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.