"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Friday of the Second week of Easter
Saints of the day:
SAINT ANICETUS
Pope, Martyr
(+ 173)
Pope, Martyr
(+ 173)
St. Anicetus succeeded St. Pius, and sat about eight years, from 165 to 173. If he did not shed his blood for the Faith, he at least purchased the title of martyr by great sufferings and dangers. He received a visit from St. Polycarp, and tolerated the custom of the Asiatics in celebrating Easter on the 14th day of the first moon after the vernal equinox , with the Jews. His vigilance protected his flock from the wiles of the heretics Valentine and Marcion , who sought to corrupt the faith in the capital of the world.
The first thirty-six bishops at Rome, down to Liberius, and, this one excepted, all the popes to Symmachus, the fifty-second, in 498, are honored among the Saints; and out of two hundred and forty-eight popes, from St. Peter to Clement XIII. seventy-eight are named in the Roman Martyrology. In the primitive ages, the spirit of fervor and perfect sanctity, which is nowadays so rarely to be found, was conspicuous in most of the faithful, and especially in their pastors. The whole tenor of their lives breathed it in such a manner as to render them the miracles of the world, angels on earth, living copies of their divine Redeemer , the odor of whose virtues and holy law and religion they spread on every side.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]Saint Stephen Harding
Stephen Harding was born in Dorset, England. He was a speaker of English, Norman French, and Latin. He was placed in the abbey of Sherbourne at a young age, but eventually put aside the cowl and became a travelling scholar. He eventually moved to the abbey of Molesme in Burgundy, under the abbot Saint Robert of Molesme (c. 1027 - 1111).
When Robert left Molesme to avoid its corruption and laxity, Stephen and Saint Alberic went with him. Unlike Alberic, Stephen was not ordered to return, and he remained in solitude with Robert. When twenty-one monks deserted Molesme to join Robert, Harding, and Alberic, the three leaders formed a new monastery at Citeaux.
Robert was initially abbot at Citeaux, returning to Molesme after a year. Alberic then took over, serving as abbot until his death in 1108. Stephen Harding, the youngest of the three men, became the third abbot of Citeaux. As abbot, Stephen Harding guided the new monastery over a period of great growth. Bernard of Clairvaux came to visit in 1112 and brought with him his followers. Between 1112 and 1119, a dozen new Cistercian houses were founded to contain the monks coming to the new movement. In 1119, Stephen wrote the Carta Caritatis, ('Charter of Love') an important document for the Cistercian Order, establishing its unifying principles.
Stephen served the house at Citeaux for twenty-five years. While no single person is considered the founder of the Cistercian Order, the shape of Cistercian belief and its rapid growth in the 12th century was due to the leadership of Stephen Harding. In 1133, he resigned the head of the order, due to age and disability. He died the following year.
His feast day in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is March 28. The north aisle of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate church in London, U.K. was formerly a chapel dedicated to him (it became the Musicians' Chapel in the 20th century).
In Hungary, in the village Apotistvonfalva there is a Catholic Baroque Church estd. by 1785, the patron saint of which is Stephen Harding. The village, and the vicinity Vendvidokwas at one time under Cistercian lordship.
Saint Robert
Facts
Benedictine abbot and reformer and the founder of the abbey of Citeaux, France, which became the motherhouse of the great monastic order of the Cistercians. A native of Troyes, he was born to nobleparents in Champagne. At the age of fifteen, he entered the Benedictine Abbey of Moutier la Celle, near Troyes, where he became prior and abbot of Saint Michael de Tonnere in 1068. He attempted to introduce extensive reforms to the community but met with such resistance that he retired in 1071 and returned to Moutier la Celle. Soon after, a group of hermits in the forest of Collan petitioned Robert to become their head. At first he declined, but the monks persevered and, after winning papal approval for their community, they convinced Robert to accept. In 1074, Robert moved the hermits into the monastery he established at Molesmes. Within a few years, Molesmes grew in size and wealth, and with the prosperity came laxity of discipline. Robert tried without success to resist, and so resigned, going to the hermitage at Or. Though recalled, he remained only until 1098 when he stepped down once more in the face of obdurate resistance by the monks to reinstate full monastic rigor. After winning permission, Robert left with twenty one monks and founded a new community at Citeaux on March 21, 1098. Called by Robert the Novum Monasterium, Citeaux was established with the invaluable aid of Eudes II, duke of Burgundy, and soon acquired much fame for the depth of its spirituality. Much chastened, the monks of Molesmes petitioned to have Robert returned to them. As its abbot once more, Robert turned Molesmes into a leading center for reform, while Citeaux became the heart of the Cistercian order. Robert died asabbot of Molesmes; this was soon extended to the Universal Chruch.
