Gospel and Saint of the day: 30 December 2019

First letter of St. John the apostle 2,12-17.
I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven by virtue of his name.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known the one who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you have overcome the evil one.
I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have known the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.
Love neither the world nor the things of the world! If one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him;
because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the arrogance of life, does not come from the Father, but from the world.
And the world passes by with its lust; but whoever does the will of God remains forever!

Salmi 96(95),7-8a.8b-9.10.
Give to the Lord, o families of peoples,
give the Lord glory and power,
give the Lord the glory of his name.
Bring offerings and enter his halls.

bow down to the Lord in sacred ornaments. The whole earth trembles before him.
Say among the peoples: "The Lord reigns!".
Support the world, so that you don't falter;
judge nations righteously.

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke 2,36-40.
At that time, there was also a prophetess, Anna, daughter of Fanuèle, from the tribe of Asher. She was very advanced in age, had lived with her husband seven years from the time she was a girl,
she was then widowed and was now eighty-four. He never left the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers.
At that moment, she too began to praise God and spoke of the child to those waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had accomplished everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their city of Nazareth.
The child grew and strengthened, full of wisdom, and the grace of God was above him.

30 December

SAN LORENZO DA FRAZZANO '

(San Lorenzo the confessor) Monaco

He was probably born around 1116, in the small hamlet of Frazzanò. His parents died within a year, leaving his son orphaned. Lorenzo was thus entrusted to the young nurse Lucia, a neighbor. At six years old, after the first approaches with the liturgy and the scriptures, Lorenzo asked Lucia to be able to study the human and divine letters. He was thus directed to the Basilian monastery of San Michele Arcangelo in Troina, where the young man astonished everyone for his human and religious gifts. The same bishop of Troina invited him to put on the Basilian monastic habit and to receive minor and major orders. At just 20 years old Lorenzo was already a priest and his fame was spreading in the region. He went to the monastery of Agira and here the faithful went to hear the word of the saint. In about 1155 Lorenzo entered the monastery of San Filippo di Fragalà. During this period, Lorenzo worked to have a small church dedicated to San Filadelfio built in Frainos (Frazzanò). In the autumn of 1162 the works of the new church of All Saints were completed, which he desired "in honor of the Holy Trinity". He died on December 30 of the same year. (Avvenire)

PRAYER TO SAN LORENZO THE CONFESSOR

O Glorious Patron S. Lorenzo, who, for the heroic virtues practiced on earth, deserved from God the singular gift of miracles, of which you benefited to convert souls to the faith of Christ, awakened, in all Christian families and especially in us your fellow citizens, the firm resolution to imitate your lofty virtues, so that by coming after you on the path of penance, we may be worthy to follow you in glory.