Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 08-02-04, Optional, St Eusebius of Vercelli

USCCB.org/New American Bible ^ | 08-02-04 | New American Bible

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August 2, 2004
Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Psalm: Monday 34 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel

Reading I
Jer 28:1-17


In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah,
in the fifth month of the fourth year,
the prophet Hananiah, son of Azzur, from Gibeon,
said to me in the house of the LORD
in the presence of the priests and all the people:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Within two years I will restore to this place
all the vessels of the temple of the LORD which Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, took away from this place to Babylon.
And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah,
son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,' says the ,
‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

The prophet Jeremiah answered the prophet Hananiah
in the presence of the priests and all the people assembled
in the house of the LORD, and said:
Amen! thus may the LORD do!
May he fulfill the things you have prophesied
by bringing the vessels of the house of the LORD
and all the exiles back from Babylon to this place!
But now, listen to what I am about to state in your hearing
and the hearing of all the people.
From of old, the prophets who were before you and me prophesied
war, woe, and pestilence against many lands and mighty kingdoms.
But the prophet who prophesies peace
is recognized as truly sent by the LORD
only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled.

Thereupon the prophet Hananiah took the yoke
from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it,
and said in the presence of all the people:
"Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so, within two years
I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
from off the neck of all the nations.'"
At that, the prophet Jeremiah went away.

Some time after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke
from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah,
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
Go tell Hananiah this:
Thus says the LORD:
By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke!
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
A yoke of iron I will place on the necks
of all these nations serving Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
and they shall serve him; even the beasts of the field I give him.

To the prophet Hananiah the prophet Jeremiah said:
Hear this, Hananiah!
The LORD has not sent you,
and you have raised false confidence in this people.
For this, says the LORD, I will dispatch you from the face of the earth;
this very year you shall die,
because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.
That same year, in the seventh month, Hananiah the prophet died.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102

R (68b) Lord, teach me your statutes.
Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
R Lord, teach me your statutes.
Take not the word of truth from my mouth,
for in your ordinances is my hope.
R Lord, teach me your statutes.
Let those turn to me who fear you
and acknowledge your decrees.
R Lord, teach me your statutes.
Let my heart be perfect in your statutes,
that I be not put to shame.
R Lord, teach me your statutes.
Sinners wait to destroy me,
but I pay heed to your decrees.
R Lord, teach me your statutes.
From your ordinances I turn not away,
for you have instructed me.
R Lord, teach me your statutes.

Gospel
Mt 14:13-21

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
"This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves."
He said to them, "There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves."
But they said to him,
"Five loaves and two fish are all we have here."
Then he said, "Bring them here to me,"
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.

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From: Matthew 14:13-21


First Miracle of the Loaves and Fish

---

[13] Now when Jesus heard this, He withdrew from there in a boat to a
lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed Him on
foot from the towns. [14] As He went ashore He saw a great throng; and
He had compassion on them, and healed their sick. [15] When it was
evening, the disciples came to Him and said, "This is a lonely place,
and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages
and buy food for themselves." [16] Jesus said, "They need not go away;
you give them something to eat." [17] They said to Him, "We have only
five loaves here and two fish." [18] And He said, "Bring them here to
Me." [19] Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and
taking the five loaves and the two fish He looked up to heaven, and
blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the
disciples gave them to the crowds. [20] And they all ate and were
satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces
left over. [21] And those who ate were about five thousand men,
besides women and children.

---

Commentary:


14-21. This episode must have occurred in the middle of springtime,
because the grass was green (Mark 6:40; John 6:10). In the Near East
loaves were usually made very thin, which meant it was easy to break
them by hand and distribute them to those at table; this was usually
done by the head of the household or the senior person at the meal.
Our Lord follows this custom, and the miracle occurs when Jesus breaks
the bread. The disciples then distribute it among the crowd. Here
again we can see Jesus' desire to have people cooperate with Him.

