DAILY GOSPEL for Wednesday, 25 February 2015

DAILY GOSPEL for Wednesday, 25 February 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Wednesday of the First week of Lent
Saints of the day:

SAINT TARASIUS
Patriarch of Constantinople
(+ 806)

Tarasius was born at Constantinople about the middle of the eighth century, of a noble family. His mother Eucratia, brought him up in the practice of the most eminent virtues. By his talents and virtue he gained the esteem of all, and was raised to the greatest honors of the empire, being made consul, and afterwards first secretary of state to the Emperor Constantine and the Empress Irene, his mother. In the midst of the court, and in its highest honors, he led a life like that of a religious man.

Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, the third of that name, though he had conformed in some respects to the then, reigning heresy, had several good qualities, and was not only beloved by the people for his charity to the poor, but highly esteemed by the whole court for his great prudence. Touched with remorse, he quitted the patriarchal see, and put on a religious habit in the monastery of Florus in Constantinople. Tarasius was chosen to succeed him by the unanimous consent of the court, clergy, and people. Finding it in vain to oppose his election, he. declared that he could not in conscience accept of the government of a; see which had been cut off from the Catholic communion, except on condition that a general council should be called to compose the disputes which divided the Church at that time in relation to holy images.

This being agreed to, he was solemnly declared patriarch, and consecrated soon after, on Christmas Day. The council was opened on the 1st of August, in the Church of the Apostles at Constantinople, in 786; but, being disturbed by the violences of the Iconoclasts, it adjourned, and met again the year following in the Church of St. Sophia at Nice. The council, having declared the sense of the Church in relation to the matter in debate, which was found to be the allowing to holy pictures and images a relative honor, was closed with the usual acclamations and prayers for the prosperity of the emperor and empress; after which, synodal letters were sent to all the churches, and in particular to the Pope, who approved the council.

The life of this holy patriarch was a model of perfection to his clergy and people. His table contained barely the necessaries of life; he allowed himself very little time for sleep, being always up the first and last in his family. Reading and prayer filled all his leisure hours. The emperor having become enamoured of Theodota, a maid of honor to his wife, the Empress Mary, was resolved to divorce the latter. He used all his efforts to gain the patriarch over to his desires, but St. Tarasius resolutely refused to countenance theiniquity.

The holy man gave up his soul to God in peace on the 25th of February, 806, after having sat twenty-one years and two months.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Ethelbert of Kent

Feastday: Febuary 25

Death: 616

King of Kent, England, converted by St. Augustine. He married Bertha, a Christian daughter of King Charibert of Paris, and in 568 fought the West Saxons. Ethelbert was baptized in 597, bringing a large part of his population into the faith. He did not enforce conversions, but he brought the king of the East Saxons and the king of the East Angles into the Church. Ethelbert ruled for fifty-six years, founding the abbeys of Christ Church, Sts. Peter and Paul in Canterbury, and St. Andrew�s in Rochester. St. Bede lists him asAedilbert. 

Wednesday of the First week of Lent
Book of Jonah 3:1 The word of Adonai came to Yonah a second time: 2 “Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it the message I will give you.” 3 So Yonah set out and went to Ninveh, as Adonai had said. Now Ninveh was such a large city that it took three days just to cross it. 4 Yonah began his entry into the city and had finished only his first day of proclaiming, ‘In forty days Ninveh will be overthrown,’ 5 when the people of Ninveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. 6 When the news reached the king of Ninveh, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 He then had this proclamation made throughout Ninveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles, no person or animal, herd or flock, is to put anything in his mouth; they are neither to eat nor drink water. 8 They must be covered with sackcloth, both people and animals; and they are to cry out to God with all their might — let each of them turn from his evil way and from the violence they practice. 9 Who knows? Maybe God will change his mind, relent and turn from his fierce anger; and then we won’t perish.”

10 When God saw by their deeds that they had turned from their evil way, he relented and did not bring on them the punishment he had threatened.

Psalms 51:3 (1) God, in your grace, have mercy on me;

in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.

4 (2) Wash me completely from my guilt,

and cleanse me from my sin.

12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;

renew in me a resolute spirit.

13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,

don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.

18 (16) For you don’t want sacrifices, or I would give them;

you don’t take pleasure in burnt offerings.

19 (17) My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit;

God, you won’t spurn a broken, chastened heart.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11:29 As the people crowded around him, Yeshua went on to say, “This generation is a wicked generation! It asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it — except the sign of Yonah. 30 For just as Yonah became a sign to the people of Ninveh, so will the Son of Man be for this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will appear at the Judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Shlomo, and what is here now is greater than Shlomo. 32 The people of Ninveh will stand up at the Judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they turned to God from their sins when Yonah preached, and what is here now is greater than Yonah.
Wednesday of the First week of Lent
Commentary of the day:
Saint Clement of Alexandria (150- c.215), theologian
Against the Heathen (Protreptikos), ch. 10 (trans. Ante-Nicene Fathers of the Church rev.)
"At the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here"
Let us therefore repent, and pass from ignorance to true knowledge, from foolishness to wisdom, from unrighteousness to righteousness, from godlessness to God. The enjoyment of many other good things comes from this, to which God Himself alludes, speaking by Isaiah: “There is an inheritance for those who serve the Lord” (54,17). Not gold and silver, nor that which moth destroys and thieves steal (Mt 6.19), but the inestimable treasure of salvation… This is the inheritance with which God’s eternal covenant invests us, assuring us of his gifts; and thus our tenderly loving Father ceases not to exhort, to train, to love and to save us. “Become righteous,” says the Lord. “All you who are thirsty, come to the water; and you who have no money, come; buy without money and drink (Is 55,1). He invites us to the purifying bath, to salvation, to illumination… The saints of the Lord shall inherit the glory of God and his power, a glory which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and which has not entered the human heart” (1Cor 2,9)…
You have this divine promise of grace; you have heard, on the other hand, of the threats of punishment: by these two ways the Lord saves... Why do we delay? Why do we not receive the free gift? Why do we not choose the better part?... “Behold,” he says, “I have set before you death and life.” (Dt 30,15) The Lord tries to make you choose life.” He counsels you like a father…
To whom shall the Lord say, “Yours is the kingdom of heaven”? (Mt 5,3) It is yours if you want it, if your choice is set on God. It is yours, if you will only believe and follow the essence of the message, just as the Ninevites obeyed the message of the prophet and obtained a gracious salvation thanks to their sincere repentance, instead of the destruction that threatened them.
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