DAILY GOSPEL: 27/06/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Monday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Amos 2:6-10.13-16.
Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because they sell the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals.
They trample the heads of the weak into the dust of the earth, and force the lowly out of the way. Son and father go to the same prostitute, profaning my holy name.
Upon garments taken in pledge they recline beside any altar; And the wine of those who have been fined they drink in the house of their god.
Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites before them, who were as tall as the cedars, and as strong as the oak trees. I destroyed their fruit above, and their roots beneath.
It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and who led you through the desert for forty years, to occupy the land of the Amorites:
Beware, I will crush you into the ground as a wagon crushes when laden with sheaves.
Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong man shall not retain his strength; The warrior shall not save his life,
nor the bowman stand his ground; The swift of foot shall not escape, nor the horseman save his life.
And the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day, says the LORD.
Psalms 50(49):16-17.18-19.20-21.22-23.
But to the wicked God says: "Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your lips?
You hate discipline; you cast my words behind you!
When you see thieves, you befriend them; with adulterers you throw in your lot.
You give your mouth free rein for evil; you harness your tongue to deceit.
You sit maligning your own kin, slandering the child of your own mother.
When you do these things should I be silent? Or do you think that I am like you? I accuse you, I lay the charge before you.
"Understand this, you who forget God, lest I attack you with no one to rescue.
Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me; to the obedient I will show the salvation of God."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8:18-22.
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side.
A scribe approached and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
Another of (his) disciples said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."
Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because they sell the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals.
They trample the heads of the weak into the dust of the earth, and force the lowly out of the way. Son and father go to the same prostitute, profaning my holy name.
Upon garments taken in pledge they recline beside any altar; And the wine of those who have been fined they drink in the house of their god.
Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites before them, who were as tall as the cedars, and as strong as the oak trees. I destroyed their fruit above, and their roots beneath.
It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and who led you through the desert for forty years, to occupy the land of the Amorites:
Beware, I will crush you into the ground as a wagon crushes when laden with sheaves.
Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong man shall not retain his strength; The warrior shall not save his life,
nor the bowman stand his ground; The swift of foot shall not escape, nor the horseman save his life.
And the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day, says the LORD.
Psalms 50(49):16-17.18-19.20-21.22-23.
But to the wicked God says: "Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your lips?
You hate discipline; you cast my words behind you!
When you see thieves, you befriend them; with adulterers you throw in your lot.
You give your mouth free rein for evil; you harness your tongue to deceit.
You sit maligning your own kin, slandering the child of your own mother.
When you do these things should I be silent? Or do you think that I am like you? I accuse you, I lay the charge before you.
"Understand this, you who forget God, lest I attack you with no one to rescue.
Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me; to the obedient I will show the salvation of God."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8:18-22.
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side.
A scribe approached and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
Another of (his) disciples said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."
Mt 8,18-22
Saint Clare (1193-1252), Franciscan nun
1st letter to Agnes of Prague, §15-23 (©Classics of Western Spirituality; cf SC 325)
"Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
O blessed poverty, who bestows eternal riches on those who love and embrace her! O holy poverty, to those who possess and desire you God promises the kingdom of heaven and offers, indeed, eternal glory and blessed life! O God-centered poverty, whom the Lord Jesus Christ who ruled and now rules heaven and earth, «Who spoke and things were made,» (Ps 33[32],9) condescended to embrace before all else! «The foxes have dens,» he says, «and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man,» Christ, «has nowhere to lay His head» (Mt 8:20), but «but bowing his head, gave up his spirit» (Jn 19:30).
If so great and good a Lord, then, on coming into the Virgin's womb, chose to appear despised, needy, and poor in this world, so that people who were in utter poverty and want and in absolute need of heavenly nourishment might become rich in him by possessing the kingdom of heaven, then rejoice and be glad! Be filled with a remarkable happiness and a spiritual joy! Contempt of the world has pleased you more than [its] honors, poverty more than earthly riches, and you have sought to store up greater treasure in heaven rather than on earth, «where rust does not consume nor moth destroy nor thieves break in and steal» (Mt 6:20). «Your reward,» then, «is very great in heaven» (Mt 5:12)!
If so great and good a Lord, then, on coming into the Virgin's womb, chose to appear despised, needy, and poor in this world, so that people who were in utter poverty and want and in absolute need of heavenly nourishment might become rich in him by possessing the kingdom of heaven, then rejoice and be glad! Be filled with a remarkable happiness and a spiritual joy! Contempt of the world has pleased you more than [its] honors, poverty more than earthly riches, and you have sought to store up greater treasure in heaven rather than on earth, «where rust does not consume nor moth destroy nor thieves break in and steal» (Mt 6:20). «Your reward,» then, «is very great in heaven» (Mt 5:12)!
St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (+ 202) - Memorial
SAINT IRENÆUS
Bishop and Martyr
(+ 202)
Bishop and Martyr
(+ 202)
This Saint was born about the year 120. He was a Grecian, probably a native of Lesser Asia. His parents, who were Christians, placed him under the care of the great St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. It was in so holy a school that he learned that sacred science which rendered him afterward a great ornament of the Church and the terror of her enemies. St. Polycarp cultivated his rising genius, and formed his mind to piety by precepts and example; and the zealous scholar was careful to reap all the advantages which were offered him by the happiness of such a master.
Such was his veneration for his tutor's sanctity that he observed every action and whatever be saw in that holy man, the better to copy his example and learn his spirit. He listened to his instructions with an insatiable ardor, and so deeply did he engrave them on his heart that the impressions remained most lively even to his old age. In order to confute the heresies of his age, this father made himself acquainted with the most absurd conceits of their philosophers, by which means he was qualified to trace up every error to its sources and set it in its full light.
St. Polycarp sent St. Irenæus into Gaul, in company with some priest; he was himself ordained priest of the Church of Lyons by St. Pothinus. St. Pothinus having glorified God by his happy death, in the year 177, our Saint was chosen the second Bishop of Lyons. By his preaching, he in a short time converted almost that whole country to the Faith.
He wrote several works against heresy, and at last, with many others, suffered martyrdom about the year 202, under the Emperor Severus, at Lyons.
