http://www.evangelizo.org/ Receive every morning the daily lectures, by-email ! Catholic service, multilingual, free and confidential, according to liturgical calendar ... en Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:41:02 +0100 copyright evangelizo.org http://www.evangelizo.org/www/img-lang/croix.gif http://www.evangelizo.org/ «Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 LECTIO 1 2012-02-05 - LECTIO 1 http://dailygospel.org/ Is not man's life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of a hireling? He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages. So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been told off for me. If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?" then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 PSALMUS 2012-02-05 - PSALMUS http://dailygospel.org/ Hallelujah! How good to celebrate our God in song; how sweet to give fitting praise. The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem, gathers the dispersed of Israel, Heals the brokenhearted, binds up their wounds, Numbers all the stars, calls each of them by name. Great is our Lord, vast in power, with wisdom beyond measure. The LORD sustains the poor, but casts the wicked to the ground. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 LECTIO 2 2012-02-05 - LECTIO 2 http://dailygospel.org/ Brothers and sisters : If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my recompense? That, when I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 EVANGELIUM 2012-02-05 - EVANGELIUM http://dailygospel.org/ 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. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 MEDITATIO 2012-02-05 - MEDITATIO http://dailygospel.org/ When the Son of God «raised his eyes to heaven and said: 'Father, glorify your Son'» (Jn 17,1), he taught us by this action that we should raise on high all our senses, our hands, our faculties and our soul and pray in him, with him and through him. This was the most loving and holy deed the Son of God could have done here below: to worship his beloved Father. However, this far surpasses any intellectual reasoning and we cannot in any way reach and understand it except in the Holy Spirit. Saint Augustine and Saint Anselm tell us concerning prayer that it is «a raising of the soul to God»... For my part, I tell you only this: truly detach yourself from yourself and from all created things and raise your soul wholly to God above all creatures, into the deep abyss. There, immerse your spirit in God's spirit in true abandonment..., in a real union with God..., Ask God there for everything he wants us to ask him, what you desire and what other people desire from you. And hold this as certain: what a tiny, little coin is with regard to a hundred thousand gold pieces, that is what all external prayer is with regard to this prayer, which is a real union with God, and with regard to this inflowing and fusion of the created spirit in the uncreated spirit of God... If someone asks you for a prayer, it is a good thing to do so in an external way as you were asked and as you promised to do. But, as you do so, draw your soul to the heights and into this interior desert drive your whole flock as Moses did (Ex 3,1)... «True worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth» (Jn 4,23). In this interior prayer every practice, every formula, and all those kinds of prayer that, from Adam until now, have been offered and will yet be offered until the last day, are fulfilled. All of them are brought to perfection in a moment in this true and essential recollection. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 LECTIO 1 2012-02-04 - LECTIO 1 http://dailygospel.org/ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because that was the most renowned high place. Upon its altar Solomon offered a thousand holocausts. In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, "Ask something of me and I will give it to you." Solomon answered: "You have shown great favor to your servant, my father David, because he behaved faithfully toward you, with justice and an upright heart; and you have continued this great favor toward him, even today, seating a son of his on his throne. O LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act. I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?" The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request. So God said to him: "Because you have asked for this--not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right-- I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you. In addition, I give you what you have not asked for, such riches and glory that among kings there is not your like. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 PSALMUS 2012-02-04 - PSALMUS http://dailygospel.org/ How can the young walk without fault? Only by keeping your words. With all my heart I seek you; do not let me stray from your commands. In my heart I treasure your promise, that I may not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your laws. With my lips I recite all the edicts you have spoken. I find joy in the way of your decrees more than in all riches. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 EVANGELIUM 2012-02-04 - EVANGELIUM http://dailygospel.org/ The Apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. 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. