DAILY GOSPEL

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68

Tuesday, 23 October 2007

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth week in Ordinary Time

Today the Church celebrates : Saint John of Capistrano, priest (+1456)

See commentary below or click here
Saint Bernard : Keep watch in the Holy Spirit

Letter to the Romans 5,12.15.17-19.20-21.

Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned -- But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person's transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many. For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ. In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous. The law entered in so that transgression might increase but, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12,35-38.

Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Commentary of the day :

Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and Doctor of the Church
Sermon on the Song of Songs, no.17,2

Keep watch in the Holy Spirit

We should be vigilant and attentive to the work of salvation that is being accomplished within us, for the Holy Spirit constantly carries out this work in the most interior part of our being with wonderful subtlety and the delicacy of a wholly divine art. May his anointing, which teaches us all things, never be withdrawn from us without our knowing and may his coming never catch us unawares. To the contrary, we should always be on the lookout, with hearts wide open to receive this generous blessing from the Lord. What are the dispositions in which the Spirit would like to find us? "Be like servants who await their master's return from the wedding." He will never return empty-handed from the heavenly table and all the joys with which it is laden.

So we should keep watch, and be on the watch all the time, since we never know at what hour the Spirit will come, nor at what hour he will depart again. The Spirit comes and goes (Jn 3,8); if it is thanks to him that we stand erect, when he goes away again we inevitably fall, yet without being broken since the Lord holds us in his hand. And the Spirit never ceases to give play to this alternating presence and absence in those who are spiritual or, rather, in those who intend to become spiritual. That is why he visits them at dawn and then suddenly puts them to the test.

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