The Daily for Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The Daily  for Tuesday, January 5, 2016

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Tuesday after Epiphany
Saints of the day: St. John N. Neumann, Bishop (1811-1860) - Memorial

SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCENE NEUMANN
Bishop
(1811-1860)

John Neumann was born in Bohemia on March 20, 1811. Since he had a great desire to dedicate himself to the American missions, he came to the United States as a cleric and was ordained in New York in 1836.

In  1840, he entered the Congragation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists). He labored in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

In 1852, he was consecrated bishop of Philaldelphia. There he worked hard for the establishment of parish schools and for the erection of many parishes for the numerous immigrants.

He died on January 5, 1860; he was beatified in 1963 and canonized in 1977.

St. Genoveva Torres Morales, Foundress (1870-1956)

Saint Genoveva Torres Morales
Foundress of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels (The Angélicas)
(1870-1956)

Genoveva Torres Morales was born on 3 January 1870 in Almenara, Castille, Spain, the youngest of six children. By the age of eight, both her parents and four of her siblings had died, leaving Genoveva to care for the home and her brother, José. Although he treated her with respect, José was very demanding and taciturn. Being deprived of affection and companionship from her early years, Genoveva became accustomed to solitude.

When she was 10, she took a special interest in reading spiritual books. Through this pursuit she came to understand that true happiness is doing God's will, and it was for this reason that each one of us is created. This became her rule of life.

At the age of 13, Genoveva's left leg had to be amputated in order to stop the gangrene that was spreading there. The amputation was done in her home, and since the anaesthesia was not sufficient, the pain was excruciating. Throughout her life her leg caused her pain and sickness, and she was forced to use crutches.

From 1885 to 1894 she lived at the Mercy Home run by the Carmelites of Charity. In the nine years she lived with the sisters and with other children, the young Genoveva deepened her life of piety and perfected her sewing skills. It was also in these years that Fr Carlos Ferrís, a diocesan priest and future Jesuit and founder of a leprosarium in Fontilles, would guide the "beginnings" of her spiritual and apostolic life.

God also gave Genoveva the gift of "spiritual liberty", and this was something she would endeavour to practise throughout her life. Reflecting on this period at the Mercy Home, she later would write: "I loved freedom of heart very much, and worked and am working to achieve it fully.... It does the soul so much good that every effort is nothing compared with this free condition of the heart".

Genoveva intended to join the Carmelites of Charity, but it seems she was not accepted due to her physical condition. She longed to be consecrated to God and, being of a decided and resolute nature, she continued to be open to his guidance.

In 1894 Genoveva left the Carmelites of Charity's home and went to live briefly with two women who supported themselves by their own work. Together they "shared" the solitude and poverty.

In 1911, Canon Barbarrós suggested that Genoveva begin a new religious community, pointing out that there were many poor women who could not afford to live on their own and thus suffered much hardship. For years, Genoveva had thought of starting a religious congregation that would be solely concerned with meeting the needs of such women, since she knew of no one engaged in this work.

With the help of Canon Barbarrós and Fr Martín Sánchez, S.J., the first community was established in Valencia. Shortly thereafter, other women arrived, wanting to share the same apostolic and spiritual life. It was not long before more communities were established in other parts of Spain, despite many problems and obstacles.

A constant source of suffering for Mother Genoveva was her involvement in external activity and the new foundations. She desired to return to her characteristic interior solitude and remain alone with the Lord, but she accepted her calling as God's will and did not let her physical or interior suffering stop her.

She would say: "Even if I must suffer greatly, thanks be to God's mercy, I will not lack courage".

She was known for her kindness and openness to all, and for her good sense of humour - she would even joke about her physical ailments.

