DAILY GOSPEL: 27/02/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Book of Isaiah 49:14-15.
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me."
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
Psalms 62(61):2-3.6-7.8-9.
My soul rests in God alone, from whom comes my salvation.
God alone is my rock and salvation, my secure height; I shall never fall.
My soul, be at rest in God alone, from whom comes my hope.
God alone is my rock and my salvation, my secure height; I shall not fall.
My safety and glory are with God, my strong rock and refuge.
Trust God at all times, my people! Pour out your hearts to God our refuge! Selah
First Letter to the Corinthians 4:1-5.
Brothers and sisters : Thus should one regard us : as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 6:24-34.
No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?'
All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me."
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
Psalms 62(61):2-3.6-7.8-9.
My soul rests in God alone, from whom comes my salvation.
God alone is my rock and salvation, my secure height; I shall never fall.
My soul, be at rest in God alone, from whom comes my hope.
God alone is my rock and my salvation, my secure height; I shall not fall.
My safety and glory are with God, my strong rock and refuge.
Trust God at all times, my people! Pour out your hearts to God our refuge! Selah
First Letter to the Corinthians 4:1-5.
Brothers and sisters : Thus should one regard us : as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 6:24-34.
No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?'
All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
Mt 6,24-34
Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), priest, founder of religious communities
Conference given on 21/02/1659
Seek first the kingdom of God
«Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and everything you need will be added to you»... It is said, then, that we should seek the Kingdom of God. «That we should seek»: it's a simple word but it seems to me to be saying a great deal. It means... unceasing work for God's Kingdom, not remaining in an indolent, motionless state but paying attention to one's interior state so as to govern it well, not playing around at the exterior level... Seek God within yourself since Saint Augustine confesses that, so long as he sought him outside himself, he failed to find him. Seek him in your soul as in a pleasant dwelling place because this is the basis on which those servants of his who try to put all the virtues into practice establish them. We have to have an interior life, we have to move towards this; lacking this we lack everything... Let us try to make ourselves interior... Let us seek God's glory, seek the reign of Jesus Christ...
«But, [you will tell me], there's so much to do, so many household jobs, so much business in town, in the fields; work everywhere! Do we have to abandon it all, then, so as to think of nothing but God?» No; but these occupations have to be sanctified by seeking God in them and doing them to find him in them rather than to see them done. What our Lord wants is for us to seek his glory, his kingdom, his righteousness before all else and, for this, to make our foundation the interior life, faith, trust, love, religious exercises..., labors and sufferings, with God our sovereign Lord in view... Once we are firmly set in the search for God's glory we can be assured that the rest will follow.
«But, [you will tell me], there's so much to do, so many household jobs, so much business in town, in the fields; work everywhere! Do we have to abandon it all, then, so as to think of nothing but God?» No; but these occupations have to be sanctified by seeking God in them and doing them to find him in them rather than to see them done. What our Lord wants is for us to seek his glory, his kingdom, his righteousness before all else and, for this, to make our foundation the interior life, faith, trust, love, religious exercises..., labors and sufferings, with God our sovereign Lord in view... Once we are firmly set in the search for God's glory we can be assured that the rest will follow.
 St. Leander, Bishop (c. 540-596) Other saints of the daySAINT LEANDER Bishop (c. 540-596) St. Leander was born of an illustrious family at Carthagena in Spain. He was the eldest of five brothers, several of whom are numbered among the Saints. He entered into a monastery very young, where he lived many years and attained to an eminent degree of virtue and sacred learning. These qualities occasioned his being promoted to the see of Seville; but his change of condition made little or no alteration in his method of life, though it brought on him a great increase of care and solicitude. Spain at that time was in possession of the Visigoths. These Goths, being infected with Arianism, established this heresy wherever they came; so that when St. Leander was made bishop it had reigned in Spain a hundred years. This was his great affliction; however, by his prayers to God, and by his most zealous and unwearied endeavors, he became the happy instrument of the conversion of that nation to the Catholic faith. Having converted, among others, Hermenegild, the king's eldest son and heir apparent, Leander was banished by King Leovigild. This pious prince was put to death by his unnatural father, the year following, for refusing to receive Communion from the hands of an Arian bishop. But, touched with remorse not long after, the king recalled our Saint; and falling sick and finding himself past hopes of recovery, he sent for St. Leander, and recommended to him his son Recared. This son, by listening to St. Leander, soon became a Catholic, and finally converted the whole nation of the Visigoths. He was no less successful with respect to the Suevi, a people of Spain, whom his father Leovigild had perverted. St. Leander was no less zealous in the reformation of manners than in restoring the purity of faith; and he planted the seeds of that zeal and fervor which afterwards produced so many martyrs and Saints. This holy doctor of Spain died about the year 596, on the 27th of February, as Mabillon proves from his epitaph. The Church of Seville has been a metropolitan see ever since the third century. The cathedral is the most magnificent, both as to structure and ornament, of any in all Spain. Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894] | |
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