DAILY GOSPEL: 16/04/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Saturday of the Fifth week of Lent
Book of Ezekiel 37:21-28.
Thus says the Lord GOD: I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have come, and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one prince for them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.
No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, and all their transgressions. I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy, and cleanse them so that they may be my people and I may be their God.
My servant David shall be prince over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children's children, with my servant David their prince forever.
I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.
Book of Jeremiah 31:10.11-12.13.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, proclaim it on distant coasts, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the LORD'S blessings: The grain, the wine, and the oil, the sheep and the oxen; They themselves shall be like watered gardens, never again shall they languish.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance, and young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 11:45-56.
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation."
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish."
He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to kill him.
So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"
Thus says the Lord GOD: I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have come, and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one prince for them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.
No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, and all their transgressions. I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy, and cleanse them so that they may be my people and I may be their God.
My servant David shall be prince over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children's children, with my servant David their prince forever.
I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.
Book of Jeremiah 31:10.11-12.13.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, proclaim it on distant coasts, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the LORD'S blessings: The grain, the wine, and the oil, the sheep and the oxen; They themselves shall be like watered gardens, never again shall they languish.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance, and young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 11:45-56.
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation."
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish."
He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to kill him.
So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"
Saint Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), Jesuit, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
The Soul's Ascent to God
"From that day on the Sanhedrin planned to kill him"
O Lord, everything you teach us might seem too difficult, too heavy to bear were you to speak to us from another level, but since you teach us more by example than in speech, you who are «Master and Teacher» (Jn 13,14), how could we venture to contradict, we who are servants and pupils. What you say is perfectly true, what you command is perfectly just: the cross from which you speak is a proof of it. This blood flowing down in torrents is also its witness: it cries out with all its might (Gn 4,10). And finally, this death itself: if it could tear apart the veil of the Temple from a distance and split the hardest of rocks (Mt 27,51), how could it not do the same – and still more – for the hearts of believers? How could it not lead them to surrender themselves?
Lord, we would repay you with love for love, and if our desire to follow you does not as yet come from our love for you, frail as it is, may it at least come from our love for your love. If you draw us after you «we will run to the fragrance of your sweet odors» (Sg 1,4 LXX). Not only do we wish to love and follow you but we are determined to despise this world... when we see how you, our leader, did not concern yourself with the enjoyments of this life. We behold you confronting death, not on your bed but on the wood that renders justice. King though you were, you wanted no other throne than this gallows... Drawn by your example as king, full of wisdom, we repel the call of this world and its pleasures, and taking your cross on our shoulders we decide to follow you alone... Only grant us the help we need; make us strong enough to follow you.
Lord, we would repay you with love for love, and if our desire to follow you does not as yet come from our love for you, frail as it is, may it at least come from our love for your love. If you draw us after you «we will run to the fragrance of your sweet odors» (Sg 1,4 LXX). Not only do we wish to love and follow you but we are determined to despise this world... when we see how you, our leader, did not concern yourself with the enjoyments of this life. We behold you confronting death, not on your bed but on the wood that renders justice. King though you were, you wanted no other throne than this gallows... Drawn by your example as king, full of wisdom, we repel the call of this world and its pleasures, and taking your cross on our shoulders we decide to follow you alone... Only grant us the help we need; make us strong enough to follow you.
St Engratia, Virgin and Martyr and Eighteen Martyrs of Saragossa (+ 304)
EIGHTEEN MARTYRS OF SARAGOSSA
and ST. ENCRATIS, or ENGRATIA
Virgin, Martyr
(+ 304)
and ST. ENCRATIS, or ENGRATIA
Virgin, Martyr
(+ 304)
St. Optatus and seventeen other holy men received the crown of martyrdom on the same day, at Saragossa, under the cruel Governor Dacian, in the persecution of Diocletian, in 304. Two others, Caius and Crementius, died of their torments after a second conflict.
The Church also celebrates on this day the triumph of St. Encratis, or Engratia, Virgin. She was a native of Portugal. Her father had promised her in marriage to a man of quality in Roussillon; but fearing the dangers and despising the vanities of the world, and resolving to preserve her virginity, in order to appear more agreeable to her heavenly Spouse and serve Him without hindrance, she stole from her father's house and fled privately to Saragossa, where the persecution was hottest, under the eyes of Dacian. She even reproached him with his barbarities, upon which he ordered her to be long tormented in the most inhuman manner: her sides were torn with iron hooks, and one of her breasts was cut off, so that the inner parts of her chest were exposed to view, and part of her liver was pulled out. In this condition she was sent back to prison, being still alive, and died by the mortifying of her wounds, in 304.
The relics of all these martyrs were found at Saragossa in 1389.
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