DAILY GOSPEL: 12/04/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Monday of the Second week of Easter
Acts of the Apostles 4:23-31.
After their release Peter and John went back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them.
And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, "Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them,
you said by the holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant: 'Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples entertain folly?
The kings of the earth took their stand and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.'
Indeed they gathered in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do what your hand and (your) will had long ago planned to take place.
And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness,
as you stretch forth (your) hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Psalms 2:1-3.4-6.7-9.
Why do the nations protest and the peoples grumble in vain?
Kings on earth rise up and princes plot together against the LORD and his anointed:
"Let us break their shackles and cast off their chains!"
The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord derides them,
Then speaks to them in anger, terrifies them in wrath:
"I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain."
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD, who said to me, "You are my son; today I am your father.
Only ask it of me, and I will make your inheritance the nations, your possession the ends of the earth.
With an iron rod you shall shepherd them, like a clay pot you will shatter them."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3:1-8.
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
He came to Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him."
Jesus answered and said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
Nicodemus said to him, "How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother's womb and be born again, can he?"
Jesus answered, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.
Do not be amazed that I told you, 'You must be born from above.'
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
After their release Peter and John went back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them.
And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, "Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them,
you said by the holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant: 'Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples entertain folly?
The kings of the earth took their stand and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.'
Indeed they gathered in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do what your hand and (your) will had long ago planned to take place.
And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness,
as you stretch forth (your) hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Psalms 2:1-3.4-6.7-9.
Why do the nations protest and the peoples grumble in vain?
Kings on earth rise up and princes plot together against the LORD and his anointed:
"Let us break their shackles and cast off their chains!"
The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord derides them,
Then speaks to them in anger, terrifies them in wrath:
"I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain."
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD, who said to me, "You are my son; today I am your father.
Only ask it of me, and I will make your inheritance the nations, your possession the ends of the earth.
With an iron rod you shall shepherd them, like a clay pot you will shatter them."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3:1-8.
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
He came to Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him."
Jesus answered and said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
Nicodemus said to him, "How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother's womb and be born again, can he?"
Jesus answered, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.
Do not be amazed that I told you, 'You must be born from above.'
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Jn 3,1-8
Attributed to Saint Hippolytus of Rome (?-c.235), priest and martyr
Homily for the feast of the Epiphany, "On the holy Theophany" ; PG 10, 854-862
To be born again by water and the Holy Spirit
Pray give me your close attention. I wish to return to the fountain of life and cause the source of our cure to spring forth. The Father of immortality sent his immortal Son and Word into the world. He came to man to wash him in water and the Spirit. He gave him rebirth for the incorruptibility of his soul and body. He infused the Spirit of life and clad him all over with an imperishable armor. Thus, if man has been mortal he is to become equally divine. And if, after the rebirth of washing, he has been made divine by water and the Holy Spirit, he will also become an inheritor of heaven after the resurrection from the dead.
Come, all you nations, come to the immortality of baptism... This water is that which participates in the Spirit; watering paradise it quenches earth, it causes plants to grow, brings living beings to birth and, in a word, brings forth man to life by effecting his rebirth. In this water Christ was baptised; on it the Spirit descended in the form of a dove...
Whoever goes down with faith into the bath of regeneration casts aside the garment of a slave and puts on that of adoption. He comes up from baptism shining like the sun, radiant with righteousness. More than this: he emerges a son of God and co-heir with Christ, to whom, together with the Most Holy Spirit, the good, the life-giving, be glory and power both now and ever through all ages. Amen.
Come, all you nations, come to the immortality of baptism... This water is that which participates in the Spirit; watering paradise it quenches earth, it causes plants to grow, brings living beings to birth and, in a word, brings forth man to life by effecting his rebirth. In this water Christ was baptised; on it the Spirit descended in the form of a dove...
Whoever goes down with faith into the bath of regeneration casts aside the garment of a slave and puts on that of adoption. He comes up from baptism shining like the sun, radiant with righteousness. More than this: he emerges a son of God and co-heir with Christ, to whom, together with the Most Holy Spirit, the good, the life-giving, be glory and power both now and ever through all ages. Amen.
St Julius I, Pope (+ 352)
SAINT JULIUS
Pope
(+ 352)
Pope
(+ 352)
St. Julius was a Roman, and chosen Pope on the 6th of February in 337.
The Arian bishops in the East sent to him three deputies to accuse St. Athanasius, the zealous Patriarch of Alexandria. These accusations, as the order of justice required, Julius imparted to Athanasius, who thereupon sent his deputies to Rome; when, upon an impartial hearing, the advocates of the heretics were confounded and silenced upon every article of their accusation.
The Arians then demanded a council, and the Pope assembled one in Rome in 341. The Arians instead of appearing held a pretended council at Antioch in 341, in which they presumed to appoint one Gregory, an impious Arian, Bishop of Alexandria, detained the Pope's legates beyond the time mentioned for their appearance; and then wrote to his Holiness, alleging a pretended impossibility of their appearing, on account of the Persian war and other impediments. The Pope easily saw through these pretences, and in a council at Rome examined the cause of St. Athanasius, declared him innocent of the things laid to his charge by the Arians, and confirmed him in his see.
He also acquitted Marcellus of Ancyra, upon his orthodox profession of faith.
He drew up and sent by Count Gabian to the Oriental Eusebian bishops, who had first demanded a council and then refused to appear in it, an excellent letter, which is looked upon as one of the finest monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity.
Finding the Eusebians still obstinate, he moved Constans, Emperor of the West, to demand the concurrence of his brother Constantius in the assembling of a general council at Sardica in Illyricum. This was opened in May 347, and declared St. Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra orthodox and innocent, deposed certain Arian bishops, and framed twenty-one canons of discipline.
St. Julius reigned fifteen years, two months, and six days, dying on the 12th of April, 352.
