"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 Third Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of the Day:
Saint of the Day:
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS
Priest and Doctor of the Church
(c. 1225-1274)
St. Thomas was born of noble parents at Aquino in Italy, in 1226. At the age of nineteen he received the Dominican habit at Naples, where he was studying.Seized by his brothers on his way to Paris, he suffered a two years' captivity in their castle of Rocca-Secca; but neither the caresses of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation. While St. Thomas was in confinement at Rocca-Secca, his brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning brand, the Saint drove from his chamber the wretched creature whom they had there concealed. Then marking a cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray, and forthwith, being rapt in ecstasy, an angel girded him with a cord, in token of the gift of perpetual chastity which God had given him. The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp that St. Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room. But he never told this grace to any one save only to Father Raynald, his confessor, a little while before his death. Hence originated the Confraternity of the "Angelic Warfare," for the preservation of the virtue of chastity.
Having at length escaped, St. Thomas went to Cologne to study under Blessed Albert the Great, and after that to Paris, where for many years he taught philosophy and theology. The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings as a treasure-house of sacred doctrine; while in naming him the Angelic Doctor she has indicated that his science is more divine than human. The rarest gifts of intellect were combined in him with the tenderest piety. Prayer, he said, had taught him more than study.
His singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament shines forth in the Office and hymns for Corpus Christi, which he composed. To the words miraculously uttered by a crucifix at Naples, "Well hast thou written concerning Me, Thomas. What shall I give thee as a reward?" he replied, "Naught save Thyself, O Lord."
He died at Fossa-Nuova, 1274, on his way to the General Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X. had summoned him.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Letter to the Hebrews 10:11 The priests do their work each day, and they keep on offering sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But Christ offered himself as a sacrifice that is good forever. Now he is sitting at God’s right side,[a] 13 and he will stay there until his enemies are put under his power. 14 By his one sacrifice he has forever set free from sin the people he brings to God.
15 The Holy Spirit also speaks of this by telling us that the Lord said,
16 “When the time comes,
I will make an agreement
with them.
I will write my laws
on their minds and hearts.
17 Then I will forget
about their sins
and no longer remember
their evil deeds.”
18 When sins are forgiven, there is no more need to offer sacrifices.[Footnotes:
10.12 right side: See the note at 1.3.]
Psalm 110: (A psalm by David.)
The Lord Gives Victory
1 The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right side,[a]
until I make your enemies
into a footstool for you.”
2 The Lord will let your power
reach out from Zion,
and you will rule
over your enemies.
3 Your glorious power
will be seen
on the day
you begin to rule.
You will wear the sacred robes
and shine like the morning sun
in all of your strength.[b]
4 The Lord has made a promise
that will never be broken:
“You will be a priest forever,
just like Melchizedek.”[Footnotes:
110.1 right side: See the note at 16.11.
110.3 You will. . . strength: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.]
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4: A Story about a Farmer
1 The next time Jesus taught beside Lake Galilee, a big crowd gathered. It was so large that he had to sit in a boat out on the lake, while the people stood on the shore. 2 He used stories to teach them many things, and this is part of what he taught:
3 Now listen! A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. 4 While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. 5 Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn’t very deep. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. 7 Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked out the plants. So they did not produce any grain. 8 But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants grew and produced thirty or sixty or even a hundred times as much as was scattered.
9 Then Jesus said, “If you have ears, pay attention.”
Why Jesus Used Stories
10 When Jesus was alone with the twelve apostles and some others, they asked him about these stories. 11 He answered:
I have explained the secret about God’s kingdom to you, but for others I can use only stories. 12 The reason is,
“These people will look
and look, but never see.
They will listen and listen,
but never understand.
If they did,
they would turn to God,
and he would forgive them.”
Jesus Explains the Story about the Farmer
13 Jesus told them:
If you don’t understand this story, you won’t understand any others. 14 What the farmer is spreading is really the message about the kingdom. 15 The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message. But Satan soon comes and snatches it away from them. 16 The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. 17 But they don’t have any roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.
18 The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. 19 But they start worrying about the needs of this life. They are fooled by the desire to get rich and to have all kinds of other things. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. 20 The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and welcome the message. They produce thirty or sixty or even a hundred times as much as was planted.
Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Caesarius of Arles (470-543), monk and Bishop
Sermons addressed to the people, no.6; CCL 103,32 (SC 175)
Bearing fruit thirty, sixty or a hundredfold
Brethren, there are two kinds of field: the first is God’s field, the second is man’s. You have your property; God has his, too. Your own property is your land; God’s property is your soul. Is it right that you should cultivate your property and leave God’s lying fallow? If you cultivate your land but fail to cultivate your soul, is this because you want to set your own property in order but leave God’s fallow? Is that right? Does God deserve that we should neglect the soul he holds so dear? You are delighted when you see your property well cultivated; why don’t you weep when you see your soul lying fallow? We cause the fields on our property to come alive for a few days in this world; caring for our souls will enable us to live forever in heaven…
God has deigned to entrust our souls to us as his property; so let us set to work with all our might, by his help, so that when he comes to visit his property he will find it well cultivated and in perfect order. May he find a harvest and not thorns; may he find wine and not vinegar, corn rather than chaff. If he finds everything in it that can be pleasing in his eyes, he will give us an eternal reward in exchange, but thorns will be committed to the fire.
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