Today, July 11
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
Benedict, the Father of Western monasticism, lived circa 480 to 547. He was born in Nursia in central Italy, probably of common folk. The little we know of his personal life is gleaned from two documents: the second Dialogue of Gregory the Great, and the Rule written by Benedict himself.
As a youth, Benedict was sent to Rome to be educated. Rome was then a decadent city, and after a few years, convinced that God was calling him to be a monk or hermit, Benedict fled to a village some 50 km away. After a brief stay with some holy men, he decided on a life of solitude. He received the monastic habit at Subiaco, and retired to a cave, where he lived alone in the tradition of the Desert Fathers. Soon, he began to attract followers and, for those who wished to share his life at Subiaco, he built 12 small monasteries.
Between 520 and 530, he and a few companions founded the great monastery of Monte Cassino where Benedict spent the rest of his life and wrote his Rule. This work became the primary influence on Western religious life for the next 600 years and is still followed today by the "daughters and sons" of Saint Benedict. This remarkable guide reflects the fatherly concern and charity of Benedict himself as he adapted the austere rule of the Desert Fathers to community life. He emphasized moderation, humility, obedience, prayer and manual labour as the way to holiness. St Benedict is considered the Patriarch of Western Monasticism, and was proclaimed Patron of Europe in 1964 by Pope Paul VI.©2011 Living with Christ, Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/. Reprinted with permission.
Readings of the Day
Book of Isaiah 6,1-8.
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft. "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory!" At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!"
Psalms 93(92),1ab.1c-2.5.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed; robed is the LORD and girt about with strength. And he has made the world firm, your throne stands firm from of old; from everlasting you are, O LORD. Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed: holiness befits your house, O LORD, for length of days.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10,24-33.
Jesus said to his Apostles: “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."
Daily Reflection
“As soon as you declare yourselves to be my servants, you must expect to be persecuted. I was persecuted all my life long. When I was born, Herod wanted to put me to death; I had scarcely begun to preach when my fellow men wanted to kill me; hardly had I escaped from their hands than I found myself exposed to the snares of the Pharisees and Herod [Antipas], who pursued me from town to town and daily, for three years, set new traps for me to cause my death... “You must accept these persecutions with joy, as precious signs of being like me, as a way of imitating your Beloved. Bear them peacefully, knowing that, if these things happen to you, it is because I permit them to, and that they will not touch you except in the measure that I allow – I, without whose consent, not a hair of your head is able to fall. Accept them... welcoming all that happens, since all that happens brings about the glory of God in one way or another. Suffer them courageously, offering your sufferings to God as a sacrificial holocaust for his glory... Suffer them while praying for your persecutors since they are God's children, God desires their salvation, and because I will give my blood to save them. I myself have set you an example of prayer for all men, for our persecutors and our enemies.”