Daily Gospel for Thursday, 30 January 2014
“Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words
of real life, eternal life.”(John 6:68, The Message).
Thursday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day:
SAINT BATHILDES
Queen.
(c. 634-680)
St. Bathildes was an Englishwoman, who was carried over whilst
yet young into France, and there sold for a slave, at a very low price, to
Erkenwald, mayor of the palace under King Clovis II. When she grew up, her
master was so much taken with her prudence and virtue that he placed her in
charge of his household.
The renown of her virtues spread through all France, and King
Clovis II. took her for his royal consort. This unexpected elevation produced
no alteration in a heart perfectly grounded in humility and the other virtues;
she seemed to become even more humble than before. Her new station furnished
her the means of being truly a mother to the poor; the king gave her the
sanction of his royal authority for the protection of the Church, the care of
the poor, and the furtherance of all religious undertakings.
The death of her husband left her regent of the kingdom. She at
once forbade the enslavement of Christians, did all in her power to promote
piety, and filled France with hospitals and religious houses.
As soon as her son Clotaire was of an age to govern, she
withdrew from the world and entered the convent of Chelles. Here she seemed
entirely to forget her worldly dignity, and was to be distinguished from the
rest of the community only by her extreme humility, her obedience to her
spiritual superiors, and her devotion to the sick, whom she comforted and
served with wonderful charity.
As she neared her end, God visited her with a severe illness,
which she bore with Christian patience until, on the 30th of January, 680, she
yielded up her soul in devout prayer.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Bl. Columba Marmion
Third Abbot of Maredsous
(1858-1923)
Bl. Columba Marmion was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 1 April 1858
to an Irish father (William Marmion) and a French mother (Herminie Cordier).
Given the name Joseph Aloysius at birth, he entered the Dublin diocesan seminary
in 1874 and completed his theological studies at the College of the Propagation
of the Faith in Rome. He was ordained a priest at St Agatha of the Goths on 16
June 1881.
He dreamed of becoming a missionary monk in Australia, but was
won over by the liturgical atmosphere of the newly founded Abbey of Maredsous
in Belgium, which he visited on his return to Ireland in 1881. His Bishop asked
him to wait and appointed him curate in Dundrum, then professor at the major
seminary in Clonliffe (1882-86). As the chaplain at a convent of Redemptorist
nuns and at a women's prison, he learned to guide souls, to hear confessions,
to counsel and to help the dying.
In 1886 he received his Bishop's permission to become a monk. He
voluntarily renounced a promising ecclesiastical career and was welcomed at
Maredsous by Abbot Placidus Wolter. His novitiate, under the iron rule of Dom
Benoît D'Hondt and among a group of young novices (when he was almost 30),
proved all the more difficult because he had to change habits, culture and
language. But saying that he had entered the monastery to learn obedience, he
let himself be moulded by monastic discipline, community life and choral prayer
until his solemn profession on 10 February 1891.
He received his first "obedience" or mission when he
was assigned to the small group of monks sent to found the Abbey of Mont César
in Louvain. Although it distressed him, he gave his all to it for the sake of
obedience. There he was entrusted with the task of Prior beside Abbot de
Kerchove, and served as spiritual director and professor to all the young monks
studying philosophy or theology in Louvain.
He started to devote more time to preaching retreats in Belgium
and in the United Kingdom, and gave spiritual direction to many communities,
particularly those of Carmelite nuns. He become the confessor of Mons. Joseph
Mercier, the future Cardinal, and the two formed a lasting friendship.
During this period, Maredsous Abbey was governed by Dom
Hildebrand de Hemptinne, its second Abbot, who in 1893 would become, at the
request of Leo XIII, the first Primate of the Benedictine Confederation. His
frequent stays in Rome required that he be replaced as Abbot of Maredsous, and
it is Dom Columba Marmion who was elected the third Abbot of Maredsous on 28
September 1909, receiving the abbatial blessing on 3 October. He was placed at
the head of a community of more than 100 monks, with a humanities college, a
trade school and a farm to run. He also had to maintain a well-established
reputation for research on the sources of the faith and to continue editing
various publications, including the Revue Bénédictine.
His ongoing care of the community did not stop Dom Marmion from
preaching retreats or giving regular spiritual direction. He was asked to help
the Anglican monks of Caldey when they wished to convert to Catholicism. His
greatest ordeal was the First World War. His decision to send the young monks
to Ireland so that they could complete their education in peace led to additional
work, dangerous trips and many anxieties. It also caused misunderstandings and
conflicts between the two generations within this community shaken by the war.
