Churches of the Day

Tuesday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Be on your guard against false Prophets

Saint of the Day: Feb 17th:  1. The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, religious
2.  St Fintan of Clonenagh, abbot
C/f A short life of be these saints can found below todays' Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING 

A reading from the letter of St James          1:12-18
God does not tempt anybody.

Happy the man who stands firm when trials come. He has proved himself, and will win the prize of life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Never, when you have been tempted, say, 'God sent the temptation'; God cannot be tempted to do anything wrong, and he does not tempt anybody. Everyone who is tempted is attracted and seduced by his own wrong desire. Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it too has a child, and the child is death.

Make no mistake about this, my dear brothers: it is all that is good, everything that is perfect, which is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow of a change. By his own choice he made us his children by the message of the truth so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all that he had created.

The Word of the Lord.               Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm             Ps 93: 12-13, 14-15, 18-19
Response                                   Happy the man whom you teach, O Lord.

1. Happy the man whom you teach, 0 Lord, whom you train by means of your law:
to him you give peace in evil days.                                                                         Response

2. The Lord will not abandon his people nor forsake those who are his own;
for judgement shall again be just and all true hearts shall uphold it.            Response

3. When I think: 'I have lost my foothold', your mercy, Lord, holds me up.
When cares increase in my heart your consolation calms my soul.               Response

Gospel  Acclamation              Acts 16: 14
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,  to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!

or                                                 Jn 14: 23
Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.                       And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark  8: 14-21           Glory to you, O Lord
Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and  Herod.

The disciples had forgotten to take any food and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Then Jesus gave them this warning,
'Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod'.
And they said to one another, 'It is because we have no bread'.

And Jesus knew it, and he said to them,
'Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?'
They answered, 'Twelve'.
And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?'
And they answered, 'Seven'.
Then he said to them, 'Are you still without perception?'

The Gospel of the Lord.            Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.


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Gospel Reflection          Tuesday        Sixth Week in Ordinary Time            Mark 8:14-21

Immediately prior to the gospel scene in today’s gospel reading, Jesus had fed a crowd of four thousand people with seven loaves and a few small fish. Yet, as they cross the Sea of Galilee in a boat, the disciples are fretting because they had only one loaf with them. They completely misunderstood Jesus’ warning about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod as a reference to the scarcity of bread present among them. Jesus didn’t intend his reference to ‘leaven’ to be taken literally. Leaven was a traditional image for a hidden element working moral corruption. Jesus is portrayed as being totally frustrated with his disciples, asking a series of eight questions, like a schoolteacher who feels he will never get through to his pupils. Jesus, however, remained faithful to them to the end, even though they would go on to desert him. Even after they deserted him, he appeared to them as risen Lord and renewed their calling.

The portrayal of the disciples in the gospel of Mark can be of some consolation to us. Their inability to hear what Jesus is saying, to see what he is showing them, and their self-protective flight at the end, shows up all the more the faithful love of the Lord for them. The Lord who was faithful to the first disciples is faithful to us, even though we get it wrong from time to time. He keeps coming towards us, inviting us to renew our response to his call to become his faithful followers in today’s world, and also promising us that, if we strive to respond to his call he will give us the spiritual resources that we need.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers.  http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings: The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications, c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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Saints of the Day: Feb 17th:
1. The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, religious
2.  St Fintan of Clonenagh, abbot 

1. The Seven Founders of the Order of Servites, Religious.
In 1233 these prominent businessmen from Florence (Italy) withdrew to a life of solitude, prayer, and penance. They developed into an order of mendicant friars (Servants of Mary). Noted for their radical response to the demands of the gospel.

The Servite Order - and Servite Sisters (both OSM) as well as the "Mantellate" - owe their origin to a movement begun in 13th century Florence by seven wealthy merchants. All three groups have a devotion to the Seven Dolours or Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Patrick Duffy tells the story of their founders and some other saints associated with them.

Seven wealthy young merchants
In 1233 seven wealthy young merchants of the city of Florence, disenchanted with the worldly life of the city, wanted to live a more radical Christian life. They came together to found a religious society in honour of Mary, the Mother of God and at first were first known as "Laudesi," "Praisers". Later they went to Monte Senario outside the city where they built a hermitage and a church and began to devote themselves to a life together of prayer, penance and poverty.

