Daily Gospel ~ Thursday, 7 November 2013

Daily Gospel ~ Thursday, 7 November 2013

At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.(John 6:68, Messianic WEB)

Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day:

SAINT WILLIBRORD
Bishop
(657-739)

Willibrord was born in Northumberland in 657, and when twenty years old went to Ireland, to study under St. Egbert; twelve years later, he felt drawn to convert the great pagan tribes who were hanging as a cloud over the north of Europe.

He went to Rome for the blessing of the Pope, and with eleven companions reached Utrecht. The pagans would not accept the religion of their enemies, the Franks; and St. Willibrord could only labor in the track of Pepin Heristal, converting the tribes whom Pepin subjugated.

At Pepin's urgent request, he again went to Rome, and was consecrated Archbishop of Utrecht. He was stately and comely in person, frank and joyous, wise in counsel, pleasant in speech, in every work of God strenuous and unwearied. Multitudes were converted, and the Saint built churches and appointed priests all over the land. He wrought many miracles, and bad the gift of prophecy.

He labored unceasingly as bishop for more than fifty years, beloved alike of God and of man, and died full of days and good works.

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

Saint Carina & her Companions, Martyrs

Feast: November 7 

Nothing is known about this saint (also called Cassina) apart from the Acts of her martyrdom. In the year 360, at the time of Emperor Julian the Apostate in the city of Ankara, she and her husband Antonius as well as her thirteen-year-old son Melasippus were arrested on account of their Christian Faith.

The local autorities, as was the custom in such matters, endeavored to sway them from their devotion to the true God by means of cruel and inhuman tortures. But, aided by grace from on high, the three Christians remmained unswerving in their allegiance and steadfast in their Faith. they thus attained the crown of martyrdom and went on to receive their heavenly reward from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ whom they had so closely followed on earth.

PRAYER:

God, You surround and protect us by the glorious confession of

St. Carina and her Companions. Help us to profit from their example and be supported by their prayers. Amen.

Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Book of Romans 14:7 For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Messiah died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah. 11 For it is written,

“‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow.

Every tongue will confess to God.’”✡

12 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God. (Messianic WEB)

Psalm 27:By David.

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life.

Of whom shall I be afraid?

4 One thing I have asked of the LORD, that I will seek after:

that I may dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my life,

to see the LORD’s beauty,

and to inquire in his temple.

13 I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD.

Be strong, and let your heart take courage.

Yes, wait for the LORD.(Messianic WEB)

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. 2 The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”

3 He told them this parable. 4  “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? 5  When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6  When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7  I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. 8  Or what woman, if she had ten drachma* coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? 9  When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’ 10  Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”(Messianic WEB)

Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day:

Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church 

Commentary on Saint Luke's Gospel, 7, 207-209

The three parables of mercy

It is not without purpose Saint Luke has set three parables before us one after the other: the sheep that was lost and was found, the drachma that was mislaid and was found, and the prodigal son who was dead and came back to life, so that, encouraged by this threefold medicine, we might heal our wounds... Who are the father, the shepherd, the woman? Are they not God the Father, Christ and the Church? Christ who took your sins on himself carries you in his body; the Church goes looking for you; the Father welcomes you home. Like a shepherd he brings you back; like a mother it seeks you out; like a Father he clothes you. Mercy first of all, then rescue, and finally reconciliation.
Each of these details is appropriate to each one: the Redeemer comes to our help, the Church rescues, the Father reconciles. The mercy of the divine work is the same but the grace differs according to our worthiness. The wearied sheep is brought back by the shepherd, the missing drachma is found again, the son retraces his steps to his father and returns wholly repentant for the wandering off he rejects...
So let us be glad that this sheep who strayed in Adam has been restored in Christ. Christ's shoulders are the arms of the cross, it is there I have set my sins, on the noble neck of that gibbet have I found rest.

~~~~~~~