DAILY GOSPEL: 18/01/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Tuesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
Letter to the Hebrews 6:10-20.
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones.
We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end,
so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.
When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, "he swore by himself,"
and said, "I will indeed bless you and multiply" you.
And so, after patient waiting, he obtained the promise.
Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument.
So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath,
so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.
This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil,
where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Psalms 111(110):1-2.4-5.9-10.
Hallelujah. I will praise the LORD with all my heart in the assembled congregation of the upright.
Great are the works of the LORD, to be treasured for all their delights.
You won renown for your wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD.
You gave food to those who fear you, mindful of your covenant forever.
You sent deliverance to your people, ratified your covenant forever; holy and awesome is your name.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; prudent are all who live by it. Your praise endures forever.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:23-28.
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him,
At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?"
He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?
How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?"
Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones.
We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end,
so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.
When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, "he swore by himself,"
and said, "I will indeed bless you and multiply" you.
And so, after patient waiting, he obtained the promise.
Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument.
So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath,
so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.
This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil,
where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Psalms 111(110):1-2.4-5.9-10.
Hallelujah. I will praise the LORD with all my heart in the assembled congregation of the upright.
Great are the works of the LORD, to be treasured for all their delights.
You won renown for your wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD.
You gave food to those who fear you, mindful of your covenant forever.
You sent deliverance to your people, ratified your covenant forever; holy and awesome is your name.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; prudent are all who live by it. Your praise endures forever.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:23-28.
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him,
At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?"
He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?
How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?"
Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."
Mc 2,23-28
Aphrahat (?-c.345), monk and Bishop near Mosul, saint of the Orthodox churches
Expositions, no.13, 1-2.13 (cf SC 359, p. 589f.)
The lord of the Sabbath
The Lord asked the children of Israel through the mediation of his servant, Moses, to observe the Sabbath day, saying to them: «Six days you may labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God» (Ex 20,9-10)... And he admonished them: «You are to rest, both you and your servant and your maidservant, your ox and your ass.» He even added: «The hireling and alien are to rest also along with every beast that toils in your service» (cf. Ex 23,12)... The Sabbath has not been imposed as a test or choice between life and death, righteousness and sin, like those other commandments by which we live or die. No the Sabbath, in its time, was given to the people to the end that they might rest – both man and beast...
So now listen to what that Sabbath is that is pleasing to God. Isaiah tells us: «Give rest to the weary» (28,12), and elsewhere: «Those who keep the Sabbath free from profanation» are «those who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant» (56,2.4)... The Sabbath is of no benefit to evildoers, murderers or thieves. But those who choose what pleases God and keep their hands from evil: in them God dwells. He makes of them his dwelling in accordance with his word: «I will set my dwelling among you and walk in your midst» (Lv 26,11; 2Cor 6,16)... Let us too, then, faithfully keep God's Sabbath, that is to say the Sabbath that pleases his heart. Thus shall we enter into the great Sabbath, the Sabbath of heaven and earth when every creature will take its rest.
So now listen to what that Sabbath is that is pleasing to God. Isaiah tells us: «Give rest to the weary» (28,12), and elsewhere: «Those who keep the Sabbath free from profanation» are «those who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant» (56,2.4)... The Sabbath is of no benefit to evildoers, murderers or thieves. But those who choose what pleases God and keep their hands from evil: in them God dwells. He makes of them his dwelling in accordance with his word: «I will set my dwelling among you and walk in your midst» (Lv 26,11; 2Cor 6,16)... Let us too, then, faithfully keep God's Sabbath, that is to say the Sabbath that pleases his heart. Thus shall we enter into the great Sabbath, the Sabbath of heaven and earth when every creature will take its rest.
St. Jaime Hilario, Martyr (1898-1937)
Saint Jaime Hilario
Martyr
(1898-1937)
Martyr
(1898-1937)
St. Jaime Hilario, was a Spanish member of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He was born Manuel Barbal Cosan on January 2, 1898 in Enviny, a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees in Catalonia (in northern Spain). Known for his serious nature, he was only 12 years old when, with the blessing of his devout and hardworking parents, he entered the minor seminary of the diocese of La Seu de Urgel. He soon developed an ear infection and he was forced to abandon his studies for the priesthood.
In 1917, convinced that God was calling him, he joined the noviciate of the La Salle Brothers in Irún. He took the names Jaime Hilario. After sixteen years in various teaching assignments, his increasing deafness forced him to abandon teaching. He moved to Cambrils, near Tarragona and worked in the garden of the Order's training house there.
On the outbreak of the Spanish civil war on July 18, 1936 he took refuge in nearby Mollerosa on his way to visit his family. But he was arrested as a religious and jailed. In December he was transferred to Tarragona for trial. He was held on board a prison ship with several other brothers. On January 15, 1937 he was given a summary trial. Though he could have been freed by claiming to be only a gardener, he insisted on his identity as a religious. He was condemned to death on no grounds beyond his religious status.
He was shot in a wood known as the Mount of Olives next to Tarragona cemetery on January 18, 1937. His last words to his executioners were "My friends, to die for Christ is to reign." When two volleys failed to meet their mark, the soldiers dropped their rifles and fled in panic. The commander, shouting a furious oath, fired five shots to the temple and the victim fell at his feet.
He was the first Christian Brothers killed in Catalonia during the Spanish civil war. He was beatified on April 29, 1990 and canonized on November 21, 1999 by Pope John Paul II.
