Gospel and Saint of the day: 7 January 2020

First letter of Saint John the apostle 3,22-24.4,1-6.
Dear friends, whatever we ask, we receive it from the Father, because we observe his commandments and do what is pleasing to him.
This is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, according to the precept he has given us.
Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and he in him. And from this we know that it dwells in us: by the Spirit who gave us.
Dear ones, do not give faith to every inspiration, but test the inspirations, to test if they really come from God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world.
From this you can recognize the spirit of God: every spirit that recognizes that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is from God;
every spirit that does not recognize Jesus, is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist who, as you have heard, comes, indeed is already in the world.
You are of God, children, and you have overcome these false prophets, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
They are of the world, therefore they teach things of the world and the world listens to them.
We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; those who are not from God do not listen to us. From this we distinguish the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Psalms 2,7-8.10-11.
I will announce the decree of the Lord.
He said to me, "You are my son,
I begot you today.
Ask me, I will give you the people
and the domains of the earth dominate ».

And now, sovereigns, be wise,
educate yourselves, judges of the earth;
serve God with fear
and with trembling exulted.

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew 4,12-17.23-25.
At that time, having learned that John had been arrested, Jesus retired to Galilee
and, leaving Nazareth, came to live in Capernaum, by the sea, in the territory of Zàbulon and Nèftali,
to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
The village of Zàbulon and the village of Naphtali, on the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
the people immersed in darkness saw a great light; on those who dwelled on earth and shadow of death a light has risen.
From then on Jesus began to preach and say: "Get converted, because the kingdom of heaven is near".
Jesus went around throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and curing all sorts of diseases and infirmities in the people.
His fame spread throughout Syria and thus brought to him all the sick, tormented by various diseases and pains, possessed, epileptic and paralyzed; and he healed them.
And large crowds began to follow him from Galilee, Decàpoli, Jerusalem, Judea and beyond the Jordan.

07 JANUARY

SAINT RAIMUND OF PENAFORT

Peñafort (Catalonia), 1175 - Barcelona, ​​6 January 1275

Son of Catalan lords, he was born in Peñafort in 1175. He began his studies in Barcelona and finished them in Bologna. Here he met the Genoese Sinibaldo Fieschi, then Pope Innocenzo IV. Returning to Barcelona, ​​Raymond is named canon of the cathedral. But in 1222 a convent of the Order of Preachers opened in the city, founded a few years earlier by Saint Dominic. And he leaves the canonical to become Dominican. In 1223 he helped the future saint Pietro Nolasco to found the Order of Mercedari for the redemption of slaves. A few years later in Rome Gregory IX entrusted him with the task of collecting and ordering all the decrees (the documents issued by the popes in dogmatic and disciplinary matters, answering questions or intervening on specific situations). Raimondo manages to give an order and completeness never achieved before. In 1234, the Pope offered him the archbishopric of Tarragona. But he refuses. In 1238 his confreres wanted him to be general of the Order. But the intense activity that sees him throughout Europe wears him out. Finally, at 70, he returns to a life of prayer, study, formation of the new preachers in the Order. Brother Raimondo died in Barcelona in 1275. (Avvenire)

PRAYERS

O God, good Father, through the example and teaching of Saint Raymond you teach us that perfection of the law is charity, pour out your Spirit on us, because we progress in the freedom of the children of God. For Christ our Lord.