Daily Gospel for Monday, 9 June 2014

Daily Gospel for Monday, 9 June 2014
"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"(John 6:68)
Monday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
Saints for the Day:

Saint Ephrem the Syrian

Deacon,  and Doctor of the Church

(c.306-373)

Ephrem was of Syrian descent and the son of a citizen of Nisibis. While yet a young man, he went to the holy Bishop James, by whom he was baptized. In a short while, he made such progress in holiness and learning that he was appointed teacher of a flourishing  school at Nisibis, a Mesopotamian city.
He was ordained deacon of the Church of Edessa, and refusing the priesthood out of humility, he was conspicuous with the splendor of every virtue and strove to acquire piety and religion by professing true wisdom.
His works, taken as a whole, are so infused with the bright light of his learning, that this holy man, even while yet living, was held in great honor and even considered a Doctor of the Church. He was noted, above all, for his great and tender devotion to the Immaculate Virgin.
Full of merits, he died at Edessa in Mesopotamia on the fourteenth of July, in the reign of Valens. Pope Benedict XV declared him, by a decree of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, to be a Doctor of the universal Church.

STS. PRIMUS and FELICIANUS

Martyrs

(3rd century)

These two martyrs were brothers, and lived in Rome, toward the latter part of the third century, for many years, mutually encouraging each other in the practice of all good works. They seemed to possess nothing but for the poor, and often spent both nights and days with the confessors in their dungeons, or at the places of their torments and execution. Some they encouraged to perseverance, others, who had fallen, they raised again, and they made themselves the servants of all in Christ, that all might attain to salvation through Him. Though their zeal was most remarkable, they had escaped the dangers of many bloody persecutions, and were grown old in the heroic exercises of virtue, when it pleased God to crown their labors with a glorious martyrdom.
The pagans raised so great an outcry against them that they were both apprehended and put in chains. They were inhumanly scourged, and then sent to a town twelve miles from Rome to be farther chastised, as avowed enemies to the gods. There they were cruelly tortured, first both together, afterward separately. But the grace of God strengthened them, and they were at length both beheaded on the 9th of June.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Monday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
1st book of Kings 17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
2 Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, 3 “Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
Psalms 121: A Song of Ascents.
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills.
    Where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from Yahweh,
    who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved.
    He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 Yahweh is your keeper.
    Yahweh is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.
7 Yahweh will keep you from all evil.
    He will keep your soul.
8 Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in,
    from this time forward, and forever more.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:1 Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.[a]
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they shall be comforted.[b]
5 Blessed are the gentle,
    for they shall inherit the earth.[c][d]
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
    for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
    for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they shall be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
    for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 5:3 Isaiah 57:15; 66:2
b. Matthew 5:4 Isaiah 61:2; 66:10,13
c. Matthew 5:5 or, land.
d. Matthew 5:5 Psalm 37:11
Monday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary for the Day:

Isaac of Stella (?-c.1171), Cistercian monk 

Sermon 1, for the Feast of All Saints ; SC 130 (trans. ©Cistercian publications,1979)

"Blessed are the poor in spirit"

"And when he had sat down, he opened his mouth." May it be granted me to sit with Jesus, to sit at his feet on the mountain side and partake of his instruction! When he is in the crowd he is standing and walking, occupied and wearied, and so hard pressed that neither he nor his disciples are, as it were, allowed to eat bread, "the bread of life and understanding", * and to drink "the water of wisdom." For this water can only be drunk in a time of leisure, and it is drawn by those who have little to do. For "the well is deep"...
Opening his mouth Jesus speaks to the heart of Jerusalem, talking to her in solitude or on the mountain, and this is what he says: "Happy are the poor in spirit."* He who is Happiness speaks of happiness, he who became poor of poverty, Bread speaks of repletion, Mercy of mercifulness, he who is the Purity of hearts speaks of purification of heart, the truly Peaceful of peace-making, the Son by nature speaks of sonship... 
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Wisely indeed he puts first... what every man seeks... For who does not want to be happy? Why do men universally quarrel and fight, bargain, resort to flattery, and inflict injuries on one another? Is it not simply in order to obtain, by fair means or foul... something that promises to make them happy?...  So the Teacher of all men... begins by redirecting those who have lost the way...; he who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”... begins with the words: “Happy are the poor in spirit.”
( Biblical references : Mk 6,31; Jn 6,35; Si 15,3; 38,24; Jn 4,11; Is 40,2; Hos 2,16; Jn 14,16; 6,32; 14,6)
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