Arise!

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 5:21-43.
When Jesus had crossed again (in the boat) to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet
and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, "My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live."
He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.
She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured."
Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?"
But his disciples said to him, "You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'"
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."
While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?"
Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith."
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them, "Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep."
And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child's father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. (At that) they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.


Commentary of the day : Saint Jerome
« Arise»

«He took the child by the hand and said to her: 'Talitha koum', which means, 'Little girl...arise.'» «Since you have been born again, you are to be called 'little girl'. Little girl, arise for my sake: your healing does not come from you.» «And immediately the little girl arose and walked around.» May Jesus touch us, too, and at once we shall walk. We may well be paralysed, our deeds may be evil and we may be unable to walk, we may be lying on the bed of our sins... but if Jesus touches us then we shall immediately be healed. Peter's mother-in-law was suffering with fever: Jesus touched her hand and she arose and immediately served him (Mk 1,31)...

«They were utterly astounded, and he gave them strict orders that no one should know this.» Do you see now why he put the people out when he was going to work a miracle? He ordered, and not just ordered but strictly ordered, that no one should know of this. He ordered the three apostles and he ordered the parents, too, that no one should know. Our Lord ordered them all, but the little girl herself, she who had stood up, could not be silent.

«And he said she should be given something to eat»: so that her resurrection might not be thought to be a ghostly apparition. And he himself, after his resurrection, ate fish and a piece of honeycomb (Lk 24,42)... Lord, I beseech you, touch our hands as we, too, lie prostrate. Make us rise from our bed of sins and enable us to walk. And when we have walked, make them give us something to eat. We cannot eat when we are lying down; unless we are standing we shall not be able to receive the Body of Christ.

Go home to your family ...

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 5:1-20.
They came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!"
(He had been saying to him, "Unclean spirit, come out of the man!")
He asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "Legion is my name. There are many of us."
And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory.
Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him, "Send us into the swine. Let us enter them."
And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But he would not permit him but told him instead, "Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you."
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.


Commentary of the day : Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
"The man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him... but he told him instead, "Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you."

We have been called to love the world. And God loved the world so much that he gave Jesus to it (Jn 3,16). Today, he loves the world so much that he gives you and me to the world to be his love, his compassion and his presence through our lives of prayer, sacrifice and self-surrender. The response that God is waiting for from you is to become a contemplative, to be a contemplative.

Let us take Jesus at his word and we will be contemplatives at the heart of the world, because if we have faith then we are his permanent presence. In contemplation the soul draws directly from God's heart the graces that the active life has been entrusted to distribute. Our very existence is to be intimately bound to the living Christ within us. If we do not live in God's presence, we cannot keep going.

What is contemplation? It is to live the life of Jesus. That is how I understand it. To love Jesus; living his life at the heart of our own; living our own at the heart of his... Contemplation has nothing to do with shutting oneself up in a dark cupboard but in allowing Jesus to live his Passion, his love and his humility in us, to pray with us, to be with us and to make holy through us. Our lives and our contemplation are one. It's not a question of doing but of being. In fact it is about the complete happiness of our spirit through the Holy Spirit who breathes God's fullness into us and send us out into all creation as his own, personal message of love (Mk 16,15).

"Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:1-12.
When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


Commentary of the day : John Tauler
"Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted"

When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain... he began to teach them, saying...» The mountain that Jesus climbed was his own happiness and essence in which he is one with his Father. He was followed by a great crowd, which is the crowd of saints whose feast we celebrate today. All of them followed him according to the vocation to which God called them. We are to imitate them in this, each of us paying attention to our own vocation before all else so as to be certain of that to which God calls us and thus following his call...

When he was on the mountain, Jesus opened his mouth to teach the eight beatitudes... «Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.» In the first place comes the question of the virtue of spiritual poverty since this is the beginning and foundation of all perfection. Consider the question from all sides and it is always a matter of man's deepest self being stripped, detached, free, poor and released from every kind of self-interest if God is truly to accomplish his work within it. It must be set free from every kind of attachment for only then will God find himself at home there...

«Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the land» for all eternity. Here we take another step forward since if, by means of genuine poverty we are set free from hindrances, with meekness we advance further into the very depths, casting out all bitterness, irritation and imprudence... For the meek nothing is bitter, as for those who are good everything for them is likewise good: all this comes from the goodness and purity of their innermost self... The meek inherit the land by remaining peaceful whatever happens. But if you don't behave like this then you will lose both virtue and peace at the same time and it might be said of you that you are a grumbler and to be compared to a barking dog.

«Blessed are they who mourn...» Who are these people who mourn? In a certain sense they are people who suffer, but in another sense they are those who mourn their sins. But God's worthy friends, who in every respect are the happiest of all, no longer mourn their sins... even though they are not without tears: they mourn the sins and faults of their neighbor... Thus it is that the true friends of God mourn because of the blindness and wretchedness of the sins of the world.

The grain that has fallen to the ground produces much fruit

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4:26-34.
He said,"This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come."
He said, "To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade."
With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.


Commentary of the day : Saint Chromatius of Aquilaea
The grain that has fallen to the ground produces much fruit (Jn 12,24)

Our Lord compared himself to a mustard seed, for although he was the God of glory and eternal majesty he became completely small in that he willed to be born of a virgin in the body of a child. Thus he was placed in the earth when his body was laid in the tomb but, when he had risen from the dead through his glorious resurrection, he grew great on earth until he became a tree in whose branches nest the birds of the air.

This tree stands for the Church, which Christ's death has raised up in glory. As for its branches, these must be understood as the apostles since, just as branches are the tree's natural adornment, so the apostles are the adornment of Christ's Church through the beauty of grace they have received. And on these branches, as we know, dwell the birds of the air. Allegorically speaking, the birds of the air designate ourselves who, coming to Christ's Church, perch on the teaching of the apostles like birds on the branch.

The lamp on its lampstand

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4:21-25.
He said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?
For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light.
Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear."
He also told them, "Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."


Commentary of the day : Paul VI
The lamp on its lampstand

Our appeal here is inspired by the fervor of the greatest preachers and evangelizers, whose lives were devoted to the apostolate... They have known how to overcome many obstacles to evangelization. Such obstacles are also present today, and we shall limit ourself to mentioning the lack of fervor. It is all the more serious because it comes from within. It is manifested in fatigue, disenchantment, compromise, lack of interest and above all lack of joy and hope. We exhort all those who have the task of evangelizing, by whatever title and at whatever level, always to nourish spiritual fervor...

Let us therefore preserve our fervor of spirit. Let us preserve the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow. May it mean for us- as it did for John the Baptist, for Peter and Paul, for the other apostles and for a multitude of splendid evangelizers all through the Church's history- an interior enthusiasm that nobody and nothing can quench. May it be the great joy of our consecrated lives. And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives so that the kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the midst of the world.

Successors of the apostles

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10:1-9.
Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.'
If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'


Commentary of the day : Catechism of the Catholic Church
Timothy and Titus, successors of the apostles

The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is "sent out" into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. "The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well." Indeed, we call an apostolate "every activity of the Mystical Body" that aims "to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth" (Vatican II: AA 2).

"Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church's whole apostolate"; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for lay people clearly depends on their vital union with Christ. In keeping with their vocations, the demands of the times and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostolate assumes the most varied forms. But charity, drawn from the Eucharist above all, is always "as it were, the soul of the whole apostolate" (AA 3).

The Church is ultimately one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that "the Kingdom of heaven," the "Reign of God,"380 already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time. The kingdom has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him, until its full eschatological manifestation. Then all those he has redeemed and made "holy and blameless before him in love" (Eph 1,4), will be gathered together as the one People of God, the "Bride of the Lamb," "the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God." For "the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Rv 21,9-11.14).

He drives out demons

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:22-30.
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "By the prince of demons he drives out demons."
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, "How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin."
For they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."


Commentary of the day : Origen
« He drives out demons»

Acknowledge this: «a new king, a king of Egypt, has come to power» in you. He is the one who imposes forced labor on you and makes you produce bricks and mortar for him. He is the one who sets taskmasters and overseers over you, who forces you on to field work with whip and lash, constraining you to build his cities. It is he who urges you to traverse the world over, stirring up land and seas to satisfy his desires...

