Daily Gospel for Tuesday,
15 April 2014
"Simon Peter
answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal
life." John 6:68
Tuesday of Holy Week
Saints of the Day:
SAINT PATERNUS
Bishop
(c. 482 - c. 550)
St. Paternus was born at
Poitiers, about the year 482. His father, Patranus, with the consent of his
wife, went into Ireland, where he ended his days in holy solitude. Paternus,
fired by his example, embraced a monastic life in the abbey of Marnes. After
some time, burning with a desire of attaining to the perfection of Christian
virtue, he passed over to Wales, and in Cardiganshire founded a monastery
called Llan-patern-vaur, or the church of the great Paternus.
He made a visit to his
father in Ireland, but being called back to his monastery of Marnes, he soon
after retired with St. Scubilion, a monk of that house, and embraced an austere
anchoretical life in the forests of Scicy, in the diocese of Coutances, near
the sea, having first obtained leave of the bishop and of the lord of the
place. This desert, which was then of great extent, but which has been since
gradually gained upon by the sea, was anciently in great request among the
Druids. St. Paternus converted to the faith the idolaters of that and many
neighboring parts, as far as Bayeux, and prevailed upon them to demolish a
pagan temple in this desert, which was held in great veneration by the ancient
Gauls.
In his old age he was
consecrated Bishop of Avranches by Germanus, Bishop of Rouen. Some false
brethren having created a division of opinion among the bishops of the province
with respect to St. Paternus, he preferred retiring rather than to afford any
ground for dissension, and, after governing his diocese for thirteen years, he
withdrew to a solitude in France, and there ended his days about the year 550.
Lives of the Saints, by
Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Anastasia
Feastday: December 25
Death: 304
Martyr honored with a
special commemoration in the second Mass celebrated on Christmas Day. She is
also included in the Roman canon of the Mass, although she was not venerated in
Rome until the end of the fifth century. Probably a native of Sirmium, Pannonia,
she was martyred during the persecutions initiated by Emperor Diocletian.
Tradition states that she was the daughter of Praetextatus, a noble Roman. She
married a pagan named Publius, who died while on a mission to Persia. As a
widow, Anastasia cared for the Christians, enduring persecution, and was
arrested herself. On a ship with other prisoners, Anastasia was miraculously
saved from drowning by St. Theodata. The prisoners, including Anastasia, landed
on the island of Palmaria, where they were burned to death. She was made
patroness of a basilica in Rome in the sixth century.
- "excerpts taken from Victories of the
Martyrs," by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
Taken from the Acts of
St. Anastasia, who is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass, and commemorated by the
Church [old calendar] on December 25, St. Anastasia was a spiritual child of
St. Chrysogonus (also martyred). The time frame is during the Diocletian
persecution in the fourth century perhaps the year 304 A.D.
St. Anastasia was a
Roman lady of noble descent. Her father was an opulent and noble pagan; but her
mother, who was a Christian, caused her to be baptized in her infancy, and
secretly reared her in sentiments of Christian piety, in which she made great
progress.
St. Anastasia had been
married to a noble Roman, named Publius, who was a pagan; he loved his wife
much, but having discovered her acts of piety, and that she was a Christian,
from a loving husband he became a cruel tyrant, confined her to the house, and
treated her like a slave. The saint, rejoiced that she could suffer for the
love of Jesus Christ.
Publius, her cruel
husband, having been appointed by the emperor ambassador to the King of Persia,
gave orders to his domestics that they should maltreat his wife during his
absence and that there should be no fear if she would be found dead upon his
return. But God ordained that Publius met with an untimely death upon his
journey; while the saint, having regained her pious labors in behalf of the
prisoners of Jesus Christ.
St. Anastasia, inflamed
with the love of God, occupied her time in consoling and succoring the
Christians, particularly those who were in prison, who she exhorted to suffer
for the faith. Having heard of the arrest of St. Chrysogonus, she hurried to
his prison, and esteemed herself fortunate in having it in her power to be of
service to him in this trial. He had been in prison for one year, during which
he instructed his fellow-prisoners who were Christians, and converted many
pagans to the faith. St. Anastasia rendered him such assistance, by reason of
her extraordinary works of charity.
