Friday, February 28 : Saint John Chrysostom

I haven’t convinced my auditor today but maybe I shall do so tomorrow, maybe in three or four days or in a certain time. The fisherman who has unsuccessfully cast his net the whole day long may sometimes catch in the evening, just as he is about to leave, the very fish he was unable to catch during the day. The agricultural worker doesn’t stop cultivating his land even if he hasn’t had good harvests for several years, and eventually one single year will often abundantly make good all his previous losses. God does not ask us to succeed but to work. Now, our work is not going to be less rewarded because we were not heeded… Christ knew well that Judas would not be converted and yet he tried to convert him to the very end by rebuking his sin with the most touching expressions: “Friend, why have you come?” (Mt 26,50 Gk.). Now if Christ, the model of the pastor, worked to the end for the conversion of a hopeless case, what should we not do for those about whom we are commanded always to hope?

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team