Daily Gospel (Friday 28/3/2014)

Friday of the Third week of Lent 
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 12:28b-34. 

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 
The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, 'He is One and there is no other than he.' 
And 'to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself' is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." 
And when Jesus saw that (he) answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Commentary of the day:
Saint Anthony of Padua (c.1195-1231), Franciscan, Doctor of the Church 
Sermons for Sundays and feast days

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart"

“You shall love the Lord your God.” 'Your' God is what is said and this is a reason for loving him even more, for we love what is our own more than what is not ours. It is certainly the case that the Lord your God is worthy of being loved. He became your servant so that you might belong to him and not be ashamed of serving him... Your God became your servant for thirty whole years because of your sins, to snatch you away from slavery to the devil. Therefore you shall love the Lord your God. He who made you became your servant on your account; he has been wholly given to you that you might be given to yourself. When you were miserable he restored your happiness, giving himself to you to bring you back to yourself.

And so you shall love the Lord your God “with all your heart”. 'All': you may not keep any part of yourself for yourself. He desires an offering of the whole of yourself. He wholly bought you with all of himself that he alone might possess you, the whole of you. Therefore you will love the Lord your God with all your heart. Don't, like Ananias and Sapphira, keep part of yourself for yourself for then you will perish as they did (Acts 5,1ff.). Love wholly, then, not in part. For God has no parts but exists wholly in every part. He wants no share in your being who is wholly in his own Being. If you keep back a part of yourself then you belong to yourself and not to him.

Do you want to possess everything, then? Give him what you are and he will give you what he is. You will have nothing more of yourself, but you will have all of him together with all yourself.

Today's Verses

He answers prayers!
"As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me." Psalms 55:16

He loves you more than you will ever know.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Today, I am thankful for the gift of life.
"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."2 Corinthians 9:15

Daily Gospel (Wednesday 26/3/2014)

Wednesday of the Third week of Lent 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:17-19. 
Jesus said to his disciples: «Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Commentary of the day: 
Saint Cyprian (c.200-258), Bishop of Carthage and martyr 
Jealousy and envy, 12-15; CSEL 3, 427-430 (trans. ©Friends of Henry Ashworth)

The fulfilment of the Law : loving in deed

To assume the name of Christ without following the way of Christ -what else is that but to make a sham of the divinely given name and to abandon the path of salvation? When Christ himself teaches that the person who keeps his commandments will have life (Mt 19,17) and that wisdom belongs to the one who not only listens to his words but acts on them (Mt 7,24), that the distinction of being called the greatest teacher in the kingdom of heaven is awarded to the one who not only teaches but acts in accordance with his teaching, then he means that if anything good and useful has been preached it will benefit the preacher only insofar as he lives by what he preaches.

Now is there anything the Lord more frequently urged on his disciples, any salutary counsel or heavenly precept he wanted them to cherish and observe more assiduously than his commandment that we should love one another with the same love as he himself showed for his disciples? (Jn 13,34; 15,12) Yet how can anyone preserve the peace and love of the Lord if jealousy has rendered him incapable of being either peaceable or loving toward his neighbor?

This is why the apostle Paul gave a eulogy of peace and charity and made an uncompromising assertion that neither faith nor alms nor even the suffering of the confessor or martyr would be of any value unless we observe the claims of love in their entirety (1Cor 13,1-3).

Today's Prayer

Let us pray:
Lord, help me to be fully alive to your holy presence.
Enfold me in your love.
Let my heart become one with yours. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Today's Verses

You can always depend on Him.
 "And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;" 2 Samuel 22:2

God is good!
"For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."Psalms 100:5

Today's Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for your grace and mercy.
We thank you for your love and your presence in our lives.
Even when we don't deserve it, you're always good to us.
We thank you Lord for all the things you're giving to us.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Today's Verses

Get excited for what God is about to do in your life. "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Philippians 4:4

You have a hiding place when life gets rough. "The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Proverbs 18:10