EVANGELIO DEL DÍA

lunes, 31 de enero de 2011

« Arise»

DAILY GOSPEL: 01/02/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68


Tuesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time

Letter to the Hebrews 12:1-4.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.
Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

Psalms 22(21):26-27.28.30.31-32.
I will offer praise in the great assembly; my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.
The poor will eat their fill; those who seek the LORD will offer praise. May your hearts enjoy life forever!"
All the ends of the earth will worship and turn to the LORD; All the families of nations will bow low before you.
All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage.
And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you.
The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 5:21-43.
When Jesus had crossed again (in the boat) to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet
and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, "My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live."
He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.
She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured."
Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?"
But his disciples said to him, "You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'"
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."
While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?"
Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith."
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them, "Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep."
And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child's father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. (At that) they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.
Mc 5,21-43
Commentary of the day 
Saint Jerome (347-420), priest, translator of the Bible, Doctor of the Church
Homilies on Saint Mark's Gospel, no.3 (SC 494, p. 129 rev.)
« Arise»
«He took the child by the hand and said to her: 'Talitha koum', which means, 'Little girl...arise.'» «Since you have been born again, you are to be called 'little girl'. Little girl, arise for my sake: your healing does not come from you.» «And immediately the little girl arose and walked around.» May Jesus touch us, too, and at once we shall walk. We may well be paralysed, our deeds may be evil and we may be unable to walk, we may be lying on the bed of our sins... but if Jesus touches us then we shall immediately be healed. Peter's mother-in-law was suffering with fever: Jesus touched her hand and she arose and immediately served him (Mk 1,31)...

«They were utterly astounded, and he gave them strict orders that no one should know this.» Do you see now why he put the people out when he was going to work a miracle? He ordered, and not just ordered but strictly ordered, that no one should know of this. He ordered the three apostles and he ordered the parents, too, that no one should know. Our Lord ordered them all, but the little girl herself, she who had stood up, could not be silent.

«And he said she should be given something to eat»: so that her resurrection might not be thought to be a ghostly apparition. And he himself, after his resurrection, ate fish and a piece of honeycomb (Lk 24,42)... Lord, I beseech you, touch our hands as we, too, lie prostrate. Make us rise from our bed of sins and enable us to walk. And when we have walked, make them give us something to eat. We cannot eat when we are lying down; unless we are standing we shall not be able to receive the Body of Christ.


Tuesday, 01 February 2011

St. Bridgid of Ireland (+ 523)



