Daily Gospel for Sunday, 1 December 2013

Daily Gospel for Sunday, 1 December 2013

John 6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. (Messianic World English Bible)

First Sunday of Advent - Year A

Saint of the Day:

SAINT ELIGIUS

Bishop

(† 665)

Eligius, a goldsmith at Paris, was commissioned by King Clotaire to make a throne. With the gold and precious stones given him he made two. Struck by his rare honesty, the king gave him an appointment at court, and demanded an oath of fidelity sworn upon holy relics; but Eligius prayed with tears to be excused, for fear of failing in reverence to the relics of the Saints.

On entering the court he fortified himself against its seductions by many austerities and continual ejaculatory prayers. He had a marvellous zeal for the redemption of captives, and for their deliverance would sell his jewels, his food, his clothes, and his very shoes, once by his prayers breaking their chains and opening their prisons. His great delight was in making rich shrines for relics.

His striking virtue caused him, a layman and a goldsmith, to be made Bishop of Noyon, and his sanctity in this holy office was remarkable.

He possessed the gifts of miracles and prophecy, and died in 665.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

BLESSED CHARLES OF JESUS

Charles de Foucauld

Priest

(1858-1916)

CHARLES DE FOUCAULD (Brother Charles of Jesus) was born in Strasbourg, France on September 15th, 1858. Orphaned at the age of six, he and his sister Marie were raised by their grandfather in whose footsteps he followed by taking up a military career.

He lost his faith as an adolescent. His taste for easy living was well known to all and yet he showed that he could be strong willed and constant in difficult situations. He undertook a risky exploration of Morocco (1883-1884). Seeing the way Muslims expressed their faith questioned him and he began repeating, ‘‘My God, if you exist, let me come to know you.’’

On his return to France, the warm, respectful welcome he received from his deeply Christian family made him continue his search. Under the guidance of Fr. Huvelin he rediscovered god in October 1886.  he was then 28 years old. ‘‘As soon as I believed in God, I understood that I could not do otherwise than to live for him alone.’’

A pilgrimage to the Holy Land revealed his vocation to him : to follow Jesus in his life at Nazareth. He spent 7 years as a Trappist, first in France and then at Akbès in Syria. Later he began to lead a life of prayer and adoration, alone, near a convent of Poor Clares in Nazareth.

Ordained a priest at 43 (1901) he left for the Sahara, living at first in Beni Abbès and later at Tamanrasset among the Tuaregs of the Hoggar. He wanted to be among those who were, ‘‘the furthest removed, the most abandoned.’’ He wanted all who drew close to him to find in him a brother, ‘‘a universal brother.’’ In a great respect for the culture and faith of those among whom he lived, his desire was to ‘‘shout the Gospel with his life’’. ‘‘I would like to be sufficiently  good  that people would say, ‘‘If such is the servant, what must the Master be like ?’’

On the evening of December 1st 1916, he was killed by a band of marauders who had encircled his house.

He had always dreamed of sharing his vocation with others : after having written several rules for religious life, he came to the conclusion that this ‘‘life of Nazareth’’ could led by all. Today the ‘‘spiritual family of Charles de Foucauld’’ encompassed several associations of the faithful, religious communities and secular institutes for both lay people and priests.© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Saint Florence

1332 - 1360

Having bedecked herself in an extravagant gown and glittering jewels, Vilana di Piero, a worldly young wife in Florence, Italy, went to admire herself in a mirror. To her horror, she saw in the glass a demon. Looking again and again only to find the same specter, she burst into tears, and hastily exchanged her rich garments for a simple dress. She then hurried to a Dominican priest to confess her sins. Hereafter Vilana devoted herself to prayer and charity, drawing inspiration from reading the lives of the saints, the writings of the Church Fathers, and especially the Epistles of Saint Paul. The Passion of Christ was a favorite subject of her meditations. She also experienced many visions. Once, when a little boy came to her room to deliver flowers with which she customarily adorned images of the saints, he was stunned to see with his own eyes Christ, the Blessed Mother, and Saint Dominic moving about the room with Vilana. Vilana strictly enjoined the boy not to reveal what he had witnessed while she was yet alive. Following Vilana’s death, her grieving husband, when depressed, would find solace by visiting the room where she had died.

First Sunday of Advent - Year A

Isaiah 2: The Future House of God

2 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

1 In days to come

    the mountain of the Lord’s house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

    and shall be raised above the hills;

all the nations shall stream to it.

3     Many peoples shall come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

    to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

    and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations,

    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

    and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

    neither shall they learn war any more.

Judgment Pronounced on Arrogance

5 O house of Jacob,

    come, let us walk

    in the light of the Lord!(NRSV)

Psalm 122: Song of Praise and Prayer for Jerusalem

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 I was glad when they said to me,

    “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

2 Our feet are standing

    within your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem—built as a city

    that is bound firmly together.

4 To it the tribes go up,

    the tribes of the Lord,

as was decreed for Israel,

    to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up,

    the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

    “May they prosper who love you.

7 Peace be within your walls,

    and security within your towers.”

8 For the sake of my relatives and friends

    I will say, “Peace be within you.”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

    I will seek your good.(NRSV)

Romans 13: An Urgent Appeal

11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.(NRSV)

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew 24: 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day[a] your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Footnotes:

Matthew 24:42 Other ancient authorities read at what hour(NRSV)

First Sunday of Advent - Year A

Commentary of the Day:

Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church

Sermons 4 et 5 for Advent

"At an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come"

It is only right, my brothers, to celebrate our Lord's coming with all possible devotion, so greatly does his comfort gladden us... and his love burn within us. But do not just think about his first coming when he came “to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19,10); think, too, of that other coming when he will come to take us with him. I should like to see you constantly occupied in meditating on these two comings..., “resting among the sheepfolds” (Ps 68[67],14), for they are the two arms of the Bridegroom in which the Bride of the Song of Songs took her rest: “His left arm is under my head and his right arm surrounds me” (2,6)...

But there is a third coming between the two to which I have referred and those who know of it can rest in it for their greater happiness. The other two are visible but this one is not. In the first, “ the Lord has appeared on earth and has spoken to us” (Bar 3,38)...; in the last, “all mankind shall see the salvation of God” (Lk 3,6; Is 40,5)... But the one that comes between them is secret; it is that in which the elect alone see the Savior within themselves and their souls find salvation.

In his first coming, Christ came in our flesh and in our weakness; in his coming in the midst of time, he comes in Spirit and power; in his final coming, he will come in his glory and majesty. But it is by the strength of the virtues that we attain to glory, as it is written: “The Lord, the king of armies, he is the king of glory” (Ps 24[23],10), and in the same book: “That I may see your power and your glory” (Ps 63[62],3). And so the second coming is like a road leading from the first to the last. In the first, Christ has been our redemption; in the last, he will appear as our life; in his coming between, he is our rest and our consolation.

-------