there are different modes of working, but it is the same God working them all in everyone. 7 Moreover, to each person is given the particular manifestation of the Spirit that will be for the common good. 8 To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit; 9 to another, faith, by the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healing, by the one Spirit; 10 to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues. 11 One and the same Spirit is at work in all these things, distributing to each person as he chooses.

Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint John 2:1 On Tuesday[John 2:1 Greek: the third day, equivalent to Hebrew yom shlishi] there was a wedding at Kanah in the Galil; and the mother of Yeshua was there. 2 Yeshua too was invited to the wedding, along with his talmidim. 3 The wine ran out, and Yeshua’s mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 Yeshua replied, “Mother, why should that concern me? — or you? My time hasn’t come yet.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now six stone water-jars were standing there for the Jewish ceremonial washings, each with a capacity of twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Yeshua told them, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. 8 He said, “Now draw some out, and take it to the man in charge of the banquet”; and they took it. 9 The man in charge tasted the water; it had now turned into wine! He did not know where it had come from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. So he called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone else serves the good wine first and the poorer wine after people have drunk freely. But you have kept the good wine until now!” 11 This, the first of Yeshua’s miraculous signs, he did at Kanah in the Galil; he manifested his glory, and his talmidim came to trust in him.

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Commentary of the day:
Saint Maximus of Turin (?-c.420), Bishop 
CC Sermon 65, p. 273-274 ; PL 17,624-626

Water changed into wine

By changing the jars filled with water into wine our Lord did two things : he provided drink to the wedding guests and he showed that, through baptism, people were going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Lord himself declared this elsewhere when he said: “New wine into fresh wineskins!” (Matthew 9:17). The fresh wineskins stand, in fact, for baptismal purity, the wine of the Holy Spirit’s grace. 
Catechumens, pay particular attention to me. Your minds, which are ignorant as yet of the Trinity, are like water that is cold. They must be warmed, like wine, with the heat of the sacrament of baptism so as to transform a liquid that is poor and valueless into rich and precious grace. Like wine, let us acquire a good taste and sweet aroma, then we shall be able to say together with the apostle Paul: “We are indeed the good aroma of Christ for God” (2 Corinthians 2:15). Before baptism the catechumen resembles still water, cold and colorless…, useless, unable to restore strength. If kept too long water deteriorates, stagnates, turns foul… The Lord said: “No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born again of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). 
The baptized faithful are like wine that is strong and red. Every created thing deteriorates with time, wine alone improves as it ages. Daily it loses its sharpness and acquires a bouquet full of mellowness, with a deep flavour. Christians, too, as time passes, lose the sharpness of their sinful life and acquire the wisdom and goodness of the divine Trinity. 

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