23 JANUARY – SAINT EMERENTIANA (Virgin and Martyr)

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Three days have scarcely passed since the martyrdom of Saint Agnes when the Liturgy, so jealous of every tradition, invites us to visit the Martyr’s tomb. There we will find a young Virgin named Emerentiana. She was the friend and foster-sister of our dear little heroine, and has come to pray and weep at the spot where lies her loved one, so soon and so cruelly taken from her. Emerentiana has not yet been regenerated in the waters of Baptism. She is going through the exercises of a Catechumen, but her heart already belongs, by faith and desire, to Jesus. While the young girl is pouring forth her grief over the tomb of her much-loved Agnes, she is surprised by the approach of some pagans. They ridicule her tears and bid her pay no more of this sort of honour to one who was their victim. Upon this, the child, longing as she was to be with Christ and to be clasped in the embraces of her sweet Agnes, was fired with holy courage — as well she might near such a Martyr’s tomb — and turning to the barbarians she confesses Christ Jesus and curses the idols, and upbraids them for their vile cruelty to the innocent Saint who lay there.

This was more than enough to rouse the savage nature of men who were slaves to the worship of Satan. And scarcely had the child spoken, when she falls on the tomb, covered with the heavy stones thrown on her by her murderers. Baptised in her own blood, Emerentiana leaves her bleeding corpse upon the earth, and her soul flies to the bosom of her God where she is to enjoy, for ever, union with Him, in the dear company of Agnes. Let us unite with the Church, which so devoutly honours these touching incidents of her own history. Let us ask Emerentiana to pray that we may have the grace to be united with Jesus and Agnes in Heaven, and congratulate her on her own triumph, by addressing her in the words of the holy Liturgy.

17 JANUARY – SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The third Mystery of the Epiphany shows us the completion of the merciful designs of God on the world, at the same time that it manifests to us, for the third time, the glory of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Star has led the soul to faith. The sanctified waters of the Jordan have conferred purity on her. The marriage feast unites her to her God. We have been considering, during this Octave, the Bridegroom revealing Himself to the Spouse. We have heard Him calling her to come to Him from the heights of Libanus. And now, after having enlightened and purified her, He invites her to the heavenly feast where she is to receive the wine of His divine love.

A feast is prepared (John ii). It is a marriage feast and the Mother of Jesus is present at it, for it is just that having co-operated in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, she should take part in all that her Son does and in all the favours He bestows on His elect. But in the midst of the feast, the wine fails. Wine is the symbol of Charity or Love, and Charity had failed on the Earth, for the Gentiles had never tasted its sweetness. And as to the Synagogue, what had it produced but wild grapes? (Isaias v. 2) The True Vine is our Jesus, and He calls Himself by that name (John xv. 1). He alone could give that wine which gladdens the heart of man (Psalm ciii. 15). He alone could give us that chalice which inebriates (Psalm xxii. 5) and of which the Royal Psalmist prophesied.

Mary said to Jesus: “They have no wine.” It is the office of the Mother of God to tell Him of the wants of men, for she is also their Mother. But Jesus answers her in words, which are apparently harsh: “Woman! What is it to me and to you? My hour is not yet come.” The meaning of these words is that in this great Mystery He was about to act not as the Son of Mary, but as the Son of God. Later on the hour will come when, dying on the Cross, He will do a work in the presence of His Mother, and He will do it as man, that is, according to that human nature which He has received from her. Mary at once understands the words of her Son and she says to the waiters of the feast what she is now ever saying to her children: “Do whatever He will say to you.”

Now, there were six large water pots of stone there, and they were empty. The world was then in its Sixth Age, as Saint Augustine and other Holy Doctors tell us. During these six ages the Earth had been awaiting its Saviour who was to instruct and redeem it. Jesus commands these water pots to be filled with water, and yet water does not suit the Feast of the Spouse. The figures and the prophecies of the ancient world were this water, and until the opening of the Seventh Age when Christ, who is the Vine, was to be given to the world, no man had contracted an alliance with the Divine Word.