Servites
Their penitential and communal life attracted others to join them and sometime between the years 1240 and 1247 they were approved by the bishop of Florence as a religious Order under the rule of St Augustine. Their first leader was Bonfilius Monaldi. The other six were John Bonaiuncta, Manettus dell'Antella, Amadeus degli Amidei, Hugh Uguccione, Sosthenes Sostegno and Alexis Falconieri. They came to be known as the "Friar Servants or Servites of Mary" and made other foundations at Carfaggio outside Florence, Siena, Pistoia, Arezzo and Lucca but their most famous church is the Annunziata in Florence founded in 1250, and still today in their hands.

Spread
By 1260 the order was divided into two provinces, Tuscany and Umbria, with Manettus directing that of Tuscany and Sosthenes that of Umbria. Within five years two more provinces were added, Romagna and Lombardy. For a while around the time of the Second Council of Lyons 1274 the order was suppressed, but eventually in 1304 Pope Benedict IX gave it definitive approval. Six of its members were ordained priests. Alexis Falconieri remained a lay brother; he outlived all the others and was the only one alive when the order received papal approval. He died in 1310.
Pope Leo XIII canonised the seven Servite founders in 1888.

Other Servite saints


Three other saints of this order are worthy of mention: The first is St. Philip Benizi (1233-85) who had doctorates in medicine and philosophy before he joined the order and was was elected general in 1267. He codified the rules and constitutions, defended the order when it was under threat of suppression and sent the first Servite missionaries to the land of the Tartars. In 1279 at the request of Pope Nicholas III, he was also successful in bringing peace between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.

The second is St Peregrine Laziosi (1265-1345). Born in Forli, he was an active supporter of the Ghibelline (anti-papal) party when Philip Benizi visited the city. He heckled and struck Philip, who literally turned the other cheek. This caused Peregrine to repent and join the Servites at Siena in 1292. He returned to Forli where he founded a new friary and devoted himself to working for the sick and the poor. His humility and patience were so great that he was called by his people a second Job. He also imposed a penance on himself of standing when it was not necessary to sit. This led to his contracting varicose veins which turned cancerous and were so bad that a doctor was about to amputate his leg. The night before the surgery Peregrine prayed before the image of the crucified Christ and when he awoke next morning he was completely healed. He died in 1345 aged 80 and his incorrupt body rests in the Servite Church in Forli. His feast day is 4th May.

A third saint associated with the Servites is St Juliana Falconieri (1270-1341), the niece of Alexis mentioned above. She founded a female branch of the Servites called the Mantallate. c/f/ 16th June.

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Memorable Wisdom saying for today

Good people see the good and bring out the best in other people.
     ~ Roy T. Bennett,~

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 2.  St Fintan of Clonenagh
Abbot Fintan of Clonenagh (6th century) monk born in Leinster, received his religious formation in Terryglass, Co. Tipperary under the abbot Colum, and was deeply influenced by his penitential practices and the severity of the Rule. Fintan made his own foundation in Clonenagh, Co. Laois. He died in 603.

St Fintan's monastery at Clonenagh had a reputation for austerity, so it is not surprising that St Comgall of Bangor and the founders of the Céilí Dé reform monastic movement had their training here.

Patrick Duffy tells what is known about him.

Two Fintans


There are at least two Fintans among the Irish saints - St Fintan of Clonenagh, Co Laois, and St Fintan of Taghmon, Co Wexford. A third is associated with Doon in Co Limerick.

Formation at Terryglass
Our Fintan was educated by St Colum of Terryglass, Co Tipperary, the severity of whose Rule and penitential practices so influenced Fintan that his own foundation in Clonenagh, Co. Laois, also acquired a reputation for austerity.

Bread of woody barley
    According to Oengus, Fintan himself lived on "bread of woody barley and clayey water of clay". The community did not have even one cow and so they had neither milk nor butter. The monks complained they couldn't do hard work on such a meagre diet. A deputation of local clergy headed by Canice of Aghaboe came to urge him to improve it. He agreed for his monks, but he elected to keep to the strict diet himself.

Another version says that, warned by an angel, he prepared a great feast for the deputation with plenty available as long as they stayed, but when they went away, all reverted to as it was before. In spite of the hardships, or maybe even because of them, the monastery was crowded with young monks from all over Ireland.

