Daily Gospel for Sunday, 18 January 2015

Daily Gospel for Sunday, 18 January 2015
"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)
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
Feast of the Day: Week of prayer for Christian unity
Saint of the Day:
Saint Jaime Hilario
Martyr 
(1898-1937)
St. Jaime Hilario, was a Spanish member of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He was born Manuel Barbal Cosan on January 2, 1898 in Enviny, a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees in Catalonia (in northern Spain). Known for his serious nature, he was only 12 years old when, with the blessing of his devout and hardworking parents, he entered the minor seminary of the diocese of La Seu de Urgel. He soon developed an ear infection and he was forced to abandon his studies for the priesthood.
In 1917, convinced that God was calling him, he joined the noviciate of the La Salle Brothers in Irún. He took the names Jaime Hilario. After sixteen years in various teaching assignments, his increasing deafness forced him to abandon teaching. He moved to Cambrils, near Tarragona and worked in the garden of the Order's training house there.
On the outbreak of the Spanish civil war on July 18, 1936 he took refuge in nearby Mollerosa on his way to visit his family. But he was arrested as a religious and jailed. In December he was transferred to Tarragona for trial. He was held on board a prison ship with several other brothers. On January 15, 1937 he was given a summary trial. Though he could have been freed by claiming to be only a gardener, he insisted on his identity as a religious. He was condemned to death on no grounds beyond his religious status.
He was shot in a wood known as the Mount of Olives next to Tarragona cemetery on January 18, 1937. His last words to his executioners were "My friends, to die for Christ is to reign." When two volleys failed to meet their mark, the soldiers dropped their rifles and fled in panic. The commander, shouting a furious oath, fired five shots to the temple and the victim fell at his feet.
He was the first Christian Brothers killed in Catalonia during the Spanish civil war. He was beatified on April 29, 1990 and canonized on November 21, 1999 by Pope John Paul II.
Saint Priscilla

Feastday: July 8
Aquila was a Jewish tentmaker. He and his wife Prisca or Priscilla were forced to leave Rome when Emperor Claudius forbade Jews to live there. They went to Corinth, where St. Paul lived with them during his stay there and may have converted them to Christianity. They accompanied Paul to Ephesus and remained there; Paul stayed with them on his third missionary journey. They then returned to Rome, where there house was also used as a church and then went back to Ephesus. They suffered martyrdom in Asia Minor, according to the Roman Martyrology but a tradition has them martyred in Rome. Their feast day is July 8th.
Saint Volusian
Feastday: January 18
Death: 496
Bishop of Tours, France. A senator at Tours, he was initially married, supposedly to a most unpleasant wife. Named bishop of the city in 488, he was forced to leave the see in 496 by the Arian Visigoths, and went to Spain. He died perhaps in Toulouse, or in Spain, possibly as a martyr.
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
1st book of Samuel 3:3 and Samuel was sleeping on a mat near the sacred chest in the Lord’s house. They had not been asleep very long[a] 4 when the Lord called out Samuel’s name.
“Here I am!” Samuel answered. 5 Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. What do you want?”
“I didn’t call you,” Eli answered. “Go back to bed.”
Samuel went back.
6 Again the Lord called out Samuel’s name. Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “What do you want?”
Eli told him, “Son, I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.”
7 The Lord had not spoken to Samuel before, and Samuel did not recognize the voice. 8 When the Lord called out his name for the third time, Samuel went to Eli again and said, “Here I am. What do you want?”
Eli finally realized that it was the Lord who was speaking to Samuel. 9 So he said, “Go back and lie down! If someone speaks to you again, answer, ‘I’m listening, Lord. What do you want me to do?’”
Once again Samuel went back and lay down.
10 The Lord then stood beside Samuel and called out as he had done before, “Samuel! Samuel!”
“I’m listening,” Samuel answered. “What do you want me to do?”[Footnotes:
3.3 They. . . long: The Hebrew text has “The lamp was still burning.” An olive oil lamp would go out after a few hours if the wick was not adjusted.]
The Lord Helps Samuel
19 As Samuel grew up, the Lord helped him and made everything Samuel said come true.
Psalms 40:2 and pulled me
from a lonely pit
    full of mud and mire.
You let me stand on a rock
    with my feet firm,
4 You bless all of those
    who trust you, Lord,
    and refuse to worship idols
    or follow false gods.
7 And so, I said, “I am here
    to do what is written
    about me in the book,
    where it says,
8 ’I enjoy pleasing you.
    Your Law is in my heart.’”
9 When your people worshiped,
you know I told them,
    “Our Lord always helps!”
10 When all your people met,
    I did not keep silent.
I said, “Our Lord is kind.
    He is faithful and caring,
    and he saves us.”
First Letter to the Corinthians 6:13 You also say, “Food is meant for our bodies, and our bodies are meant for food.” But I tell you that God will destroy them both. We are not supposed to do indecent things with our bodies. We are to use them for the Lord who is in charge of our bodies. 14 God will raise us from death by the same power that he used when he raised our Lord to life.
15 Don’t you know that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? Is it right for me to join part of the body of Christ to a prostitute? No, it isn’t!
17 But anyone who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit with him.
18 Don’t be immoral in matters of sex. That is a sin against your own body in a way that no other sin is. 19 You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God. You are no longer your own. 20 God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 1: The First Disciples of Jesus
35 The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him. 36 When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Here is the Lamb of God!” 37 John’s two followers heard him, and they went with Jesus.
38 When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, “What do you want?”
They answered, “Rabbi, where do you live?” The Hebrew word “Rabbi” means “Teacher.”
39 Jesus replied, “Come and see!” It was already about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day.
40 One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” The Hebrew word “Messiah” means the same as the Greek word “Christ.”
42 Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, “Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas.” This name can be translated as “Peter.”[a][Footnotes:
1.42 Peter: The Aramaic name “Cephas” and the Greek name “Peter” each mean “rock.”]
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Basil of Seleucia (?-c.468), bishop 
Sermon in praise of Saint Andrew, 3-4 ; PG 28, 1103
"Andrew brought his brother to Jesus"
Andrew had heard these words of Moses : « A prophet like myself will the Lord your God raise up for you from among your own kinsmen ; to him you shall listen » (Dt 18,15).Now he hears John the Baptist exclaim : « Behold, the Lamb of God !” (Jn 1,29). As soon as he saw him, he went over to him spontaneously. He recognised the prophet foretold by prophecy and led his brother by the hand towards him whom he had found. He showed Peter the treasure he did not know: “We have found the Messiah we were longing for. We were waiting for his coming; see him now! We have found him whom the resounding voice of the prophets bid us expect. This present time has brought the one whom grace foretold, the one whom love was hoping to see.”
So Andrew went to find his brother Simon and share the riches of his contemplation with him. He led Peter to the Lord. What an astonishing wonder! Andrew is not yet a disciple and he is already a guide of men. It was while he was teaching that he began both to learn and to win the dignity of an apostle: “We have found the Messiah! After spending so many sleepless nights on the bank of the Jordan, now we have found what we were longing for.”
Peter was quick to follow this call. He was Andrew’s brother and eagerly stepped forward, all ears… Later on, when Peter acted in an admirable way, he would owe it to what Andrew had sown. But the praise addressed to one redounds just as much on the other. For the good qualities of the one belong to the other and the former takes pleasure in the latter’s advantages.
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