Daily Gospel for Saturday, 2 May 2015

Daily Gospel for Saturday, 2 May 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Saints of the day:

SAINT ATHANASIUS 
Bishop & Doctor of the Church
(+ 373)

Athanasius was born in Egypt towards the end of the third century, and was from his youth pious, learned, and deeply versed in the sacred writings, as befitted one whom God had chosen to be the champion and defender of his Church against the Arian heresy.

Though only a deacon he was chosen by his bishop to go with him to the Council of Nicæa, in 325, and attracted the attention of all by the learning and ability with which he defended the faith. A few months later, he became Patriarch of Alexandria, and for forty-six years he bore, often well-nigh alone, the whole brunt of the Arian assault.

On the refusal of the Saint to restore Arius to Catholic communion, the emperor ordered the Patriarch of Constantinople to do so. The wretched heresiarch took an oath that he had always believed as the Church believes; and the patriarch, after vainly using every effort to move the emperor, had recourse to fasting and prayer, that God would avert from the Church the frightful sacrilege. The day came for the solemn entrance of Arius into the great church of Sancta Sophia. The heresiarch and his party set out glad and in triumph. But before he reached the church, death smote him swiftly and awfully, and the dreaded sacrilege was averted.

St. Athanasius stood unmoved against four Roman emperors; was banished five times; was the butt of every insult, calumny, and wrong the Arians could devise, and lived in constant peril of death. Though firm as adamant in defence of the Faith, he was meek and humble, pleasant and winning in converse, beloved by his flock, unwearied in labors, in prayer, in mortifications, and in zeal for souls.  

In the year 373 his stormy life closed in peace, rather that his people would have it so than that his enemies were weary of persecuting him. He left to the Church the whole and ancient Faith, defended and explained in writings rich in thought and learning, clear, keen, and stately in expression.

He is honored as one of the greatest of the Doctors of the Church.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saturday of the Fourth week of Easter
Acts of the Apostles 13:44 The next Shabbat, nearly the whole city gathered together to hear the message about the Lord; 45 but when the Jews who had not believed saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and spoke up against what Sha’ul was saying and insulted him. 46 However, Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba answered boldly: “It was necessary that God’s word be spoken first to you. But since you are rejecting it and are judging yourselves unworthy of eternal life — why, we’re turning to the Goyim! 47 For that is what Adonai has ordered us to do:
‘I have set you as a light for the Goyim,
to be for deliverance to the ends of the earth.’ ”[a]
48 The Gentiles were very happy to hear this. They honored the message about the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life came to trust. 49 And the message about the Lord was carried throughout the whole region.
50 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the women ‘God-fearers’ of high social standing and the leading men of the city, and they organized persecution against Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba and expelled them from their district. 51 However, Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba shook off the dust of their feet against them and went on to Iconium; 52 and the talmidim were filled with joy and with the Ruach HaKodesh.[Footnotes:
Acts 13:47 Isaiah 49:6]
Psalm 98: (0) A psalm:
(1) Sing a new song to Adonai,
because he has done wonders.
His right hand, his holy arm
have won him victory.
2 Adonai has made known his victory;
revealed his vindication in full view of the nations,
3 remembered his grace and faithfulness
to the house of Isra’el.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the victory of our God.
4 Shout for joy to Adonai, all the earth!
Break forth, sing for joy, sing praises!

Holy Gospel According to Saint John 14:7 Because you have known me, you will also know my Father; from now on, you do know him — in fact, you have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it will be enough for us.” 9 Yeshua replied to him, “Have I been with you so long without your knowing me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with me? What I am telling you, I am not saying on my own initiative; the Father living in me is doing his own works. 11 Trust me, that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with me. But if you can’t, then trust because of the works themselves. 12 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in me will also do the works I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father. 13 In fact, whatever you ask for in my name, I will do; so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me for something in my name, I will do it.
Saturday of the Fourth week of Easter
Commentary of the day : 
Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church 
Homily on the Aqueduct, 10-11 
“If you know me, then you will also know my Father” The one who said: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me,” also said: “I came from God and now I am here.” (Jn 8:42)… The Word became flesh and henceforth dwells among us (Jn 1:14). He definitely dwells in our hearts through faith, he dwells in our memory, he dwells in our thoughts, and he goes all the way down even into our imagination. For what idea could the human person have of God before, except maybe that of an idol which his own heart had made? That is because God was incomprehensible and inaccessible, invisible and utterly elusive to all thought. But now God wanted us to be able to understand him, he wanted us to be able to see him, he wanted us to be able to grasp him in thought.

You ask how? Without doubt by lying in a manger, by resting on the Virgin’s bosom, by preaching on the mountain, by spending the night in prayer; no less by being nailed to the cross, by becoming pallid in death, free among the dead and ruling over hell; finally by rising on the third day, by showing the apostles the marks of the nails, the signs of his triumph, and to finish, by returning before their eyes to the secrets of heaven.
Among all those events, is there even one which would not give rise to a true, fervent, holy thought in us? Whichever one I think of from among them, I think of God, and in all of that, he is my God. To meditate on these events is wisdom itself… In the heights, Mary drew in abundance from this same sweetness in order to pour it out again on us.

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