DAILY GOSPEL: 01/04/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Friday of the Third week of Lent
Book of Hosea 14:2-10.
Thus says the LORD: Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words, and return to the LORD; Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us, nor shall we have horses to mount; We shall say no more, 'Our god,' to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion."
I will heal their defection, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots. His splendor shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain; They shall blossom like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. "I am like a verdant cypress tree"-- Because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.
Psalms 81(80):6-8.9.10-11.14.17.
Who made it a decree for Joseph when he came out of the land of Egypt. II I hear a new oracle:
"I relieved their shoulders of the burden; their hands put down the basket.
In distress you called and I rescued you; unseen, I spoke to you in thunder; At the waters of Meribah I tested you and said: Selah
'Listen, my people, I give you warning! If only you will obey me, Israel!
There must be no foreign god among you; you must not worship an alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.'
But even now if my people would listen, if Israel would walk in my paths,
But Israel I would feed with the finest wheat, satisfy them with honey from the rock."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 12:28-34.
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, «Which is the first of all the commandments?»
Jesus replied, "The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, 'He is One and there is no other than he.'
And 'to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself' is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that (he) answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Thus says the LORD: Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words, and return to the LORD; Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us, nor shall we have horses to mount; We shall say no more, 'Our god,' to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion."
I will heal their defection, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots. His splendor shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain; They shall blossom like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. "I am like a verdant cypress tree"-- Because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.
Psalms 81(80):6-8.9.10-11.14.17.
Who made it a decree for Joseph when he came out of the land of Egypt. II I hear a new oracle:
"I relieved their shoulders of the burden; their hands put down the basket.
In distress you called and I rescued you; unseen, I spoke to you in thunder; At the waters of Meribah I tested you and said: Selah
'Listen, my people, I give you warning! If only you will obey me, Israel!
There must be no foreign god among you; you must not worship an alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.'
But even now if my people would listen, if Israel would walk in my paths,
But Israel I would feed with the finest wheat, satisfy them with honey from the rock."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 12:28-34.
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, «Which is the first of all the commandments?»
Jesus replied, "The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, 'He is One and there is no other than he.'
And 'to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself' is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that (he) answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Vatican Council II
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church « Lumen gentium » §42 (©Libreria Vaticana editrice)
All Christians are called to holiness
God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God and God in Him" (1Jn 4,16). But, God «pours out his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us» (Rm 5,5); thus the first and most necessary gift is love, by which we love God above all things and our neighbor because of God. Indeed, in order that love, as good seed may grow and bring forth fruit in the soul (Mt 13,35), each one of the faithful must willingly hear the Word of God and accept His Will, and must complete what God has begun by their own actions with the help of God's grace. These actions consist in the use of the sacraments and in a special way the Eucharist, frequent participation in the sacred action of the Liturgy, application of oneself to prayer, self-abnegation, lively fraternal service and the constant exercise of all the virtues. For charity, as the bond of perfection and the fullness of the law,(Col 3,14; Rm 13,10) rules over all the means of attaining holiness and gives life to these same means. It is charity which guides us to our final end. It is the love of God and the love of one's neighbor which points out the true disciple of Christ.
St Mary of Egypt, Hermit (c.344-421)
SAINT MARY OF EGYPT
Hermit
(c. 344-421)
Hermit
(c. 344-421)
At the tender age of twelve, Mary left her father's house that she might sin without restraint, and for seventeen years she lived in shame at Alexandria. Then she accompanied a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and entangled many in grievous sin.
She was in that city on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and went with the crowd to the church which contained the precious wood. The rest entered and adored; but Mary was invisibly held back. In that instant her misery and pollution burst upon her. Turning to the Immaculate Mother, whose picture faced her in the porch, she vowed thenceforth to do penance if she might enter and stand like Magdalen beside the Cross. Then she entered in. As she knelt before Our Lady on leaving the church, a voice came to her which said, "Pass over Jordan, and thou shalt find rest."
She went into the wilderness, and there, in 420, forty-seven years after, the Abbot Zosimus met her. She told him that for seventeen years the old songs and scenes had haunted her; ever since, she had had perfect peace. At her request he brought her on Holy Thursday the sacred body of Christ.
She bade him return again after a year, and this time he found her corpse upon the sand, with an inscription sayings "Bury here the body of Mary the sinner."
The Bollandists place her death on April 1, 421. The Greek Church celebrates her feast on 1 April, while the Roman Martyrology assigns it to 2 April, and the Roman Calendar to 3 April. The Greek date is more likely to be correct; the others may be due to the fact that on those days portions of her relics reached the West.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
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