"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 First week in Ordinary Time
Feast of the Day:
Saint of the Day:
SAINT ANTONY
Patriarch of Monks
(251-356)
St. Antony was born in the year 251, in Upper Egypt. Hearing at Mass the words, "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor," he gave away all his vast possessions. He then begged an aged hermit to teach him the spiritual life. He also visited various solitaries, copying in himself the principal virtue of each.To serve God more perfectly, Antony entered the desert and immured himself in a ruin, building up the door so that none could enter. Here the devils assaulted him most furiously, appearing as various monsters, and even wounding him severely; but his courage never failed, and he overcame them all by confidence in God and by the sign of the cross.
One night, whilst Antony was in his solitude, many devils scourged him so terribly that he lay as if dead. A friend found him thus, and believing him dead carried him home. But when Antony came to himself he persuaded his friend to carry him, in spite of his wounds, back to his solitude. Here, prostrate from weakness, he defied the devils, saying, "I fear you not; you cannot separate me from the love of Christ." After more vain assaults the devils fled, and Christ appeared to Antony in glory.
His only food was bread and water, which he never tasted before sunset, and sometimes only once in two, three, or four days. He wore sackcloth and sheepskin, and he often knelt in prayer from sunset to sunrise.
Many souls flocked to him for advice, and after twenty years of solitude he consented to guide them in holiness-thus founding the first monastery. His numerous miracles attracted such multitudes that he fled again into solitude, where he lived by manual labor.
He expired peacefully at a very advanced age. St. Athanasius, his biographer, says that the mere knowledge of how St. Antony lived is a good guide to virtue.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saturday of the First week in Ordinary Time
Letter to the Hebrews 4:12 What God has said isn’t only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts. 13 Nothing is hidden from God! He sees through everything, and we will have to tell him the truth.
Jesus Is the Great High Priest
14 We have a great high priest, who has gone into heaven, and he is Jesus the Son of God. That is why we must hold on to what we have said about him. 15 Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! 16 So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.
Psalms 19:8 The Lord’s instruction is right;
it makes our hearts glad.
His commands shine brightly,
and they give us light.
9 Worshiping the Lord is sacred;
he will always be worshiped.
All of his decisions
are correct and fair.
10 They are worth more
than the finest gold
and are sweeter than honey
from a honeycomb.
15 Let the words of my mouth be acceptable,
the thoughts of my heart before you,
LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2: Jesus Chooses Levi
13 Once again, Jesus went to the shore of Lake Galilee. A large crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus. Levi was sitting at the place for paying taxes, and Jesus said to him, “Come with me!” So he got up and went with Jesus.
15 Later, Jesus and his disciples were having dinner at Levi’s house.[a] Many tax collectors[b] and other sinners had become followers of Jesus, and they were also guests at the dinner.
16 Some of the teachers of the Law of Moses were Pharisees, and they saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors. So they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 Jesus heard them and answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners.”[Footnotes:
2.15 Levi’s house: Or “Jesus' house.”
2.15 tax collectors: These were usually Jewish people who paid the Romans for the right to collect taxes. They were hated by other Jews who thought of them as traitors to their country and to their religion.]
Saturday of the First week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
Commentary on Saint Luke's Gospel, 5, 23.27 (SC 45, p.191f. rev.)
"Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do"
The apostle Paul said: “Take off the old self with its practices and put on the new self” (Col 3,9-10)... This was the work Christ accomplished when he called Levi; he refashioned him into a new man. Similarly, it is as a new person that the former publican prepares a banquet for Christ since Christ takes pleasure in him and he himself merits to have a share in happiness with Christ... He followed him now, happy, lighthearted and overflowing with joy.
“I have the aspect of a publican no more,” he said, “I don't carry around the old Levi any longer; I put off Levi when I put on Christ. I flee from my earlier life; my Lord Jesus, you alone, who heal my wounds, I desire to follow. Who shall separate me from the love of God within you? tribulation? anguish? hunger? (Rom 8,35). I am bound to you by faith as by nails, I am held fast by the worthy bonds of love. All your commandments will be like a cautery that I will apply firmly to my wound; the remedy stings but it takes away the ulcerous infection. Lord Jesus, with your powerful sword cut away the corruption of my sins: come quickly, lance my hidden and varied passions. Purge away all infection in the new bath.
“Listen to me, you people who are fixed to the earth, you whose thoughts are intoxicated by your sins. I, Levi, was also wounded by similar passions. But I found a doctor who dwells in heaven and pours out his remedies on earth. He alone can cure my wounds since he himself has none. He alone can remove the heart's pain and the soul's lethargy, for he knows everything that lies hidden.”
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