This king of Egypt knows well that war is at hand. He forsees the coming of him who can «strip his principalities and powers, bravely triumphing over them and nailing them to the wood of the cross»... He senses that the hour of the destruction of his people is near. And so he declares: «The people of Israel is more powerful than we ourselves!» Would that he could say the same of us and that we might know ourselves more powerful than he! In what way will he sense this? If I do not accept the evil thoughts and depraved lusts he arouses in me; if I repulse his «fire-tipped arrows with the shield of faith»; if, whenever he suggests something to my soul, I say to him, calling Christ my Lord to mind: «Get away, Satan. It is written: 'The Lord, your God, you shall worship and him alone shall you serve»...

For he comes, the Lord Jesus..., to bring to submission the «principalities, dominions and powers», to submit the children of Israel to the rage of their enemies..., to teach us once again to see God in spirit, to abandon Pharaoh's works, to leave the land of Egypt, to renounce the barbaric customs of the Egyptians, «to put away the old self with its works and put on the new self, created in God's way,» «being renewed day by day» in the image of him who created us, Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 4:12-23.
When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen."
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them,
and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.


Commentary of the day : Saint John Chrysostom
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." 

What a splendid catch of our Savior's! Wonder at the disciples' faith and obedience. As you know, fishing demands undisturbed concentration and yet, right in the middle of their work, they hear Jesus' call and don't hesitate for a moment. They don't say: «Let's go back home for a word with our relatives.» No, they leave everything and follow him as Elisha did with Elijah (1Kgs 19,20). This is the kind of obedience Christ asks of us: no hesitation even if apparently more urgent requirements are pressing us. That is why, when a young man who wanted to follow him asked whether he might go to bury his father, he didn't allow him to do so (Mt 8,21). To follow Jesus and obey his word is a duty that comes before all else.

Perhaps you will tell me that the promises he made them were very great? That is precisely why I admire them so much: even when they hadn't yet seen any miracles, they believed in that very great promise and forsook everything to follow him! It was because they believed that, by means of the same words with which they themselves had been caught, they could go fishing for others.

Jesus gives himself wholly : he gives his own self to eat

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:20-21.
He came home. Again (the) crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."


Commentary of the day : Saint Thomas Aquinas
Jesus gives himself wholly : he gives his own self to eat

The only-begotten Son of God, wishing to enable us to share in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, he turned the whole of our nature, which he assumed, to our salvation. For he offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation; and he shed his blood for our ransom and our cleansing, so that we might be redeemed from wretched captivity and cleansed from all sins.

Now in order that we might always keep the memory of his great act of love, he left his body as food and his blood as drink, to be received by the faithful under the appearances of bread and wine... What could be more precious than this banquet? It is not the meat of calves or kids that is offered, as happened under the Old Law; at this meal Christ, the true God, is set before us for us to eat. What could be more wonderful than this sacrament?...  No one is capable of expressing the delight of this sacrament, through which the sweetness of the Spirit is tasted at its source, and the memory is celebrated of that surpassing love which Christ showed in his Passion.

And so, in order to imprint the immensity of this love more deeply in the hearts of the faithful, at the Last Supper, when the Lord had celebrated the Pasch with his disciples and was about to pass from this world to his Father, he instituted this sacrament as a perpetual memorial of his Passion. It fulfilled the types of the Old Law; it was the greatest of the miracles he worked; and he left it as a unique consolation to those who were desolate at his departure.

The mystery of vocation

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:13-19.
Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted  and they came to him.
He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach
and to have authority to drive out demons:
(he appointed the twelve:) Simon, whom he named Peter;
James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder;
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean,
and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.


Commentary of the day : Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus
The mystery of vocation

I'm going to be doing only one thing: I shall begin to sing what I must sing eternally: "The Mercies of the Lord!» (Ps 89[88],1)... Opening the Holy Gospels my eyes fell upon these words: "And going up a mountain, he called to him men of his own choosing, and they came to him." This is the mystery of my vocation, my whole life, and especially the mystery of the privileges Jesus showered upon my soul. He does not call those who are worthy but those whom he pleases or as St. Paul says: "God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he will show pity to whom he will show pity. So then, there is question not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God showing mercy" (Rm 9, 15-16).

