DAILY GOSPEL: 05/02/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Saturday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
Letter to the Hebrews 13:15-17.20-21.
Through him (then) let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.
Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you.
May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord,
furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will. May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever (and ever). Amen.
Psalms 23(22):1-3.4.5.6.
A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.
In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me;
you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name.
Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage.
You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6:30-34.
The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
Through him (then) let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.
Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you.
May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord,
furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will. May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever (and ever). Amen.
Psalms 23(22):1-3.4.5.6.
A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.
In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me;
you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name.
Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage.
You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6:30-34.
The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
Mc 6,30-34
Isaac the Syrian (7th century), monk near Mosul, saint of the Orthodox churches
Ascetical discourses, 1st series, no.60
"His heart was moved with pity for them"
If David called God right and just, his Son has revealed him to be good and gentle... Far from us be the wrongful idea that God is without sympathy... How splendid God's compassion is! How wonderful is God our Creator's grace, what power to suffice us all! And with what immeasurable goodness he clothes our sinful nature to recreate it. Who can tell his glory? He raises up one who has wronged and blasphemed against him, he renews lifeless dust..., and out of our distracted mind and wayward senses he creates a nature endowed with reason, capable of thought. Sinners are unable to comprehend the grace of his resurrection... What is hell before the grace of the resurrection, when he will raise us out of damnation and enable this perishable body to put on imperishability? (1Cor 15,53)...
You who are discerning, come and admire. Who is there who, endowed with a wise and wonderful intellect, will worthily admire our Creator's grace? This grace brings retribution to sinners. For instead of what they merit in all justice, he repays them with resurrection. Instead of the bodies with which they sinned against his Law, he clothes them in the glory of imperishability. This grace – the resurrection given after we had sinned – is even greater than the first one, when he created us when we did not exist. Glory to your immeasurable grace, Lord! I can do nothing but be silent before the waves of your grace. I am unable to speak the gratitude I owe you.
You who are discerning, come and admire. Who is there who, endowed with a wise and wonderful intellect, will worthily admire our Creator's grace? This grace brings retribution to sinners. For instead of what they merit in all justice, he repays them with resurrection. Instead of the bodies with which they sinned against his Law, he clothes them in the glory of imperishability. This grace – the resurrection given after we had sinned – is even greater than the first one, when he created us when we did not exist. Glory to your immeasurable grace, Lord! I can do nothing but be silent before the waves of your grace. I am unable to speak the gratitude I owe you.
St. Agatha, Virgin & Martyr (+ 251) - Memorial
SAINT AGATHA
Virgin and Martyr
(+ 251)
Virgin and Martyr
(+ 251)
St. Agatha was born in Sicily, of rich and noble parents-a child of benediction from the first, for she was promised to her parents before her birth, and consecrated from her earliest infancy to God. In the midst of dangers and temptations she served Christ in purity of body and soul, and she died for the love of chastity. Quintanus, who governed Sicily under the Emperor Decius, had heard the rumor of her beauty and wealth, and he made the laws against the Christians a pretext for summoning her from Palermo to Catania, where he was at the time. "O Jesus Christ!" she cried, as she set out on this dreaded journey, "all that I am is Thine; preserve me against the tyrant."
And Our Lord did indeed preserve one who had given herself so utterly to Him. He kept her pure and undefiled while she was imprisoned for a whole month under charge of an evil woman. He gave her strength to reply to the offer of her life and safety, if she would but consent to sin, "Christ alone is my life and my salvation." When Quintanus turned from passion to cruelty, and cut off her breasts, Our Lord sent the Prince of His apostles to heal her. And when, after she had been rolled naked upon potsherds, she asked that her torments might be ended, her Spouse heard her prayer and took her to Himself.
St. Agatha gave herself without reserve to Jesus Christ; she followed Him in virginal purity, and then looked to Him for protection. And down to this day Christ has shown His tender regard for the very body of St. Agatha. Again and again, during the eruptions of Mount Etna, the people of Catania have exposed her veil for public veneration, and found safety by this means; and in modern times, on opening the tomb in which her body lies waiting for the resurrection, they beheld the skin still entire, and felt the sweet fragrance which issued from this temple of the Holy Spirit.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
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