Daily Gospel for Saturday, 1 March 2014
"Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You
have the words of eternal life." John 6:68
Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:
SAINT ALBINUS
Bishop
(469- 550)
Saint Albinus was of an ancient and noble family in Brittany,
and from his childhood was fervent in every exercise of piety. He ardently
sighed after the happiness which a devout soul finds in being perfectly
disengaged from all earthly things.
Having embraced the monastic state at Tintillant, near Angers,
he shone a perfect model of virtue, living as if in all things he had been
without any will of his own; and his soul seemed so perfectly governed by the
spirit of Christ as to live only for Him.
At the age of thirty-five years he was chosen abbot, in 504, and
twenty-five years afterwards Bishop of Angers. He everywhere restored
discipline, being inflamed with a holy zeal for the honor of God. His dignity
seemed to make no alteration either in his mortifications or in the constant
recollection of his soul. Honored by all the world, even by kings, he was never
affected with vanity. Powerful in works and miracles, he looked upon himself as
the most unworthy and most unprofitable among the servants of God, and had no
other ambition than to appear such in the eyes of others as he was in those of
his own humility.
In the third Council of Orleans, in 538, he procured the
thirtieth canon of the Council of Epaone to be revived, by which those are
declared excommunicated who presume to contract incestuous marriages in the
first or second degree of consanguinity or affinity. He died on the 1st of
March, in 550.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
SAINT DAVID
Bishop
(+ 561)
Saint David, son of Sant, Prince of Cardigan and of Non, was
born in that country in the fifth century, and from his earliest years gave
himself wholly to the service of God.
He began his religious life under St. Paulinus, a disciple of
St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, who had been sent to Britain by Pope St.
Celestine to stop the ravages of the heresy of Pelagius, at that time abbot, as
it is said, of Bangor.
On the reappearance of that heresy, in the beginning of the
sixth century, the bishops assembled at Brevi, and, unable to address the
people that came to hear the word of truth, sent for St. David from his cell to
preach to them. The Saint came, and it is related that, as he preached, the
ground beneath his feet rose and became a hill, so that he was heard by an
innumerable crowd. The heresy fell under the sword of the Spirit, and the Saint
was elected Bishop of Caerleon on the resignation of St. Dubricius; but he
removed the see to Menevia, a lone and desert spot, where he might, with his
monks, serve God away from the noise of the world.
He founded twelve monasteries, and governed his Church according
to the canons sanctioned in Rome.
At last, when about eighty years of age, he laid himself down,
knowing that his hour was come. As his agony closed, our Lord stood before him
in a vision, and the Saint cried out: "Take me up with Thee," and so
gave up his soul on Tuesday, March 1, 561.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
James 5: 13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful?
Let him sing praises. 14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of
the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of
the Lord, 15 and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord
will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess
your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. 17 Elijah
was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not
rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 He
prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19 Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone
turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of
his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Psalm 141: A Psalm by David.
1 Yahweh, I have called on you.
Come to me quickly!
Listen to my voice
when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be set before you like incense;
the lifting up of my
hands like the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth.
Keep the door of my
lips.
8 For my eyes are on you, Yahweh, the Lord.
In you, I take refuge.
Don’t leave my soul
destitute.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10: 13 They were
bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples
rebuked those who were bringing them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was moved
with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me!
Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. 15 Most
certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little
child, he will in no way enter into it.” 16 He took them in his arms, and
blessed them, laying his hands on them.
Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897), Carmelite, Doctor
of the Church
Autobiographical Manuscript C, 2 v°-3 r° (trans. copyright
Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites)
"Let the children come to me"
You know, Mother, I have always wanted to be a saint. Alas! I
have always noticed that when I compared myself to the saints, there is between
them and me the same difference that exists between a mountain whose summit is
lost in the clouds and the obscure grain of sand trampled underfoot by
passers-by. Instead of becoming discouraged, I said to myself: God cannot
inspire unrealizable desires. I can, then, in spite of my littleness, aspire to
holiness. It is impossible for me to grow up, and so I must bear with myself
such as I am with all my imperfections. But I want to seek out a means of going
to heaven by a little way, a way that is very straight, very short, and totally
new.
We are living now in an age of inventions, and we no have to
take the trouble of climbing stairs, for, in the homes of the rich, an elevator
has replaced these very successfully. I I wanted to find an elevator which
would raise me to Jesus, for I am too small to climb the rough stairway of
perfection. I searched, then, in the Scriptures for some sign of this elevator,
the object of my desires, and I read these words coming from the mouth of
Eternal Wisdom: "Whoever is a little one, let him come to me” (Prv 9,4).
I felt I had found what I was looking for. But wanting to know,
O my God, what you would do to the very little one who answered your call, I
continued my search and this is what I discovered: “As one whom a mother
caresses. so will I comfort you; you shall be carried at the breasts. and upon
the knees they shall caress you" (Is 66,13). Ah! never did words more
tender and more melodious come to give joy to my soul. The elevator which must
raise me to heaven is your arms, O Jesus! And for this I had no need to grow
up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more. O my God,
You surpassed all my expectation. I want only to sing to Your mercies (Ps
89[88],2 Vg).
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