DAILY GOSPEL: 07/12/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Tuesday of the Second week of Advent
Book of Isaiah 40:1-11.
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
A voice says, "Cry out!" I answer, "What shall I cry out?" "All mankind is grass, and all their glory like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it. (So then, the people is the grass.)
Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever."
Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!
Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
Psalms 96(95):1-2.3.10.11-12.13.
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless his name; announce his salvation day after day.
Tell God's glory among the nations; among all peoples, God's marvelous deeds.
say among the nations: The LORD is king. The world will surely stand fast, never to be moved. God rules the peoples with fairness.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice
before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth, To govern the world with justice and the peoples with faithfulness.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18:12-14.
What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
A voice says, "Cry out!" I answer, "What shall I cry out?" "All mankind is grass, and all their glory like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it. (So then, the people is the grass.)
Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever."
Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!
Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
Psalms 96(95):1-2.3.10.11-12.13.
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless his name; announce his salvation day after day.
Tell God's glory among the nations; among all peoples, God's marvelous deeds.
say among the nations: The LORD is king. The world will surely stand fast, never to be moved. God rules the peoples with fairness.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice
before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth, To govern the world with justice and the peoples with faithfulness.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18:12-14.
What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.
Mt 18,12-14
Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church
Sermon 1 for Advent, 7-8 (trans. St Mary's Convent, York)
"It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost"
The prophet Isaiah says: «Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar" (Is 30,27)... Who can doubt that there was some cause great enough to move so sovereign a Majesty to come "from afar," and condescend to enter a place so unworthy of him as this world of ours? The cause was great indeed. It was his immense mercy, his manifold compassion, his abundant charity. Indeed, for what end must we believe Christ came? The search demands little labor, for the end and purpose of his coming is proclaimed by his words and works. To seek after the one sheep that had strayed out of the hundred he hastened from the mountains.
He came for our sake, that his mercies and his wondrous deeds might be openly proclaimed to humankind (Ps 107[106],8). O wonderful condescension of God in his searching for us! o wonderful dignity of man who is thus sought! If one should wish to glory in this dignity, it would not be imputed to us as folly. Not that we need think anything of ourselves, but let us rejoice that he who made us should set so high a value on us. For all the riches and glory of the world, all that could be desired, all this is of little worth and even nothing at all by comparison with that glory. «What is man, O Lord, that you make much of him, or pay him any heed?» (Jb 7,17).
He came for our sake, that his mercies and his wondrous deeds might be openly proclaimed to humankind (Ps 107[106],8). O wonderful condescension of God in his searching for us! o wonderful dignity of man who is thus sought! If one should wish to glory in this dignity, it would not be imputed to us as folly. Not that we need think anything of ourselves, but let us rejoice that he who made us should set so high a value on us. For all the riches and glory of the world, all that could be desired, all this is of little worth and even nothing at all by comparison with that glory. «What is man, O Lord, that you make much of him, or pay him any heed?» (Jb 7,17).
St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church - Memorial
SAINT AMBROSEBishop and Doctor of the Church
(c. 339 - 397)
(c. 339 - 397)
Ambrose was of a noble family, and was governor of Milan in 374, when a bishop was to be chosen for that great see. As the Arian heretics were many and fierce, he was present to preserve order during the election. Though only a catechumen, it was the will of God that he should himself be chosen by acclamation; and, in spite of his utmost resistance, he was baptized and consecrated.
He was unwearied in every duty of a pastor, full of sympathy and charity, gentle and condescending in things indifferent, but inflexible in matters of principle. He showed his fearless zeal in braving the anger of the Empress Justina, by resisting and foiling her impious attempt to give one of the churches of Milan to the Arians, and by rebuking and leading to penance the really great Emperor Theodosius, who in a moment of irritation had punished most cruelly a sedition of the inhabitants of Thessalonica.
He was the friend and consoler of St. Monica in all her sorrows, and in 387 he had the joy of admitting to the Church her son, St. Augustine.
St. Ambrose died in 397, full of years and of honors, and is revered by the Church of and as one of her greatest doctors.
