DAILY GOSPEL for Thursday, 16 April 2015

DAILY GOSPEL for Thursday, 16 April 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Thursday of the Second week of Easter
Saints of the day:

EIGHTEEN MARTYRS OF SARAGOSSA 
and ST. ENCRATIS, or ENGRATIA 
Virgin, Martyr
(+ 304)

St. Optatus and seventeen other holy men received the crown of martyrdom on the same day, at Saragossa, under the cruel Governor Dacian, in the persecution of Diocletian, in 304. Two others, Caius and Crementius, died of their torments after a second conflict.

The Church also celebrates on this day the triumph of St. Encratis, or Engratia, Virgin. She was a native of Portugal. Her father had promised her in marriage to a man of quality in Roussillon; but fearing the dangers and despising the vanities of the world, and resolving to preserve her virginity, in order to appear more agreeable to her heavenly Spouse and serve Him without hindrance, she stole from her father's house and fled privately to Saragossa, where the persecution was hottest, under the eyes of Dacian. She even reproached him with his barbarities, upon which he ordered her to be long tormented in the most inhuman manner: her sides were torn with iron hooks, and one of her breasts was cut off, so that the inner parts of her chest were exposed to view, and part of her liver was pulled out. In this condition she was sent back to prison, being still alive, and died by the mortifying of her wounds, in 304.

The relics of all these martyrs were found at Saragossa in 1389.

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

St. Bernadette Soubirous (of Lourdes)
Religious and Visionary (1844-1879)

Bernadette was born in Lourdes, France, on January 7, 1844, the daughter of Francis and Louise Soubirous. Hard times had fallen on France and the family lived in extreme poverty. Bernadette was a sickly child. She contracted cholera as a toddler and suffered severeasthma for the rest of her life. Bernadette attended the day school conducted by the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction from Nevers. By the time of the events at the grotto, her family's financial and social status had declined to the point where they lived in a one-room basement, formerly used as a jail, called le cachot. On February 11, 1858, she was granted a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a cave on the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes. She was placed in considerable jeopardy when she reported the vision, and crowds gathered when she had futher visits from the Virgin, from February 18 of that year through March 4.The civil authorities tried to frighten Bernadette into recanting her accounts, but she remained faithful to the vision. On February 25, Our Lady revealed a spring hidden below mud and debris in the cave and the waters were discovered to be of a miraculous nature, capable of healing the sick and lame. On March 25, Bernadette announced that in the vision Our Lady stated that she was the Immaculate Conception, which served as proof to the local priest of the veracity of her account. Our Lady asked that a church should be erected on the site, and for prayer and penance. Many authorities tried to shut down the spring and delay the construction of the chapel, but the influence and fame of the visions reached Empress Eugenie of France, wife of Napoleon Ill, and construction went forward. Crowds gathered, free of harassment from the anticlerical and antireligious officials. Disliking the attention she was attracting, Bernadette went to the hospice school run by the Sisters of Charity of Nevers where she finally learned to read and write. Although she considered joining the Carmelites, her health precluded her entering any of the strict contemplative orders. On 29 July 1866, with 42 other candidates, she took the religious habit of a postulant and joined the Sisters of Charity at their motherhouse at Nevers. There she became a member of the community, and faced some rather harsh treatment from the mistress of novices. This oppression ended when it was discovered that she suffered from a painful, incurable illness. On her deathbed, as she suffered from severe pain and in keeping with the Virgin Mary's admonition of "Penance, Penance, Penance," Bernadette proclaimed that "all this is good for Heaven!" Her final words were, "Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me! A poor sinner, a poor sinner-" She died in Nevers on April 16,1879. Lourdes became one of the major pilgrimage destinations in the world, and the spring has produced 27,000 gallons of water each week since emerging during Bernadette's visions. She was not involved in the building of the shrine, as she remained hidden in her monastic enclosure at Nevers. Bernadette was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933 by Pope Pius XI.

Thursday of the Second week of Easter
Acts of the Apostles 5:27 They conducted them to the Sanhedrin, where the cohen hagadol demanded of them, 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name! Look here! you have filled Yerushalayim with your teaching; moreover, you are determined to make us responsible for this man’s death!”
29 Kefa and the other emissaries answered, “We must obey God, not men. 30 The God of our fathers[a] raised up Yeshua, whereas you men killed him by having him hanged on a stake.[b] 31 God has exalted this man at his right hand[c] as Ruler and Savior, in order to enable Isra’el to do t’shuvah and have her sins forgiven. 32 We are witnesses to these things; so is the Ruach HaKodesh, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were infuriated and wanted to put the emissaries to death.[Footnotes:
Acts 5:30 Exodus 3:15
Acts 5:30 Deuteronomy 21:22–23
Acts 5:31 Psalm 110:1]
Psalms 34:2 (1) I will bless Adonai at all times;
his praise will always be in my mouth.
9 (8) Taste, and see that Adonai is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him!
17 (16) But the face of Adonai opposes those who do evil,
to cut off all memory of them from the earth.
18 (17) [The righteous] cried out, and Adonai heard,
and he saved them from all their troubles.
19 (18) Adonai is near those with broken hearts;
he saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20 (19) The righteous person suffers many evils,
but Adonai rescues him out of them all.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3:31 “He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth is from the earth and talks from an earthly point of view; he who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies about what he has actually seen and heard, yet no one accepts what he says! 33 Whoever does accept what he says puts his seal on the fact that God is true, 34 because the one whom God sent speaks God’s words. For God does not give him the Spirit in limited degree — 35 the Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. 36 Whoever trusts in the Son has eternal life. But whoever disobeys the Son will not see that life but remains subject to God’s wrath.”
Thursday of the Second week of Easter
Commentary of the day:
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.208), Bishop, theologian and martyr
Against the heresies, IV, 20, 7 ; SC 100
The Son reveals the Father
“No one has ever seen God; the only son, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him” From the beginning the Son is the one who reveals the Father since he was with the Father from the beginning (Jn 1,18.1). It was he who, at the proper time and for its own advantage, showed the human race prophetic visions, diversities of gifts, and the ministrations and manifestation of the glory of the Father, in harmonious and regular order like a piece of music. For where there is composition, there is also music; and where music, appropriate timing; and where time, there is also gain. And for this reason God’s Word become dispenser of the Father’s grace for the benefit of humankind according to his own designs. He reveals God to us and presents us to God, at the same time preserving the invisibility of the Father, lest people should at any time become despisers of God and so that they should always have something towards by which they might advance. But, at the same time, the Word makes God visible to us in numerous ways lest, deprived of God altogether, it comes about that we cease to exist.
For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. For if the manifestation of God made by means of the creation, affords life to all who live on earth, much more does the revelation of the Father which comes through the Word give life to those who see God!

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