SAINT BRIDGID
Abbess, and Patroness of Ireland
(c. 453-523)
        Next to the glorious St. Patrick, St. Bridgid, whom we may consider his spiritual daughter in Christ, has ever been held in singular veneration in Ireland. She was born about the year 453, at Fochard in Ulster. During her infancy, her pious father saw in a vision men clothed in white garments pouring a sacred unguent on her head, thus prefiguring her future sanctity. While yet very young, Bridgid consecrated her life to God, bestowed everything at her disposal on the poor, and was the edification of all who knew her. She was very beautiful, and fearing that efforts might be made to induce her to break the vow by which she had bound herself to God, and to bestow her hand on one of her many suitors, she prayed that she might become ugly and deformed. Her prayer was heard, for her eye became swollen, and her whole countenance so changed that she was allowed to follow her vocation in peace, and marriage with her was no more thought of. When about twenty years old, our Saint made known to St. Mel, the nephew and disciple of St. Patrick, her intention to live only to Jesus Christ, and he consented to receive her sacred vows. On the appointed day the solemn ceremony of her profession was performed after the manner introduced by St. Patrick, the bishop offering up many prayers, and investing Bridgid with a snow-white habit, and a cloak of the same color. While she bowed her head on this occasion to receive the veil, a miracle of a singularly striking and impressive nature occurred: that part of the wooden platform adjoining the altar on which she knelt recovered its original vitality, and put on all its former verdure, retaining it for a long time after. At the same moment Bridgid's eye was healed, and she became as beautiful and as lovely as ever.
        Encouraged by her example, several other ladies made their vows with her, and in compliance with the wish of the parents of her new associates, the Saint agreed to found a religious residence for herself and them in the vicinity. A convenient site having been fixed upon by the bishop, a convent, the first in Ireland, was erected upon it; and in obedience to the prelate Bridgid assumed the superiority. Her reputation for sanctity became greater every day; and in proportion as it was diffused throughout the country the number of candidates for admission into the new monastery increased. The bishops of Ireland, soon perceiving the important advantages which their respective dioceses would derive from similar foundations, persuaded the young and saintly abbess to visit different parts of the kingdom, and, as an opportunity offered, introduce into each one the establishment of her institute.
        While thus engaged in a portion of the province of Connaught, a deputation arrived from Leinster to solicit the Saint to take up her residence in that territory; but the motives which they urged were human, and such could have no weight with Bridgid. It was only the prospect of the many spiritual advantages that would result from compliance with the request that induced her to accede, as she did, to the wishes of those who had petitioned her. Taking with her a number of her spiritual daughters, our Saint journeyed to Leinster, where they were received with many demonstrations of respect and joy. The site on which Kildare now stands appearing to be well adapted for a religious institute, there the Saint and her companions took up their abode. To the place appropriated for the new foundation some lands were annexed, the fruits of which were assigned to the little establishment. This donation indeed contributed to supply the wants of the community, but still the pious sisterhood principally depended for their maintenance on the liberality of their benefactors. Bridgid contrived, however, out of their small means to relieve the poor of the vicinity very considerably; and when the wants of these indigent persons surpassed her slender finances, she hesitated not to sacrifice for them the movables of the convent. On one occasion our Saint, imitating the burning charity of St. Ambrose and other great servants of God, sold some of the sacred vestments that she might procure the means of relieving their necessities. She was so humble that she sometimes attended the cattle on the land which belonged to her monastery.
        The renown of Bridgid's unbounded charity drew multitudes of the poor to Kildare; the fame of her piety attracted thither many persons anxious to solicit her prayers or to profit by her holy example. In course of time the number of these so much increased that it became necessary to provide accommodation for them in the neighborhood of the new monastery, and thus was laid the foundation and origin of the town of Kildare.
        The spiritual exigencies of her community, and of those numerous strangers who resorted to the vicinity, having suggested to our Saint the expediency of having the locality erected into an episcopal see, she represented it to the prelates, to whom the consideration of it rightly belonged. Deeming the proposal just and useful, Conlath, a recluse of eminent sanctity, illustrious by the great things which God had granted to his prayers, was, at Bridgid's desire, chosen the first bishop of the newly erected diocese. In process of time it became the ecclesiastical metropolis of the province to which it belonged, probably in consequence of the general desire to honor the place in which St. Bridgid had so long dwelt.
        After seventy years devoted to the practice of the most sublime virtues, corporal infirmities admonished our Saint that the time of her dissolution was nigh. It was now half a century since, by her holy vows, she had irrevocably consecrated herself to God, and during that period great results had been attained; her holy institute having widely diffused itself throughout the Green Isle, and greatly advanced the cause of religion in the various districts in which it was established. Like a river of peace, its progress was steady and silent; it fertilized every region fortunate enough to receive its waters, and caused it to put forth spiritual flowers and fruits with all the sweet perfume of evangelical fragrance. The remembrance of the glory she had procured to the Most High, as well as the services rendered to dear souls ransomed by the precious blood of her divine Spouse, cheered and consoled Bridgid in the infirmities inseparable from old age. Her last illness was soothed by the presence of Nennidh, a priest of eminent sanctity, over whose youth she had watched with pious solicitude, and who was indebted to her prayers and instructions for his great proficiency in sublime perfection. The day on which our abbess was to terminate her course, February 1, 523, having arrived, she received from the hands of this saintly priest the blessed body and blood of her Lord in the divine Eucharist, and, as it would seem, immediately after her spirit passed forth, and went to possess Him in that heavenly country where He is seen face to face and enjoyed without danger of ever losing Him. Her body was interred in the church adjoining her convent, but was some time after exhumed, and deposited in a splendid shrine near the high altar.
        In the ninth century, the country being desolated by the Danes, the remains of St. Bridgid were removed in order to secure them from irreverence; and, being transferred to Down-Patrick, were deposited in the same grave with those of the glorious St. Patrick. Their bodies, together with that of St. Columba, were translated afterwards to the cathedral cf the same city, but their monument was destroyed in the reign of King Henry VIII. The head of St. Bridgid is now kept in the church of the Jesuits at Lisbon.


Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]


«Levántate»

EVANGELIO DEL DÍA: 01/02/2011
¿ Señor, a quién iremos?. Tú tienes palabras de vida eterna. Jn 6, 68


Martes de la IV Semana del Tiempo Ordinario

Carta a los Hebreos 12,1-4.
Por lo tanto, ya que estamos rodeados de una verdadera nube de testigos, despojémonos de todo lo que nos estorba, en especial del pecado, que siempre nos asedia, y corramos resueltamente al combate que se nos presenta.
Fijemos la mirada en el iniciador y consumador de nuestra fe, en Jesús, el cual, en lugar del gozo que se le ofrecía, soportó la cruz sin tener en cuenta la infamia, y ahora está sentado a la derecha del trono de Dios.
Piensen en aquel que sufrió semejante hostilidad por parte de los pecadores, y así no se dejarán abatir por el desaliento.
Después de todo, en la lucha contra el pecado, ustedes no han resistido todavía hasta derramar su sangre.

Salmo 22(21),26-27.28.30.31-32.
Por eso te alabaré en la gran asamblea y cumpliré mis votos delante de los fieles:
los pobres comerán hasta saciarse y los que buscan al Señor lo alabarán. ¡Que sus corazones vivan para siempre!
Todos los confines de la tierra se acordarán y volverán al Señor; todas las familias de los pueblos se postrarán en su presencia.
Todos los que duermen en el sepulcro se postrarán en su presencia; todos los que bajaron a la tierra doblarán la rodilla ante él, y los que no tienen vida
glorificarán su poder. Hablarán del Señor a la generación futura,
anunciarán su justicia a los que nacerán después, porque esta es la obra del Señor.

