The loving providence of God -- Pope Saint Leo the Great from an Epiphany sermon

The loving providence of God determined that in the last days he would aid the world, set on its course to destruction. He decreed that all nations should be saved in Christ.

A promise had been made to the holy patriarch Abraham in regard to these nations. He was to have a countless progeny, born not from his body but from the seed of faith. His descendants are therefore compared with the array of the stars. The father of all nations was to hope not in an earthly progeny but in a progeny from above.

Let the full number of the nations now take their place in the family of the patriarchs. Let the children of the promise now receive the blessing in the seed of Abraham, the blessing renounced by the children of his flesh. In the persons of the Magi let all people adore the Creator of the universe; let God be known, not in Judaea only, but in the whole world, so that his name may be great in all Israel.

-- Pope Saint Leo the Great from an Epiphany sermon

Today's mass reading from the Bible January/31/2014 (Homily catholic church, Gospel word of God for the day)

First Reading: 2 Samuel 11: 1 - 10, 13 - 17

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1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent Jo'ab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.
3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this Bathshe'ba, the daughter of Eli'am, the wife of Uri'ah the Hittite?"
4 So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.
5 And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am with child."
6 So David sent word to Jo'ab, "Send me Uri'ah the Hittite." And Jo'ab sent Uri'ah to David.
7 When Uri'ah came to him, David asked how Jo'ab was doing, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.
8 Then David said to Uri'ah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uri'ah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king.
9 But Uri'ah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
10 When they told David, "Uri'ah did not go down to his house," David said to Uri'ah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?"
13 And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Jo'ab, and sent it by the hand of Uri'ah.
15 In the letter he wrote, "Set Uri'ah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die."
16 And as Jo'ab was besieging the city, he assigned Uri'ah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.
17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Jo'ab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uri'ah the Hittite was slain also.

Psalms 51: 3 - 7, 10 - 11

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3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me.

Gospel Reading: Mark 4: 26 - 34

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26 And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground,
27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how.
28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?
31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;
32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;
34 he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Our Lord put in my heart a determination to become a lay brother with a great desire to be poor and to beg alms for his love. -- Saint Charles of Sezze

Our Lord put in my heart a determination to become a lay brother with a great desire to be poor and to beg alms for his love.

-- Saint Charles of Sezze

Today's mass reading from the Bible January/30/2014 (Homily catholic church, Gospel word of God for the day)

First Reading: 2 Samuel 7: 18 - 19, 24 - 29

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18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and said, "Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?
19 And yet this was a small thing in thy eyes, O Lord GOD; thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast shown me future generations, O Lord GOD!
24 And thou didst establish for thyself thy people Israel to be thy people for ever; and thou, O LORD, didst become their God.
25 And now, O LORD God, confirm for ever the word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house, and do as thou hast spoken;
26 and thy name will be magnified for ever, saying, `The LORD of hosts is God over Israel,' and the house of thy servant David will be established before thee.
27 For thou, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, hast made this revelation to thy servant, saying, `I will build you a house'; therefore thy servant has found courage to pray this prayer to thee.
28 And now, O Lord GOD, thou art God, and thy words are true, and thou hast promised this good thing to thy servant;
29 now therefore may it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken, and with thy blessing shall the house of thy servant be blessed for ever."

Psalms 132: 1 - 5, 11 - 14

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1 Remember, O LORD, in David's favor, all the hardships he endured;
2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 "I will not enter my house or get into my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."
11 The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: "One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies which I shall teach them, their sons also for ever shall sit upon your throne."
13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation:
14 "This is my resting place for ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

Gospel Reading: Mark 4: 21 - 25

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21 And he said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand?
22 For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.
23 If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."
24 And he said to them, "Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.
25 For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

-- Saint Francis de Sales from“Treatise on the Love of God”

The virtues are in the soul to moderate its movements, and charity, as first of all the virtues, governs and tempers them all, not only because the first in every species of things serves as a rule and measure to the rest, but also because God, having created man to his image and likeness, wills that as in himself so in man all things should be ordered by love and for love.

-- Saint Francis de Sales from“Treatise on the Love of God”

Today's mass reading from the Bible January/29/2014 (Homily catholic church, Gospel word of God for the day)

First Reading: 2 Samuel 7: 4 - 17

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4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan,
5 "Go and tell my servant David, `Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in?
6 I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.
7 In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"'
8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel;
9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,
11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men;
15 but I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.'"
17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

Psalms 89: 4 - 5, 27 - 30

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4 `I will establish your descendants for ever, and build your throne for all generations.'" [Selah]
5 Let the heavens praise thy wonders, O LORD, thy faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
27 And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.
29 I will establish his line for ever and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my ordinances,

Gospel Reading: Mark 4: 1 - 20

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1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.
2 And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:
3 "Listen! A sower went out to sow.
4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil;
6 and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away.
7 Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
8 And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
9 And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10 And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables.
11 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;
12 so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven."
13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
14 The sower sows the word.
15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them.
16 And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;
17 and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.
18 And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word,
19 but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
20 But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

-- Pope Saint Pius X

My last desire, children, is that the love of Our Lord dwell in you so that it will change you into so many apostles, zealous for His glory. You will be the treasure of your families, whom you will make happy by your good conduct.

-- Pope Saint Pius X