http://www.evangelizo.org/ Receive every morning the daily lectures, by-email ! Catholic service, multilingual, free and confidential, according to liturgical calendar ... en Wed, 08 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 2012-02-09 - LECTIO 1 http://dailygospel.org/ When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the heart of his father David had been. By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites, Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done. Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites, on the hill opposite Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice (for though the LORD had forbidden him this very act of following strange gods, Solomon had not obeyed him). So the LORD said to Solomon: "Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I enjoined on you, I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant. I will not do this during your lifetime, however, for the sake of your father David; it is your son whom I will deprive. Nor will I take away the whole kingdom. I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 PSALMUS 2012-02-09 - PSALMUS http://dailygospel.org/ Happy those who do what is right, whose deeds are always just. Remember me, LORD, as you favor your people; come to me with your saving help, But mingled with the nations and imitated their ways. They worshiped their idols and were ensnared by them. They sacrificed to the gods their own sons and daughters, So the LORD grew angry with his people, abhorred his own heritage. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 EVANGELIUM 2012-02-09 - EVANGELIUM http://dailygospel.org/ Jesus went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." She replied and said to him, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps." Then he said to her, "For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter." When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 MEDITATIO 2012-02-09 - MEDITATIO http://dailygospel.org/ When she came up to Jesus the Canaanite woman just said these words: «Have pity on me» (Mt 15,22) and her repeated cries drew a large crowd of people. It was a touching sight to see this woman crying out with such great feeling, a mother pleading on behalf of her daughter, a child who was so severely possessed... She didn't say: «Have pity on my daughter» but «Have pity on me». «My daughter is not aware of her plight, but I, I experience sufferings in profusion; it makes me ill to see her in such a state; I am almost out of my mind at seeing her like this»... Jesus answered her: «I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel» (Mt 15,24). Now what did the Canaanite woman do when she heard these words? Did she lose heart? Not in the least! She urged him even more. This is not what we do when our prayers are not answered: we turn away in discouragement whereas we ought to be pleading even more insistently. Who, it is true, would not be discouraged by Jesus' response? His silence would have been enough to take away all hope... This woman, however, does not lose heart; to the contrary, she comes nearer to him and bows to the ground, saying: «Lord, help me (v.25)... If I am a little dog in this house then I am no longer a foreigner. I well know that food is necessary for children..., but it cannot be forbidden to give away crumbs. They should not be refused me... because I am a little dog who cannot be pushed aside.» It was because he foresaw her answer that Christ delayed to grant her prayer... His replies were not intended to cause this woman pain but to reveal this hidden treasure. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 LECTIO 1 2012-02-08 - LECTIO 1 http://dailygospel.org/ The queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon's fame, came to test him with subtle questions. She arrived in Jerusalem with a very numerous retinue, and with camels bearing spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and questioned him on every subject in which she was interested. King Solomon explained everything she asked about, and there remained nothing hidden from him that he could not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon's great wisdom, the palace he had built, the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance and garb of his waiters, his banquet service, and the holocausts he offered in the temple of the LORD, she was breathless. "The report I heard in my country about your deeds and your wisdom is true," she told the king. "Though I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own eyes, I have discovered that they were not telling me the half. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard. Happy are your men, happy these servants of yours, who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom. Blessed be the LORD, your God, whom it has pleased to place you on the throne of Israel. In his enduring love for Israel, the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice." Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 PSALMUS 2012-02-08 - PSALMUS http://dailygospel.org/ Commit your way to the LORD; trust that God will act And make your integrity shine like the dawn, your vindication like noonday. The mouths of the just utter wisdom; their tongues speak what is right. God's teaching is in their hearts; their steps do not falter. The salvation of the just is from the LORD, their refuge in time of distress. The LORD helps and rescues them, rescues and saves them from the wicked, because in God they take refuge. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 EVANGELIUM 2012-02-08 - EVANGELIUM http://dailygospel.org/ Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, «Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile." ) When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, "Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile." Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 MEDITATIO 2012-02-08 - MEDITATIO http://dailygospel.org/ «Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God» (Mt 5,8). For no one doubts that a man becomes blessed if his heart is purified; but how any­one should cleanse it from its stains, this is what seems to oppose itself to the ascent to Heaven. What then is the Jacob's ladder? How can we find such a fiery chariot by which the prophet Elias was carried up to Heaven, and by which our heart, too, could be lifted up towards the mar­vels that are above, and shake off this earthly heaviness?... Virtue is hard for us to attain; even with much sweat and pain, zeal and fatigue, one can hardly establish it. This we are taught in many passages of the Divine Scriptures, when we are told that the way of the Kingdom is strait and passes through narrow paths, whereas the way that leads through a life of wickedness to perdition is broad and runs down­hill with ease (Mt 7,13-14). Yet Scripture affirms that the higher life is not altogether impossible... How you can become pure, you may learn through almost the whole teaching of the Gospel. You need only peruse the precepts one by one to find clearly what it is that purifies the heart... Therefore Christ does good to our nature by promising good things as well as by giving us the teaching that answers this purpose. But if the pursuit of goodness seem irksome to you, compare it with the opposite way of life, and you will find how much more painful it is to be wicked, that is, if you look not to the present but to what comes hereafter... For those with sordid minds are altogether miserable, because they look at the face of the adversary. On the other hand the Divine character itself is impressed on the virtuous life... Hence, as we have learned what is an evil life and what is a good one - for we have it in the power of our free will to choose either of these - let us flee from the form of the devil, let us lay aside the evil mask and put on again the Divine Image. Let us become clean of heart, so that we may become blessed when the Divine Image is formed in us through purity of life, in Christ Jesus Our Lord. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 LECTIO 1 2012-02-07 - LECTIO 1 http://dailygospel.org/ Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole community of Israel, and stretching forth his hands toward heaven, he said, "LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep your covenant of kindness with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart. "Can it indeed be that God dwells among men on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built! Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O LORD, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you this day. May your eyes watch night and day over this temple, the place where you have decreed you shall be honored; may you heed the prayer which I, your servant, offer in this place. Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel which they offer in this place. Listen from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 PSALMUS 2012-02-07 - PSALMUS http://dailygospel.org/ My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God. As the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest to settle her young, My home is by your altars, LORD of hosts, my king and my God! Happy are those who dwell in your house! They never cease to praise you. Selah O God, look kindly on our shield; look upon the face of your anointed. Better one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. Better the threshold of the house of my God than a home in the tents of the wicked. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 EVANGELIUM 2012-02-07 - EVANGELIUM http://dailygospel.org/ When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles (and beds).) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, "Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" He responded, "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.' You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition." He went on to say, "How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever curses father or mother shall die.' Yet you say, 'If a person says to father or mother, "Any support you might have had from me is qorban"' (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things." Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100 MEDITATIO 2012-02-07 - MEDITATIO http://dailygospel.org/ Who created everything? Who created you yourself? What are all these creatures? What are you? And how are we to say who he is who created all this? To speak it your thought must conceive it...: so let your thought move towards him, draw close to him. If you want a close look at something, you draw close to it... But God is not discerned except by the mind, he is not grasped except by the heart. And where is this heart with which one can see God? «Happy the pure in heart, they shall see God» (Mt 5,8)... In one of the Psalms we read: «Come close to him and you will be enlightened» (Ps 34[33],6 Vg). To come close so as to be enlightened you must hate the darkness... You are a sinner, you must become righteous. But you won't be able to receive righteousness if evil still gives you pleasure. Destroy it within your heart and cleanse it; cast sin from your heart where He whom you desire to see desires to dwell. The human soul, our «inner self» (Eph 3,16), draws as close to God as it can: that inner self recreated in God's image, which was created in God's image (Gn 1,26) but fell away from God into unlikeness. It is true that we don't either draw nearer or fall away from God in space: you distance yourself from God if you no longer resemble him; if you come close to him then you do resemble him. Notice how our Lord wishes us to draw close to him: first of all he makes us like him so that we can be near him. He tells us: «Be like your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good.» Therefore, love your enemies (Mt 5,45.44). To the extent that this love increases within you it will bring you back and reshape you in God's likeness...; and the closer you come to this likeness by growing in love, the more you will begin to feel the presence of God. But who is it you are feeling? The One who is coming to you or the One to whom you are returning? He has never been far from you; it is you who fell away from him. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100