But, when the Emmanuel came He had but to say, “Now draw out,” and the water pots were seen to be filled with the wine of the New Covenant, the wine which had been kept to the end. When He assumed our human nature — a nature weak and unstable as water— He effected a change in it. He raised it up even to Himself, by making us partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter i. 4). He gave us the power to love Him, to be united to Him, to form that one Body of which He is the Head, that Church of which He is the Spouse, and which He loved from all eternity, and with such tender love, that He came down from Heaven to celebrate His nuptials with her.

O the wonderful dignity of man! God has vouchsafed, says the Apostle, to show the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which had no claim to, nay, were unworthy of such an honour. Jesus bids the waiters fill them with water, and the water of Baptism purifies us. But not satisfied with this, He fills these vessels, even to the brim, with that heavenly and new wine which was not to be drunk save in the kingdom of His Father (Romans ix. 23). This divine charity which dwells in the Sacrament of Love is communicated to us. And that we might not be unworthy of the espousals with Himself to which He called us, He raises us up even to Himself. Let us, therefore, prepare our souls for this wonderful union and, according to the advice of the Apostle, let us labour to present them to our Jesus with such purity as to resemble that chaste virgin who was presented to the spotless Lamb (2 Corinthians xi. 2).

Saint Matthew, the Evangelist of the Humanity of our Lord, has received from the Holy Ghost the commission to announce to us the Mystery of Faith by the Star. Saint Luke, the Evangelist of Jesus’ Priesthood, has been selected by the same Holy Spirit to instruct us in the Mystery of the Baptism in the Jordan. But the Mystery of the Marriage Feast was to be revealed to us by the Evangelist John, the Beloved Disciple. He suggests to the Church the object of this third Mystery by this expression: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and He MANIFESTED His glory” (John ii. 11). At Bethlehem the gold of the Magi expressed the Divinity of the Babe. At the Jordan, the descent of the Holy Ghost and the voice of the Eternal Father proclaimed Jesus (known to the people as a carpenter of Nazareth) to be the Son of God. At Cana, it is Jesus Himself that acts, and He acts as God for, says Saint Augustine, He who changed the water into wine in the water pots could be no other than the same who every year works the same miracle in the vine. Hence it was that from that day, as Saint John tells us, His disciples believed in Him and the Apostolic College began to be formed.

Epistle – Romans xii. 6‒16

Brethren, having different gifts, according to the grace that is given us: either prophecy, to be used according to the rule of faith; or ministry, in ministering: or he that teaches, in doctrine; he that exhorts, in exhorting; he that gives, with simplicity; he that rules, with carefulness; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good. Loving one another with the charity of brotherhood, in honour preventing one another. In carefulness, not slothful. In spirit fervent: Serving the Lord: Rejoicing in hope: Patient in tribulation: Instant in prayer: Communicating to the necessities of the Saints: Pursuing hospitality. Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep. Being of one mind one towards another: not minding high things, but consenting to the humble.

Thanks be to God.

Gospel – John ii. 1‒11

At that time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what is it to me and to you? My hour is not yet come.” His mother said to the waiters, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus said to them, “Draw put now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast.” And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not from where it came, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water: the chief steward called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man at first sets forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee: and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Saint Augustine of Hippo:

Even setting aside any mystical interpretation, the fact that the Lord was pleased to be asked and to go to a marriage shows plainly enough that He is the Author and Blesser of marriage. There were yet to be those of whom the Apostle has warned us as “forbidding to marry” (1 Timothy iv. 3) who say that marriage is a bad thing in itself and a work of the devil. Yet we read in the Gospel that when the Lord was asked, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” (Matthew xix. 3) He answered that it was not lawful, except it were for fornication. In which answer you will remember that He used these words: “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” They who are well instructed in the Catholic religion know that God is the Author and Blesser of marriage and that, whereas joining together in marriage is of God, divorce is of the devil. But it is lawful for a man to put away his wife in case of fornication, for by not keeping a wife’s faith to her husband she herself has first willed not to be wife. They also who have made a vow of their virginity to God and have thereby attained to an higher degree of honour and holiness in the Church, are not unmarried, for they are a special part of the marriage of the whole Church, which is the Bride of Christ. The Lord, being asked, went to the marriage to strengthen the marriage tie and to shed light on the hidden meaning of matrimony. In that marriage feast the bridegroom to whom it was said, “You have kept the good wine until now,” was a figure of the Lord Christ who has kept until now the good wine, namely the Gospel.

