Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the day: St. Angela Merici, Virgin (c. 1470-1540)
SAINT ANGELA MERICI
VIRGIN
(C. 1470-1540)
VIRGIN
(C. 1470-1540)
St. Angela Merici was born at Desenzano, near Brescia, about 1470. Her parents had died when she was ten and she had gone to live with an uncle. When her uncle died, she returned to her hometown and began to notice how little education the girls had; so Angela saw her task as the formation of Christian women.
In 1535 she founded the institute of the Ursulines, who were devoted to the education of poor girls as Christians, and to the missions. It was the first group of women religious to work outside the cloister and the first teaching order of women.
She died in 1540.
Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary TimeThe Second Book of Samuel 7:4 But that same night the word of Adonai came to Natan: 5 “Go and tell my servant David that this is what Adonai says: ‘You are going to build me a house to live in? 6 Since the day I brought the people of Isra’el out of Egypt until today, I never lived in a house; rather, I traveled in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Everywhere I traveled with all the people of Isra’el, did I ever speak a word to any of the tribes of Isra’el, whom I ordered to shepherd my people Isra’el, asking, “Why haven’t you built me a cedar-wood house?”’
8 “Therefore say this to my servant David that this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘I took you from the sheep-yards, from following the sheep, to make you chief over my people, over Isra’el. 9 I have been with you wherever you went; I have destroyed all your enemies ahead of you; and I am making your reputation great, like the reputations of the greatest people on earth. 10 I will assign a place to my people Isra’el; I will plant them there, so that they can live in their own place without being disturbed any more. The wicked will no longer oppress them, as they did at the beginning, 11 and as they did from the time I ordered judges to be over my people Isra’el; instead, I will give you rest from all your enemies.
“‘Moreover, Adonai tells you that Adonai will make you a house. 12 When your days come to an end and you sleep with your ancestors, I will establish one of your descendants to succeed you, one of your own flesh and blood; and I will set up his rulership. 13 He will build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. 14 I will be a father for him, and he will be a son for me. If he does something wrong, I will punish him with a rod and blows, just as everyone gets punished; 15 nevertheless, my grace will not leave him, as I took it away from Sha’ul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Thus your house and your kingdom will be made secure forever before you; your throne will be set up forever.’” 17 Natan told David all of these words and described this entire vision.
Psalm 89:4 (3) You said, “I made a covenant with the one I chose,
I swore to my servant David,
5 (4) ‘I will establish your dynasty forever,
build up your throne through all generations.’” (Selah)
27 (26) He will call to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock of my salvation.’
28 (27) I will give him the position of firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
29 (28) I will keep my grace for him forever,
and in my covenant be faithful with him.
30 (29) I will establish his dynasty forever,
and his throne as long as the heavens last
The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint Mark 4:1 Again Yeshua began to teach by the lake, but the crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the crowd remained on shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things in parables. In the course of his teaching, he said to them: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; 6 but when the sun rose, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked it; so that it yielded no grain. 8 But other seed fell into rich soil and produced grain; it sprouted, and grew, and yielded a crop — thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was sown.” 9 And he concluded, “Whoever has ears to hear with, let him hear!”
10 When Yeshua was alone, the people around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He answered them, “To you the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given; but to those outside, everything is in parables, 12 so that
they may be always looking but never seeing;
always listening but never understanding.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven!”[Mark 4:12 Isaiah 6:9–10]
13 Then Yeshua said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you be able to understand any parable? 14 The sower sows the message. 15 Those alongside the path where the message is sown are people who no sooner hear it than the Adversary comes and takes away the message sown in them. 16 Likewise, those receiving seed on rocky patches are people who hear the message and joyfully accept it at once; 17 but they have no root in themselves. So they hold out for a while, but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, they immediately fall away. 18 Others are those sown among thorns — they hear the message; 19 but the worries of the world, the deceitful glamor of wealth and all the other kinds of desires push in and choke the message; so that it produces nothing. 20 But those sown on rich soil hear the message, accept it and bear fruit — thirty, sixty or a hundredfold.”
Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Origen (c.185-253), priest and theologian
Homilies on the Book of Numbers, 3.1.1 ; SC 29
“Man will live by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 ; Deuteronomy 8:3)
It was written about the manna that, if one gathered it in the way God commanded, it was satisfying, but if one wanted to gather it contrary to the manner set by God, it would no longer be life-giving… The Word of God is our manna and God’s Word, coming to us, brings salvation to some and punishment to others. Hence, it seems to me, the Lord and Savior who is “the living Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23) declared: “For judgement I came into this world, that those who do not see may see and those who see should become blind” (John 9:39). How much better it would have been for some people not to have heard God’s word at all than to hear it with evil dispositions or with hypocrisy!...
It is truly better, more right and perfect, that the hearer of God’s word should listen to it with a heart that is good and simple, upright and well-prepared, that it may bear fruit and grow as in good soil… I am saying these things as a rebuke to my own self as much as for my hearers. For I too am one of those who listen to the word of God.
It is truly better, more right and perfect, that the hearer of God’s word should listen to it with a heart that is good and simple, upright and well-prepared, that it may bear fruit and grow as in good soil… I am saying these things as a rebuke to my own self as much as for my hearers. For I too am one of those who listen to the word of God.
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