Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 24 June 2014"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"(John 6:68)
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist - Solemnity
Saints of the Day:
Blessed María Guadalupe García Zavala
Religious
(1878-1963)
As a child she was known for her piety and made frequent visits to the Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan, which was located next to the religious goods shop run by her father. Her love for God was particularly demonstrated in her love for the poor.
"No' to matrimony, "yes' to Jesus
With uncommon transparency and simplicity, María treated everyone with equal love and respect.
Although as a young woman she planned to marry Gustavo Arreola, she suddenly broke off her engagement when she was 23 years old. The reason: María "understood" that Jesus was calling her to love him with an undivided heart as part of the religious life, and she fully believed that she was called to do this by giving assistance to the poor and sick.
Foundress of the "Servants"
When María confided to her spiritual director, Fr Cipriano Iñiguez, her "sudden change of heart", he told her that for some time he had the inspiration to found a religious congregation that would provide assistance to the hospitalized. He invited María to join him in this foundation.
The new Congregation, which officially began on October 13, 1901, was known as the "Handmaids of St Margaret Mary (Alacoque) and the Poor".
"Poor with the poor"
María worked as a nurse, giving assistance to the first patients that were welcomed into "their hospital". Regardless of the poverty and lack of material goods of the patients, compassion and care for the physical and spiritual well-being of the sick were the primary concerns, and María gave of herself wholeheartedly to carry out this task of love.
Sr María was named Superior General of the quickly-growing Congregation, and taught the Sisters entrusted to her, mostly by means of her example, the importance of living a genuine and joyful exterior and interior poverty. She was convinced that it was only through loving and living poverty that one could be truly "poor with the poor".
Indeed, Mother María was known for her simplicity, humility and willingness to accept all that came from the hand of God.
In times of "dire straits", Mother María asked her spiritual director for permission to go begging in order to collect money for the hospital. Together with other Sisters, she would seek offerings until the needs of the hospital and patients were met, and would ask no more than was necessary.
The Sisters also worked in parishes to assist the priests and to teach catechism.
Risking life to help those hiding
From 1911 until 1936, the political-religious situation in Mexico became uneasy and the Catholic Church underwent persecution. Mother María put her own life at risk to help the priests and the Archbishop of Guadalajara to "go into hiding" in the hospital.
She did not limit her charity simply to helping the "righteous", but also gave food and care to the persecutors who lived near the hospital; it was not long before they, too, began defending the sick in the hospital run by the Sisters.
The last two years of Mother María's life were lived in extreme suffering because of a grave illness, and on 24 June 1963, she died at the age of 85.
During the lifetime of the foundress, 11 foundations were established in the Republic of Mexico.
Today, the Congregation has 22 foundations and is present in five different Nations: Mexico, Peru, Iceland, Greece and Italy.
She was beatified on April 25, 2004 by John Paul II. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist - Solemnity
Book of Isaiah 49:1 Listen, islands, to me.
Listen, you peoples, from afar:
Yahweh has called me from the womb;
from the inside of my mother he has mentioned my name.
2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword.
He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.
He has made me a polished shaft.
He has kept me close in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant;
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain.
I have spent my strength in vain for nothing;
yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh,
and my reward with my God.”
5 Now Yahweh says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him,
and to gather Israel to him,
for I am honorable in Yahweh’s eyes,
and my God has become my strength.
6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and to restore the preserved of Israel?
I will also give you as a light to the nations,
that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
Psalm 139: For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
1 Yahweh, you have searched me,
and you know me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
13 For you formed my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to you,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful.
My soul knows that very well.
15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you,
when I was made in secret,
woven together in the depths of the earth.
Acts of the Apostles 13:22 When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23 From this man’s offspring,[a] God has brought salvation[b] to Israel according to his promise, 24 before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel.[c] 25 As John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ 26 Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.
Footnotes:
a. Acts 13:23 or, seed
b. Acts 13:23 TR, NU read “a Savior, Jesus” instead of “salvation”
c. Acts 13:24 TR, NU read “to all the people of Israel” instead of “to Israel”
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1:57 Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of the father. 60 His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” 62 They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.
63 He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.”
They all marveled. 64 His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” The hand of the Lord was with him.
80 The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist - Solemnity
Commentary of the Day:
The Syrian Liturgy
Hymn attributed to Saint Ephrem (c. 306-373), deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church
«There was a man sent by God ; his name was John... he came as a witness, to bear witness to the light» (Jn 1, 6-7)
It is you, John, we recognise to be a new Moses, since you have seen God, no longer in symbol but clearly. It is you we see to be a new Joshua: you did not cross the Jordan from one side to the other but, with the water of the Jordan, you enabled people to cross from one world to another... It is you, the new Samuel, who did not anoint David but baptized David's Son. It is you, the new David, who were not persecuted by the evil king, Saul, but who were killed by Herod. It is you, the new Elijah, who were fed in the desert, not with bread by a raven but with locusts and wild honey by God. It is you, the new Isaiah who said, not: “Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son” (7,14), but who declared before all: “Behold, she has brought forth the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1,29)...Blessed are you, John, chosen of God; you who put your hand on your Lord, who took into your hands the flame whose brightness makes angels tremble! Morning star (cf Nb 24,17), you have shown the true morning to the world; joyful dawn (cf. Ps 29[30],6), you have made known the day of glory; shining lamp (Jn 5,35), you have pointed to the Light without compare. Messenger of the Father's great reconciliation (Is 9,5 LXX), the archangel Gabriel was sent before you to announce you to Zachary, like a fruit in advance of its expectation... The greatest of the sons of men (Mt 11,11), you precede Emmanuel, he who is greater than all creatures; firstborn of Elizabeth, you precede the Firstborn of all creation (Col 1,15).
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