DAILY GOSPEL: 07/04/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Thursday of the Fourth week of Lent
Book of Exodus 32:7-14.
The LORD said to Moses, «Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved.
They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!'
I see how stiff-necked this people is," continued the LORD to Moses.
"Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation."
But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, "Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand?
Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth'? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people.
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.'"
So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.
Psalms 106(105):19-20.21-22.23.
At Horeb they fashioned a calf, worshiped a metal statue.
They exchanged their glorious God for the image of a grass-eating bull.
They forgot the God who saved them, who did great deeds in Egypt,
Amazing deeds in the land of Ham, fearsome deeds at the Red Sea.
He would have decreed their destruction, had not Moses, the chosen leader, Withstood him in the breach to turn back his destroying anger.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 5:31-47.
Jesus said to the Jews: «If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.
But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.
You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.
But I have testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.
Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.
You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf.
But you do not want to come to me to have life.
I do not accept human praise;
moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.
I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.
How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.
For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me.
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"
The LORD said to Moses, «Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved.
They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!'
I see how stiff-necked this people is," continued the LORD to Moses.
"Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation."
But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, "Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand?
Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth'? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people.
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.'"
So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.
Psalms 106(105):19-20.21-22.23.
At Horeb they fashioned a calf, worshiped a metal statue.
They exchanged their glorious God for the image of a grass-eating bull.
They forgot the God who saved them, who did great deeds in Egypt,
Amazing deeds in the land of Ham, fearsome deeds at the Red Sea.
He would have decreed their destruction, had not Moses, the chosen leader, Withstood him in the breach to turn back his destroying anger.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 5:31-47.
Jesus said to the Jews: «If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.
But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.
You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.
But I have testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.
Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.
You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf.
But you do not want to come to me to have life.
I do not accept human praise;
moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.
I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.
How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.
For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me.
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"
Saint Jacob of Sarug (c.449-521), Syrian monk and Bishop
Homily on Moses' veil, 12-13 (cf. Migne 1997, p. 225 rev.)
"If you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me"
Moses spoke the mysteries but without explaining them. In fact he was halting in speech and unable to express himself clearly (Ex 4,10). This speech impediment was deliberately retained in him so that all his discourses might remain without explanation. When our Lord came he loosed Moses' tongue and today all his words have become clear, for his tongue stutters no more and his discourses are clear as day.
Up until our Lord the word was stifled; it remained unexplained and everything spoken concerning him continued to be obscure. The hidden mystery was concealed behind the stammering and the veil (Ex 34,33; 2Co 3,14) for so long as the hour for its open manifestation had not arrived.
Moses had asked to see the Father (Ex 33,18) for he had a premonition that the Son would come openly into the world. It was then that the Father showed him the reverse side of his face. He wanted to teach him by this that his Son would be revealed in human likeness. The Eternal one made a distinction in his regard between the face and and its reverse so that Moses might understand that the earth would behold his Son in human form... It was he towards whom Moses gazed and it was he from whom came the brilliance with which the skin of his face shone (Ex 34,29). The Son's radiance overshadowed the whole of prophecy...: when Moses spoke it was he who spoke through his mouth, for he is the Word who inspired all the words of prophecy. Apart from him there is no word or revelation possible for the prophets since he is prophecy's primary source. But when the Crucified, the Bridegroom, came then prophecy uncovered its face and lifted its voice in the midst of the assembly. The Virgin's Son raised the veil from the over the Hebrew people. All became manifest, clear and easy of interpretation.
Up until our Lord the word was stifled; it remained unexplained and everything spoken concerning him continued to be obscure. The hidden mystery was concealed behind the stammering and the veil (Ex 34,33; 2Co 3,14) for so long as the hour for its open manifestation had not arrived.
Moses had asked to see the Father (Ex 33,18) for he had a premonition that the Son would come openly into the world. It was then that the Father showed him the reverse side of his face. He wanted to teach him by this that his Son would be revealed in human likeness. The Eternal one made a distinction in his regard between the face and and its reverse so that Moses might understand that the earth would behold his Son in human form... It was he towards whom Moses gazed and it was he from whom came the brilliance with which the skin of his face shone (Ex 34,29). The Son's radiance overshadowed the whole of prophecy...: when Moses spoke it was he who spoke through his mouth, for he is the Word who inspired all the words of prophecy. Apart from him there is no word or revelation possible for the prophets since he is prophecy's primary source. But when the Crucified, the Bridegroom, came then prophecy uncovered its face and lifted its voice in the midst of the assembly. The Virgin's Son raised the veil from the over the Hebrew people. All became manifest, clear and easy of interpretation.
Bl. Sr Josaphata Hordashevska (1869-1919)
Blessed Sr Josaphata Hordashevska
Religious
(1869-1919)
Religious
(1869-1919)
The blessed Sr Josaphata Michaelina Hordashevska was the first member of the Sisters Servant of Mary Immaculate. In 1869, Michaelina Hordashevska was born in Lviv.
At the age of 18, she decided to consecrate her life to God in a contemplative monastery of the Order of St Basil the Great, then the only Eastern-rite woman's congregation. Then the Basilians decided to establish a woman's congregation that focused on the active life, Michaelina was elected to be the first leader.
When she agreed, she was sent to the Felician sisters to give her the experience of active paramonastic life. Michaelina took the name "Josaphata", in honour of the Ukrainian martyr St Josaphat Kuntsevych. She was the first superior of the young sisters there, training them in the spirit and charisma of the Sisters Servants: »serve your people where the need is greatest".
At the age of 49 on April 7, 1919, she died amidst terrible suffering from bone cancer.
She is buried in the generalate of the Sisters Servants in Rome. She was beatified by Jon Paul II on June 27, 2001.
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