DAILY GOSPEL for Saturday, 28 February 2015

DAILY GOSPEL for Saturday, 28 February 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Saturday of the First week of Lent
Saints of the day:

Blessed Daniel Brottier Priest  (1876-1936) Blessed Daniel Brottier was a French Spiritan born in France in 1876 and ordained priest1899. His zeal for spreading the Gospel beyond the classroom or the confines of France made him to join the Spiritan Congregation. He was sent to Senegal, West Africa. After eight years there, his health suffered and he went back to France where he helped raise funds for the construction of a new cathedral in Senegal. At the outbreak of World War I Daniel became a volunteer chaplain. He attributed his survival on the front lines to the intercession of Saint Therese of Lisieux, and built a chapel for her at Auteuil when she was canonized. After the war he established a project for orphans and abandoned children "the OrphanApprentices of Auteuil" in the suburb of Paris. He gave up his soul to God on the 28th of February, 1936 and was beatified only 48 years later in 1984 by Pope John Paul II.

SAINTS ROMANUS and LUPICINUS 
Abbots
(5th century)

Romanus at thirty-five years of age left his relatives and spent some time in the monastery of Ainay at Lyons, at the great church at the conflux of the Saône and Rhone which the faithful had built over the ashes of the famous martyrs of that city; for their bodies being burned by the pagans, their ashes were thrown into the Rhone, but a great part of them was gathered by the Christians and deposited in this place.

Romanus a short time after retired into the forests of Mount Jura, between France and Switzerland, and fixed his abode at a place called Condate, at the conflux of the rivers Bienne and Aliere, where he found a spot of ground fit for culture, and some trees which furnished him with a kind of wild fruit. Here he spent his time in praying, reading, and laboring for his subsistence.

Lupicinus, his brother, came to him some time after in company with others, who were followed by several more, drawn by the fame of the virtue and miracles of these two Saints. Their numbers increasing, they built several monasteries, and a nunnery called La Beaume, which no men were allowed ever to enter, and where St. Romanus chose his burial-place.

The brothers governed the monks jointly and in great harmony, though Lupicinus was the more inclined to severity of the two. Lupicinus used no other bed than a chair or a hard board; never touched wine, and would scarcely ever suffer a drop either of oil or milk to be poured on his pottage. In summer his subsistence for many years was only hard bread moistened in cold water, so that he could eat it with a spoon. His tunic was made of various skins of beasts sewn together,. with a cowl; he used wooden shoes, and wore no stockings unless when he was obliged to go out of the monastery.

St. Romanus died about the year 460, and St. Lupicinus survived him almost twenty years.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894] Saturday of the First week of Lent
Book of Deuteronomy 26:(iii) 16 “Today Adonai your God orders you to obey these laws and rulings. Therefore, you are to observe and obey them with all your heart and all your being. 17 You are agreeing today that Adonai is your God and that you will follow his ways; observe his laws, mitzvot and rulings; and do what he says. 18 In turn Adonai is agreeing today that you are his own unique treasure, as he promised you; that you are to observe all his mitzvot; 19 and that he will raise you high above all the nations he has made, in praise, reputation and glory; and that, as he said, you will be a holy people for Adonai your God.”

Psalms 119: א (Alef)

1 How happy are those whose way of life is blameless,

who live by the Torah of Adonai!

2 How happy are those who observe his instruction,

who seek him wholeheartedly!

4 You laid down your precepts

for us to observe with care.

5 May my ways be steady

in observing your laws.

7 I thank you with a sincere heart

as I learn your righteous rulings.

8 I will observe your laws;

don’t completely abandon me!

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Love your neighbor[a] — and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 Then you will become children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun shine on good and bad people alike, and he sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous alike. 46 What reward do you get if you love only those who love you? Why, even tax-collectors do that! 47 And if you are friendly only to your friends, are you doing anything out of the ordinary? Even the Goyim do that! 48 Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.[Footnotes:

Matthew 5:43 Leviticus 19:18]

Saturday of the First week of Lent
Commentary of the day:
Saint Ignatius of Antioch (?-c.110), Bishop and martyr
Letter to the Ephesians, 10-14
"Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you"
“Never cease praying” (1 Thess 5:17) for the others. We can hope for their repentance and that they will come to God. But at least may your example show them the way. Counter their anger with your gentleness; their arrogance with your humility; their blasphemies with your prayers; their errors with the firmness of your faith; their violence with your serenity, without seeking to do anything as they do. Through our kindness, let us show them that we are their brothers. Let us try to become “imitators of the Lord” (1 Thess 1:6). Who suffered injustice more than he? Who was stripped and rejected? May it be impossible to find the devil’s weeds among you (cf. Mt 13:25). In perfect purity and temperance of the flesh and the mind, remain in Jesus Christ.
The last times have come… Only in Christ do we enter into true life. Outside of him, nothing is worthwhile! ... Nothing surpasses peace; it triumphs over all the assaults from our enemies, whether they be heavenly or earthly… Today, it is no longer enough to profess our faith; we have to show to the end the strength with which it fills us.
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