Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 3 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)

Tuesday of the First week of Advent

Saint of the Day:

SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER

Priest

(1506-1552)

Young Spanish gentleman, in the dangerous days of the Reformation, was making a name for himself as a Professor of Philosophy in the University of Paris, and had seemingly no higher aim, when St. Ignatius of Loyola won him to heavenly thoughts.

After a brief apostolate amongst his countrymen in Rome he was sent by St. Ignatius to the Indies, where for twelve years he was to wear himself out, bearing the Gospel to Hindostan, to Malacca, and to Japan. Thwarted by the jealousy, covetousness, and carelessness of those who should have helped and encouraged him, neither their opposition nor the difficulties of every sort which he encountered could make him slacken his labors for souls.

The vast kingdom of China appealed to his charity, and he was resolved to risk his life to force an entry, when God took him to Himself, and on the 2d of December, 1552, he died, like Moses, in sight of the land of promise.

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

Tuesday of the First week of Advent

Isaiah 11: The Peaceful Kingdom

1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

    and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

    the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

    the spirit of counsel and might,

    the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

    or decide by what his ears hear;

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,

    and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,

    the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

    and a little child shall lead them.

7 The cow and the bear shall graze,

    their young shall lie down together;

    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

    and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

9 They will not hurt or destroy

    on all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

    as the waters cover the sea.

Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah

10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.(NRSV)

Psalm 72: Prayer for Guidance and Support for the King

Of Solomon.

1 Give the king your justice, O God,

    and your righteousness to a king’s son.

2 May he judge your people with righteousness,

    and your poor with justice.

7 In his days may righteousness flourish

    and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,

    and from the River to the ends of the earth.

12 For he delivers the needy when they call,

    the poor and those who have no helper.

13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,

    and saves the lives of the needy.

17 May his name endure forever,

    his fame continue as long as the sun.

May all nations be blessed in him;[a]

    may they pronounce him happy.

Footnotes:

Psalm 72:17 Or bless themselves by him(NRSV)

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint

Luke 10: Jesus Rejoices

21 At that same hour Jesus[a] rejoiced in the Holy Spirit[b] and said, “I thank[c] you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.[d] 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

23 Then turning to the disciples, Jesus[e] said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

Footnotes:

Luke 10:21 Gk he

Luke 10:21 Other authorities read in the spirit

Luke 10:21 Or praise

Luke 10:21 Or for so it was well-pleasing in your sight

Luke 10:23 Gk he(NRSV)

Tuesday of the First week of Advent

Commentary of the Day:

Pope Francis

Encyclical « Lumen fidei », §15 (trans. © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

"Many prophets and kings desired to see what you see"

The fullness of Christian faith: "Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad" (Jn 8:56). According to these words of Jesus, Abraham’s faith pointed to him; in some sense it foresaw his mystery. So Saint Augustine understood it when he stated that the patriarchs were saved by faith, not faith in Christ who had come but in Christ who was yet to come, a faith pressing towards the future of Jesus.

Christian faith is centred on Christ; it is the confession that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead (Rm 10,9). All the threads of the Old Testament converge on Christ; he becomes the definitive "Yes" to all the promises, the ultimate basis of our "Amen" to God (2 Cor 1,20). The history of Jesus is the complete manifestation of God’s reliability. If Israel continued to recall God’s great acts of love, which formed the core of its confession of faith and broadened its gaze in faith, the life of Jesus now appears as the locus of God’s definitive intervention, the supreme manifestation of his love for us.

The word which God speaks to us in Jesus is not simply one word among many, but his eternal Word (Heb 1,1-2). God can give no greater guarantee of his love, as Saint Paul reminds us (Rm 8,31f.). Christian faith is thus faith in a perfect love, in its decisive power, in its ability to transform the world and to unfold its history. "We know and believe the love that God has for us" (1 Jn 4,16). In the love of God revealed in Jesus, faith perceives the foundation on which all reality and its final destiny rest.

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