DAILY GOSPEL: 09/12/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Thursday of the Second week of Advent
Book of Isaiah 41:13-20.
For I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, "Fear not, I will help you."
Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the LORD; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, To thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff.
When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive; I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know, observe and understand, That the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Psalms 145:1.9.10-11.12-13.
Praise. Of David. I will extol you, my God and king; I will bless your name forever.
The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature.
All your works give you thanks, O LORD and your faithful bless you.
They speak of the glory of your reign and tell of your great works,
Making known to all your power, the glorious splendor of your rule.
Your reign is a reign for all ages, your dominion for all generations. The LORD is trustworthy in every word, and faithful in every work.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 11:11-15.
Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.
All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.
And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.
For I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, "Fear not, I will help you."
Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the LORD; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, To thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff.
When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive; I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know, observe and understand, That the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Psalms 145:1.9.10-11.12-13.
Praise. Of David. I will extol you, my God and king; I will bless your name forever.
The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature.
All your works give you thanks, O LORD and your faithful bless you.
They speak of the glory of your reign and tell of your great works,
Making known to all your power, the glorious splendor of your rule.
Your reign is a reign for all ages, your dominion for all generations. The LORD is trustworthy in every word, and faithful in every work.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 11:11-15.
Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.
All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.
And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.
Mt 11,11-15
Blessed Guerric of Igny (c.1080-1157), Cistercian abbot
2nd Sermon on Saint John the Baptist (©Cistercian Fathers series; cf SC 202, p. 331)
"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence"
Someone wrestled with Jacob until morning perseveringly... and Jacob said to him: «I will not let you go unless you bless me» (Gn 32,25.27)... So to you, my brethren, we say, you whose set purpose is to win heaven by force, you who have come together to wrestle with the angel who guards the way to the tree of life, to you we say: it is wholly necessary that you should wrestle perseveringly and without remission, not only until the thigh... is deprived of its vigor but also until the body is mortified. But your toil will be able to achieve this only by the touch of God's strength and through his bounty...
Do you not seem to yourself to be wrestling with an angel, or rather with God himself, when day by day he resists your impatient prayers?... You cry to him and he does not listen to you; you wish to approach him and he repels you. You make a decision and the opposite happens; and so, in every way, he sets himself against you with unrelenting hand. O Mercy, you conceal yourself and pretend to be unrelenting! With what loving-kindness you fight against those for whom you fight. For although you «hide these things in your heart», I know that you «love those who love you» and that «the abundance of your sweetness which you hide away for those who fear you is immense» (Jb 10,13; Pr 8,17; Ps 31[30],20).
Do not despair then, persevere, happy soul that has begun to wrestle with God; he loves to suffer violence from you, he desires to be overcome by you. For when he is angry and stretches forth his hand to strike, he seeks, as he himself confesses, a man like Moses to resist him... For if his anger is implacable and his sentence unbending, Jeremiah, who had attempted to resist, will weep and say: "You were the stronger and did prevail" (20,7).
Do you not seem to yourself to be wrestling with an angel, or rather with God himself, when day by day he resists your impatient prayers?... You cry to him and he does not listen to you; you wish to approach him and he repels you. You make a decision and the opposite happens; and so, in every way, he sets himself against you with unrelenting hand. O Mercy, you conceal yourself and pretend to be unrelenting! With what loving-kindness you fight against those for whom you fight. For although you «hide these things in your heart», I know that you «love those who love you» and that «the abundance of your sweetness which you hide away for those who fear you is immense» (Jb 10,13; Pr 8,17; Ps 31[30],20).
Do not despair then, persevere, happy soul that has begun to wrestle with God; he loves to suffer violence from you, he desires to be overcome by you. For when he is angry and stretches forth his hand to strike, he seeks, as he himself confesses, a man like Moses to resist him... For if his anger is implacable and his sentence unbending, Jeremiah, who had attempted to resist, will weep and say: "You were the stronger and did prevail" (20,7).
St. Leocadia, Virgin and Martyr († c. 304)
SAINT LEOCADIAVirgin and Martyr(† c. 304)
St. Leocadia was a native of Toledo, and was apprehended by an order of Dacian, the cruel governor under Diocletian in 304. Hearing of the martyrdom of St. Eulalia, she prayed that God would not prolong her exile, but unite her speedily with her holy friend in his glory. Her prayer was heard, and she happily expired in prison.
Three famous churches in Toledo bear her name, and she is honored as principal patroness of that city. In one of those churches most of the councils of Toledo were held. Her relics were kept in that church with great respect, till, in the incursions of the Moors, they were conveyed to Oviedo, and some years afterward to the abbey of St. Guislain, near Mons in Hainault. They were finally carried back to Toledo with great pomp, and placed in the great church there on the 26th of April, 1589.
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