Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 02 July 2014

Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 02 July 2014
"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'" (John 6:68)
Wednesday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the day:

Saint Bernardino Realino

Priest

(1530-1616)

St. Bernardino Realino was born into a noble family of Capri, Italy in 1530. After receiving a thorough and devout Christian education at the hands of his mother, he went on to study medicine at the University of Bologna, but after three years he switched to law and received his doctorate in 1563. Word of his learning, dedication, and legal brilliance spread rapidly, and in 1554 he was summoned to Naples to assume the position of auditor and lieutenant general.
Shortly afterward, his exemplary young man came to the realization that he had a religious vocation and, aided by our Lady's appearance to him, joined the Society of Jesus, being ordained in 1567. For three years he labored unstintingly at Naples, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the service of the poor and the youth, and then he was sent to Lecce where he remained for the last forty-two years of his life.
St. Bernardino won widespread recognition as a result of his ceaseless apostolic labors. He was a model confessor, a powerful preacher, a diligent teacher of the Faith to the young, a dedicated shepherd of souls, as well as Rector of the Jesuit college  in Lecce and Superior of the Community there. His charity to the poor and the sick knew no bounds and his kindness brought about the end of vendettas and public scandals that cropped up from time to time.
So greatly was this saint loved and appreciated by his people that in 1616, as he lay on his death bed the city's magistrates formally requested that he should take the city under his protection. Unable to speak, St. Bernardino bowed his head. He died with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips.
http://www.catholic.org/
Servant of God Bernard of Quintavalle
December 10
(d. 1246?)
Bernard was a wealthy man of Assisi, known and esteemed for his virtue and his wisdom. He was also the first follower of St. Francis, and would ultimately prove to be first in the order of sanctity.
Moved by the poverty and humility of Francis, Bernard invited him to stay at his house one night. There Bernard observed that Francis forsook a full night's sleep and instead spent the hours in prayer. By the following morning Bernard was convinced that Francis was indeed motivated by sincere love of God and, so, Bernard asked to become a disciple. Francis joyfully took him to the church where they attended Mass and then asked the priest to open the Bible three times.
Three passages appeared: "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor" (Matthew 19:21). "Take nothing for the way" (Mark 6:8). "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24).
Francis said: "This will be the rule of life which we and all those who will join us shall follow." At that, Bernard sold all his possessions and divided the money among the poor.
Francis admired much in Bernard because he was older and because he was so holy. He sent his new follower and a companion to Florence and then to Bologna. In both places they were made sport of because of their poor clothing and the manner of their life. But Bernard was only upset when the townspeople of Bologna began to recognize his holiness. He asked Francis to bring him back.
Later Francis took Bernard with him as he headed out for Africa to preach to the Muslims. But along the way they met a poor sick man and Francis left the ever-joyful Bernard to care for the man until he himself would return.
Before his death Francis gave Bernard a special blessing and asked all of the brothers to have respect for this holy man.
Bernard is buried in Assisi near his holy founder in the Basilica of St. Francis.
Comment:
Opening the Bible at random doesn’t often give us practical advice on how to live. The pages might fall open to God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his only son or to St. Paul urging the Galatians not to submit to circumcision. Maybe it would help to have someone like Francis standing beside us. Better yet, we might focus on the Bible’s general thrust, which Jesus summed up as love for God and neighbor. That alone would send us on the path to sanctity Bernard traveled and fill us with the joy that always filled this follower of Francis.
Wednesday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Amos 5:14 Seek good, and not evil,
    that you may live;
    and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you,
    as you say.
15 Hate evil, love good,
    and establish justice in the courts.
    It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”21 I hate, I despise your feasts,
    and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.
22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings,
    I will not accept them;
    neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like rivers,
    and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Psalms 50:7 “Hear, my people, and I will speak;
    Israel, and I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices.
    Your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I have no need for a bull from your stall,
    nor male goats from your pens.
10 For every animal of the forest is mine,
    and the livestock on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the mountains.
    The wild animals of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
    for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
    or drink the blood of goats?
16 But to the wicked God says,
    “What right do you have to declare my statutes,
    that you have taken my covenant on your lips,
17     since you hate instruction,
    and throw my words behind you?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8:28 When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, [Matthew 8:28 NU reads “Gadarenes”] two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way. 29 Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them. 31 The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them, “Go!”
They came out, and went into the herd of pigs: and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea, and died in the water. 33 Those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons. 34 Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
Wednesday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day:

Vatican Council II 

Constitution on the Church in the modern world « Gaudium et spes », § 13 

Human freedom : «the people implored him to leave their territory»

Although he was made by God in a state of holiness, from the very onset of his history man abused his liberty, at the urging of the Evil One. Man set himself against God and sought to attain his goal apart from God. Although they knew God, “they did not glorify Him as God, but their senseless minds were darkened and they served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rm 1,21f.). What divine revelation makes known to us agrees with experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil too, and is engulfed by manifold ills which cannot come from his good Creator. Often refusing to acknowledge God as his beginning, man has disrupted also his proper relationship to his own ultimate goal as well as his whole relationship toward himself and others and all created things. 
Therefore man is split within himself. As a result, all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness. Indeed, man finds that by himself he is incapable of battling the assaults of evil successfully, so that everyone feels as though he is bound by chains. But the Lord Himself came to free and strengthen man, renewing him inwardly and casting out that "prince of this world" (Jn 12,31) who held him in the bondage of sin. For sin has diminished man, blocking his path to fulfillment. 
The call to grandeur and the depths of misery, both of which are a part of human experience, find their ultimate and simultaneous explanation in the light of this revelation.
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