Daily Gospel for Saturday, 14 June 2014"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"(John 6:68)
Saturday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the Day:
St. Elisha,
Prophet
(9th century BC)
Before Elijah was taken up in a fiery chariot and into the whirlwind, Elisha asked to "inherit a double-portion" of Elijah's spirit.
Throughout the whole course of his life the prophet Elisha accomplished a significant number of miracles.
He won the gratitude of the people of Jericho for healing its barren ground by adding salt to its waters.
When the armies of Judah, Israel and Edom, then allied against Mesa, the Moabite king, were being tortured by drought in the Idumæan desert, Elisha consented to intervene. His double prediction regarding relief from drought and victory over the Moabites was fulfilled on the following morning (2 Kgs 3:4-24).
To relieve the widow importuned by a hard creditor, Elisha so multiplied a little oil as to enable her, not only to pay her indebtedness, but to provide for her family needs (2 Kgs 4:1-7).
To reward the rich lady of Shunam for her hospitality, he restored to life her son (2 Kgs 4:18-37)
To nourish the sons of the prophets pressed by famine, Elisha changed into wholesome food the pottage made from poisonous gourds (2 Kgs 4:38-41).
During the military incursions of Syria into Israel, Elisha cured Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy by simply sending him word that he was to bathe in the Jordan seven times. At first reluctant, Naaman obeyed the Prophet, and after washed seven times in the Jordan, he was healed. Jesus referred to this when he said: "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4:27).
Elisha's life and activities are found in 1 and 2 Kings and he is commemorated on this date in the 2004 Roman Martyrology.
Saturday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
1st Book of Kings 19:19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Elijah went over to him, and put his mantle on him. 20 Elisha left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.”
He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?”
21 He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him.
Psalm 16: A Poem by David.
1 Preserve me, God, for in you do I take refuge.
2 My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord.
Apart from you I have no good thing.”
5 Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup.
You made my lot secure.
7 I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel.
Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.
8 I have set Yahweh always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices.
My body shall also dwell in safety.
10 For you will not leave my soul in Sheol,[a]
neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 16:10 Sheol is the place of the dead.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:33 “Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’ 34 but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; 35 nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.
Saturday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
The Spirit and the letter, §27-33
« But I say to you » :the fulfillment of the Law
Grace hid itself under a veil in the Old Testament, but it has been revealed in the New Testament according to the most perfectly ordered dispensation of the ages... Now, amidst this admirable correspondence, there is at least this very considerable diversity in the cases, in that the people in the earlier instance were deterred by a horrible dread from approaching the place where the law was given; whereas in the other case the Holy Spirit came upon them who were gathered together in expectation of His promised gift. There it was on tables of stone that the finger of God operated; here it was on the hearts of men... “Love is the fulfillment of the Law.” Now this law of love was not written on the tablets of stone, but is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. God's law, therefore, is love. “To it the carnal mind is not subject, neither indeed can be”; but when these works of love are written on tablets to caution the carnal mind, there arises the law of works and “the letter which kills” the transgressor; but when love itself is shed abroad in the hearts of believers, then we have the law of faith, and “the Spirit which gives life” to the one who loves.
Now, observe how consonant this diversity is with those words of the apostle Paul...: “You are shown to be a letter of Christ, administered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but on tablets that are hearts of flesh”... Observe this also in that testimony which was given by the prophet Jeremiah on this subject in the clearest way: “Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers... I will place my law within them, and write it in their hearts.”
(Biblical references : Mt 5,17; Ex 19; Acts 2; Lk 11,20; Ex 31,18; Rm 13,10; 5,5; 8,17; 2Cor 3,3; Jr 31,31)
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