Gospel and Saint of the day: 13 January 2020
First book of Samuel 1,1-8.
There was a man from Ramatàim, a Zufite from the mountains of Ephraim, named Elkana, son of Jerokam, son of Eliàu, son of Tocu, son of Zuf, Ephraimite.
He had two wives, one named Anna, the other Peninna. Peninna had children while Anna had none.
This man went every year from his city to prostrate himself and sacrifice to the Lord of armies in Silo, where the two sons of Eli Cofni and Pìncas, priests of the Lord, stood.
One day Elkana offered the sacrifice. He now had the habit of giving his wife Peninna and all her sons and daughters their parts.
Instead, Anna gave only one part; but he loved Anna, although the Lord had made her womb sterile.
His rival also plagued him harshly because of his humiliation, because the Lord had made his womb sterile.
This was the case every year: every time they went up to the house of the Lord, it mortified her. So Anna started to cry and didn't want to take food.
Elkana her husband said to her, “Anna, why are you crying? Why do not you eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not better for you than ten children? "
Salmi 116(115),12-13.14-17.18-19.
What will I return to the Lord
how much did he give me?
I will raise the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord,
before all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the Lord
it is the death of his faithful.
I am your servant, son of your handmaid;
you broke my chains.
I will offer you sacrifices of praise
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people.
in the halls of the house of the Lord,
among you, Jerusalem.
From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Mark 1,14-20.
After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying:
«Time is complete and the kingdom of God is near; get converted and believe in the gospel ».
Passing along the sea of Galilee, he saw Simone and Andrea, Simone's brother, as they threw their nets into the sea; they were in fact fishermen.
Jesus said to them, "Follow me, I will make you fishers of men."
And immediately, leaving the nets, they followed him.
Going a little further, he also saw James of Zebedee and John his brother on the boat as they mended their nets.
He called them. And they, leaving their father Zebedee on the boat with the boys, followed him.
13 JANUARY
BLESSED VERONICA DA BINASCO
Binasco, Milan, 1445 - 13 January 1497
He was born in Binasco (Mi) in 1445 from a peasant family. At 22 he took the habit of Sant'Agostino, as a lay sister, in the monastery of Santa Marta in Milan. Here he will remain for all his life devoted to housework and begging. Faithful to the spirit of the time, he underwent a harsh ascetic discipline, despite being poor in health. Mystical soul, she had frequent visions. It seems that following a revelation she went to Rome, where she was received with paternal affection by Pope Alexander VI. However, her intense contemplative life did not prevent her from fully living her condition as a beggar in Milan and in the surrounding area, both for the material needs of the convent and for helping the poor and the sick. He died on January 13, 1497 after receiving a grateful and exulting farewell greeting from the whole population for five days. In 1517, Leo X granted the monastery of Santa Marta the faculty to celebrate the liturgical feast of this blessed. (Avvenire)
PRAYER
O Blessed Veronica, who, among the works of the fields and in the silence of the cloisters, left us admirable examples of hard-working life, pious and entirely consecrated to the Lord; deh! implores to us the garbage of the heart, a constant aversion to sin, love for Jesus Christ, charity, towards one's neighbor and resignation to the divine will in the travails and privations of the present century; so that we can one day praise, bless and thank God in heaven. So be it. Blessed Veronica, pray for us.