Gospel 1-5-24. Luke 14:26-33. St John Neumann.
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Si quis venit ad me, et non odit patrem suum, et matrem, et uxorem, et filios, et fratres, et sorores, adhuc autem et animam suam, non potest meus esse discipulus.
27 And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Et qui non bajulat crucem suam, et venit post me, non potest meus esse discipulus.
28 For which of you having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit down, and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it:
Quis enim ex vobis volens turrim aedificare, non prius sedens computat sumptus, qui necessarii sunt, si habeat ad perficiendum,
29 Lest, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that see it begin to mock him,
ne, posteaquam posuerit fundamentum, et non potuerit perficere, omnes qui vident, incipiant illudere ei,
30 Saying: This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
dicentes : Quia hic homo coepit aedificare, et non potuit consummare?
31 Or what king, about to go to make war against another king, doth not first sit down, and think whether he be able, with ten thousand, to meet him that, with twenty thousand, cometh against him?
Aut quis rex iturus committere bellum adversus alium regem, non sedens prius cogitat, si possit cum decem millibus occurrere ei, qui cum viginti millibus venit ad se?
32 Or else, whilst the other is yet afar off, sending an embassy, he desireth conditions of peace.
Alioquin adhuc illo longe agente, legationem mittens rogat ea quae pacis sunt.
33 So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple.
Sic ergo omnis ex vobis, qui non renuntiat omnibus quae possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus.
John Neumann was born in what is now the Czech Republic. After studying in Prague, he came to New York at the age of 25 and was ordained a priest. He did missionary work in New York until he was 29, when he joined the Redemptorists and became it's first member to profess vows in the US. He continued missionary work in Maryland, Virginia and Ohio, where he became popular with the Germans. At 41, as bishop of Philadelphia, he organized the parochial school system into a diocesan one, increasing the number of pupils almost twentyfold within a short time. Gifted with outstanding organizing ability, he drew into the city many teaching communities of sisters and the Christian Brothers. During his brief assignment as vice provincial for the Redemptorists, he placed them in the forefront of the parochial movement. Well-known for his holiness and learning, spiritual writing and preaching, on October 13, 1963, John Neumann became the first American bishop to be beatified. Canonized in 1977 and buried in St Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia.
