Gospel of the day
Micah 7:1-4 :
I feel so empty inside— like someone starving for grapes or figs, after the vines and trees have all been picked clean.
No one is loyal to God ; no one does right.
Everyone is brutal and eager to deceive everyone else.
People cooperate to commit crime.
Judges and leaders demand bribes, and rulers cheat in court.
The most honest of them is worse than a thorn patch.
John 7:37-44 :
On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If you are thirsty, come to me and drink !
Have faith in me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you, just as the Scriptures say.” [Moses parted the waters ?]
Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit [NOT Paradise/afterlife !!], who would be given to everyone that had faith in him.
[So giving eternal life has no link with life after death, is that the right conclusion ?]
The Spirit had not yet been given to anyone, since Jesus had not yet been given his full glory.
When the crowd heard Jesus say this, some of them said, “He must be the Prophet !”
Others said, “He is the Messiah !”
Others even said, “Can the Messiah come from Galilee ? The Scriptures say that the Messiah will come from the family of King David. Doesn't this mean that he will be born in David's hometown of Bethlehem ?”
[...Then the chief priests discuss between them to seize Jesus]
John 7:52 :
Then they said, “Nicodemus, you must be from Galilee ! Read the Scriptures, and you will find that no prophet is to come from Galilee.”
[Which is false as we've seen two days ago, in the book of Micah]
Surah Al-Baqarah(, "The Cow") 2:190-202 :
And fight in the Way of God those who fight you, but transgress not the limits. Truly, God likes not the transgressors.
And kill them wherever you find them [never noticed before that this "wherever" comes from the mention of Meccah/Makkah right after], and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And polytheism is worse than killing.
And fight not with them at the sanctuary at Makkah, unless they (first )fight you there.
But if they attack you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.
But if they cease, then God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
And fight them until there is no more Fitnah/conflict, and worship is for God( Alone).
But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against polytheists/wrong-doers.
The sacred month is for the sacred month, and for the prohibited things, there is the Law of Equality(, lex talionis).
Then whoever transgresses the prohibition against you, you transgress likewise against him.
And fear God, and know that God is with the pious/righteous.
And spend in the Cause of God, and do not throw yourselves into destruction, and do good.
Truly, God loves the good-doers.
Saints of the day :
St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan and Cardinal(, see more on Vatican news).
Sts. Vitalis and Agricola, Bolognese Martyrs.