St. Chrysogonus, by
order of Diocletian on November 24 in the year 303, was beheaded, but St.
Anastasia continued her mission to the prisoners. One day upon an errand of
charity, and having found that all the holy confessors had been butchered by
order of the emporer, she wept bitterly. When officers of the court asked why
she wept, she replied "I weep because I have lost my brethren, who have
been cruelly put to death." Hence she was arrested and brought before the
prefect, Florus, who got no satisfaction from her defence and so then he sent
her to the emperor Diocletian. Diocletian was unsuccessful in exhorting her to
abandon a religion which was proscribed thoroughout the empire, and so sent her
back to the prefect Florus. He sent her to the pontiff of the capitol, Upian,
in the hope that he could convince her to sacrifice to the gods.
Upian having used all
his arts of persuasion in vain, said to her: "Now I shall give thee but
three days to determine." Anastasia replied: "They are three too
many; thou mayest imagine them already past. I am a Christian, and am anxious
to die for Jesus Christ. From me thou shalt never get any other answer."
Upian then employed the
assistance of three idolatrous women; but this having proved ineffectual, he
made a second attempt himself, in which he had the effrontery to be guilty of
some immodest action. This was instantly punished by the Almighty; for he was
struck blind upon the spot, and seized by convulsions that within an hour
terminated his life.
Florus, enraged at the
death of Upian, caused the saint to be shut up in prison, with the intention of
starving her; but the Lord miraculously preserved her life. Florus transferred
her to another prison thinking the jailer had transgressed his orders to starve
her - but she continued to live without food. Florus then ordered her to be put
on board a ship with 120 idolaters - the ship was bored with holes and was
supposed to sink. The ship soon filled with water, but instead of sinking went
ashore; and the miracle worked the conversion of all these persons, who
afterwards had the glory of suffering martyrdom for Jesus Christ. St. Anastasia
was then conducted to the island of Palmarola, under sentence of death; she consummated
her triumph in the flames.
A Christian lady
obtained her body, and gave it honourable burial near Zara, in Dalmatia; but
about the year 460, under the Emperor Leo, her relics were transferred to Constantinople,
and placed, as Cardinal Orsi writes, in the celebrated church of the
Resurrection, called The Anastasia.
PS There is also another
St. Anastasia recorded in the same book who was martyred in the year 249 AD.
She was martyred along with St. Cyril of Rome under the Valerian persecution.
This St. Anastasia is often referred to as the Elder to distinguish her from
St. Anastasia, widow, above.
Saint Anastasia
Feastday: October 28
Death: 257
Martyr, whose history is
the subject of legends. She is believed to have been a young woman who lived
with a group of Christian virgins in Rome. During the persecutions of Emperor
Valerian, she was arrested and cruelly tortured by a perfect named Probus. When
she asked for some water, a man named Cyril brought her some. For this kindness
he shared her fate in beheading.
Saint Anastasia Patricia
Feastday: March 10
Anastasia Patricia
according to a fanciful and romantic legend, was the beautiful daughter of an
Egyptian nobleman and a lady-in-waiting at the court of Emperor Justinian in
Constantinople. To escape the attentions of the Emperor, she left the court and
entered a convent in Alexandria. On the death of Justinian's wife, Theodora,
the Emperor again sought her, whereupon she fled to the desert and met Abbot
Daniel, who allowed her to dress as a monk and live as a hermit in his
community, where she lived a solitary life of constant prayer and austerity
until her death twenty-eight years later.
Tuesday of Holy Week
Isaiah 49:1 Listen,
islands, to me.
Listen, you peoples, from afar:
Yahweh has called me
from the womb;
from the inside of my mother he has
mentioned my name.
2 He has made my mouth
like a sharp sword.
He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.
He has made me a
polished shaft.
He has kept me close in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You
are my servant;
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have
labored in vain.
