DAILY GOSPEL for Saturday, 21 February 2015

DAILY GOSPEL for Saturday, 21 February 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Saints of the day:

SAINT PETER DAMIAN
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(1007-1072)-

St. Peter Damian was born in 1007, and lost both parents at an early age. His eldest brother, in whose hands he was left, treated him so cruelly that a younger brother, a priest, moved by his piteous state, sent him to the University of Parma, where he acquired great distinction. His studies were sanctified by vigils, fasts, and prayers, till at last, thinking that all this was only serving Godby halves, he resolved to leave the world.

He joined the monks at Font-Avellano, then in the greatest repute, and by his wisdom and sanctity rose to be Superior. He was employed on the most delicate and difficult missions, amongst others the reform of ecclesiastical communities, which was effected by his zeal.

Seven Popes in succession made him their constant adviser, and he was at last created Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. He withstood Henry IV. of Germany, and labored in defence of Alexander II. against the Antipope, whom he forced to yield and seek for pardon.

He was charged, as Papal Legate, with the repression of simony; again, was commissioned to settle discords amongst various bishops, and finally, in 1072, to adjust the affairs of the Church at Ravenna. He was laid low by a fever on his homeward journey, and died at Faenza, in a monastery of his order, on the eighth day of his sickness, whilst the monks chanted matins around him.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Book of Isaiah 58:9 Then you will call, and Adonai will answer;

you will cry, and he will say, “Here I am.”

If you will remove the yoke from among you,

stop false accusation and slander,

10 generously offer food to the hungry

and meet the needs of the person in trouble;

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your gloom become like noon.

11 Adonai will always guide you;

he will satisfy your needs in the desert,

he will renew the strength in your limbs;

so that you will be like a watered garden,

like a spring whose water never fails.

12 You will rebuild the ancient ruins,

raise foundations from ages past,

and be called “Repairer of broken walls,

Restorer of streets to live in.”

13 “If you hold back your foot on Shabbat

from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;

if you call Shabbat a delight,

Adonai’s holy day, worth honoring;

then honor it by not doing your usual things

or pursuing your interests or speaking about them.

14 If you do, you will find delight in Adonai —

I will make you ride on the heights of the land

and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya‘akov,

for the mouth of Adonai has spoken.”

Psalms 86:1 (0) A prayer of David:

(1) Listen, Adonai, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful;

save your servant,

who puts his trust in you

because you are my God.

3 Take pity on me, Adonai,

for I cry to you all day.

4 Fill your servant’s heart with joy,

for to you, Adonai, I lift my heart.

5 Adonai, you are kind and forgiving,

full of grace toward all who call on you.

6 Listen, Adonai, to my prayer;

pay attention to my pleading cry.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 5:27 Later Yeshua went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi sitting in his tax-collection booth; and he said to him, “Follow me!” 28 He got up, left everything and followed him.

29 Levi gave a banquet at his house in Yeshua’s honor, and there was a large group of tax-collectors and others at the table with them. 30 The P’rushim and their Torah-teachers protested indignantly against his talmidim, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?” 31 It was Yeshua who answered them: “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the ‘righteous,’ but rather to call sinners to turn to God from their sins.”

Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Commentary of the day :
Saint John-Paul II, Pope from 1978 to 2005
Message to young people in preparation for the 20th WYD (August 6, 2004)
"Leaving everything behind, the man got up and followed him"
Listening to Christ and adoring him leads to courageous choices, to decisions that are at times heroic. Jesus makes demands, because he wants us to be authentically happy. He calls certain people to leave everything in order to follow him in a life as a priest or in a consecrated life. May those who hear this invitation not be afraid to answer “yes”, and may they generously follow him. But aside from particular vocations to a consecrated life, there is the vocation of every baptized person. It, too, is a vocation to that “high degree” of ordinary Christian life, which finds its expression in sanctity (cf. Novo millenio ineunte, At the beginning of the new millennium, 31).
So many of our contemporaries do not yet know God’s love or are trying to fill their heart with insignificant substitutes. It is thus urgent to be witnesses of the love contemplated in Christ… The Church needs authentic witnesses for the new evangelization: men and women whose lives have been transformed through their encounter with Jesus; men and women who are able to communicate this experience to others. The Church needs saints. We are all called to sanctity, and only the saints can renew humankind.
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