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.