I have spent my strength in vain for
nothing;
yet surely the justice
due to me is with Yahweh,
and my reward with my God.”
5 Now Yahweh says, he
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him,
and to gather Israel to him,
for I am honorable in Yahweh’s eyes,
and my God has become my strength.
6 Indeed, he says, “It
is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of
Jacob,
and to restore the preserved of Israel?
I will also give you as
a light to the nations,
that you may be my salvation to the end of
the earth.”
Psalm 71: 1 In you, Yahweh, I take refuge.
Never let me be disappointed.
2 Deliver me in your
righteousness, and rescue me.
Turn your ear to me, and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of
refuge to which I may always go.
Give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, my God,
from the hand of the wicked,
from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel
man.
5 For you are my hope,
Lord Yahweh;
my confidence from my youth.
6 I have relied on you
from the womb.
You are he who took me out of my mother’s
womb.
I will always praise you.
15 My mouth will tell
about your righteousness,
and of your salvation all day,
though I don’t know its full measure.
17 God, you have taught
me from my youth.
Until now, I have declared your wondrous
works.
Holy Gospel of Jesus
Christ according to Saint John 13: 21 When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in spirit, and testified,
“Most certainly I tell you that one of you will betray me.”
22 The disciples looked
at one another, perplexed about whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom
Jesus loved, was at the table, leaning against Jesus’ breast. 24 Simon Peter
therefore beckoned to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom he
speaks.”
25 He, leaning back, as
he was, on Jesus’ breast, asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus therefore
answered, “It is he to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped
it.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of
Simon Iscariot. 27 After the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him.
Then Jesus said to him,
“What you do, do quickly.”
28 Now no man at the
table knew why he said this to him. 29 For some thought, because Judas had the
money box, that Jesus said to him, “Buy what things we need for the feast,” or
that he should give something to the poor. 30 Therefore having received that
morsel, he went out immediately. It was night.
31 When he had gone out,
Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified
in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in
himself, and he will glorify him immediately. 33 Little children, I will be
with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews,
‘Where I am going, you can’t come,’ so now I tell you.
36 Simon Peter said to
him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus answered, “Where I
am going, you can’t follow now, but you will follow afterwards.”
37 Peter said to him,
“Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38 Jesus answered him,
“Will you lay down your life for me? Most certainly I tell you, the rooster
won’t crow until you have denied me three times.
Tuesday of Holy Week
Commentary for Today:
Saint Maximus of Turin (?-c.420), Bishop
Sermon 36 ; PL 57, 605
« Judas, went over to Jésus…, and kissed him. The rest laid hands on him
and arrested him » (Mk 14,45f)
Peace is a gift of Christ's resurrection. On the threshold of death he did
not hesitate to give this peace to the disciple who betrayed him; he kissed the
traitor just as he kissed his faithful friend. Don't imagine that the kiss our
Lord gave to Judas Iscariot was motivated by any other feeling than affection.
Christ already knew that Judas would betray him. He knew what this sign of love
meant and he did not conceal himself. This indeed is friendship: to him who is
to die it does not refuse a last embrace; to its loved ones it does not
withhold this last act of gentleness. However, Jesus also hoped that his
impulse would confound Judas and, taken aback by his goodness, he would not
betray the one he loved, would not deliver up the one he embraced. Thus this
kiss was bestowed as a kind of test: if it raised him up then it was a bond of
peace between Jesus and his disciple; if Judas betrayed him then this wicked
kiss became his own accusation.
Our Lord said: “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk
22,48). Where is the enemy's plot? Where is his deception hidden? Every secret
is uncovered. The traitor betrays himself before he betrays his lord. Do you
deliver up the Son of Man with a kiss? Do you wound with the seal of love? Do
you shed blood with the gesture of affection? Do you carry death with the sign
of peace? Tell me, what kind of love is this? You kiss and you threaten? But
those kisses with which the servant betrays his Lord, the disciple his master,
the chosen one his Creator: those kisses are no kisses but poison.
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment