Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Daily Gospel for Wednesday, 4 February 2015

DAILY GOSPEL

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
Wednesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
Saints of the day : St. Jane of Valois, Queen and Religious (+ 1505)

SAINT JANE OF VALOIS
Queen and Religious
(+ 1505)
Born of the blood royal of France, herself a queen, Jane of Valois led a life remarkable for its humiliations even in the annals of the Saints. Her father, Louis XI., who had hoped for a son to succeed him, banished Jane from his palace, and, it is said, even attempted her life. At the age of five the neglected child offered her whole heart to God, and yearned to do some special service in honor of His blessed Mother.
At the king's wish, though against her own inclination, she was married to the Duke of Orleans. Towards an indifferent and unworthy husband her conduct was ever most patient and dutiful. Her prayers and tears saved him from a traitor's death and shortened the captivity which his rebellion had merited. Still nothing could win a heart which was already given to another. When her husband ascended the throne as Louis XII., his first act was to repudiate by false representations one who through twenty-two years of cruel neglect had been his true and loyal wife.
At the final sentence of separation, the saintly queen exclaimed, "God be praised Who has allowed this, that I may serve Him better . than I have heretofore done." Retiring to Bourges, she there realized her long-formed desire of founding the Order of the Annunciation, in honor of the Mother of God.
Under the guidance of St. Francis of Paula, the director of her childhood, St. Jane was enabled to overcome the serious obstacles which even good people raised against the foundation of her new Order. In 1501 the rule of the Annunciation was finally approved by Alexander VI. The chief aim of the institute was to imitate the ten virtues practised by Our Lady in the mystery of the Incarnation, the superioress being called "Ancelle," handmaid, in honor of Mary's humility. St. Jane built and endowed the first convent of the Order in 1502.
She died in heroic sanctity, 1505, and was buried in the royal crown and purple, beneath which lay the habit of her Order.Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Saint John de Britto

Feastday: February 4
Patron of Portugal, Roman Catholic Diocese of Sivagangai
Birth: 1647
Death: 1693
Jesuit martyr in India. He was a native of Lisbon, Portugal, was dedicated at birth to St. Francis Xavier, and was a noble friend of King Pedro. He entered the Jesuits at the age of fifteen. In his effort to promote conversions among the native Indian people as a missionary to Goa, he wandered through Malabar and other regions and even adopted the customs and dress of the Brahmin caste which gave him access to the noble classes. In 1683, John had to leave India but returned in 1691. Arrested, tortured, and commanded to leave India, he refused and was put to death. Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1947.

Wednesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time

Letter to the Hebrews 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you haven’t resisted yet to the point of shedding blood, 5 and you have forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as sons and daughters:

My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline

    or give up when you are corrected by him,

6 because the Lord disciplines whomever he loves,

        and he punishes every son or daughter whom he accepts.[a]

7 Bear hardship for the sake of discipline. God is treating you like sons and daughters! What child isn’t disciplined by his or her father?[Footnotes:

Hebrews 12:6 Prov 3:11-12]

11 No discipline is fun while it lasts, but it seems painful at the time. Later, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it.

12 So strengthen your drooping hands and weak knees! 13 Make straight paths for your feet so that if any part is lame, it will be healed rather than injured more seriously. 14 Pursue the goal of peace along with everyone—and holiness as well, because no one will see the Lord without it. 15 Make sure that no one misses out on God’s grace. Make sure that no root of bitterness grows up that might cause trouble and pollute many people.

Psalm 103: Of David.

1 Let my whole being[a] bless the Lord!

    Let everything inside me bless his holy name!

2 Let my whole being bless the Lord

    and never forget all his good deeds:[Footnotes:

Psalm 103:1 Or soul; also in 103:2, 22]

13 Like a parent feels compassion for their children—

    that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him.

14 Because God knows how we’re made,

    God remembers we’re just dust.

17 But the Lord’s faithful love is from forever ago to forever from now

        for those who honor him.

    And God’s righteousness reaches to the grandchildren

18         of those who keep his covenant

        and remember to keep his commands.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6: Jesus in his hometown

1 Jesus left that place and came to his hometown. His disciples followed him. 2 On the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard him were surprised. “Where did this man get all this? What’s this wisdom he’s been given? What about the powerful acts accomplished through him? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t he Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” They were repulsed by him and fell into sin.

4 Jesus said to them, “Prophets are honored everywhere except in their own hometowns, among their relatives, and in their own households.” 5 He was unable to do any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 He was appalled by their disbelief.

Sending out the disciples

Then Jesus traveled through the surrounding villages teaching.

Wednesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day:
Saint John-Paul II, Pope from 1978 to 2005
Encyclical Letter Laborem exercens, § 26
"Is he not the carpenter?"
The truth that by means of work man participates in the activity of God himself, his Creator, was given particular prominence by Jesus Christ—the Jesus at whom many of his first listeners in Nazareth "were astonished, saying: `Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him?... Is not this the carpenter?'"
For Jesus not only proclaimed but first and foremost fulfilled by his deeds the "gospel," the word of eternal Wisdom, that had been entrusted to him. Therefore this was also "a gospel of work," because he who proclaimed it was himself a man of work, a craftsman like Joseph of Nazareth. And if we do not find in his words a special command to work—but rather, on one occasion, a prohibition against too much anxiety about work and life (Mt 6,25-34), at the same time the eloquence of the life of Christ is unequivocal: He belongs to the "working world," he has appreciation and respect for human work. It can indeed be said that he looks with love upon human work and the different forms that it takes, seeing in each one of these forms a particular facet of man's likeness with God, the Creator and Father.
Is it not he who says: "My Father is the vinedresser." (Jn 15,1) … In his parables on the Kingdom of God Jesus Christ constantly refers to human work: that of the shepherd, the farmer, the doctor, the sower, the householder, the servant, the steward, the fisherman, the merchant, the laborer. He also speaks of the various forms of women's work. He compares the apostolate to the manual work of harvesters or fishermen… [Here is] an important complement to the great though discreet gospel of work that we find in the life and parables of Christ, in what Jesus "did and taught." (Acts 1,1)
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