Evangelio según San Marcos 5,21-43.
Cuando Jesús regresó en la barca a la otra orilla, una gran multitud se reunió a su alrededor, y él se quedó junto al mar.
Entonces llegó uno de los jefes de la sinagoga, llamado Jairo, y al verlo, se arrojó a sus pies,
rogándole con insistencia: "Mi hijita se está muriendo; ven a imponerle las manos, para que se cure y viva".
Jesús fue con él y lo seguía una gran multitud que lo apretaba por todos lados.
Se encontraba allí una mujer que desde hacía doce años padecía de hemorragias.
Había sufrido mucho en manos de numerosos médicos y gastado todos sus bienes sin resultado; al contrario, cada vez estaba peor.
Como había oído hablar de Jesús, se le acercó por detrás, entre la multitud, y tocó su manto,
porque pensaba: "Con sólo tocar su manto quedaré curada".
Inmediatamente cesó la hemorragia, y ella sintió en su cuerpo que estaba curada de su mal.
Jesús se dio cuenta en seguida de la fuerza que había salido de él, se dio vuelta y, dirigiéndose a la multitud, preguntó: "¿Quién tocó mi manto?".
Sus discípulos le dijeron: "¿Ves que la gente te aprieta por todas partes y preguntas quién te ha tocado?".
Pero él seguía mirando a su alrededor, para ver quién había sido.
Entonces la mujer, muy asustada y temblando, porque sabía bien lo que le había ocurrido, fue a arrojarse a sus pies y le confesó toda la verdad.
Jesús le dijo: "Hija, tu fe te ha salvado. Vete en paz, y queda curada de tu enfermedad".
Todavía estaba hablando, cuando llegaron unas personas de la casa del jefe de la sinagoga y le dijeron: "Tu hija ya murió; ¿para qué vas a seguir molestando al Maestro?".
Pero Jesús, sin tener en cuenta esas palabras, dijo al jefe de la sinagoga: "No temas, basta que creas".
Y sin permitir que nadie lo acompañara, excepto Pedro, Santiago y Juan, el hermano de Santiago,
fue a casa del jefe de la sinagoga. Allí vio un gran alboroto, y gente que lloraba y gritaba.
Al entrar, les dijo: "¿Por qué se alborotan y lloran? La niña no está muerta, sino que duerme".
Y se burlaban de él. Pero Jesús hizo salir a todos, y tomando consigo al padre y a la madre de la niña, y a los que venían con él, entró donde ella estaba.
La tomó de la mano y le dijo: "Talitá kum", que significa: "¡Niña, yo te lo ordeno, levántate".
En seguida la niña, que ya tenía doce años, se levantó y comenzó a caminar. Ellos, entonces, se llenaron de asombro,
y él les mandó insistentemente que nadie se enterara de lo sucedido. Después dijo que le dieran de comer. 
Mc 5,21-43
Leer el comentario del Evangelio por 
San Jerónimo (347-420) presbítero, traductor de la Biblia, doctor de la Iglesia
Homilías sobre el evangelio de Marcos, nº 3
«Levántate»
     «Cogió de la mano a la niña y le dijo: 'Talitha qumi ', que significa: 'contigo hablo, niña, levántate'.» «Puesto que has nacido una segunda vez te llamarán 'muchacha'. Muchacha, levántate para mi, no por tu propio mérito, sino por la acción de mi gracia. Levántate, pues, para mí: tu curación no es debida a tu fuerza». «La niña se puso inmediatamente en pie y echó a andar». Que Jesús nos toque también a nosotros y andaremos inmediatamente. Aunque seamos paralíticos, aunque nuestras obras sean malas y no podamos andar, aunque estemos acostados en el lecho de nuestros pecados..., si Jesús nos toca, inmediatamente quedaremos curados. La suegra de Pedro estaba cogida por la fiebre: Jesús la tocó con la mano, ella se levantó e inmediatamente les sirvió (Mc 1,31)...

     «Y se quedaron viendo visiones. Les insistió en que nadie se enterase». ¿Entendéis ahora porqué echó fuera a todos cuando iba a hacer un milagro? No solamente les mandó sino que les insistió en que nadie se enterase. Lo mandó a los tres apóstoles, lo mandó también a los padres de la niña: que nadie se entere. El Señor se lo mandó a todos, pero la niña, a la que había levantado, no podía callarse.

     « Y les dijo que dieran de comer a la niña » para que su resurrección no fuera considerada como la aparición de un fantasma. También él mismo, después de la resurrección, comió pez asado y un postre de miel (Lc 24,42)... Te lo suplico Señor, también a nosotros que estamos acostados, tócanos la mano; levántanos del lecho de nuestros pecados y haznos caminar. Cuando hayamos caminado, haz que nos den de comer. Acostados no podemos comer; si no estamos de pie, no somos capaces de recibir el Cuerpo de Cristo.


