EVANGELIO DEL DÍA

domingo, 6 de febrero de 2011

"Your light must shine before others"

DAILY GOSPEL: 06/02/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68


Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Book of Isaiah 58:7-10.
Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;

Psalms 112(111):4-5.6-7.8-9.
They shine through the darkness, a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and just.
All goes well for those gracious in lending, who conduct their affairs with justice.
They shall never be shaken; the just shall be remembered forever.
They shall not fear an ill report; their hearts are steadfast, trusting the LORD.
Their hearts are tranquil, without fear, till at last they look down on their foes.
Lavishly they give to the poor; their prosperity shall endure forever; their horn shall be exalted in honor.

First Letter to the Corinthians 2:1-5.
When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:13-16.
You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. 
Mt 5,13-16
Commentary of the day 
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), founder of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
Something Beautiful for God
"Your light must shine before others"
Christians are like lights for others, for everyone in all the world. If we are christians then we must become like Christ.

If you want to learn how, then the art of foresight will make you more and more like Christ, for he was humble of heart and always attentive to people's needs. Great sanctity begins with this attention to others. If it is to be beautiful then our vocation must be wholly filled with this attention. Wherever Jesus passed, he did good. And the Virgin Mary at Cana only thought of the needs of others and passed them on to Jesus.

A christian is a tabernacle of the living God. He created me, chose me, came to live in me because he needed me. Now you have learned how much God loves you, what could be more natural than for you to spend the rest of your life spreading this love? To be truly a christian is truly to welcome Christ and become another Christ. It is to love as we are loved, as Christ loved us on the cross.


Sunday, 06 February 2011

St. Dorothy, Virgin and Martyr (+ 304)



SAINTE DOROTHY
Virgin and Martyr
(+ 304)
        St. Dorothy was a young virgin, celebrated at Cæsarea, where she lived, for her angelic virtue. Her parents seem to have been martyred before her in the Diocletian persecution, and when the Governor Sapricius came to Cæsarea he called her before him, and sent this child of martyrs to the home where they were waiting for her.
        She was stretched upon the rack, and offered marriage if she would consent to sacrifice, or death if she refused. But she replied that "Christ was her only Spouse, and death her desire." She was then placed in charge of two women who had fallen away from the faith, in the hope that they might pervert her; but the fire of her own heart rekindled the flame in theirs, and led them back to Christ. When she was set once more on the rack, Sapricius himself was amazed at the heavenly look she wore, and asked her the cause of her joy. "Because," she said, "I have brought back two souls to Christ, and because I shall soon be in heaven rejoicing with the angels." Her joy grew as she was buffeted in the face and her sides burned with plates of red-hot iron. "Blessed be Thou," she cried, when she was sentenced to be beheaded,-"blessed be Thou, O Thou Lover of souls! Who dost call me to Paradise, and invitest me to Thy nuptial chamber."
        St. Dorothy suffered in the dead of winter, and it is said that on the road to her passion a lawyer called Theophilus, who had been used to calumniate and persecute the Christians, asked her, in mockery, to send him "apples or roses from the garden of her Spouse." The Saint promised to grant his request, and, just before she died, a little child stood by her side bearing three apples and three roses. She bade him take them to Theophilus and tell him this was the present which he sought from the garden of her Spouse. St. Dorothy had gone to heaven, and Theophilus was still making merry over his challenge to the Saint when the child entered his room. He saw that the child was an angel in disguise, and the fruit and flowers of no earthly growth. He was converted to the faith, and then shared in the martyrdom of St. Dorothy.


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