"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"(John 6:68)
Tuesday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
Saints for the Day:
SAINT MARGARET OF SCOTLAND
Queen
(+ 1093)
St. Margaret's name signifies "pearl"; "a fitting name," says Theodoric, her confessor and her first biographer, "for one such as she." Her soul was like a precious pearl. A life spent amidst the luxury of a royal court never dimmed its luster, or stole it away from Him who had bought it with His blood. She was the granddaughter of an English king; and in 1070 she became the bride of Malcolm, and reigned as Queen of Scotland till her death in 1093.
How did she become a Saint in a position where sanctity is so difficult? First, she burned with zeal for the house of God. She built churches and monasteries; she busied herself in making vestments; she could not rest till she saw the laws of God and His Church observed throughout her realm. Next, amidst a thousand cares, she found time to converse with God-ordering her piety with such sweetness and discretion that she won her husband to sanctity like her own. He used to rise with her at night for prayer; he loved to kiss the holy books she used, and sometimes he would steal them away, and bring them back to his wife covered with jewels.
Lastly, with virtues so great, she wept constantly over her sins, and begged her confessor to correct her faults. St. Margaret did not neglect her duties in the world because she was not of it. Never was there a better mother. She spared no pains in the education of her eight children, and their sanctity was the fruit of her prudence and her zeal. Never was there a better queen. She was the most trusted counselor of her husband, and she labored for the material improvement of the country.
But, in the midst of the world's pleasures, she sighed for the better country, and accepted death as a release. On her death-bed she received the news that her husband and her eldest son were slain in battle. She thanked God, who had sent this last affliction as a penance for her sins. After receiving Holy Viaticum, she was repeating the prayer from the Missal, "O Lord Jesus Christ, Who by Thy death didst give life to the world, deliver me." At the words "deliver me," says her biographer, she took her departure to Christ, the Author of true liberty.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Getulius & Comp.
Feastday: June 10
Death: 120
Martyr with Amantius, Caerealis, and Primitivus. He was the husband of St. Symphorosa. An officer in the Roman army, he resigned when he became a Christian and returned to his estates near Tivoli, Italy. There he converted Caerealis, an imperial legate sent to arrest him. With his brother Amantius and with Caerealis and Primitivus, Getulius was tortured and martyred at Tivoli.
Saint Ithamar
Feastday: June 10
Death: 656
First Anglo Saxon bishop in Britian. The Venerable bede wrote that Ithamar was born in Kent and was noted for his learning. Ithamar succeeded St. Paulinus as bishop of Rochester in 644.
Tuesday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
1st book of Kings 17:7 After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 She said, “As Yahweh your God lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son. 14 For Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’”
15 She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days. 16 The jar of meal didn’t run out, and the jar of oil did not fail, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.
Psalms 4:2 You sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor?
Will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood?
Selah.
3 But know that Yahweh has set apart for himself him who is godly:
Yahweh will hear when I call to him.
4 Stand in awe, and don’t sin.
Search your own heart on your bed, and be still.
Selah.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness.
Put your trust in Yahweh.
7 You have put gladness in my heart,
more than when their grain and their new wine are increased.
8 In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep,
for you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. 15 Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. 16 Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Tuesday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary for the Day:
Saint Raphael Arnaiz Baron (1911-1938), a Spanish Trappist monk
Spiritual writings, 12/04/1938 (trans. Mairin Mitchell)
To be a light to the world because we have received the light of the world (Jn 8,12)
I sought for truth and did not find it; I sought for charity and only found in men some sparks which did not satisfy my eager heart; I sought for peace and saw that there is no peace on earth. The illusion passed, peacefully, without making me aware of it. It was the Lord who permitted me to be mistaken in order to bring me to him. He made me see, and now how happy I am! “What are you looking for among men,” he says to me. “What are you seeking for in the earthly life which is your pilgrimage? What is the peace you want?” How good the Lord is... Now I see clearly that true peace is in God, real charity in Jesus, that Christ is the sole truth...
Now that you have given me light to see and understand, give me, Lord, a very, very large heart to love these people who are your children, my brothers, in whom my overwhelming pride sees failings while, on the other hand, I don't see them in myself! If you have given to the least of these others, what have you given to me? All things you dispose well. My soul deplores its old ways and habits, it no longer looks for perfection in others and it no longer grieves because it can't find anywhere “to rest its head” (Mt 8,20). It now has everything. You, my God, are what fills my soul; you are my delight, my peace, my tranquillity. You, Lord, are my refuge, my fortress, life, light, comfort, my one truth and my sole love. I am happy; I have it all!
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