Daily Gospel for Saturday, 5 July 2014

Daily Gospel for Saturday, 5 July 2014
"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"(John 6:68
Saturday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the day:

Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria

Priest

(1502-1539)

Anthony Mary Zaccaria, born of a noble family of Cremona, while still a boy shone with modesty of manners and compassion for the poor.
He studied the humanities, philosophy and medicine, and easily surpassed his companions both in moral integrity and in mental ability.
By divine inspiration, he devoted himself earnestly to the study of the Sacred Sciences; then, promoted to the priesthood, he served in that office so well that his fellow-citizens used to call him Father and Angel of his country.
At Milan, with Bartholomew Ferrari and James Morigia, most saintly men, he founded an association of Clerks Regular, named after St. Paul, and a society of nuns called the Angelicals. He had a singular devotion towards the Holy Eucharist and was an extraordinary promoter of public exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
Endowed with heavenly gifts by God and worn out by his great labors, he was seized with a dangerous illness and died a most holy death at Cremona on the third of the Nones of July in the year 1539.
Pope Leo XIII approved and confirmed the veneration shown him and added him to the calendar of the saints.
The Roman Breviary (1964)
Saturday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Amos 9:11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.
13 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,
    “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
    and the one treading grapes him who sows seed;
    and sweet wine will drip from the mountains,
    and flow from the hills.
14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity,
    and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them;
    and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them.
They shall also make gardens,
    and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land,
    and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,”
    says Yahweh your God. 
Psalms 85:9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
    that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth meet together.
    Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth springs out of the earth.
    Righteousness has looked down from heaven.
12 Yes, Yahweh will give that which is good.
    Our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness goes before him,
    And prepares the way for his steps.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 9:14 Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”
15 Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made. 17 Neither do people put new wine into old wine skins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.”
Saturday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:

Origen (c.185-253), priest and theologian 

Homilies on Genesis, no. 10,2 

“I will espouse you in fidelity and tenderness” (Hos 2,22)

Rebecca used to come to draw water from the well”, Scripture tells us (Gn 24,16). Every day Rebecca came to the well and every day she drew water. And because she spent time at the well every day, Abraham’s servant was able to find her and give her in marriage to Isaac. Perhaps you are thinking that it’s a question of a story or fine tale told by the Holy Spirit in Scripture? No; the truth is that it consists of a spiritual teaching, an instruction that is addressed to your soul to teach it to come daily to the well of Scripture, the waters of the Holy Spirit, to draw tirelessly from it so as to bring back from them a pitcher filled to the brim. That is what holy Rebecca did; if she had done otherwise she would not have been able to marry the great patriarch, Isaac… 
Now, everything in Scripture has a symbolical meaning: Christ desires to wed you too. It is you he is talking to in the promise made by the prophets when he says: “I will espouse you to me forever; I will espouse you in fidelity and in mercy, and you shall know the Lord” (cf. Hos 2,21f). Therefore, wanting to espouse you to himself, Christ sends you his servant – the inspired word. You cannot wed Christ before you have received it… Only those who know how to draw abundant water from the depths of the well…, who have souls that do everything in patience, who are entirely available, who set themselves to get to the very bottom to draw the waters of understanding: that soul alone can know the marriage feast with Christ.
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