I wondered for a long time why God has preferences, why all souls don't receive an equal amount of graces. I was surprised when I saw him shower his extraordinary favors on saints who had offended him, for instance, St. Paul and St. Augustine, and whom he forced, so to speak, to accept his graces. When reading the lives of the saints, I was puzzled at seeing how Our Lord was pleased to caress certain ones from the cradle to the grave, allowing no obstacle in their way... Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers he has created are beautiful... And so it is in the world of souls. He willed to create great souls comparable to lilies and roses, but he has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God's glances when he looks down at his feet. Perfection consists in doing his will, in being what he wills us to be.

"All those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:7-12.
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, "You are the Son of God."
He warned them sternly not to make him known.


Commentary of the day : Saint Alphonsus Liguori
"All those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him"

«Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong; fear not...God himself will come to save you» (Is 35,4). This prophecy has come to pass; allow me, therefore, to shout aloud for joy: Rejoice, you sons of Adam! Rejoice! Cast aside all discouragement. When you see your weakness and inability to stand up to so many enemies: «Fear not! God himself will come to save you.» In what way has he come himself and saved you? By giving you the strength you need to confront and overcome everything that stands in the way of your salvation. And how has our Redeemer gained this strength for you? By making himself weak, strong and almighty though he was. He has taken our weakness on himself and granted us his strength...

God is all-powerful: «Lord,» cried Isaiah, «who could withstand the strength of your arm?»... Yet the wounds caused by sin to humankind have so weakened us that we were unable to resist our enemies. What, then, has the eternal Word, the Word of God, done? From being strong and powerful he made himself weak; he put on our bodily weakness to gain for us through his merits the strength of soul we need ...; he became a child...; and finally, at the end of his life, in the Garden of Olives, he was loaded with bonds from which he was unable to be set free... Are we weak? Let us put our trust in Jesus Christ and we will be able to do everything: «I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me» said the apostle Paul (Phil 4,13). I have the strength for everything, not by my own strength but by the strength won for me through my Redeemer's merits.

"Grieved at their hardness of heart"

 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:1-6.

Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up here before us."
Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.


Commentary of the day : Saint Faustina Kowalska
"Grieved at their hardness of heart"

O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. 0 Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable
graces upon the entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood.

0 Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equalled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy, God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God's mercy will never be
exhausted (cf Mt 24,35). Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages.

The lord of the Sabbath

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."


Commentary of the day : Aphrahat
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.

The Church, the Bride of Christ

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:18-22.
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, «Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?»
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."


Commentary of the day : John-Paul II
The Church, the Bride of Christ

Of fundamental importance are the words of the Letter to the Ephesians: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish... 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'. This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church" (5:25-32; Gn 2,24)...

We find ourselves at the very heart of the Paschal Mystery, which completely reveals the spousal love of God. Christ is the Bridegroom because "he has given himself": his body has been "given", his blood has been "poured out" (cf. Lk 22:19-20). In this way "he loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1). The "sincere gift" contained in the Sacrifice of the Cross gives definitive prominence to the spousal meaning of God's love. As the Redeemer of the world, Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our Redemption. It is the Sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride. The Eucharist makes present and realizes anew in a sacramental manner the redemptive act of Christ, who "creates" the Church, his body. Christ is united with this "body" as the bridegroom with the bride. All this is contained in the Letter to the Ephesians. The perennial "unity of the two" that exists between man and woman from the very "beginning" is introduced into this "great mystery" of Christ and of the Church.

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 1:29-34.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said, 'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'
I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel."
John testified further, saying, "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him.
I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.'
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."


