Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 26 November 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)
Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of the Church:
Saints of the Day:
SAINT PETER OF ALEXANDRIA, 
Bishop, Martyr
(† 311)
St. Peter governed the Church of Alexandria during the persecution of Diocletian. The sentence of excommunication that he was the first to pronounce against the schismatics, Melitius and Arius, and which, despite the united efforts of powerful partisans, he strenuously upheld, proves that he possessed as much sagacity as zeal and firmness.
But his most constant care was employed in guarding his flocks from the dangers arising out of persecution. He never ceased repeating to them that, in order not to fear death, it was needful to begin by dying to self, renouncing our will, and detaching ourselves from all things.
St. Peter gave an example of such detachment by undergoing martyrdom in the year 311.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Sylvester
Abbot 
(† 1267)
Sylvester, born of a noble family at Osimo, in Picenum, was remarkable, even as a boy, for his keen intelligence and upright conduct. Being duly instructed in sacred learning and made a canon, he benefited his people by his example and his sermons. At the funeral of a relative, who was also a nobleman and a very handsome person, on seeing the disfigured corpse in the open tomb, he said: "What this man was, I am now; and what he is now, I shall be."
He soon retired to a lonely place with the desire for greater perfection, and there spent himself in vigils, payers and fasting. To hide himself better from men, he kept changing his dwelling place. At length, he arrived at Monte Fano, at that time a solitary place, built a church in honor of St. Benedict and laid the foundations of the Congregation of Sylvestrines.
There he strengthened the monks with his wonderful holiness. He shone with the spirit of prophecy, and possessed power over the demons and other gifts, which he always tried to hide with deep humility.
He fell asleep in the Lord in the year of salvation 1267.
The Roman Breviary (1964)
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice
Feastday: November 26
Death: 1751
Franciscan proponent of the Blessed Sacrament, the devotion of the Sacred Heart, and the Stations of the Cross, as well as the Immaculate Conception. He was born Leonard Casanova in Port Maurice, Porto Maurizio, Italy, and joined the Franciscans of the Strict Observance in 1697. Ordained in 1703, he began preaching all over the Tuscany region of Italy. By 1736 he was attracting huge crowds in Rome and elsewhere, and he erected almost six hundred Stations of the Cross throughout the lands. In 1744, Leonard was sent by Pope Benedict XIV to preach on Corsica, returning to Rome in 1751 after receiving a summons from the pope. Leonard died at his friary, St. Bonaventure, on November 26. He was canonized in 1867 and named patron of parish missions.
Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Book of Revelation 15:The Song of Moses, the Song of the Lamb
1 I saw another Sign in Heaven, huge and breathtaking: seven Angels with seven disasters. These are the final disasters, the wrap-up of God’s wrath.
2-4 I saw something like a sea made of glass, the glass all shot through with fire. Carrying harps of God, triumphant over the Beast, its image, and the number of its name, the saved ones stood on the sea of glass. They sang the Song of Moses, servant of God; they sang the Song of the Lamb:
Mighty your acts and marvelous,
    O God, the Sovereign-Strong!
Righteous your ways and true,
    King of the nations!
Who can fail to fear you, God,
    give glory to your Name?
Because you and you only are holy,
    all nations will come and worship you,
    because they see your judgments are right.
Psalms 98:1 Sing to God a brand-new song.
He’s made a world of wonders!
He rolled up his sleeves,
He set things right.
2 God made history with salvation,
He showed the world what he could do.
3 He remembered to love us, a bonus
To his dear family, Israel—indefatigable love.
The whole earth comes to attention.
Look—God’s work of salvation!
7 Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause,
With everything living on earth joining in.
8 Let ocean breakers call out, “Encore!”
And mountains harmonize the finale—
9 A tribute to God when he comes,
When he comes to set the earth right.
He’ll straighten out the whole world,
He’ll put the world right, and everyone in it.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 21:12-15 “But before any of this happens, they’ll arrest you, hunt you down, and drag you to court and jail. It will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because you carry my name. You’ll end up on the witness stand, called to testify. Make up your mind right now not to worry about it. I’ll give you the words and wisdom that will reduce all your accusers to stammers and stutters.
16-19 “You’ll even be turned in by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Some of you will be killed. There’s no telling who will hate you because of me. Even so, every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved.

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Cyprian (c.200-258), Bishop of Carthage and martyr 
Letter to the confessors of the faith, 6, 1-2 (trans. Breviary, Common of many martyrs) 
"Not a hair on your head will be destroyed"
Persevere with strength and constancy in witnessing to divine grace…; press on to receive the crown in the power of the Spirit. The Lord will be your protector and guide, as he has said: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28,20)… Happy the prison which despatches the men of God to heaven!... 
Let there be nothing in your hearts and minds now except God's words. It is by these that the Holy Spirit has all along strengthened you for suffering. Let no one think of death, but rather of immortality; do not think of the passing pain but of everlasting glory, as it is written: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful” (Ps 115,14 VL)… Again, when scripture speaks of the sufferings which consecrate the martyrs to God… “Though in the sight of men they were punished, their hope is full of immortality! They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them for ever” (Wsd 3,4.8). When you reflect that you will be judges and will reign with Christ the Lord, you must rejoice. In the light of the joy that is to come, you must trample on present sufferings... 
The Lord made himself a model of all this. He taught us that no one can come to his kingdom except those who followed him on his way, when he said: “He who loves his life will lose it. And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (Jn 12,25)… Saint Paul, too, exhorts us that if we wish to attain the Lord's promises we should imitate the Lord in everything: “We are children of God,” he says, “and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rm 8,16f).
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