Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 26 November
2013
John 6:68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord,
to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. (Messianic World
English Bible)
Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth week in
Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day:
SAINT PETER OF ALEXANDRIA,
Bishop, Martyr
(† 311)
St. Peter governed the Church of
Alexandria during the persecution of Diocletian. The sentence of excommunication
that he was the first to pronounce against the schismatics, Melitius and Arius,
and which, despite the united efforts of powerful partisans, he strenuously
upheld, proves that he possessed as much sagacity as zeal and firmness.
But his most constant care was employed
in guarding his flocks from the dangers arising out of persecution. He never
ceased repeating to them that, in order not to fear death, it was needful to
begin by dying to self, renouncing our will, and detaching ourselves from all
things.
St. Peter gave an example of such
detachment by undergoing martyrdom in the year 311.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler,
Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Sylvester
Abbot
(† 1267)
Sylvester, born of a noble family at
Osimo, in Picenum, was remarkable, even as a boy, for his keen intelligence and
upright conduct. Being duly instructed in sacred learning and made a canon, he
benefited his people by his example and his sermons. At the funeral of a relative,
who was also a nobleman and a very handsome person, on seeing the disfigured
corpse in the open tomb, he said: "What this man was, I am now; and what
he is now, I shall be."
He soon retired to a lonely place with
the desire for greater perfection, and there spent himself in vigils, payers
and fasting. To hide himself better from men, he kept changing his dwelling
place. At length, he arrived at Monte Fano, at that time a solitary place,
built a church in honor of St. Benedict and laid the foundations of the
Congregation of Sylvestrines.
There he strengthened the monks with his
wonderful holiness. He shone with the spirit of prophecy, and possessed power
over the demons and other gifts, which he always tried to hide with deep
humility.
He fell asleep in the Lord in the year of
salvation 1267.
The Roman Breviary (1964)
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice
(1676-1751)
Leonard, called "the great
missionary of the 18th century" by St. Alphonsus Liguori, was another
Franciscan who tried to go to the foreign missions (China), failed at that and
succeeded tremendously in some other work.
Leonard’s father was a ship captain whose
family lived in Port Maurice on the northwestern coast of Italy. At 13, Leonard
went to Rome to live with his uncle Agostino and study at the Roman College.
Leonard was a good student and was destined for a career in medicine. In 1697,
however, he joined the Friars Minor, a decision that his uncle opposed
bitterly.
After ordination Leonard contracted
tuberculosis and was sent to his hometown to rest or perhaps to die. He made a
vow that if he recovered he would dedicate his life to the missions and to the
conversion of sinners. He soon was able to begin his 40-year career of
preaching retreats, Lenten sermons and parish missions throughout Italy. His
missions lasted 15 to 18 days, and he often stayed an additional week to hear
confessions. He said: "I believe that in those days the real and greatest
fruit of the mission is gathered. As much good is done in these days as during
the mission."
As a means of keeping alive the religious
fervor awakened in a mission, Leonard promoted the Stations of the Cross, a
devotion which had made little progress in Italy up to this time. He also
preached regularly on the Holy Name of Jesus.
Since he realized that he needed time
simply to pray alone, Leonard regularly made use of the ritiros (houses of
recollection) that he helped establish throughout Italy.
Leonard was canonized in 1867; in 1923 he
was named patron of those who preach parish missions.
Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth week in
Ordinary Time
Daniel 2: 31 “You
were looking, O king, and lo! there was a great statue. This statue was huge,
its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance
was frightening. 32 The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and
arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet
partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked on, a stone was cut out,
not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and
broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and
the gold, were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer
threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them
could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth.
36 “This was the dream; now we will tell
the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, the king of kings—to whom the God
of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory, 38 into
whose hand he has given human beings, wherever they live, the wild animals of
the field, and the birds of the air, and whom he has established as ruler over
them all—you are the head of gold. 39 After you shall arise another kingdom
inferior to yours, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the
whole earth. 40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; just as
iron crushes and smashes everything,[a] it shall crush and shatter all these.
41 As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it
shall be a divided kingdom; but some of the strength of iron shall be in it, as
you saw the iron mixed with the clay. 42 As the toes of the feet were part iron
and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As
you saw the iron mixed with clay, so will they mix with one another in
marriage,[b] but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with
clay. 44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another
people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it
shall stand forever; 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain
not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver,
and the gold. The great God has informed the king what shall be hereafter. The
dream is certain, and its interpretation trustworthy.”
Footnotes:
Daniel 2:40 Gk Theodotion Syr Vg: Aram
adds and like iron that crushes
Daniel 2:43 Aram by human seed(NRSV)
(Psalm) Daniel 3: 57 “Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
58 Bless the Lord, you heavens;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
59 Bless the Lord, you angels of the
Lord;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
60 Bless the Lord, all you waters above
the heavens;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
61 Bless the Lord, all you powers of the
Lord;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever(NRSV)
Luke 21: The
Destruction of the Temple Foretold
5 When some were speaking about the
temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he
said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one
stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
Signs and Persecutions
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will
this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he
said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and
say, ‘I am he!’[a] and, ‘The time is near!’[b] Do not go after them.
9 “When you hear of wars and
insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but
the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great
earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be
dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
Footnotes:
Luke 21:8 Gk I am
Luke 21:8 Or at hand(NRSV)
Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth week in
Ordinary Time
Commentary of the Day:
Pope Francis
General Audience of 26/06/2013 (trans. ©
copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
"Destroy this Temple and in three
days I will raise it up '... But he was speaking about the temple of his
body" (Jn 2,19.21)
The ancient Temple was built by human
hands. There was a wish “to give God a house”, to have a visible sign of his presence
among the people. With the Incarnation of the Son of God, Nathan’s prophecy to
King David was fulfilled (cf. 2 Sam 7,1-29): it is not the king, it is not we
who “give God a house”; rather it is God himself who “builds his house” in
order to come and dwell among us, as St John wrote in his Gospel (1,14). Christ
is the living Temple of the Father, and Christ himself builds his “spiritual
house”: the Church, not made of material stones but rather of “living stones”
(1Pt 2,5), which we are.
The Apostle Paul said to the Christians
of Ephesus: you are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is
joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are
built... for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (2,20-22). This is a
beautiful thing! We are the living stones of God’s building, profoundly united
to Christ who is the keystone and also the one that sustains us. What does this
mean? It means that we are the temple, we are the living Church, the living
temple, and with us when we are together is also the Holy Spirit, who helps us
to grow as Church. We are not alone, for we are the People of God: this is the
Church!...
I would now like us to ask ourselves: how
do we live our being Church? Are we living stones or are we, as it were, stones
that are weary, bored or indifferent? Have you ever noticed how grim it is to
see a tired, bored and indifferent Christian? A Christian like that is all
wrong, the Christian must be alive, rejoicing in being Christian; he or she
must live this beauty of belonging to the People of God which is the Church.
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