Commentary of the day : Saint Cyril of Alexandria
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"

«Raise a glad cry, you heavens: the Lord has shown mercy to Israel. Sound the trumpet, earth's foundations!... For the Lord has redeemed Jacob» (Is 44,23 LXX). From this passage of Isaiah we can easily determine that remission of sins, conversion and the redemption of humankind proclaimed by the prophets is to be fulfilled by Christ in the last days. Indeed, when God, the Lord, appeared to us and when he, the true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, the victim who is wholly pure, lived as man amongst earth's inhabitants, then what reason was there not for rejoicing among the heavenly powers and celestial spirits and for all the orders of angels! How they sang his birth according to the flesh: «Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace; favor to men!» (Lk 2,14).

If the Lord's word is true – and it is absolutely true – that there is «more joy in heaven among the holy angels over one sinner who repents» (cf. Lk 15,7), how could we doubt there to be joy and gladness among the spirits on high when Christ brings the whole earth back to knowledge of the truth, calls to conversion, justifies by faith, and causes light to shine out in holiness? ««Raise a glad cry, you heavens: the Lord has shown mercy» not only to Israel according to the flesh, but to an Israel understood according to the spirit. «Earth's foundations», that is to say, ministers consecrated to the preaching of the Gospel, have «sounded the trumpet». Their piercing voices have extended everywhere; like sacred trumpets, they have resounded far and wide. They have proclaimed our Savior's glory in every place; they have called to the knowledge of Christ among both Jews and pagans.

"The man got up and followed him"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:13-17.
Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them.
As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him.
Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
Jesus heard this and said to them (that), "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."


Commentary of the day : Saint Augustine
"The man got up and followed him"

Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.

When I shall have adhered to you with the whole of myself, I shall never have pain and toil, and my entire life will be full of you. You lift up the person whom you fill. But for the present, because I am not full of you, I am a burden to myself... Have mercy on me, Lord! There is a struggle between my regrets at my evil past and my memories of good joys, and which side has the victory I do not know. Alas, Lord have mercy upon me!, wretch that I am. See, I do not hide my wounds. You are the physician, I am the patient. You are pitiful, I am the object of pity.

My son, your sins are forgiven....

"We must speak to them with our hands before we speak to them with our lips."
-- St. Peter Claver

Mark 2: 1 - 12 1 And when he returned to Caper'na-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Rise, take up your pallet and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic -- 11 "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home." 12 And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
	About forgiveness:
	If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive - Mother Teresa

"The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 1:40-45.
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, «If you wish, you can make me clean.»
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.


Commentary of the day : Odes of Solomon
"The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter"

I raised my arms on high
on account of the grace of the Lord.
Because he cast off my chains from me,
and my Helper raised me according to his grace and his salvation.
And I stripped off darkness, and put on light.
And even I myself acquired members. In them there was no sickness
or affliction or suffering.
And abundantly helpful to me was the thought of the Lord, and his incorruptible fellowship.
And I was lifted up in the light, and I passed before his face.
And I was constantly near him, while praising and confessing him.
He caused my heart to overflow, and it was found in my mouth;
and it sprang forth unto my lips.
Then upon my face increased the exultation of the Lord and his praise.
Hallelujah.

I was rescued from my chains
and I fled unto you, O my God,
because you are the right hand of salvation and my Helper.
You have restrained those who rise up against me, and they did not appear again
because your face was with me,
which saved me by your grace.
But I was despised and rejected in the eyes of many,
and I was in their eyes like lead.
And I acquired strength from you, and help.
A lamp you set for me both on my right and on my left,
so that there might not be in me anything that is not light.
And I was covered with the covering of your spirit
and I removed from me my garments of skin (Gn 3,21),
because your right hand raised me,
and caused sickness to pass from me.
And I became mighty in your truth,
and holy in your righteousness.
And all my adversaries were afraid of me
and I became the Lord's by the name of the Lord.
And I was justified by his kindness,
and his rest is for ever and ever.
Hallelujah.

"He went off to a deserted place, where he prayed"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 1:29-39.
On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.
When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you."
He told them, "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come."
So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.


Commentary of the day : 5th century homily on prayer
"He went off to a deserted place, where he prayed"
Prayer, familiar intercourse with God, is our greatest good... Prayer is the light of the soul, true knowledge of God, mediator between God and man. Through it the soul is raised to heaven and holds God inexpressibly in tight embrace. Like a child crying out to its mother, it expresses the eagerness of its desire. It gives voice to its deepest longings and receives in return gifts surpassing all visible nature. For prayer presents itself as a powerful ambassador, rejoicing and pacifying the soul.

When I speak of prayer you should not imagine it to be a question of words. It is a reaching out towards God, an indescribable love, not of human origin, of which the apostle Paul speaks when he says: «We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings» (Rm 8,26). If God grants someone such prayer as this, it becomes for him an everlasting source of wealth and a heavenly food that fills the soul. The one who has tasted it is seized with an eternal longing for our Lord like a devouring fire that sets his heart ablaze.

"Have you come to destroy us?"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 1:21-28. Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Quiet! Come out of him!" The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him." His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee. Commentary of the day : Catechism of the Catholic Church "Have you come to destroy us?" «But deliver us from evil»: in this petition of the Lord's Prayer, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who "throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ. "A murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of lies," (Jn 8,44) Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world» (Rv 12,9). Through him sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and death" (EP IV). Now "we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one" (1Jn 5,18-19)... Victory over the "prince of this world" (Jn 14,30) was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out" (Jn 12,31). "He pursued the woman" but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death... "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring" (Rv 12,13.17). Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus," (Rv 22,17.20) since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One. When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rv 1,18.8).

"This is the time of fulfillment... Come after me"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 1:14-20.
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.
As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.


Commentary of the day : Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein]
"This is the time of fulfillment... Come after me"

The child in the crib is the King of kings and Lord of life and death. He utters his 'follow me' and whoever is not for him is against him (Lc 11,23). He also speaks for us and invites us to choose between light and darkness. Wherever that will lead us on this earth we do not know and should not ask beforehand. Only this do we know: that for those who love the Lord, all things work out for good (Rm 8,28). And in addition: that the paths which the Lord directs lead out beyond this earth.

«O wonderful exchange!» The Creator of mankind, by taking on a human body, imparts to us his divinity. I t is for this wondrous task that the Saviour came into this world. God became a Child of man so that the human race could become children of God. One of our race severed the bon~ of our divine adoption; one of us had to bind it up again and pay for the sin. No one from the ancient, sick and degenerate race could do it. A new, healthy and noble sprout had to be grafted. He became one of us; but even more than that: one with us. That is precisely the wonderful thing about the human race - that we are all one... He came to be a mysterious Body with us: he as head, we as members (Ep 5,23.30).

Let us place our hands in the hands of the divine Child; let us speak our 'yes' to his 'follow me'. Thus we shall be his and the path shall be open for his divine life to pass over upon us. It is still the darkness of faith, but it is no longer of this world: it is already a stance in the kingdom of God.

"With him I am well pleased"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 3:13-17.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?"
Jesus said to him in reply, "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed him.
After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."


Commentary of the day : A sermon attributed to Saint Hippolytus of Rome
"With him I am well pleased"

Christ, the creator of all things, descended like the rain, made himself known as a spring, poured himself out like a river (Hos 6,3; Jn 4,14; 7,38) and yet see him being baptized in the Jordan... That unquenchable Spring, which causes life to spring up for all mankind and has no end, was concealed beneath mere transient waters. He who is everywhere present, who is nowhere absent, he whom the angels cannot grasp and who is invisible to mortals, came by his own will to be baptized...

«And behold the heavens opened and a voice said: 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased'.» The Beloved one brings forth love and the immaterial light brings forth «inaccessible light» (1Tm 6,16). «This is my beloved Son»... As in Noah's ark a dove revealed God's love for the human race, so now it was in the form of a dove, as though with an olive branch in its beak, that the Spirit descended and rested on him to whom the Father would bear witness. He did so to make sure that the Father's voice would be recognized...: «The Lord's voice resounded over the waters. The God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders across many waters» (Ps 29[28],3). And what does he say? «This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.»... This is he who is called 'son of Joseph' and he is my only Son according to his divine being. «This is my beloved Son»: he is hungry but he feeds great crowds, he is weary but he comforts the weary. He has nowhere to lay his head but he bears all things in his hand; he suffers but he heals suffering. He is struck yet he grants liberty to the world; his side is wounded yet he restores Adam's side.