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 MEDITATIO 2012-02-04 - MEDITATIO http://dailygospel.org/ Don't just call God righteous. It isn't with regard to what you do that he reveals his righteousness. If David calls him just and upright (cf. Ps 33[32],5), his Son has revealed to us that, to an even greater degree, he is good and kind: «He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked» (Lk 6,35)... In what does the justice of God consist? Isn't it in the fact that «while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us»? (Rm 5,8). And if God shows himself compassionate here below then let us believe he has been so from all eternity. May the unjust thought that God does not show compassion be far from us! God's own being does not change as beings change who die...; nothing is lacking nor added to what he has when he comes to us creatures. But the compassion God has from the beginning, he will continue to have for eternity... As blessed Cyril says in his commentary on Genesis: worship God for love and not because of that unyielding name of justice we have placed on him. Love him as he should be loved: not for the reward he will give you but for what we have received, the world he created in order to offer it to us. Who could give back anything to him in return for what he has done for us? What is there among all our works that we might bestow on him? Who induced him to create us in the beginning? And who is it who prays for us when we fall short in acknowledgment? O how wonderful is God's compassion! How marvelous the grace of God, our creator!... Who can tell his glory? Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 LECTIO 1 2012-02-03 - LECTIO 1 http://dailygospel.org/ Like the choice fat of the sacred offerings, so was DAVID in Israel. He made sport of lions as though they were kids, and of bears, like lambs of the flock. As a youth he slew the giant and wiped out the people's disgrace, When his hand let fly the slingstone that crushed the pride of Goliath. Since he called upon the Most High God, who gave strength to his right arm To defeat the skilled warrior and raise up the might of his people, Therefore the women sang his praises and ascribed to him tens of thousands. When he assumed the royal crown, he battled and subdued the enemy on every side. He destroyed the hostile Philistines and shattered their power till our own day. With his every deed he offered thanks to God Most High, in words of praise. With his whole being he loved his Maker and daily had his praises sung; He added beauty to the feasts and solemnized the seasons of each year With string music before the altar, providing sweet melody for the psalms So that when the Holy Name was praised, before daybreak the sanctuary would resound. The LORD forgave him his sins and exalted his strength forever; He conferred on him the rights of royalty and established his throne in Israel. Because of his merits he had as his successor a wise son, who lived in security: SOLOMON reigned during an era of peace, for God made tranquil all his borders. He built a house to the name of God, and established a lasting sanctuary. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 PSALMUS 2012-02-03 - PSALMUS http://dailygospel.org/ God's way is unerring; the LORD'S promise is tried and true; he is a shield for all who trust in him. The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, my savior! Thus I will proclaim you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name. You have given great victories to your king, and shown kindness to your anointed, to David and his posterity forever. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 EVANGELIUM 2012-02-03 - EVANGELIUM http://dailygospel.org/ King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying, «John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; That is why mighty powers are at work in him.» Others were saying, "He is Elijah"; still others, "He is a prophet like any of the prophets." But when Herod learned of it, he said, "It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up." Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias's own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you." He even swore (many things) to her, "I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the Baptist." The girl hurried back to the king's presence and made her request, "I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 MEDITATIO 2012-02-03 - MEDITATIO http://dailygospel.org/ "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us" (Rm 8,18). Who then does not labor in every way to arrive at such a glory as to become a friend of God, as to rejoice at once with Christ, as to re­ceive the divine rewards after earthly torments and punishments? If it is glorious for the soldiers of this world to return to their fatherland triumphant after vanquishing the enemy, how much better and greater is the glory for one who, after over­coming the devil, returns triumphant to heaven, and after laying him low who had formerly deceived us, brings back the trophies of victory there whence Adam, the sinner, had been ejected? To offer the Lord the most acceptable gift of an uncorrupted faith, an unshaken virtue of the mind, an illustrious praise of devotion?... To become co-heir of Christ, to be made equal to the angels, to rejoice with the patriarchs, with the apostles, with the prophets in the possession of the heavenly kingdom? What persecution can conquer these thoughts, what torments can overcome them?... The lands are shut off in persecutions, heaven is open... How great a dignity and, how great a security it is to go forth hence happy, to go forth glorious in the midst of difficulties and affliction! For a moment to shut the eyes with which men and the world are seen; to open them immediately that God and Christ may be seen!... If persecution should come upon such a soldier of God, virtue made ready for battle will not be able to be overcome him. Or if the summons should come beforehand, the faith which was prepared for martyr­dom will not be without its reward... In persecution God crowns loyal military service; in peace purity of conscience is crowned. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100