DAILY GOSPEL: 07/10/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Thursday of the Twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time
Letter to the Galatians 3:1-5.
O stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
I want to learn only this from you: did you receive the Spirit from works of the law, or from faith in what you heard?
Are you so stupid? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
Did you experience so many things in vain?--if indeed it was in vain.
Does, then, the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works mighty deeds among you do so from works of the law or from faith in what you heard?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1:69-70.71-72.73-75.
He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant,
even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old:
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant
and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that,
rescued from the hand of enemies, without fear we might worship him
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11:5-13.
And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,'
and he says in reply from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.'
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
O stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
I want to learn only this from you: did you receive the Spirit from works of the law, or from faith in what you heard?
Are you so stupid? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
Did you experience so many things in vain?--if indeed it was in vain.
Does, then, the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works mighty deeds among you do so from works of the law or from faith in what you heard?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1:69-70.71-72.73-75.
He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant,
even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old:
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant
and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that,
rescued from the hand of enemies, without fear we might worship him
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11:5-13.
And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,'
and he says in reply from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.'
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
Lc 11,5-13
Saint Macarius (?-405), monk in Egypt
Homily 16, Third Collection (SC 275, p.205)
"How much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
To get food for his body a beggar thinks it no trouble to knock at the door and ask for it. And if he doesn’t get it, he goes on further and, with even more persistence, asks for bread, clothing or shoes to ease his body. So long as he hasn’t received anything he will not go away, even if he is driven off. Now we who try to receive the real, heavenly bread to strengthen our souls, who want to put on heaven’s light-filled clothing and who long to be shod with the immaterial shoes of the Spirit to solace our immortal soul: how much more ought we to knock at God’s spiritual door, unwearyingly and resolutely, with faith and love, waiting always and, with perfect constancy, ask to be counted worthy of eternal life?
Thus the Lord “told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary” (Lk 18,1) then added these words: how much more will our heavenly Father “secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night,” (v.7). And again, talking about the friend: “Even if he does not give to him for friendship’s sake, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence,” (Lk 11,8). And he adds further: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” (v.9). And he continues: “If you who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (v.13). This is why the Lord exhorts us to ask at all times, unwearyingly and persistently, always seeking and knocking. For he has promised to give to those who ask, seek and knock, not to those who do not ask. It is in being prayed, implored, loved that he desires to give us eternal life.
Thus the Lord “told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary” (Lk 18,1) then added these words: how much more will our heavenly Father “secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night,” (v.7). And again, talking about the friend: “Even if he does not give to him for friendship’s sake, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence,” (Lk 11,8). And he adds further: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” (v.9). And he continues: “If you who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (v.13). This is why the Lord exhorts us to ask at all times, unwearyingly and persistently, always seeking and knocking. For he has promised to give to those who ask, seek and knock, not to those who do not ask. It is in being prayed, implored, loved that he desires to give us eternal life.
Our Lady of the Rosary - Memorial
OUR LADY of the ROSARY
(Memorial)
(Memorial)
It was the time when the impious heresy of the Albigensians was spreading throughout the district of Toulouse, striking its roots more deeply day by day. Saint Dominic, who had but recently laid the foundations of the Order of Preachers, threw all his strength into the task of extirpating the wicked error.
To make his victory the more certain, he sought constantly and in earnest prayer the aid of the most blessed Virgin Mary, whose dignity had been most shamefully attacked by the heretics. It is given to her to destroy all heresies throughout the world.
Dominic was admonished by her - as everyone will recall - to preach devotion to the Rosary as a special weapon against heresy and vice. It is astounding with what happy results he carried out this assignment... from the time of the Albigensian heresy onwards, this holy method of prayer began to be marvelously propagated and promoted by Saint Dominic. The sovereign pontiffs, themselves, in encyclical letters have from time to time, confirmed the fact that Dominic was the founder and author of the rosary.
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From this holy devotion countless benefits have been showered the length and the breadth of Christendom.
Among these most certainly can be reckoned that famous victory which the Christian princes, aroused by the plea of Pope St. Pius V, won over the Turks at Lepanto. As this victory was won on the very day on which the confraternities of the most holy Rosary throughout the world were offering up their rosaries, as they had been asked to do, there can be no doubt that this victory was an answer to their prayers.
So convinced of this was Gregory XIII that he proclaimed that for so singular a blessing there should be offered everywhere on earth perpetual thanks to the blessed Virgin, under the title of the Rosary. He decreed also that in every church where an altar of the Rosary had been erected, its office should be celebrated in perpetuity under the rite of a double major.
Other pontiffs, also have granted almost innumerable indulgences to the recitation of the Rosary and to the Rosary Confraternities.
