EVANGELIO DEL DÍA

domingo, 24 de abril de 2011

«This is the day the Lord has made »

DAILY GOSPEL: 24/04/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68


Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of the Lord - Solemnity

Acts of the Apostles 10:34.37-43. 
Peter proceeded to speak and said:
what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and (in) Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.
To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name."

Psalms 118(117):1-2.16ab-17.22-23. 
Give thanks to the LORD, who is good, whose love endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say: God's love endures forever.
the LORD'S right hand is raised; the LORD'S right hand strikes with power."
the LORD'S right hand is raised; the LORD'S right hand strikes with power."

I shall not die but live and declare the deeds of the LORD.
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes.

Letter to the Colossians 3:1-4. 
Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 20:1-9. 
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him."
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.


ommentary of the day 
Saint Maximus of Turin (?-c.420), Bishop
Sermon 36 ; PL 57, 605
«This is the day the Lord has made » (Ps 118[117],24)
Today, as yesterday, let our joy break out, my brethren. If night's darkness has interrupted our rejoicing then the holy day is not complete... for the brightness shed by the joy of the Lord is eternal. Christ shone upon us yesterday and today his light shines out again. «Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday and today» says the blessed apostle Paul (Heb 13,8). Yes, Christ has become our day. He was born today for us, as God his Father declares through the voice of David: «You are my son; today I have become your father» (Ps 2,7). What are we to say? That he did not once father his son but himself engendered day and night...

Yes, Christ is our 'today': living splendor that never sets, he does not cease to set alight the world he sustains (cf. Heb 1,3) and this eternal refulgence seems but a day. «A thousand years in your sight are like a single day» exclaims the prophet (Ps 90[89],4). Yes, Christ is that single day because God's eternity is single. He is our today: the past, once gone, does not pass him by; the future, as yet unknown, holds no secrets for him. Sovereign Light, he embraces all things, knows all things, at all times he is present and possesses them all. Before him the past cannot dissolve nor the future hide... This day is neither the one when he was born of the Virgin Mary according to the flesh nor the one when he came forth from the mouth of God his Father according to his divinity, but it is the moment when he was raised from the dead. «He raised up Jesus,» says the apostle Paul, «as it is written in the second Psalm: 'You are my son; this day I have begotten you» (Acts 13,33).

How truly he is our day when, springing up from hell's thick darkness, he sets mankind alight. How truly he is our day, this man whom the dark designs of his foes could not blacken. No better day than this could have welcomed the light: both day and life it has restored to all the dead. Old age had laid men out in death; he has raised them up again in the renewed vigor of his today.

                    

Sunday, 24 April 2011

St. Benedict Menni, Priest († 1914)

image Other saints of the day

Saint Benedict Menni
Priest, O.H.,
Founder of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
(1841-1914)

        Benedict Menni, who is being raised to the altars today, was a faithful follower of Saint John of God and, through his words and deeds, was a Herald of the Gospel of Mercy and a new Prophet of Hospitality.
His origins and his Hospitaller vocation
        The city of Milan was his cradle: he was born there on 11 March 1841 and baptized the same day. He was named Angelo Ercole, almost as a portent of the Herculean spirit and strength that was to characterize his whole personality.
        He was the fifth of 15 children born to Luigi Menni and Luisa Figini. His warm and hospitable home gave him the support and stimulus he needed to develop his intellectual powers and his personality. God's call came early on: faithful to his conscience, he gave up a good position in a bank, and with his selfless attitude to the suffering he volunteered to work as a stretcher-bearer to assist the soldiers wounded on the battlefield at Magenta, near Milan.
        Attracted by the spirit of dedication and self-denial which he discovered in the Brothers of St John of God, at the age of 19 he applied to enter the Hospitaller Order. He began his Religious life taking the name Benedict, and consecrated himself to God and to the care of the sick. And today we venerate him with the same name: Saint Benedict Menni.
His Hospitaller formation and mission

