DAILY GOSPEL: 10/07/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Saturday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Isaiah 6:1-8.
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory!"
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!"
Psalms 93(92):1-2.5.
The LORD is king, robed with majesty; the LORD is robed, girded with might. The world will surely stand in place, never to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old; you are from everlasting, LORD.
Your decrees are firmly established; holiness belongs to your house, LORD, for all the length of days.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10:24-33.
No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory!"
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!"
Psalms 93(92):1-2.5.
The LORD is king, robed with majesty; the LORD is robed, girded with might. The world will surely stand in place, never to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old; you are from everlasting, LORD.
Your decrees are firmly established; holiness belongs to your house, LORD, for all the length of days.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10:24-33.
No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.
Mt 10,24-33
Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 20 on Psalm 118 ; CSEL 62, 467f.
Acknowledging Christ before others
You can be a witness to Christ every day. You were tempted by the spirit of impurity but... you considered that chastity of spirit and body should not be soiled: you are a martyr or, in other words, a witness to Christ... You were tempted by the spirit of pride but, seeing the poor and needy, you were seized by tender compassion and preferred humility to arrogance: you are a witness to Christ. Better still: you have not given your witness in word alone but in deed as well.
What is the surest kind of witness? «Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came among us in the flesh» (cf. 1Jn 4,2) and who keeps the commands of the Gospel... How many there are each day of these hidden martyrs of Christ who confess the Lord Jesus! The apostle Paul knew that kind of martyrdom and witness of faith rendered to Christ, he who said: «Our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience» (2Cor 1,12). For how many people have made a confession of faith exteriorly but denied it interiorly!... So be faithful and courageous in interior persecutions so that you may also win the victory in exterior persecutions. There are «kings and rulers», judges of formidable power, in the persecutions within, likewise. You have an example of these in the temptations undergone by our Lord (Mt 4,1ff.)
What is the surest kind of witness? «Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came among us in the flesh» (cf. 1Jn 4,2) and who keeps the commands of the Gospel... How many there are each day of these hidden martyrs of Christ who confess the Lord Jesus! The apostle Paul knew that kind of martyrdom and witness of faith rendered to Christ, he who said: «Our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience» (2Cor 1,12). For how many people have made a confession of faith exteriorly but denied it interiorly!... So be faithful and courageous in interior persecutions so that you may also win the victory in exterior persecutions. There are «kings and rulers», judges of formidable power, in the persecutions within, likewise. You have an example of these in the temptations undergone by our Lord (Mt 4,1ff.)
Sts. Rufina & Secunda, Virgins and Martyrs (3rd century)
SAINTS RUFINA AND SECUND
Virgins and Martyrs
(3rd century°)
Virgins and Martyrs
(3rd century°)
Rufina and Secunda were sisters and Roman virgins who rejected marriage to Armentarius and Verinus because they had vowed their virginity to Christ. They were apprehended during the reign of the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus and, when they could not be swayed from their resolution by the blandishments and threats of Junius, the prefect, they were afflicted with various kinds of torments.
But when, guarded by angels, they persevered in their holy resolution, they were beheaded at the tenth milestone on the Aurelien Way. Their bodies were buried by a matron named Plautilla on her estate outside the city, and were afterwards buried in the basilica of Constantine, near the baptistry.
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