Gospel and Saint of the day: 29 December 2019

Book of the Ecclesiastical 3,2-6.12-14.
The Lord wants the father to be honored by the children, has established the right of the mother to the offspring.
Whoever honors the father atones for sins;
whoever reveres the mother is like one who accumulates treasures.
Those who honor the father will have joy from their children and will be answered on the day of his prayer.
Whoever reveres the father will live long; whoever obeys the Lord gives consolation to the mother.
Son, help your father in old age, do not sadden him during his life.
Even if he loses his mind, feel sorry for him and do not despise him, while you are in full force.
Since pity for the father will not be forgotten, it will be counted as a discount for sins.

Salmi 128(127),1-2.3.4-5.
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord
and walk in its ways.
You will live by the work of your hands,
you will be happy and enjoy every good.

Your bride as a fruitful vine
in the intimacy of your home;
your children like olive shoots
around your canteen.

Thus will the man who fears the Lord be blessed.
Bless you the Lord from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
for all the days of your life.

Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Colossians 3,12-21.
Brothers, clothe yourselves, as beloved of God, saints and beloved, of feelings of mercy, of goodness, of humility, of meekness, of patience;
enduring each other and forgiving each other mutually, if someone has something to complain about towards others. As the Lord has forgiven you, so do you too.
Above all then there is charity, which is the bond of perfection.
And the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because you have been called to it in one body. And be grateful!
The word of Christ dwells abundantly among you; teach and admonish yourselves with all wisdom, singing to God from the heart and with gratitude psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
And everything you do in words and deeds, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
You, wives, are subject to husbands, as befits the Lord.
You, husbands, love your wives and do not become harsher with them.
You, children, obey parents in everything; this is pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not exasperate your children so that they do not become discouraged.

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew 2,13-15.19-23.
The Magi had just left, when an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said to him: «Get up, take the child and his mother with you and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I warn you, because Herod is looking for the child to kill him. "
Joseph woke up and took the boy and his mother with him in the night and fled to Egypt.
where he remained until the death of Herod, so that what the Lord had said through the prophet would be fulfilled: From Egypt I called my son.
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt
and said to him, "Get up, take the child and his mother with you and go to the land of Israel; because those who threatened the life of the child died. "
He got up and took the boy and his mother with him, and entered the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was king of Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Warned then in a dream, he retired to the regions of Galilee
and as soon as he arrived he went to live in a city called Nazareth, to fulfill what was said by the prophets: "He will be called Nazarene."

29 December

BLESSED GERARDO CAGNOLI

Valenza, Alessandria, 1267 - Palermo, 29 December 1342

Born in Valenza Po, in Piedmont, around 1267, after his mother's death in 1290 (the father was already dead), Gerardo Cagnoli left the world and lived as a pilgrim, begging for bread and visiting shrines. It was in Rome, Naples, Catania and perhaps Erice (Trapani); in 1307, struck by the reputation of holiness of the Franciscan Ludovico d'Angiò, bishop of Toulouse, he entered the Order of Minors in Randazzo in Sicily, where he made the novitiate and lived for some time. After performing miracles and building those who knew him by example, he died in Palermo on 29 December 1342. According to Lemmens, the blessed would have been included in a catalog of illustrious Franciscans for holiness of life drawn up around 1335, that is, while he was still I live. His cult, which spread rapidly in Sicily, Tuscany, the Marche, Liguria, Corsica, Majorca and elsewhere, was confirmed on May 13, 1908. The body is venerated in Palermo, in the basilica of San Francesco. (Avvenire)

PRAYER

O Beato Gerardo, you loved the city of Palermo very much and you worked very well in favor of the people of Palermo who consider themselves lucky to have the remains of your body. How many miraculous healings! how many disputes reconciled! how many tears dry! how many souls you bring to God! Oh! let your memory never fail in us, as your charity towards your neighbor never failed on earth; charity which now continues in heaven in blessed eternity. So be it.