^Saint Oengus , Martyrologist on the Nativity of Christ

Followers
Among those trained by Fintan at Clonenagh was St Comgall, who founded his own monastery at Bangor, where he trained Columbanus and a host of others who brought monasticism to Europe. Oengus, an associate of St Maelruain of Tallaght as leaders the Céilí Dé reform movement, was born, educated by Fintan, lived and died at Clonenagh.

The pact of the two Fintans
The Martyrology of Oengus (above left) tells that Fintan of Taghmon, who was also called Munnu, and Fintan of Clonenagh formed an oentas (or pact) that the name of each of them would be given to the other, in commemorationem societatis. Munnu was the baptismal name of the man from Taghmon. He took on the name Fintan, while Fintan of Clonenagh took Munnu or Munda as a second name. Not surprisingly this led to some confusion.

The Book of Clonenagh
The Book of Clonenagh is one of the lost sources cited by Geoffrey Keating in his Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (The History of Ireland) for information about the setting up of the dioceses of Ireland at the Synod of Rath Breasail in the year 1111.



For St Munna / Fintan of Taghmon, and another perspective see

http://homepage.eircom.net/~taghmon/histsoc/vol2/8munnac/8munnac.htm

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Memorable Proverbs for today

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper.
He who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

~Proverbs 28:13 ~

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First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

We all need to awaken to the meaning of 'being in Christ'.
We are all struggling against the powers of darkness confident that wherever there is sin, Grace also abounds still more.

Today the initial Rite of Election of Catechumens is celebrated.

FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of  Genesis          2:7-9 3:1-7
The creation and sin of our first parents.

The Lord God fashioned man of dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus man became a living being.

The Lord God planted a garden in Eden which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. The Lord God caused to spring up from the soil every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden.

The serpent was the most subtle of all the wild beasts that the Lord God had made. It asked the woman,
'Did God really say you were not to eat from any of  the trees in the garden?' The woman answered the serpent, 'We may eat he fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, "You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death".'
Then the serpent said to the woman,
'No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.'

The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She gave some also to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realised that they were naked. So they sewed fig-leaves together to make themselves loin-cloths.

The Word of the Lord.              Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm            Ps 50: 3-6, 2-12-13, 14, 17
Response                                Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have sinned.
1. Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.                       Response

2. My offences truly I know them; my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned: what is evil in your sight I have done.             Response

3. A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence, nor deprive me of your holy spirit.            Response

4. Give me again the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervour sustain me.
O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.                                     Response

SECOND  READING 

A reading from the letter of St Paul to  Romans                5:12-19
However great the number of sins committed, grace was even greater.

Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned. Sin existed in the world long before the Law was given. There was no law and so no one could be accused of the sin of 'law-breaking', yet death reigned over all from Adam to Moses, even though their sin, unlike that of Adam, was not a matter of breaking a law.

Adam prefigured the One to come, but the gift itself considerably outweighed the fall. If it is certain that through one man's fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift. The results of the gift also outweigh the results of one man's sin: for after one single fall came judgement with a verdict of condemnation, now after many falls comes grace with its verdict of acquittal. If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man's fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous. Again, as one man's fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified.

As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.

The Word of the Lord.              Thanks be to God.

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Shorter form of the Second reading

A reading from the letter of St Paul to  Romans                5:12. 17-19

Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned. If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man's fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous. Again, as one man's fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified. As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.

The Word of the Lord.              Thanks be to God.

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Gospel  Acclamation          Mt 4:4
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew             4:1-11            Glory to you, O Lord
Jesus fasts for forty days and is tempted.

Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry, and the tempter came and said to him,
'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves'.
But he replied, 'Scripture says:
'Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'.

The devil then took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple.
'If you are the Son of God' he said 'throw yourself down; for scripture says:
'He will put you in his angels' charge, and they will support you on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone'.
Jesus said to him, 'Scripture also says: 'You must not put the Lord your God to the test'.

Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. 'I will give you all these' he said, 'if you fall at my feet and worship me.'
Then Jesus replied,
'Be off, Satan! For scripture says: 'You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.'

Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.

The Gospel of the Lord.           Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/



Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.