Acts of the Apostles 5:34 But one of the members of the Sanhedrin rose to his feet, a Parush named Gamli’el, a teacher of the Torah highly respected by all the people. He ordered the men put outside for a little while 35 and then addressed the court: “Men of Isra’el, take care what you do to these people. 36 Some time ago, there was a rebellion under Todah, who claimed to be somebody special; and a number of men, maybe four hundred, rallied behind him. But upon his being put to death, his whole following was broken up and came to nothing. 37 After this, Y’hudah HaG’lili led another uprising, back at the time of the enrollment for the Roman tax; and he got some people to defect to him. But he was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 So in the present case, my advice to you is not to interfere with these people, but to leave them alone. For if this idea or this movement has a human origin, it will collapse. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them; you might even find yourselves fighting God!”
They heeded his advice. 40 After summoning the emissaries and flogging them, they commanded them not to speak in the name of Yeshua, and let them go. 41 The emissaries left the Sanhedrin overjoyed at having been considered worthy of suffering disgrace on account of him. 42 And not for a single day, either in the Temple court or in private homes, did they stop teaching and proclaiming the Good News that Yeshua is the Messiah.
Psalm 27: (0) By David:
(1) Adonai is my light and salvation;
whom do I need to fear?
Adonai is the stronghold of my life;
of whom should I be afraid?
4 Just one thing have I asked of Adonai;
only this will I seek:
to live in the house of Adonai
all the days of my life,
to see the beauty of Adonai
and visit in his temple.
13 If I hadn’t believed that I would see
Adonai’s goodness in the land of the living, . . .
14 Put your hope in Adonai, be strong,
and let your heart take courage!
Yes, put your hope in Adonai!
Holy Gospel According to Saint John 6:1 Some time later, Yeshua went over to the far side of Lake Kinneret (that is, Lake Tiberias), 2 and a large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miracles he had performed on the sick. 3 Yeshua went up into the hills and sat down there with his talmidim. 4 Now the Judean festival of Pesach was coming up; 5 so when Yeshua looked up and saw that a large crowd was approaching, he said to Philip, “Where will we be able to buy bread, so that these people can eat?” 6 (Now Yeshua said this to test Philip, for Yeshua himself knew what he was about to do.) 7 Philip answered, “Half a year’s wages wouldn’t buy enough bread for them — each one would get only a bite!” 8 One of the talmidim, Andrew the brother of Shim‘on Kefa, said to him, 9 “There’s a young fellow here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But how far will they go among so many?”
10 Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.” There was a lot of grass there, so they sat down. The number of men was about five thousand. 11 Then Yeshua took the loaves of bread, and, after making a b’rakhah, gave to all who were sitting there, and likewise with the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 After they had eaten their fill, he told his talmidim, “Gather the leftover pieces, so that nothing gets wasted.” 13 They gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the miracle he had performed, they said, “This has to be ‘the prophet’ who is supposed to come into the world.” 15 Yeshua knew that they were on the point of coming and seizing him, in order to make him king; so he went back to the hills again. This time he went by himself.
Friday of the Second week of Easter
Commentary of the day:
Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Homilies on Saint John’s gospel, 24, 1.6.7; CCL 36, 244 (©Friends of Henry Ashworth)
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."
Governing the entire universe is a greater miracle than feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread, yet no one marvels marvel at it. People marvel at the feeding of the five thousand not because this miracle is greater, but because it is out of the ordinary. Who is even now providing nourishment for the whole world if not the God who creates a field of wheat from a few seeds? Christ did what God does. Just as God multiplies a few seeds into a whole field of wheat, so Christ multiplied the five loaves in his hands. For there was power in the hands of Christ. Those five loaves were like seeds, not because they were cast on the earth but because they were multiplied by the one who made the earth.
This miracle was presented to our senses in order to stimulate our minds… and so make us marvel at “the God we do not see because of his works, which we do see” (Rom 1,20). For then, when we have been raised to the level of faith and purified by faith, we shall long to behold, though not with our eyes, the invisible God whom we recognize through what is visible. This miracle was performed for the multitude to see; it was recorded for us to hear. Faith does for us what sight did for them. We behold with the mind what our eyes cannot see; and we are preferred to them because of us it was said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20,29).
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