Gospel and Saint of the day: 17 December 2019

Book of Genesis 49,2.8-10.
In those days, Jacob called his sons and said to them:
«Gather together and listen, children of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father!
Judas, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's children will bow down before you.
A young lion is Judas: from the prey, my son, you have returned; he lay down, crouched like a lion and a lioness; who will dare to make him stand up?
The scepter from Judah will not be removed, nor the staff of command between his feet, until the one to whom it belongs and to whom the obedience of the peoples is due ».

Salmi 72(71),2.3-4ab.7-8.17.
God give your judgment to the king,
your righteousness to the king's son;
Regain your people with justice
and your poor with righteousness.

The mountains bring peace to the people
and the hills justice.
To the wretched of his people he will do justice,
will save the children of the poor.

In his days justice will flourish and peace will abound,
until the moon goes out.
And will dominate from sea to sea,
from the river to the ends of the earth.

His name lasts forever,
before the sun his name persists.
In him all the lineages of the earth will be blessed
and all peoples will say it blessed.

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew 1,1-17.
Genealogy of Jesus Christ son of David, son of Abraham.
Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat Judah and his brothers,
Judah begat Fares and Zara from Tamar, Fares begat Esròm, Esròm begat Aram,
Aram begat Aminadab, Aminadab begat Naassòn, Naassòn begat Salmòn,
Salmòn begat Booz from Racab, Booz begat Obed from Ruth, Obed begat Jesse,
Jesse fathered King David. David begat Solomon from what had been Uriah's wife,
Solomon begat Roboam, Roboam begat Abìa, Abìa begat Asaf,
Asaf had fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Jehoram fathered Ozia,
Ozia begat Ioatam, Ioatam begat Ahaz, Ahaz begat Hezekiah,
Hezekiah begat Manasseh, Manasseh begat Amos, Amos begat Josiah,
Josiah begot Heconia and her brothers at the time of deportation to Babylon.
After the deportation to Babylon, Ieconia begat Salatiel, Salatiel begat Zorobabèle,
Zorobabèle begat Abiùd, Abiùd begat Eliaacim, Eliaacim begat Azor,
Azor begat Sadoc, Sadoc begat Achim, Achim begat Eliud,
Eliúd begat Eleàzar, Eleàzar begat Mattan, Mattan begat Jacob,
Jacob fathered Joseph, Mary's husband, from whom Jesus called Christ was born.
The sum of all generations, from Abraham to David, is thus fourteen; from David to the deportation to Babylon it is still fourteen; from deportation to Babylon to Christ it is, finally, fourteen.

17 December

SAINT JOHN DE MATHA

Faucon (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France), 23 June 1154 - Rome, 17 December 1213

Born in Provence in 1154, he taught theology in Paris when he decided to leave the chair to become a priest, at the age of 40. During his first mass, on February 28, 1193, something extraordinary happened to him. As he celebrated, a vision appeared: a Man with a radiant face, holding two men with chains on his feet, one black and misshapen, the other pale and slender; this man instructed him to free these poor creatures chained for reasons of faith. Giovanni De Matha immediately understood that this man was Jesus Christ Pantocrator, who represented the Trinity, and the men in chains were the Christian and Muslim slaves. He understood, therefore, that this would be his mission as a priest: he then started what would become the Order of the Holy Trinity, approved in 1198. The founder of the Trinitarians died in Rome in 1213. He was sanctified in 1666.

PRAYER

O God, who with heavenly vision you deigned to institute through St. John the Order of SS. Trinity, to redeem the prisoners from the power of the Saracens, please, we pray that, with the help of its merits and your grace, we are free from all servitude of soul and body. For our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen