Daily Gospel for Saturday, 12 July 2014

Daily Gospel for Saturday, 12 July 2014
"Peter replied, 'Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.'"(John 6:68-69)
Saturday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time 
Saints of the Day:
SAINT JOHN GUALBERT
Abbot
(999-1073)

St. John Gualbert was born at Florence, A. D. 999. Following the profession of arms at that troubled period, he became involved in a blood-feud with a near relative. One Good Friday, as he was riding into Florence accompanied by armed men, he encountered his enemy in a place where neither could avoid the other. John would have slain him; but his adversary, who was totally unprepared to fight, fell upon his knees with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross, and implored him, for the sake of Our Lord's holy Passion, to spare his life. St. John said to his enemy, "I cannot refuse what you ask in Christ's name. I grant you your life, and I give you my friendship. Pray that God may forgive me my sin." Grace triumphed.
A humble and changed man, he entered the Church of St. Miniato, which was near; and whilst he prayed, the figure of our crucified Lord, before which he was kneeling, bowed its head toward him as if to ratify his pardon. Abandoning the world, he gave himself up to prayer and penance in the Benedictine Order.
Later he was led to found the congregation called of Vallombrosa, from the shady valley a few miles from Florence, where he established his first monastery. Once the enemies of the Saint came to his convent of St. Salvi, plundered it, and set fire to it, and having treated the monks with ignominy, beat them and wounded them. St. John rejoiced. "Now," he said, "you are true monks. Would that I myself had had the honor of being with you when the soldiers came, that I might have had a share in the glory of your crowns! "
He fought manfully against simony, and in many ways promoted the interest of the Faith in Italy. After a life of great austerity, he died whilst the angels were singing round his bed, on July 11th, 1073.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saints John Jones and John Wall
(c. 1530-1598; 1620-1679)
These two friars were martyred in England in the 16th and 17th centuries for refusing to deny their faith.
John Jones was Welsh. He was ordained a diocesan priest and was twice imprisoned for administering the sacraments before leaving England in 1590. He joined the Franciscans at the age of 60 and returned to England three years later while Queen Elizabeth I was at the height of her power. John ministered to Catholics in the English countryside until his imprisonment in 1596. He was condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered. John was executed on July 12, 1598.
John Wall was born in England but was educated at the English College of Douai, Belgium. Ordained in Rome in 1648, he entered the Franciscans in Douai several years later. In 1656 he returned to work secretly in England.
In 1678 Titus Oates worked many English people into a frenzy over an alleged papal plot to murder the king and restore Catholicism in that country. In that year Catholics were legally excluded from Parliament, a law which was not repealed until 1829. John Wall was arrested and imprisoned in 1678 and was executed the following year.
John Jones and John Wall were canonized in 1970.
Comment:
Every martyr knows how to save his/her life and yet refuses to do so. A public repudiation of the faith would save any of them. But some things are more precious than life itself. These martyrs prove that their 20th-century countryman, C. S. Lewis, was correct in saying that courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form (shape) of every virtue at the testing point, that is, at the point of highest reality.
Quote:
"No one is a martyr for a conclusion; no one is a martyr for an opinion. It is faith that makes martyrs" (Cardinal Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations).
Saturday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time 
Book of Isaiah 6: Holy, Holy, Holy!
1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,
Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
His bright glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,
“Doom! It’s Doomsday!
    I’m as good as dead!
Every word I’ve ever spoken is tainted—
    blasphemous even!
And the people I live with talk the same way,
    using words that corrupt and desecrate.
And here I’ve looked God in the face!
    The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!”
Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
“Look. This coal has touched your lips.
    Gone your guilt,
    your sins wiped out.”
And then I heard the voice of the Master:
    “Whom shall I send?
    Who will go for us?”
I spoke up,
    “I’ll go.
    Send me!”
Psalm 93:1-2 God is King, robed and ruling,
God is robed and surging with strength.
And yes, the world is firm, immovable,
Your throne ever firm—you’re Eternal!
5 What you say goes—it always has.
“Beauty” and “Holy” mark your palace rule,
God, to the very end of time.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10:24-25 “A student doesn’t get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn’t make more money than his boss. Be content—pleased, even—when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, ‘Dungface,’ what can the workers expect?
26-27 “Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now.
28 “Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.
Forget About Yourself
29-31 “What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.
32-33 “Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?
Saturday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time 
Commentary of the Day:
Thomas of Celano (c.1190-c.1260), biographer of Saint Francis and Saint Clare 
The First Life of Saint Francis, §58 (trans. Franciscan Institute of St Bonaventure University, alt.) 
"Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge... So do not be afraid"
Having come to a place very near to where there was a large flock of birds, blessed Francis noticed that they were waiting for him. He gave them his usual greeting and, as the birds did not take to flight as was their custom, told them they were to listen to the word of God and humbly begged them to listen carefully. 
Amongst other things, he said to them: “My brother birds, you should greatly praise your Creator and love him always. He clothed you with feathers and gave you wings for flying and everything you need to live on. Among all God’s creatures you have the most grace. He gave you the freedom of the air and its purity. You neither sow nor reap. He nevertheless gives you food and shelter without your least care” (Mt 6,26). At these words, as both the saint and his companions testified, the birds expressed their joy a great deal in their own way. They stretched their necks, spread their wings, opened their beaks and looked at him attentively. He went to them, going to and fro among them, touching their heads and their bodies with his tunic. They did not leave the place until, having made the sign of the cross, he blessed them and gave them permission. Then he went on his way with his companions and, rejoicing, gave thanks to God who is thus acknowledged and venerated by all his creatures. 
Francis was not simple minded, but he had the grace of simplicity and thus began to accuse himself of negligence because he had not preached to the birds before, seeing that these creatures listened so respectfully to the word of God. From that day on, he carefully exhorted birds, beasts, and even inanimate creatures to praise and love the Creator. 

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