Thursday, January 10, 2019

Saints + Scripture: Christmastide

Joy to the world, the Christmastide rolls on: Wikipedia-link Christmastide. Merry Christmas!

'Tis the festival of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop (circa 333-398, the "Father of the Fathers"), one of the three Cappadocian Fathers, who attended the First Council of Constantinople (381) which amended & reaffirmed the Nicene Creed: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Cappadocia, Council-link & Wikipedia-link Council, & Wikipedia-link Creed.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Grandson of St. Macrina the Elder [14 January], son of Ss. Basil the Elder & Emmelia [30 May], & brother of Ss. Macrina the Younger [19 July], Naucratius [?], Basil the Great [2 January], & Peter of Sebaste [9 January].

'Tis also the festival of Saint Agatho, Pope, O.S.B. (died 681), seventy-ninth (LXXIX) Bishop of Rome, who assented to the Third Council of Constantinople (680-681): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Pontiff, Council-link, & Wikipedia-link Council.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Gregory X, Pope, T.O.S.F. (circa 1210-1276, A.K.A. Teobaldo Visconti), one hundred eighty-fourth (CLXXXIV) Bishop of Rome, who convoked the Second Council of Lyon (1274): Blessed-link ūnus, Blessed-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Pontiff & Wikipedia-link Council.

We also remember Servant of God Ludovico Necchi, T.O.S.F. (1876-1930): Servant-link & Wikipedia-link (translated from the Italian).

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Thursday after Epiphany
The First Letter of John, chapter four, verse nineteen thru chapter five, verse four;
Psalm Seventy-two, verses one & two, fourteen & fifteen(b/c), & seventeen;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter four, verses fourteen thru twenty-two.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, today in the Gospel Jesus declares that he fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor."

Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God. The deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk. The dead are raised to life, enemies are forgiven, and the poor have the Good News preached to them. And ultimately, in his Resurrection, Jesus’ followers saw that the old world—the world predicated upon death and the works of death, the world that had done Jesus in—was now defeated. God had definitively declared his opposition to that world and his support of the new one.

So awed were they by the Resurrection—and you can sense it in every book and letter of the New Testament—that they awaited the imminent arrival of the new state of affairs, the return of Jesus and the establishment of God’s kingdom. Though Jesus did not immediately return, the old world was over and broken. It was fully compromised, its destruction now just a matter of time.
Video reflection by Father John Crossin, O.S.F.S.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.


Papal Quote o' the Day
"Be happy, rejoice in Christ's love, & live from His strength. True, you cannot always be healthy or successful. However, you can always be with Christ & find strength at His side."
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, feast day: 22 October)
Little Flower Quote o' the Day
"I will sing even when I must pick my flowers amid thorns. The longer and sharper the thorns are, the sweeter my song will sound."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)
Saint Quote o' the Day
"Be faithful in little things, for in them lies our strength."
—St. Teresa of Calcutta ("Mother Teresa," 1910-1997; feast day: 5 September)

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