"He must increase; I must decrease"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3:22-30.
Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing.
John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized,
for John had not yet been imprisoned.
Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings.
So they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him."
John answered and said, "No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven.
You yourselves can testify that I said (that) I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him.
The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete.
He must increase; I must decrease."


Commentary of the day : Duns Scotus Erigena
"He must increase; I must decrease"

«John was not the light but came to testify to the light» (Jn 1,8). The forerunner of the Light was not the Light. So why is he popularly known as a «burning lamp» (Jn 5,35) and «morning star»? He was indeed a burning and shining lamp, but the flame he burned with, the light with which he shone, was not his own. He was the morning star, but he did not draw his own light from himself: the grace of him of whom he was the forerunner burned and shone within him. He was not the light but he participated in the light and what shone in him and through him did not come from him...

No creature, in fact, whether endowed with reason or intellect, is light of its own accord in its own substance. It shares in the one, true Light, the substantial Light that is everywhere and in everything that our minds see shining.

"Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 5:12-16.
Now there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."
Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do will it. Be made clean." And the leprosy left him immediately.
Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but "Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."
The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments,
but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.


Commentary of the day : Saint Bonaventure
"Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him"


One day while Francis was praying in a secluded spot, he became totally absorbed in God through his extreme fervor, Jesus Christ appeared to him fastened to the cross. Francis's «soul melted» (Sg 5:6) at the sight, and the memory of Christ's passion was so impressed on the innermost recesses of his heart that from that hour, whenever Christ's crucifixion came to his mind, he could scarcely contain his tears and sighs, as he later revealed to his companions when he was approaching the end of his life. Through this the man of God understood as addressed to himself the Gospel text: «If you wish to come after me, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me» (Mt 16:24).

From that time on he clothed himself with a spirit of poverty, a sense of humility and a feeling of intimate devotion. Formerly he used to be horrified not only by close dealing with lepers but by their very sight, even from a distance; but now he rendered humble service to the lepers with human concern and devoted kindness in order that he might completely despise himself, because of Christ crucified, who according to the text of the prophet was despised «as a leper» (Is 53:3).

«The Spirit of the Lord is upon me»

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 4:14-22.
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read
and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"


Commentary of the day : Saint Irenaeus of Lyons
«The Spirit of the Lord is upon me»

«The Spirit of the lord God is upon me, because the lord has anointed me» (Is 61,1). It was of the Spirit that the Lord was speaking when he said: «For it is not you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you» (Mt 10,20). And in the same way, when he gave his disciples power to bring people to be born again in God, he said to them: «Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit» (Mt 28,19). For he had indeed promised through the prophets to pour out his Spirit in the last days on his servants and handmaids that they, too, might prophesy (cf. Jl 3,1-2).

For this reason the Spirit came down upon the Son of God become Son of Man: by this means he became used to living among humankind, resting on men and women, dwelling within the work of God's hands. In them he accomplished the Father's will and renewed them by enabling them to pass from their former mode of life to new life in Christ.

"About the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6:45-52.
Then he made his disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side toward Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.
And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray.
When it was evening, the boat was far out on the sea and he was alone on shore.
Then he saw that they were tossed about while rowing, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them.
But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out.
They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!"
He got into the boat with them and the wind died down. They were (completely) astounded.
They had not understood the incident of the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.


Commentary of the day : Blessed John Henry Newman
"About the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea"

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;
The night is dark and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on.
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

Jesus took the loaves... and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke them , and gave them to (his) disciples

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6:34-44.
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.
By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, "This is a deserted place and it is already very late.
Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
He said to them in reply, "Give them some food yourselves." But they said to him, "Are we to buy two hundred days' wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?"
He asked them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they had found out they said, "Five loaves and two fish."
So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.
The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties.
Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to (his) disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish.
Those who ate (of the loaves) were five thousand men.


