Saturday, 9th DECEMBER St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. Commentary of the day: Saint Augustine (354-430).

Saturday, 9th DECEMBER
St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd … And he called to him his twelve disciples and sent them out, charging them, "go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And preach as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay.

Jesus had compassion on the crowd and in order to help and relieve them, His loving Heart decided to send them His disciples. That's what Jesus did: He had pity on them and sent them His Apostles. And the Apostles received very clear instructions: to preach and to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons". They had been given that power for free and were asked to put it at the service of those who needed it.

That's what God does: He gives people talents to serve others. You and I have been given something that many others may need; that's the purpose of our talents and gifts.

 Have you heard the story of the man who saw a little girl begging in the streets? He was upset and indignant with God, and said to Him: 'God! Why do you allow this girl to have to beg for a living? Why don't you do something?' 

To his surprise, he heard the voice of God replying: 'But I HAVE done something! I put YOU there!'

We are a gift to others. But a proper 'gift' has to be 'given'. We have to give ourselves to others completely! If you fill a large jar with wine and leave other jars half full, your wine would go off only in the second case. Wine is well preserved if the jar is full of wine and sealed with no air in it. Instead, those that are half-full can turn sour, because wine with air becomes vinegar. Something like that happens with the soul. Giving oneself only partially ends up corrupting our friendship with Jesus.

 We can ask ourselves today: Do I put my talents at the service of others? Do I give myself completely to those around me? 

Mother, during this Novena I ask you to help me to be generous in giving myself to others.

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Commentary of the day :

Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
On the coming of Christ, sermon 19, 7.8

"Make this proclamation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Cure the sick"

Brothers, I can hear someone murmuring against God today: "Lord, how hard these times are; what a difficult period this is to go through!"…

 O man who would not correct you? Aren't you a thousand times harder than the times we are living through! You who sigh after luxury, for what is nothing other than vanity, whose cupidity is always insatiable. You who want to make bad use of the things you desire, you will gain nothing…

Let us cure ourselves, brothers! Let us correct ourselves! The Lord is coming. Because he has not yet appeared we mock him, nevertheless he is not going to delay coming and then it will no longer be the time to ridicule him. Brothers let us correct ourselves! Better times are coming but not for those who live in a bad way.

 Already the world is aging, it is turning to decay, and are we ourselves going to become young again? What are we hoping for, then? 

Brothers, don't let us hope any longer for times other than those of which gospel speaks. They are not bad at all since Christ is coming! If they seem hard to us, difficult to pass through, Christ is coming to comfort us…

Brothers, it is necessary that times be hard. Why? So that we don't look for happiness in this world. This is our remedy: this life needs to be troubled so that we attach ourselves to the other life. How? Listen… God sees people becoming miserably agitated under the grip of their desires and the worries of this world which bring death to their souls, then the Lord comes to them like a physician bearing the cure.

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