martes 01 Febrero 2011

Santa Brígida de Irlanda



Nace: 451 o 452  (+1 de febrero  525 )
Su padre es un jefe irlandés y su madre una sirvienta. Ya de muy joven Brígida respondió a la llamada del Señor a la vida religiosa. Era muy generosa con los pobres. A los 20 años fundó el primer convento de Irlanda en Kildare. Se hizo famoso como lugar de devoción y formación. Santa Brígida vio el necesario vínculo entre lo fe y el intelecto. 
Se le conoce como patrona de los lecheros por un incidente de su juventud:  Su madre le dio dinero para comprar mantequilla. En vez, ella le dio el dinero a un pobre en el camino.  En otra ocasión, ya de mayor, Santa Brígida le dio agua a un pobre y esta se convirtió en leche.
Parece una contradicción, pero a pesar de su gran fama que la hace pasar por la santa más conocida de Irlanda y de estar unidos a su figura gran cantidad de elementos festivos y folclóricos se conocen muy pocos hechos históricos sobre su vida.
Fue Cogitosus que vivió del 620 al 680 su primer biógrafo, pero -lastimosamente- poco escribe acerca de la vida terrena de la santa; su escrito se pierde en descripciones sociales y religiosas en torno al monasterio de Kindale, probablemente mixto y con jurisdicción quasi-episcopal, fundado por Brígida.

También existen himnos y poemas irlandeses de los siglos VII y VIII que en sí mismos testimonian el culto que se tributaba a la santa irlandesa.

Un poco más adelante, el obispo de Fiésole, Donatus, a mitad del siglo IX, escribe su vida en verso y este debió ser el vehículo de la rápida difusión de su culto por Europa.

Pero de esta carencia de datos que impiden el diseño de un perfil hagiográfico completo; la religiosidad popular y el calor de las gentes por su santa ha suplido con creces la grandeza de su vida fiel al Evangelio y entregada a su vocación religiosa.

Del hecho de pertenecer Brígida a una tribu inferior en su tiempo, concretamente la de Forthairt, la fantasía la hace nacer del fruto de la unión -extraña al matrimonio- de su padre, Duptaco, con una bellísima esclava, con todos los problemas que esto produce en el entorno familiar legítimo, desde el disgusto de la esposa hasta la proposición de su venta. Claro que de esto se sacará la noble lección de que Dios puede tener planes insospechados para los espúreos inculpables que pueden llegar a las cimas más altas de la santidad y dejar tras de sí una estela de bien para la gente.

Heredada la extrahermosura de su madre, para no ser ocasión de pecado y no ser ya más pedida en matrimonio, pide a Dios que la haga fea. ¿Para qué quiere la hermosura quien sólo piensa en Dios? Ha decidido entrar en religión. Derrama lágrimas abundantes y son escuchados sus ruegos con un reventón del ojo; por este favor da gracias a Dios que luego le devuelve todo su esplendor. La lección está clara: quien posee al Amor desprecia lo que a tantas vuelve locas y vanas para alcanzar un amor.

También los pobres están presentes en el relato; no podría concebirse santidad sin caridad. Y ahora es la vaca su cómplice; nunca se secaron las ubres, una y otra vez ordeñadas por Brígida, cuando había que remediar a un menesteroso. La vaca ha quedado presente, como emblema, en las representaciones pictóricas de los artistas, junto a la imagen de la santa.

Y aún hay más; sí, son inagotables los relatos de bondades. Se habla de leprosos curados y de monjas tibias descubiertas; la muda Doria comienza a hablar y termina sus días como religiosa en el convento; frustra asesinatos; da vista a ciegos y... como expresión del estilo de un pueblo ¡convierte el agua de su baño en cerveza para apagar la sed!

Los himnos, versos, poemas y canciones populares -con sencillez y regocijo- muestran el calor de un pueblo por su santa y dice con sus leyes lo que las de la crítica histórica ni puede ni debe decir.





Oremos

Señor Dios todopoderoso, que de entre tus fieles elegiste a Santa Brígida de Irlanda para que manifestara a sus hermanos el camino que conduce a ti, concédenos que su ejemplo nos ayude a seguir a Jesucristo, nuestro maestro, para que logremos así alcanzar un día, junto con nuestros hermanos, la gloria de tu reino eterno. Por nuestro Señor Jesucristo, tu Hijo.