        It was during his nursing and priestly studies that his Religious Hospitaller personality was gradually fashioned, which he placed at the disposal of his Superiors, embracing the cause of helping the most needy members of society, so many of whom were sick.
        At that time Spain, the cradle of the Hospitaller Order, was embroiled in political strife, with open hostility to all the Religious Orders, and the work of St John of God was practically dead. It needed a new lease of life, and Benedict Menni was to be the man of providence to bring it about.
        He was sent to Spain in 1867, and it was there that he performed his two great works: he restored the Order of St John of God and founded the Congregation of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
        Thanks to his magnanimous spirit, his great capabilities and state of mind, he overcame many difficulties and did so much good to help the sick, providing them with comprehensive care.
The Restorer of the Hospitaller Order
        Sent to Spain by the Prior General of the Order, Fr Giovanni M. Alfieri, who always supported him, and with the blessing of Pope Visitor and Prior General of the Order Pius IX, even before he left Rome Benedict Menni demonstrated a will of iron and a determined spirit. Only a few months after his arrival in Spain he set up his first children's hospital in Barcelona (1867), marking the beginning of his extraordinary work of restoration, which he was to carry through over the next 36 years.
        From the first moment, thanks to his commitment to his vocation, numerous generous followers rallied around him, and it was through them that he was able to guarantee continuity to his new Hospitaller institutions that were springing up in Spain, Portugal and Mexico, to spread subsequently throughout the New World.
The Founder of the Hospitaller Sisters
        When he arrived in Granada (1878), Benedict Menni came in contact with two young women, Maria Josefa Recio and Maria Angtistias Gimenez, who set up a new women's hospital specifically to provide psychiatric care in 1881.
        It was at Ciempozuelos, Madrid, that the Mother House of the "Congregation of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" was founded, receiving the approval of the Holy See in 1901. Six words summarize their identity in the Hospitaller service: "pray, work, endure, suffer, a love God and silence".
        The new Institution soon spread its wings of merciful charity by becoming established in several countries in Europe and Latin America, and later on in Africa and Asia. At the present time, as the Congregation celebrates the canonization of its founder, Benedict Menni, the Sisters are present in 24 countries, with over 100 Hospitaller Centres.
        Benedict Menni, their Founder and spiritual Father, imbued them with his own charismatic spirit of St John of God and for over 30 years continued to provide them with his guidance and formation in Hospitaller ascetics.
Visitor and Prior General of the Order
        The opera magna wrought by Benedict Menni as a Restorer and Founder spread, at the request of the Holy See, to the whole Order when he was appointed Apostolic Visitor (1909-1911) and subsequently Prior General (1911), which he had to resign one year later as a result of misunderstandings, and for health reasons.
        He spent the last two years of his life in humility and purification, and died a holy death at Dinan, France, on 24 April 1914. His mortal remains were taken by the Spanish Brothers to Ciempozuelos, and today are venerated under the high altar in the Founders' Chapel in the Hospitaller Sisters' Mother House there.
In the glory of the saints
        The process to acknowledge his holiness opened in the diocese of Madrid where he is buried, in 1945-1947, and his virtues were recognized as heroic by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints on 11 May 1982, so that he was able to be called " Venerable". After official acceptance of the miraculous healing of Asuncion Cacho thanks to his intercession, he was proclaimed "Blessed" in St Peter's Basilica on June 23, 1985 and « Saint » on November 21, 1999 by Pope John Paul II.
His message of Hospitality
        In addition to his total dedication which bore such fruit, his holy and sanctifying conduct, his life offered entirely to God and to the sick with total generosity, the witness borne by Benedict Menni has regained all its topical relevance today with his canonization, which is offering him to the universal Church as a model and an example to be followed, particularly by those working in health care.
        Humanization and evangelization are challenges to the new millennium. St Benedict Menni recalls to us and enlightens the words of our Lord, "I was sick and you visited me... Come, O blessed of my Father".
        Health care uses the benefits brought by scientific and technological progress, but frequently it is the "heart" which is missing in patient care. Health care is often concerned more with the sickness than the sick, who are often viewed as numbers or clinical cases rather than as brothers and sisters to be cared for and ministered to, as persons made in the image of a suffering God.