---

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

[Salvation]

FEAST OF THE DAY

In 1811, St. Peter Julian Eymard was born in a small town in the
diocese of Grenoble, France. As Peter was growing up, he spent his
free hours studying and learning Latin. At the age of 20, Peter
entered the seminary at Grenoble to begin studying for the
priesthood. Peter was ordained in 1834. For five years, Peter did
parish work but he felt called to the religious life. His bishop gave his
consent and Peter joined the Marists.

Throughout his life, Peter felt a great love and devotion to the
Eucharist. After efforts to include adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament to be included in the rule of the order, Peter set off to
start an order devoted to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with
the blessing of his superiors.

In 1856, Peter started a religious order known as the Priests of the
Blessed Sacrament, and two years later formed an order of sisters,
the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Both had a special love for
Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and were devoted to adoration of Jesus.
As one of the labors of the order, Father Eymard started parish
organizations to help people, especially adults, be prepared to
receive First Communion. Peter did not limit his work to instruction;
he also tried to reach out to those who were estranged from the
church and to evangelize them. As well as preaching, Peter also
wrote many works, which have been translated into many languages
and are still available. He died on August 1, 1868, at the age of fifty-
seven. Pope John XXIII proclaimed him a saint on December 9,
1962.


St. Eusebius was born at the beginning of the fourth century in
Sardinia. As a child, Eusebius' mother ensured that he received a
Christian education. He became a priest and was elected the first
bishop of Vercelli in 345. He evangelized through preaching and
established monastic life in his diocese. As a bishop he worked with
St. Athanasius and St. Hilary against the Arian heresy, a heresy that
denied the divinity of Christ. This work earned him exile to Palestine
by order of the Emperor Constantius. During his exile, Eusebius
endured much suffering for holding to his faith and fighting the
Arians. After his exile, he returned to Vercelli and continued worked
against the Arian heresy. Eusebius died in 371. St. Eusebius is
considered the founder of the canons regular in the West.


QUOTE OF THE DAY

Our Lord gives to souls of prayer a deep understanding of Himself.
He never deceives them. -St. Peter Julian Eymard


TODAY IN HISTORY

257 Death of St. Stephen I, Pope
640 Death of Pope Severinus
686 Death of Pope John V
1552 Death of St. Basil the Blessed


TODAY'S TIDBIT

Regular canons, mentioned in today's biography of St. Eusebius,
combine aspects of monastic life with aspects of clerical, but non-
monastic, life. This lifestyle seeks to minister to others while
maintaining a strong community and communal prayer life. This
model was copied by many later religious founders including St.
Norbert, the founder of the Canons Regular of Premontre.


INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray, through the intercession of St. Peter Julian Eymard,
that all people may develop a greater love and devotion to the
Eucharist.

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THANKS FOR THE PING!

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Monday, August 02, 2004
Our Lady of the Angels of Portiuncula (Solemnity)

First Reading: Psalm: Second Reading: Gospel:

Sirach 24:1-4, 16, 22-24 Psalm 34:5, 7, 9-10, 18-19 Galatians 4:3-7 Luke 1:26-33 You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.  -- St. Therese

[NYer]

Monday August 2, 2004   Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading (Jeremiah 28:1-17)   Gospel (St. Matthew 14:13-21)

In the first reading today, as the prophet Hananiah speaks the words to the people of Israel that within two years the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar is going to be broken, the prophet Jeremiah looks at him and says, “Normally, the prophets prophesy woe and war and pestilence, but you have prophesied peace.” And he says that the only way someone who prophesies peace can be demonstrated to have come from the Lord is when their prophecy is fulfilled.

Now if you do not have to do that with someone who preaches pestilence and war and woe, the question is why. That is because the difficult things can actually be mitigated. If the people turn from the evil they were doing, God is going to take away the punishment for what it is that they did. We can see that in extreme cases, for instance, like when Jonah had to go in and preach to the people of Nineveh and they turned from their evil ways; or when Ahab (one of the worst kings in the history of Israel) was doing all of the evil with his hideous wife Jezebel, and yet when suddenly he put on sackcloth and ashes, God said that the punishment He was going to inflict on Ahab would now wait until after Ahab had died because it was going to be on Ahab’s entire house. It would not come during Ahab’s life, which it was intended to do. And so it is simply a matter of turning the heart to be able to mitigate the punishments. When someone preaches that there is going to be evil and war and so on, that can be taken away if the people turn their hearts to God.

