Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 29 January 2014

“Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life.”(John 6:68, The Message).

Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time

Saint of the Day:

SAINT GILDAS THE WISE (or Gildas of Rhuys)

Abbot

(c. 500-570 or 581)

St. Gildas was a 6th-century British monk. He learned, from the instructions and examples of the most eminent servants of God, to copy in his own life whatever seemed most perfect.

His renowned learning and literary style earned him the designation Gildas Sapiens (Gildas the Wise).

He wrote eight canons of discipline, and a severe invective against the crimes of the Britons, called De Excidio Britanniae and he also wrote an invective against the British clergy, whom he accused of sloth of seldom sacrificing at the altar.

He fell asleep in the Lord in 570 or in 581

Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time

2 Samuel 7: 4 But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: 5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders[a] of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” 8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; 9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. 15 But I will not take[b] my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me;[c] your throne shall be established forever. 17 In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

Footnotes:

a. 2 Samuel 7:7 Or any of the tribes

b. 2 Samuel 7:15 Gk Syr Vg 1 Chr 17.13: Heb shall not depart

c. 2 Samuel 7:16 Gk Heb Mss: MT before you; Compare 2 Sam 7.26, 29

Psalm 89: 4 ‘I will establish your descendants forever,

    and build your throne for all generations.’”Selah

5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,

    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.

27 I will make him the firstborn,

    the highest of the kings of the earth.

28 Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,

    and my covenant with him will stand firm.

29 I will establish his line forever,

    and his throne as long as the heavens endure.

30 If his children forsake my law

    and do not walk according to my ordinances,

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4: The Parable of the Sower

1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

The Purpose of the Parables

10 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret[a] of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; 12 in order that

‘they may indeed look, but not perceive,

    and may indeed listen, but not understand;

so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”

13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. 17 But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.[b] 18 And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. 20 And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

Footnotes:

a. Mark 4:11 Or mystery

b. Mark 4:17 Or stumble

Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day:

Saint Caesarius of Arles (470-543), monk and Bishop

Sermons to the people, no.6 passim ; SC 175

"They bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold"

My beloved brethren, when we expound to you something of value for your souls, let no one attempt to excuse themselves by saying: “I haven't time to read and so I can't get to know God's commandments or keep them”... Let us cut ourselves off from empty gossiping and sarcastic wit... and then see whether we don't have enough time to give to the reading of Holy Scripture... When the nights get longer is there anyone needing to sleep so much that he cannot read in person, or listen to someone else reading, Scripture?... For the light of the soul and its eternal nourishment are nothing other than the Word of God without which our hearts can neither live nor see...

Care of our souls is just like tilling the soil. Just as, on cultivated land, we pull up here and root out there so as to sow good seed, so must we do in our soul: pull up what is evil and plant what is good; root out what is harmful and transplant what is of value; dig out pride by the root and plant humility; throw away avarice and keep mercy; disdain impurity and love chastity...

Indeed, you all know how land is cultivated. First of all you pull out the weeds and throw away the stones, then you work the ground itself. You do it again a second time, a third time, and finally... you sow. Oh, let it be like this in our souls! First of all let us uproot the weeds, that is to say our evil thoughts; then take out the stones, in other words all our malice and obstinacy. Finally, let us work our hearts with the plow of the Gospel and the plowshare of the cross. Let us break it by repentance, turn over the soil with almsgiving and, with charity, prepare it for the seed of Our Lord... that it may joyfully receive the seed of the divine word and bring forth fruit, not just thirty but sixty and a hundredfold.

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