"Este es el día que actuó el Señor" (Sal 117,24)

EVANGELIO DEL DÍA: 24/04/2011
¿ Señor, a quién iremos?. Tú tienes palabras de vida eterna. Jn 6, 68


Domingo de Pascua de la Resurrección del Señor

Libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles 10,34.37-43. 
Entonces Pedro, tomando la palabra, dijo: "Verdaderamente, comprendo que Dios no hace acepción de personas,
Ustedes ya saben qué ha ocurrido en toda Judea, comenzando por Galilea, después del bautismo que predicaba Juan:
cómo Dios ungió a Jesús de Nazaret con el Espíritu Santo, llenándolo de poder. El pasó haciendo el bien y curando a todos los que habían caído en poder del demonio, porque Dios estaba con él.
Nosotros somos testigos de todo lo que hizo en el país de los judíos y en Jerusalén. Y ellos lo mataron, suspendiéndolo de un patíbulo.
Pero Dios lo resucitó al tercer día y le concedió que se manifestara,
no a todo el pueblo, sino a testigos elegidos de antemano por Dios: a nosotros, que comimos y bebimos con él, después de su resurrección.
Y nos envió a predicar al pueblo, y atestiguar que él fue constituido por Dios Juez de vivos y muertos.
Todos los profetas dan testimonio de él, declarando que los que creen en él reciben el perdón de los pecados, en virtud de su Nombre".


Salmo 118(117),1-2.16ab-17.22-23. 
¡Aleluya! ¡Den gracias al Señor, porque es bueno, porque es eterno su amor!
Que lo diga el pueblo de Israel: ¡es eterno su amor!
la mano del Señor es sublime, la mano del Señor hace proezas".
la mano del Señor es sublime, la mano del Señor hace proezas".


No, no moriré: viviré para publicar lo que hizo el Señor.
La piedra que desecharon los constructores es ahora la piedra angular.
Esto ha sido hecho por el Señor y es admirable a nuestros ojos.


Carta de San Pablo a los Colosenses 3,1-4. 
Ya que ustedes han resucitado con Cristo, busquen los bienes del cielo donde Cristo está sentado a la derecha de Dios.
Tengan el pensamiento puesto en las cosas celestiales y no en las de la tierra.
Porque ustedes están muertos, y su vida está desde ahora oculta con Cristo en Dios.
Cuando se manifieste Cristo, que es nuestra vida, entonces ustedes también aparecerán con él, llenos de gloria.


Evangelio según San Juan 20,1-9. 
El primer día de la semana, de madrugada, cuando todavía estaba oscuro, María Magdalena fue al sepulcro y vio que la piedra había sido sacada.
Corrió al encuentro de Simón Pedro y del otro discípulo al que Jesús amaba, y les dijo: "Se han llevado del sepulcro al Señor y no sabemos dónde lo han puesto".
Pedro y el otro discípulo salieron y fueron al sepulcro.
Corrían los dos juntos, pero el otro discípulo corrió más rápidamente que Pedro y llegó antes.
Asomándose al sepulcro, vio las vendas en el suelo, aunque no entró.
Después llegó Simón Pedro, que lo seguía, y entró en el sepulcro: vio las vendas en el suelo,
y también el sudario que había cubierto su cabeza; este no estaba con las vendas, sino enrollado en un lugar aparte.
Luego entró el otro discípulo, que había llegado antes al sepulcro: él también vio y creyó.
Todavía no habían comprendido que, según la Escritura, él debía resucitar de entre los muertos. 


