Fwd: The Daily Gospel

Thursday, 27 August 2009
Thursday of the Twenty-first week in Ordinary Time

St. Monica (332-387)



Commentary of the day
Saint Bernard : At midnight      

Reading

1 Thess. 3:7-13.
Because of this, we have been reassured about you, brothers, in our every
distress and affliction, through your faith.
For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we
feel on your account before our God?
Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the
deficiencies of your faith.
Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you,
and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and
for all, just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God
and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. (Amen.)


Mt 24:42-51.
Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will
come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night
when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house
be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the
Son of Man will come.
Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in
charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper
time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is long delayed,'
and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.


Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB



Commentary of the day

Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 1 of Advent (trans. J.C. Hedley)

At midnight      

It is now fitting we should consider the time of our Lord's coming. He
came, as you know, not in the beginning, nor in the midst of time, but in
the end of it. This was no unsuitable choice but a truly wise dispensation
of infinite Wisdom who, aware that the sons of Adam are inclined to
ingratitude, ordained that she would not come to their help until they were
in the greatest need. Truly, «it was evening and the day was
far spent», and the «Sun of justice» had almost set (Lk 24,29; Mal 3,20);
only a faint ray of its light and heat remained on earth. The light of
divine knowledge was very small, and as iniquity abounded so the fervor of
charity grew cold (Mt 24,12). No angel appeared; no prophet spoke. The
angelic vision and the prophetic spirit alike had passed away, both
hopelessly baffled by the obduracy and obstinacy of humankind. Then it was
the Son of God said: «Behold, I come» (Ps 40[39},8; Heb 10,7). And «while
all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her
swift course, your almighty Word leaped down from heaven, from your royal
throne» (Wis 18,14-15). As the apostle Paul says: «When the fullness of
time had come, God sent his Son» (Gal 4,4).




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Nam-Phong Le

" NAKED I CAME FROM MY MOTHER'S WOMB,
NAKED I SHALL RETURN.  
THE LORD GAVE, THE LORD HAS TAKEN BACK,
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD."
                                                JOB. 1: 21