9 JANUARY – FERIA

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Star foretold by Balaam having risen in the East, the three Magi whose hearts were full of the expectation of the promised Redeemer are immediately inflamed with the desire of going in search of Him. The announcement of the glad coming of the King of the Jews is made to these holy Kings in a mysterious and silent manner, and hereby it differs from that made to the shepherds of Bethlehem who were invited to Jesus’ crib by the voice of an Angel.

But the mute language of the Star was explained to them by God Himself, for He revealed His Son to them, and this made their vocation superior in dignity to that of the Jewish shepherds who, according to the dispensation of the Old Law, could know nothing save by the ministry of Angels.

The divine grace which spoke directly and by itself to the souls of the Magi, met with a faithful and unhesitating correspondence. Saint Luke says of the shepherds that they came with haste to Bethlehem (Luke ii. 16), and the Magi show their simple and fervent eagerness by the words they addressed to Herod: “We have seen his Star in the East,” they say, “and we are come to adore him” (Matthew ii. 2).

When Abraham received the command from God to go out of the land of Chaldea, which was the land of his fathers and kindred, and go into a strange country, he obeyed with such faithful promptitude as to merit the being made the Father of all them that believe (Romans iv. 11): so, likewise, the Magi, by reason of their equally docile and admirable faith, have been judged worthy to be called the Fathers of the Gentile Church.

They, too, or at least one or more of them, went out from Chaldea if we are to believe Saint Justin and Tertullian. Several of the Fathers among whom are the two just mentioned assert that one, if not two, of these holy Kings was from Arabia. A popular tradition, now for centuries admitted into Christian art, tells us that one of the three was from Ethiopia, and certainly, as regards this last opinion, we have David and other Prophets telling us that the coloured inhabitants of the banks of the Nile were to be objects of God’s special mercy.

The term Magi implies that they gave themselves to the study of the heavenly bodies, and that too for the special intention of finding that glorious Star whose rising had been prophesied. They were of the number of those Gentiles who, like the centurion Cornelius, feared God, had not been defiled by the worship of idols, and maintained, in spite of all the ignorance which surrounded them, the sacred traditions of the religion that was practised by Abraham and the Patriarchs. The Gospel does not say that they were Kings, but the Church applies to them those verses of the Psalm where David speaks of the Kings of Arabia and Saba that should hereafter come to the Messiah, bringing their offerings of gold. The tradition of their being Kings rests on the testimony of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, of Saint Jerome, of the Poet Juvencus, of Saint Leo and several others. And it would be impossible to controvert it by any well-grounded arguments. Of course, we are not to suppose them to have been monarchs whose kingdoms were as great as those of the Roman Empire, but we know that the Scripture frequently applies this name of King to petty princes, and even to mere governors of provinces. The Magi, therefore, would be called Kings if they exercised authority over a considerable number of people, and that they were persons of great importance, we have a strong proof in the consideration and attention showed them by Herod, into whose palace they enter, telling him that they are come to pay their homage to the new-born King of the Jews.

The city of Jerusalem is thrown into a. state of excitement by their arrival, which would scarce have occurred had not the three strangers, who came for a purpose which few heeded, been attended by numerous retinue, or had not attracted attention by their imposing appearance. These Kings, then, docile to the divine inspiration, suddenly leave their country, their riches, their quiet, in order to follow a Star: the power of that God who had called them unites them in the same path, as they were, already, one in faith. The Star goes on before them, marking out the route they were to follow: the dangers of such a journey, the fatigues of a pilgrimage which might last for weeks or months, the fear of awakening suspicions in the Roman Empire towards which they were evidently tending —all this was nothing to them. They were told to go, and they went.

