Tuesday, April 14 : Saint Basil
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Jesus said to Nicodemus: “’You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can this happen?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?
Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony.
If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength. And he has made the world firm,
your throne stands firm from of old; from everlasting you are, O LORD. Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed: holiness befits your house, O LORD, for length of days.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.
Thus Joseph, also named by the apostles Barnabas (which is translated “son of encouragement”), a Levite, a Cypriot by birth,
sold a piece of property that he owned, then brought the money and put it at the feet of the apostles.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?”
Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.
Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
The soul …must dispose itself for the inflowing of loving Wisdom. If the gift of self calls to that Wisdom, humility it is that attracts her irresistibly. The conduct of our Lord in the Gospel gives evidence of this in an illuminating way. … .Yet, while Jesus left some of His own followers in darkness concerning the most important truths about Himself, we find Him in the first year of His public life, revealing His secrets to certain souls who seem to force them from Him. We refer here to Nicodemus … a doctor of the law; he belongs to the religious and social aristocracy of Jerusalem. Like many of his colleagues, he had listened favorably to Jesus at the time of His first journey to Jerusalem. Now, however, he must be specially troubled and moved, for he decides—he, a doctor of the law—to find Jesus and put questions to Him, although He was an unlettered man. He decides to go at night. The overture is timid, but not without merit, if one considers the position and character of Nicodemus. A dialogue ensues….Jesus seems thus to anticipate the questions of Nicodemus….The language is elevated, worthy of such a speaker. Nicodemus understands it less and less: “How can these things be?” Jesus questions him: “Thou art a teacher in Israel and dost not know these things?” The thrust is direct, almost hard, dealt by an unlettered man at a doctor of the law. Nicodemus accepts it without protest. He listens now and understands. The humiliation has opened his mind, and through that salutary wound, Jesus pours floods of light.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Why do the nations rage and the peoples utter folly?
The kings of the earth rise up, and the princes conspire together against the LORD and against his anointed: “Let us break their fetters and cast their bonds from us!” He who is throned in heaven laughs; the LORD derides them.
Then in anger he speaks to them; he terrifies them in his wrath: “I myself have set up my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.” “Ask of me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.
You shall rule them with an iron rod; you shall shatter them like an earthen dish.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
After their release Peter and John went back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them.
And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them,
you said by the holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples entertain folly?
The kings of the earth took their stand and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.’
Indeed they gathered in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do what your hand and (your) will had long ago planned to take place.
And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness,
as you stretch forth (your) hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Dearest Father in Christ, sweet Jesus, I, Catherine, the handmaid and slave of the servants of Jesus Christ, write to you in his precious blood, with the desire to see you bathed, and drenched in the blood of Jesus crucified, and hidden in the wound of his side. In the blood you will find fire, for he shed it out of love; and in the side you will find love of His heart, for everything that Christ has done for us has been done with His heart’s love. Then your soul will be inflamed with the fire of a holy desire, and this desire is an effect of love, which never ages and on the contrary always rejuvenates the soul which is clothed with it. He renews it in virtue, strengthens it, illuminates it and unites it with its Creator; because in Jesus crucified she finds the Father, and she participates in his power. She finds the wisdom of the only Son of God, who enlightens her intelligence; she tastes and sees the goodness of the Holy Spirit, finding the tender love that Christ showed us in the benefit of his Passion, when he made us with his blood, a bath to wash away our iniquities, and on his side a dwelling, a refuge where the soul rests and tastes the sweetness of the Man-God. I want us to always do this, my dear Father. May the eye of our intelligence never close, and may it always see, may it contemplate how much God loves us, as he proves to us through his Son; that the will always loves, and that it never ceases; that love towards the Creator is not slowed down by pleasure, nor by pain, nor by anything that has been said or done; and even if all other works (…) cease, love should never be extinguished. I won’t tell you any more. Remain in the holy and sweet love of God. Sweet Jesus, Jesus love.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, «Peace be with you.»
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
(Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team