If, on the other hand, someone is going to preach peace, since that is going to be a gift from God because the people were doing what they were supposed to do anyway, the only way that is going to be demonstrated is if it happens. While the prophet who is prophesying the negative things does not necessarily have to have it demonstrated clearly because that can be mitigated, the one who prophesies the positive things is an entirely different situation – that has to be demonstrated by being fulfilled. That is the only way one would know that person is in fact a prophet of the Lord. Moses has told us the same thing back in the Book of Deuteronomy: that is the way to tell who is a real prophet and who is not. At the same time, God has spoken through His prophet Amos, and He has told us that He will not do anything on the earth without first showing it to His servants the prophets.

What we see is that there is quite a cost. If someone is prophesying false things, look at what happened to the prophet Hananiah. “God is going to take your life,” Jeremiah said, and that very year Hananiah died because he was giving false confidence to the people, preaching things that were not truly the Word of God, things that were much more pleasant to hear for the people but they were not the truth. So what we have to make sure we are about is, number one, not seeking these sorts of things, which many people wanting extraordinary abilities have done. They actually pray to God so they can be prophets or so they can do some other thing and then get themselves in all kinds of trouble for it. So, number one, you do not ask for something like that. Number two, if the Lord shows you some sort of extraordinary things, you make sure that you check it with somebody who is in a position of being your authority or superior so that whatever you speak or do is done in obedience and it is not going to be done on your own because that is the only way to assure that you are doing what is right. Then make sure that your own prayer is in great shape, because if it is not, you are going to wind up thinking you are doing something that is good, when in fact you are just going to be doing what you want to do or you are going to be duped by Satan into something that sounds real good but in fact is nothing but a lie. So those are the things we want to make sure of.

And with all kinds of people running around these days giving their little prophecies and telling us all the things that are supposed to happen, we need to be extremely careful about who we are going to listen to and who we think is really from God. Just because someone claims that they have something from God does not mean a thing. We need to be very, very cautious about who we are going to follow and who we are going to listen to because everybody and their brother these days thinks that they are hearing from Our Lord and Our Lady – and they are not. So we need to be very careful. Keep in mind that simple principle: If it is someone prophesying negative things, that can be mitigated; if it is someone prophesying positive things, that person’s prophecy will be proven only when it is fulfilled.

[Salvation]

Saint Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli[370a.d.]

St. Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata - Saint of the Day in the Eastern Calendar

Eusebius: He Saved Our Family Story

St.Peter Julian Eymard [Apostle of the Eucharist]

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The Word Among Us

Monday, August 02, 2004

Meditation
Matthew 14:13-21



You give them something to eat. (Matthew 14:16)

The disciples’ reaction to Jesus’ request was quite natural (Matthew 14:17). After all, how were they supposed to feed all those people with such a small amount of food? But Jesus had an important lesson for his disciples: “You bring me the small amount that you have, and I will multiply it so that you can feed multitudes.”

This lesson has good practical application for all of us who are parents. Just as the crowd of five thousand hungered for something to eat, our children hunger to know how to lead their lives on both a natural and spiritual level. Just as Jesus called his disciples to feed the crowd, so he calls us to “feed” our children so that they may grow up to know the Lord and live as his disciples.

The key to success is to acknowledge, as the disciples did, that our own resources are not enough to get the job done. If we try to raise our children without the Lord, we may soon find ourselves just as overwhelmed as the disciples were. But as we learn to submit our lives to Jesus and follow his Spirit’s leadings, he will multiply our gifts and talents so that we will be able to care for our children’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

It is clear from Scripture that Jesus loves children. He loves the innocent and trusting way they come to him, and in return he pours out abundant blessings on them. Whether children are three years old or thirty, they need their parents to show them the way to Jesus. Whether it is through reading the Bible to our younger children before bed, or participating with our teenage children in a church youth group, or sharing with our older children how our faith has helped us through difficult times—Jesus will bless our efforts to make him known. Take some time today to consecrate your life to Jesus anew and come up with a plan of how you might teach your children more about the Lord.

“Jesus, I give my life to you. As you multiplied the disciples’ loaves for the crowd, multiply my abilities to teach my children about you, so that they might choose to live for you. Enable me to give my children something to eat—the word of life.”

[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

All Issues > Volume 20, Number 5

<< Monday, August 2, 2004 >>

St. Eusebius of Vercelli St. Peter Julian Eymard

Jeremiah 28:1-17

Psalm 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102

Matthew 14:13-21

View Readings

TRUE FAITH

“Take not the word of truth from my mouth.” —Psalm 119:43

Hananiah appeared to have great faith when he prophesied that Babylon would fall within two years and Israel would return from exile (Jer 28:2ff). However, Hananiah was a false prophet and his faith was fake.

Jeremiah appeared to have little faith when he prophesied that the Babylonian exile would last for seventy years (Jer 25:11). However, Jeremiah was a true prophet and a man of faith.

Faith, like love, is based on truth. Sometimes faith is not expecting the best at first, but rather by repentance facing the worst so as to remove the obstacles to the best. “Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see” (Heb 11:1), and the “things not seen” are in accord with the truth.

Sometimes we hear: “You need more faith to be healed.” This isn’t always true. We also hear: “Don’t blame yourself for lack of faith if you’re not healed.” This also isn’t always true. Some say: “I have faith; so I’m saved.” This is true if you have the true meaning of faith. But what if you don’t? Men and women of faith can easily say things about faith which are not true. Remember, Jesus is the Truth (Jn 14:6). Therefore, faith in Jesus must always be in Truth.

Prayer: Father, may truth overshadow every aspect of my life.

Promise: “Those who ate were about five thousand, not counting women and children.” —Mt 14:21

Praise: Before beginning a controversial church council, St. Eusebius insisted all present attest to the truth by jointly signing their agreement to the Nicene Creed.

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American Cathlic's Saint of the Day

August 2, 2004

St. Eusebius of Vercelli

(283?-371)

Someone has said that if there had been no Arian heresy it would be very difficult to write the lives of many early saints. Eusebius is another of the defenders of the Church during one of its most trying periods.

Born on the isle of Sardinia, he became a member of the Roman clergy and is the first recorded bishop of Vercelli in Piedmont. He is also the first to link the monastic life with that of the clergy, establishing a community of his diocesan clergy on the principle that the best way to sanctify his people was to have them see a clergy formed in solid virtue and living in community.

He was sent by Pope Liberius to persuade the emperor to call a council to settle Catholic-Arian troubles. When it was called at Milan, Eusebius went reluctantly, sensing that the Arian block would have its way, although the Catholics were more numerous. He refused to go along with the condemnation of Athanasius; instead, he laid the Nicene Creed on the table and insisted that all sign it before taking up any other matter. The emperor put pressure on him, but Eusebius insisted on Athanasius’ innocence and reminded the emperor that secular force should not be used to influence Church decisions. At first the emperor threatened to kill him, but later sent him into exile in Palestine. There the Arians dragged him through the streets and shut him up in a little room, releasing him only after his four-day hunger strike. They resumed their harassment shortly after.

His exile continued in Asia Minor and Egypt, until the new emperor permitted him to be welcomed back to his see in Vercelli. He attended the Council of Alexandria with Athanasius and approved the leniency shown to bishops who had wavered. He also worked with St. Hilary of Poitiers against the Arians.

He died peacefully in his own diocese at an advanced age.

Comment:

Catholics in the U.S. have sometimes felt penalized by an unwarranted interpretation of the principle of separation of Church and state, especially in the matter of Catholic schools. Be that as it may, the Church is happily free today from the tremendous pressure put on it after it became an “established” Church under Constantine. We are happily rid of such things as a pope asking an emperor to call a Church council, Pope John I being sent by the emperor to negotiate in the East, the pressure of kings on papal elections. The Church cannot be a prophet if it’s in anybody’s pocket.

Quote:

"To render the care of souls more efficacious, community life for priests is strongly recommended, especially for those attached to the same parish. While this way of living encourages apostolic action, it also affords an example of charity and unity to the faithful" (Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office, 30).