DAILY GOSPEL Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68 Tuesday, 08 April 2014 Tuesday of the Fifth week of Lent Saint(s) of the day : Bl. Augusto Czartoryski, Priest (1858-1893) Saint Nerses Chnorhali : You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above Book of Numbers 21:4-9. From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to by-pass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food! In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover. Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 8:21-30. Jesus said to the Pharisees: I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come. So the Jews said, He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, Where I am going you cannot come? He said to them, You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins. So they said to him, Who are you? Jesus said to them, What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world. They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said (to them), When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him. Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him. Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB Commentary of the day : Saint Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173), Armenian patriarch Jesus, Only Son of the Father, § 708-724 ; SC 203 You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above Because of sin, O innocent one, You were set before the criminals judgement seat; When you return in the Fathers glory Do not judge me together with him. You were put to scorn with sacrilegious spittle On account of the first created mans shame; Wipe away the dishonor of the impudent mans sins With which my face is covered... You have put on crimson, Set the scarlet cloak over you As a dishonor and an affront, As Pontius Pilates soldiers thought it to be (Mt 27,28). Remove sins shirt of hair from me, Crimson red, color of blood, Reclothe me in the garment of joy With which you clothed the first man. Kneeling, they made sport, Fooling around, they mocked; When they saw it, heavens armies Worshipped in fear. This you underwent that you might remove The shame of being sins accomplice from Adams nature in us That, from my soul and my conscience, You might suppress my sorrowing shame... Following the judges verdict, You received the terrible blows of flagellation Over your whole body And on your limbs every part. As for me who, from foot to head Suffer unbearable pain: Be pleased to heal me once again As through the grace of baptisms fount. In exchange for the thorns of sin That the curse caused to grow up for us (Gn 3,18) A crown of thorns was set on your head By the laborers in Jerusalems vineyard (Mt 21,33f.). Pull out the thorns of sin from me, Which my enemy planted within me, And heal in me the bite of the wound That the marks of sin might be erased.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 08:38:27 +0000
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