Leer el comentario del Evangelio por 
San Máximo de Turín (?-v. 420), Obispo
Sermón 36; PL 57, 605
"Este es el día que actuó el Señor" (Sal 117,24)
     Manifestemos nuestra alegría, hermanos, hoy como ayer. Si las sombras de la noche han interrumpido nuestras fiestas, el día santo no ha terminado...: la claridad que propaga la alegría del Señor es eterna. Cristo nos iluminó ayer y hoy todavía resplandece su luz. "Jesucristo es el mismo ayer y hoy", dice el bienaventurado apóstol Pablo (Heb 13,8). Sí, para nosotros Cristo ha nacido. Para nosotros ha nacido hoy, según lo anunciado por Dios por boca de David:"Tú eres mi hijo, yo te he engendrado hoy" (Sal 2,7). ¿Qué significa esto? Que Él no engendró a su hijo un día, sino que ha engendrado el día y la luz al mismo tiempo...
     Sí, Cristo es nuestro hoy: esplendor vivo y sin disminución, Él no deja de alumbrar el mundo (He 1.3) y este incendio eterno parece no ser sólo de  un día. "Mil años en tu presencia son un ayer que pasó", exclamó el profeta (Sal 89,4). Sí, Cristo es ese día único porque única es la eternidad de Dios. Él es nuestro hoy: el pasado, huyó, se escapó; el futuro desconocido no tiene secretos para él. Luz soberana, abrazó todo, lo sabe todo, en todo tiempo está presente y lo posee todo. Antes que él, el pasado no se puede derrumbar, ni el futuro eludir... Hoy no es sólo el tiempo donde la carne nació de la Virgen María, ni sólo donde la divinidad, sale de la boca de Dios su Padre, sino el tiempo donde ha resucitado de entre los muertos: "Él ha resucitado a Jesús, dice el apóstol Pablo; Así está escrito en el Salmo segundo: "Tú eres mi Hijo; "Yo te he engendrado hoy'" (Hechos 13,33).
     Verdaderamente, Él es nuestro hoy, cuando, al salir de oscura noche del infierno, abrazó a los hombres. Realmente, Él es nuestro día, al que no pudieron oscurecer los ataques de sus enemigos. Ningún día mejor que este día para acoger la luz: a todos los muertos, les ha dado el día y la vida. El hombre viejo nos llevó a la muerte; Él nos ha resucitado con la fuerza de su hoy.



domingo 24 Abril 2011

San Fidel de Sigmaringa



Presbítero y mártir (1578-1622)    El martirio es una gracia permanente en la Iglesia. La sangre cristiana corrió con abundancia a lo largo de los primeros siglos como testimonio de la nueva fe, y más tarde seria derramada, en tiempos modernos, por las Iglesias jóvenes de Extremo Oriente y del Nuevo Mundo.    Pero, durante la Reforma protestante y el Anglicanismo el martirio cobró una forma nueva, la más dolorosa: en nombre de la fidelidad al Evangelio, unos cristianos llevaban al martirio a otros. Así fue como entregó Fidel su vida por la fe católica.    Marcos Rey, nacido en Sigmaringen (Alemania) en 1578, hijo del burgomaestre de Sigmaringa, era un joven muy inteligente que ya cursando sus estudios de Leyes en Friburgo de Brisgovia llamaba la atención de todos por sus dotes intelectuales.
Recibe el sacerdocio a los treinta y cinco años, el 4 de octubre de 1612. Al imponerle el nombre, el P. Guardián, como queriendo jugar con el significado del nombre, le recordó la frase del Apocalipsis: "Sé fiel - Fidel - hasta la muerte y te daré la corona de la vida".    Se entregó de lleno a su formación teológica pero, sobre todo, a su formación ascética y piadosa: Pasaba horas en la oración y castigaba su cuerpo con rigurosas penitencias. Como superior sucesivamente de varios conventos, se señaló por un amor abrasador y puso sus dotes de orador al Servicio del Evangelio en numerosas misiones populares.    Se le encomendaron misiones de predicación en tierras de protestantes - Suiza, Austria, sur de Alemania -, fue elegido guardián de los conventos de Feldkirch y Friburgo, tuvo rasgos de abnegado heroísmo durante una epidemia de peste, y convirtió a muchos calvinistas con una caridad que desarmaba a sus adversarios.
El Papa Gregorio XV había fundado aquellos días - 1622 - la Sagrada Congregación de Propaganda Fide para extender el conocimiento de la doctrina de Jesús por todos los países del mundo.   El domingo 24 de Abril de 1622 , los herejes Grisones mientras estaba predicando la palabra de Dios, descargaron una espada contra él, pudo ponerse de rodillas y exclamó: "Jesús, María, valedme" y expiró.   Es el Protomártir de la Sagrada Congregación de Propaganda Fide.








Oremos


Señor Dios nuestro, que coronaste con la gloria del martirio a San Fidel de Sigmaringa, cuando, inflamado en tu amor trabajaba por la propagación de la fe, concédenos, por su intercesión, que, arraigados y fundamentados también nosotros en la caridad, experimentemos el poder de la resurrección de Cristo y tengamos parte de su gloria. Por nuestro Señor Jesucristo, tu Hijo.