Their first stay is at Jerusalem, for the Star halts there. They, Gentiles, come into this Holy City (which is soon to have God’s curse on it) and they come to announce that Jesus Christ is come! With all the simple courage and all the calm conviction of Apostles and Martyrs, they declare their firm resolution of going to Him, and of adoring Him. Their earnest inquiries constrain Israel, who was the guardian of the divine prophecies, to confess one of the chief marks of the Messiah — His birth in Bethlehem. The Jewish Priesthood fulfils, though with a sinful ignorance, its sacred ministry, and Herod sits restlessly on his throne plotting murder. The Magi leave the faithless City, which has turned the presence of the Magi into a mark of its own reprobation. The Star re-appears in the heavens, and invites them to resume their journey. Yet a few hours, and they will be at Bethlehem, at the feet of the King they are in search of.

*****

Dear Jesus! We, also, are following you. We are walking in your light, for you have said in the Prophecy of your beloved Disciple: “I am the bright and morning Star” (Apocalypse xxii. 16). The meteor that guides the Magi is but thy symbol, divine Star! You are the morning Star, for your birth proclaims that the darkness of error and sin is at an end. You are the morning Star, for, after submitting to death and the tomb, you will suddenly arise from that night of humiliation to the bright morning of your glorious Resurrection. You are the morning Star for, by your birth and the Mysteries which are to follow, you announce to us the cloudless day of eternity. May your light ever beam upon us! May we, like the Magi, be obedient to its guidance and ready to leave all things in order to follow it! We were sitting in darkness when you called us to your grace by making this your light shine on us. We were fond of our darkness, and you gave us a love for the Light! Dear Jesus! keep up this love within us. Let not sin, which is darkness, ever approach us. Preserve us from the delusion of a false conscience. Avert from us that blindness into which fell the City of Jerusalem and her king, and which prevented them from seeing the Star. May your Star guide us through life, and bring us to you, our King, our Peace, our Love!

We salute you, too, Mary, Star of the Sea that shines on the waters of this life, giving calm and protection to your tempest-tossed children who invoke you! You prayed for the Magi as they traversed the desert: guide also our steps, and bring us to Him who is your child and your Light eternal.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Antioch, in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, the birthday of the Saints Julian, martyr, and Basilissa, his virgin wife. Having lived in a state of virginity with her husband, she reached the end of her days in peace. But after the death by fire of a multitude of priests and ministers of the Church of Christ who had taken refuge in his house from the severity of the persecution, Julian was ordered by the governor Marcian to be tormented in many ways and executed. With him suffered Anthony, a priest, and Anastasius, who Julian raised from the dead and made partaker of the grace of Christ.

Also Celsus, a boy, with his mother Marcionilla, seven brothers and many others.

In Mauritania Caesariensis (now Algeria), St. Marciana, virgin, who consummated her martyrdom by being condemned to the beasts.

At Smyrna, the holy martyrs Vitalis, Revocatus and Fortunatus.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Epictetus, Jucundus, Secundus, Vitalis, Felix and seven others.

At Sebaste in Armenia, St. Peter, bishop, brother of St. Basil the Great.

At Ancona, St. Marcellinus, bishop, who, according to Pope St. Gregory, miraculously delivered that city from destruction by fire.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

2 JANUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, who, despising the edict of the emperor Diocletian which ordered that the sacred books should be delivered up, preferred to surrender themselves to the executioners rather than to give holy things to dogs.

At Antioch, the passion of blessed Isidore, bishop.

At Tomis in Pontus, in the time of the emperor Licinius, three holy brothers, Argaeus, Narcissus, and the young man Marcellinus. This last, being enrolled among the new soldiers and refusing to serve, was beaten almost to death, and for a long time kept in prison. Being finally cast into the sea, he finished his martyrdom, but his brothers were beheaded.

At Milan, St. Martinian, bishop.

In Nitria in Egypt, blessed Isidore, bishop and confessor.

The same day, St. Siridion, bishop.

In Thebais, St. Macarius of Alexandria, abbot.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.