Commentary of the day : Pope Benedict XVI
"Jesus took the loaves... and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke them , and gave them to (his) disciples"

"Without Sunday we cannot live" - takes us back to the year 304, when the Emperor Diocletian forbade Christians, on pain of death, from possessing the Scriptures, from gathering on Sundays to celebrate the Eucharist and from building places in which to hold their assemblies. In Abitene, a small village in present-day Tunisia, 49 Christians were taken by surprise one Sunday while they were celebrating the Eucharist... They were arrested and taken to be interrogated... There they replied to the charges: "Sine dominico non possumus": that is, we cannot live without joining together on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist. We would lack the strength to face our daily problems and not to succumb.

In taking flesh, the Son of God could become Bread and thus be the nourishment of his people, of us, journeying on in this world towards the promised land of Heaven. We need this Bread to face the fatigue and weariness of our journey. Sunday, the Lord's Day, is a favourable opportunity to draw strength from him, the Lord of life. The Sunday precept is not, therefore, an externally imposed duty, a burden on our shoulders. On the contrary, taking part in the Celebration, being nourished by the Eucharistic Bread and experiencing the communion of their brothers and sisters in Christ is a need for Christians, it is a joy; Christians can thus replenish the energy they need to continue on the journey we must make every week.

“I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God”

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 4:12-17.23-25.
When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen."
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.
His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them.
And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.


Commentary of the day : Saint John Chrysostom
“I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God”

Christ was manifested to all, not at his birth but at his baptism. Before then, few knew him; almost no one knew he existed or who he was. John the Baptist said: “There is one among you who you do not recognise,” (Jn 1,26). John himself shared the same ignorance of Christ up until his baptism: “I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me: ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit”…

Indeed, what is the reason John gives for the Lord’s baptism? It was, he said, so that he might be made known to all. Saint Paul says the same thing: “John baptised with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,” (Ac 19,4). This is why Jesus receives baptism from John. To have gone from house to house presenting Christ and saying he was the Son of God would have made John’s testimony extremely difficult; to have led him to the synagogue and designated him as the Saviour would have made his testimony hardly credible. But that, in the midst of a large crowd gathered on the banks of the Jordan, Jesus should have received this testimony clearly expressed from heaven above and that the Holy Spirit should have descended on him in the form of a dove: this indeed confirmed John’s testimony without any shadow of doubt.

“I myself did not know him,” John said. Who made him known to you, then? “He who sent me to baptise.” And what did he say to you? “On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.” Thus, it is the Holy Spirit who reveals to all he whose wonders John had proclaimed, by coming down to designate him, so to speak, with the touch of his wing.

Gold, incense and myrrh

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 2:1-12.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."
When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:
'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage."
After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star,
and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.


Commentary of the day : Saint Bruno of Segni
Gold, incense and myrrh

Guided by the star, the wise men from the East, having arrived in Bethlehem, entered the house in which the blessed Virgin Mother was staying with her child. They opened their treasures, and offered the Lord three - gold, frankincense, and myrrh - thereby acknowledging him as Lord, true man, and true king.

Holy Church also offers these same gifts to her Savior every day without ceasing. She offers him frankincense by acknowledging and believing him the true Lord and Creator of all. She offers him myrrh when she affirms that he assumed the substance of our flesh, in which he willed to suffer and to die for our salvation. And she offers him gold by believing without doubt that he reigns eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit...

Alternatively, the offering of these gifts may be taken in a mystical sense. Heavenly wisdom is symbolized by gold, according to the verse of Solomon, which says: «A priceless treasure lies in the mouth of the sage» (cf. Prv 21,20)... By frankincense pure prayer is to be understood, as the psalmist says: «Let my prayer rise like incense in your sight, O Lord» (Ps 141[140],2). For when our prayer is pure, it yields a purer fragrance to the Lord than the smoke of burning incense, and just as such smoke rises upward, so does our prayer ascend to the Lord. Myrrh can be taken as the mortification of our flesh. Thus, we offer the Lord gold when we shine in his sight with the light of heavenly wisdom... We offer him frankincense when we send up pure prayer before him, and myrrh when, «mortifying our flesh with its vices and passions» (Gal 5,24) by self-control, we carry the cross behind Jesus.