In 1953, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels received Pontifical approval. Mother Genoveva died on 5 January 1956. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 29 January 1995 and canonized on 4 May 2003 at Madrid. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

St. Simeon Stylites (c.401-460)

SAINT SIMEON STYLITES
(c.401 - 460)

One winter's day, about the year 401, the snow lay thick around Sisan, a little town in Cilicia. A shepherd boy, who could not lead his sheep to the fields on account of the cold, went to the church instead, and listened to the eight Beatitudes, which were read that morning. He asked how these blessings were to be obtained, and when he was told of the monastic life a thirst for perfection arose within him. He became the wonder of the world, the great St. Simeon Stylites. He was warned that perfection would cost him dear, and so it did. A mere child, he began the monastic life, and therein passed a dozen years in superhuman austerity. He bound a rope round his waist till the flesh was putrefied. He ate but once in seven days, and, when God led him to a solitary life, kept fasts of forty days.

Thirty-seven years he spent on the top of pillars, exposed to heat and cold, day and night adoring the majesty of God. Perfection was all in all to St. Simeon; the means nothing, except in so far as God chose them for him. The solitaries of Egypt were suspicious of a life so new and so strange, and they sent one of their number to bid St. Simeon come down from his pillar and return to the common life. In a moment the Saint made ready to descend; but the Egyptian religious was satisfied with this proof of humility. "Stay," he said, "and take courage; your way of life is from God."

Cheerfulness, humility, and obedience set their seal upon the austerities of St. Simeon. The words which God put into his mouth brought crowds of heathens to baptism and of sinners to penance. At last, in the year 460, those who watched below noticed that he had been motionless three whole days. They ascended, and found the old man's body still bent in the attitude of prayer, but his soul was with God. Extraordinary as the life of St. Simeon may appear, it teaches us two plain and practical lessons: First, we must constantly renew within ourselves an intense desire for perfection. Secondly, we must use with fidelity and courage the means of perfection God points out.[Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]]

Tuesday after Epiphany
The First Epistle of John 4:7 Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. 8 Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love. 9 Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that through him we might have life. 10 Here is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the kapparah for our sins.
Psalm 72:(0) By Shlomo:

(1) God, give the king your fairness in judgment,

endow this son of kings with your righteousness,

2 so that he can govern your people rightly

and your poor with justice.

3 May mountains and hills provide your people

with peace through righteousness.

4 May he defend the oppressed among the people,

save the needy and crush the oppressor.

7 In his days, let the righteous flourish

and peace abound, till the moon is no more.

8 May his empire stretch from sea to sea,

from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth.

The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint Mark 6:34 When Yeshua came ashore, he saw a huge crowd. Filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, he began teaching them many things.

35 By this time, the hour was late. The talmidim came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s getting late. 36 Send the people away, so that they can go and buy food for themselves in the farms and towns around here.” 37 But he answered them, “Give them something to eat, yourselves!” They replied, “We are to go and spend thousands on bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and check.” When they had found out, they said, “Five. And two fish.” 39 Then he ordered all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. 41 Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah. Next he broke up the loaves and began giving them to the talmidim to distribute. He also divided up the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces and fish. 44 Those who ate the loaves numbered five thousand men.

Tuesday after Epiphany

Commentary of the day:
Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Dominican tertiary, Doctor of the Church, co-patron of Europe 
Dialogue Bk 2, para. 4-5 (trans. ©Classics of Western spirituality)

"He broke the loaves..., shared out the two fish amongst them all. They all ate as much as they wanted"

[Saint Catherine heard Jesus say to her:] “It is the whole divine being that you receive in that most gracious sacrament under that whiteness of bread. And just as the sun cannot be divided, so neither can my wholeness as God and as human in this white host. Even if the host is divided, even if you could break it into thousands and thousands of tiny bits, in each one I would be there, wholly God and wholly human... Imagine that many people brought candles, and one person's candle weighed one ounce, another's two or six, someone else's a pound, and yet another’s more than that, and they all came to your lamp to light their candles. Each candle, the smallest as well as the largest, would have the whole light with all its heat and color and brightness... Well, this is how it goes with those who receive this sacrament. Each one of you brings your own candle, that is, the holy desire with which you receive and eat this sacrament. Your candle by itself is unlit, and it is lighted when you receive this sacrament. I say it is unlit because by yourselves you are nothing at all. It is I who have given you the candle with which you receive this light and nourish it within you. And your candle is love because it is for love that I created you. So without love you cannot have life.” 

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