German lay brothers, who had been present since the monastery's foundation by
Beuron Abbey, had to be sent home (despite the Benedictine vow of stability) at
the outbreak of hostilities. After the war was over, a small group of monks was
urgently dispatched to the Monastery of the Dormition in Jerusalem to replace
the German monks expelled by the British authorities. Finally, the Belgian
monasteries were separated from the Beuron Congregation, and in 1920 the
Belgian Congregation of the Annunciation was set up with Maredsous, Mont César
and St. André of Zevenkerken.
His sole comfort during this period was preaching and giving
spiritual direction. His secretary, Dom Raymond Thibaut, prepared his spiritual
conferences for publication: Christ the Life of the Soul (1917), Christ in His
Mysteries (1919) and Christ the Ideal of the Monk (1922). He was already
considered an outstanding Abbot (Queen Elisabeth of Belgium consulted with him
at length) and a great spiritual author.
He died during a flu epidemic on 30 January 1923. He was
beatified by John Paul II on the 3rd of September 2000. - Copyright © Libreria
Editrice Vaticana
Saint Hyacinthe Mariscotti
Born of a noble family near Viterbo (Italy,) Hyacintha entered a
local convent of sisters who followed the Third Order Rule. However, she
supplied herself with enough food, clothing and other goods to live a very
comfortable life amid these sisters who had pledged to mortification.
At one point in her time there, a serious illness required that
Hyacintha’s confessor bring Holy Communion to her room. Upon entering, he was
scandalized to see how soft of a life she had provided for herself, so he
advised her to live more humbly. After hearing this, Hyacintha then disposed of
her fine clothes and special foods. She eventually became very penitential in
food and clothing, and was ready to do the most humble work in the convent. She
developed a special devotion to the sufferings of Christ and by her penances
became an inspiration to the sisters in her convent. She was canonized in 1807.
Thursday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
2 Samuel 7: David’s Prayer
18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said,
“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?
19 And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God; you have spoken
also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. May this be instruction
for the people,[a] O Lord God!
Footnotes:
a. 2 Samuel 7:19 Meaning of Heb uncertain
24 And you established your people Israel for yourself to be
your people forever; and you, O Lord, became their God. 25 And now, O Lord God,
as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his
house, confirm it forever; do as you have promised. 26 Thus your name will be
magnified forever in the saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and
the house of your servant David will be established before you. 27 For you, O
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant,
saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore your servant has found courage to
pray this prayer to you. 28 And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words
are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant; 29 now
therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may
continue forever before you; for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your
blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
Psalm 132: The Eternal Dwelling of God in Zion
A Song of Ascents.
1 O Lord, remember in David’s favor
all the hardships he
endured;
2 how he swore to the Lord
and vowed to the
Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my
eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for
the Mighty One of Jacob.”
11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath
from which he will not
turn back:
“One of the sons of your body
I will set on your
throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my decrees that I
shall teach them,
their sons also, forevermore,
shall sit on your
throne.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for
his habitation:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will reside,
for I have desired it.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4: A Lamp
under a Bushel Basket
21 He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the
bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? 22 For there is
nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come
to light. 23 Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” 24 And he said to them, “Pay
attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get,
and still more will be given you. 25 For to those who have, more will be given;
and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”
Thursday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:
Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), Founder of the Friars Minor
Admonitions, 19-22.28 (trans. ©The Classics of Western
spirituality, 1982)
"To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who
has not, even what he has will be taken away"
Blessed is the servant who attributes every good to the Lord
God, for he who holds back something for himself hides within himself the money
of his Lord God (Mt 25:18), and that which he thought he had shall be taken
away from him (Mt 25,18.28; Lk 8: 18).
Blessed is the servant who esteems himself no better when he is
praised and exalted by people than when he is considered worthless, simple, and
despicable; for what a man is before God, that he is and nothing more...
Blessed is that religious who takes no pleasure and joy except
in the most holy words and deeds of the Lord and with these leads people to the
love of God in joy and gladness... Blessed is the servant who, when he speaks,
does not reveal everything about himself in the hope of receiving a reward, and
who is not quick to speak, but wisely weighs what he should say and how he
should reply. Woe to that religious who does not keep in his heart the good
things the Lord reveals to him and who does not manifest them to others by his
actions, but rather seeks to make such good things known by his words. He
thereby receives his reward while those who listen to him carry away but little
fruit...
Blessed is that servant who stores up in heaven (Mt 6,20) the
good things which the Lord has revealed to him and does not desire to reveal
them to others in the hope of profiting thereby. For the Most High will
manifest his deeds to whomever he wishes. Blessed is the servant who keeps the
secrets of the Lord in his heart.
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