The 5th Day in the Octave of Christmas
Saints of the day: St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr († 1170)
SAINT THOMAS OF CANTERBURY
Bishop and martyr
(c. 1118-1170)
Bishop and martyr
(c. 1118-1170)
St. Thomas, son of Gilbert Becket, was born in Southwark, England, in 1117. When a youth he was attached to the household of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent him to Paris and Bologna to study law.
He became Archdeacon of Canterbury, then Lord High Chancellor of England; and in 1160, when Archbishop Theobald died, the king insisted on the consecration of St. Thomas in his stead. St. Thomas refused, warning the king that from that hour their friendship would be broken. In the end he yielded, and was consecrated. The conflict at once broke out; St. Thomas resisted the royal customs, which violated the liberties of the Church and the laws of the realm.
After six years of contention, partly spent in. exile, St. Thomas, with full foresight of martyrdom before him, returned as a good shepherd to his Church. On the 29th of December, 1170, just as vespers were beginning, four knights broke into the cathedral, crying: "Where is the archbishop? where is the traitor?" The monks fled, and St. Thomas might easily have escaped. But he advanced, saying: "Here I am—no traitor, but archbishop. What seek you?" "Your life," they cried. "Gladly do I give it," was the reply; and bowing his head, the invincible martyr was hacked and hewn till his soul went to God.
Six months later Henry II. submitted to be publicly scourged at the Saint's shrine, and restored to the Church her full rights.
[Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]]The 5th Day in the Octave of Christmas
The Epistle of John 2:3 The way we can be sure we know him is if we are obeying his commands. 4 Anyone who says, “I know him,” but isn’t obeying his commands is a liar — the truth is not in him. 5 But if someone keeps doing what he says, then truly love for God has been brought to its goal in him. This is how we are sure that we are united with him. 6 A person who claims to be continuing in union with him ought to conduct his life the way he did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command. On the contrary, it is an old command, which you have had from the beginning; the old command is the message which you have heard before. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command, and its reality is seen both in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Anyone who claims to be in this light while hating his brother is still in the dark. 10 The person who keeps loving his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him that could make him trip. 11 But the person who hates his brother is in the dark — yes, he is walking in the dark, and he doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Psalm 96:1 Sing to Adonai a new song!
Sing to Adonai, all the earth!
2 Sing to Adonai, bless his name!
Proclaim his victory day after day!
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his wonders among all peoples!
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but Adonai made the heavens.
6 In his presence are honor and majesty;
in his sanctuary, strength and splendor.
The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint Luke 2:22 When the time came for their purification according to the Torah of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to Adonai 23 (as it is written in the Torah of Adonai, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to Adonai”[Luke 2:23 Exodus 13:2, 12, 15]) 24 and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons,[Luke 2:24 Leviticus 12:8] as required by the Torah of Adonai.
25 There was in Yerushalayim a man named Shim‘on. This man was a tzaddik, he was devout, he waited eagerly for God to comfort Isra’el, and the Ruach HaKodesh was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Ruach HaKodesh that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah of Adonai. 27 Prompted by the Spirit, he went into the Temple courts; and when the parents brought in the child Yeshua to do for him what the Torah required, 28 Shim‘on took him in his arms, made a b’rakhah to God, and said,
29 “Now, Adonai, according to your word,
your servant is at peace as you let him go;
30 for I have seen with my own eyes your yeshu‘ah,
31 which you prepared in the presence of all peoples —
32 a light that will bring revelation to the Goyim
and glory to your people Isra’el.”
33 Yeshua’s father and mother were marvelling at the things Shim‘on was saying about him. 34 Shim‘on blessed them and said to the child’s mother, Miryam,
“This child will cause many in Isra’el to fall and to rise,
he will become a sign whom people will speak against;
35 moreover, a sword will pierce your own heart too.
All this will happen in order to reveal many people’s inmost thoughts.”
The 5th Day in the Octave of Christmas
Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-395), monk and Bishop
Life of Saint Macrina, 23-25 ; SC 178 ; Phos hilaron
Entering into light at the evening of life
The sun was going down but my sister, Macrina’s, fervor did not abate. The nearer she drew to her departure, the more she hastened towards her beloved… She no longer spoke to those of us who were present but only to him on whom her eyes were constantly fastened…: “It is you, O Lord, who have taken away our fear of death. It is you who have turned the ending of life here below into the beginning of the real life. It is you who leave our bodies resting for a period of dormition and who awaken them anew ‘at the sound of the trumpet’ (I Corinthians 15:52) It is you who give our clay, ‘fashioned by your hands,’ (Genesis 2:7) in deposit to the earth. And it is you who bring what you have given it back to life again, transforming what is mortal and deformed in us with beauty and immortality …
“Oh eternal God, ‘to you I was committed from my mother’s womb’ (Psalm 21[22]:11). You whom my soul has loved with all its strength, to whom I have consecrated my flesh and my spirit since my youth, set beside me a shining angel who will lead me by the hand to the place of refreshment where are to be found the ‘waters of repose’ (Psalm 22[23]:2) in the bosom of the holy patriarchs (Luke 16:22). Oh you who restored to paradise… the man crucified with you who placed his trust in your mercy, ‘remember me also in your kingdom’ (Luke 23:42), for I, too, have been crucified with you… May I be found before your face ‘without spot or wrinkle’ (Ephesians 5:27); may my soul be welcomed into your hands… ‘like incense before you’ (Psalm 140[141]:2)…
After saying this, since evening had fallen, someone brought a lamp. Then Macrina opened her eyes and turned her gaze towards its light, showing her wish to say the thanksgiving prayer for the lamp. But her voice failed her…; she gave a deep sigh and ended in the same moment both her prayer and her life. * * * “Hail gladdening light, of his pure glory poured, who is the immortal Father, heavenly blest. Holiest of holies, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now we are come to the sun’s hour of rest, the lights of evening round us shine; we hymn the Father, Son and Holy Spirit divine. Worthiest art Thou at all times to be sung with undefiled tongue, Son of our God, giver of life, alone; therefore in all the world thy glories, Lord, they own.”
“Oh eternal God, ‘to you I was committed from my mother’s womb’ (Psalm 21[22]:11). You whom my soul has loved with all its strength, to whom I have consecrated my flesh and my spirit since my youth, set beside me a shining angel who will lead me by the hand to the place of refreshment where are to be found the ‘waters of repose’ (Psalm 22[23]:2) in the bosom of the holy patriarchs (Luke 16:22). Oh you who restored to paradise… the man crucified with you who placed his trust in your mercy, ‘remember me also in your kingdom’ (Luke 23:42), for I, too, have been crucified with you… May I be found before your face ‘without spot or wrinkle’ (Ephesians 5:27); may my soul be welcomed into your hands… ‘like incense before you’ (Psalm 140[141]:2)…
After saying this, since evening had fallen, someone brought a lamp. Then Macrina opened her eyes and turned her gaze towards its light, showing her wish to say the thanksgiving prayer for the lamp. But her voice failed her…; she gave a deep sigh and ended in the same moment both her prayer and her life. * * * “Hail gladdening light, of his pure glory poured, who is the immortal Father, heavenly blest. Holiest of holies, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now we are come to the sun’s hour of rest, the lights of evening round us shine; we hymn the Father, Son and Holy Spirit divine. Worthiest art Thou at all times to be sung with undefiled tongue, Son of our God, giver of life, alone; therefore in all the world thy glories, Lord, they own.”
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