27 SEPTEMBER – SAINTS COSMAS AND DAMIAN (Martyrs)

The brothers Cosmas and Damian were Arabians of noble extraction, born in the town of Aegae. They were physicians, and during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian healed even incurable maladies by Christ’s assistance rather than by their knowledge of medicine. The prefect Lysias, being informed of their religion, ordered them to be brought be fore him, and questioned them on their faith and their manner of life. They openly declared that they were Christians, and that the Christian faith is necessary to salvation, upon which Lysias commanded them to adore the gods, threatening them, if they refused, with torture and a cruel death. But as the prefect saw his threats were in vain: “Bind their hands and feet,” he cried, “and torture them with the utmost cruelty.” His commands were executed but Cosmas and Damian remained firm. They were then thrown, chained as they were, into the sea, but came out safe and loosed from their bonds. The prefect attributing this to magical arts ordered them to prison. The next day he commanded them to be led forth and thrown on a burning pile, but the flame refused to touch them. Finally, after several other cruel tortures, they were beheaded, and thus confessing Jesus Christ, they won the palm of martyrdom.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“Honour the physician for the need you have of him: for the Most High has created him. For all healing is from God, and he will receive gifts of the king. The skill of the physician will lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he will be praised. The Most High has created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them. Was not bitter water made sweet with wood? The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and the Most High has given knowledge to men, that He may be honoured in His wonders. By these he will cure and will allay their pains, and of these the apothecary will make sweet confections, and will make up ointments of health, and of his works there will be no end. For the peace of God is over the face of the Earth. My son, in your sickness neglect not yourself, but pray to the Lord, and He will heal you. Turn away from sin and order your hands aright, and cleanse your heart from all offence. Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a fat offering, and then give place to the physician. For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from you, for his works are necessary. For there is a time when you must fall into their hands: and they will beseech the Lord, that He would prosper what they give for ease and remedy, for their conversation” (Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. 1‒14).

These words of the Wise Man are appropriate for this feast. The Church obeying the inspired injunction, honours the medical profession in the persons of Cosmas and Damian who not only, like many others, sanctified themselves in that career. But, far beyond all others, demonstrated to the world how grand a part the physician may play in Christian society. Cosmas and Damian had been Christians from their childhood. The study of Hippocrates and Galen developed their love of God whose invisible perfections they admired reflected in the magnificences of creation, and especially in the human body His palace and His temple. To them, science was a hymn of praise to their Creator, and the exercise of their art a sacred ministry. They served God in His suffering members, and watched over His human sanctuary, to preserve it from injury or to repair its ruins. Such a life of religious charity was fittingly crowned by the perfect sacrifice of martyrdom.

East and west vied with each other in paying homage to the Anargyres, as our saints were called on account of their receiving no fees for their services. Numerous churches were dedicated to them. The emperor Justinian embellished and fortified the obscure town of Cyrus out of reverence for their sacred relics there reserved. And about the same time, Pope Felix IV built a church in their honour in the Roman Forum, thus substituting the memory of the twin martyrs for that of the less happy brothers Romulus and Remus. Not long before this Saint Benedict had dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian his first monastery at Subiaco, now known as Saint Scholastica’s. But Rome rendered the highest of all honours to the holy Arabian brethren by placing their names, in preference to so many thousands of her own heroes, in the solemn litanies and on the sacred dyptichs of the Mass.

* * * * *

In you, O illustrious brethren, was fulfilled this saying of the Wise Man: “The skill of the physician will lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he will be praised” (Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. 3). The great ones, in whose sight you are exalted, are the princes of the heavenly hierarchies, witnessing today the homage paid to you by the Church Militant. The glory that surrounds your heads is the glory of God Himself, of that bountiful King who rewards your former disinterestedness by bestowing on you His own blessed life. In the bosom of divine love, your charity cannot wax cold. Help us, then, and heal the sick who confidently implore your assistance. Preserve the health of God’s children so that they may fulfil their obligations in the world, and may courageously bear the light yoke of the Church’s precepts. Bless those physicians who are faithful to their baptism, and who seek your aid, and increase the number of such. See how the study of medicine now so often leads astray into the paths of materialism and fatalism to the great detriment of science and humanity. It is false to assert that simple nature is the explanation of suffering and death, and unfortunate are those whose physicians regard them as mere flesh and blood. Even the pagan school took a loftier view than that, and it was surely a higher ideal that inspired you to exercise your art with such religious reverence. By the virtue of your glorious death, O witnesses to the Lord, obtain for our sickly society a return to the faith, to the remembrance of God, and to that piety which is profitable to all things and to all men, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come (1 Timothy iv. 8).

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Epicharis, wife of a senator, who, in the same persecution was scourged with leaded whips and struck with the sword.

At Todi, the holy martyrs Fidentius and Terence, under the same Diocletian.

At Cordova, the holy martyrs Adulphus and John, brothers, who won the martyr’s crown in the Arabian persecution.

At Sion in Switzerland, St. Florentinus, martyr, who was put to the sword with blessed Hilary after his tongue had been cut out.

At Byblos in Phoenicia, St. Mark, bishop, who is also called John by blessed St. Luke.

At Milan, the holy bishop Caius, a disciple of the blessed Apostle St. Barnabas, who passed calmly to rest after suffering severely in the persecution of Nero.

At Ravenna, St. Aderitus, bishop and confessor.

At Paris, St. Vincent de Paul, priest, and founder of the Congregation of the Mission and of the Daughters of Charity, an apostolic man and a father to the poor. His feast is celebrated on the nineteenth of July.

In the same city, St. Eleazar, count.

In Hainaut, St. Hiltrude, virgin.

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

Thanks be to God.

27 SEPTEMBER – EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The paralytic carrying his bed is the subject of this day’s Gospel, and gives the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost its title. It has been thought by some that its having the number it bears has caused it to be inserted in the Missal immediately after the Ember Days of autumn. We will not, like the Liturgists of the Middle Ages, discuss the question as to whether we should consider it as having taken the place of the vacant Sunday which formerly used always to follow the ordination of the sacred ministers in the manner we have elsewhere described.

Manuscript Sacramentaries and Lectionaries of very ancient date give it the name, which was so much in use, of Dominica vacate. Whatever may be the conclusion arrived at, there is one interesting point for consideration — that the Mass of this day is the only one in which is broken the order of the lessons taken from Saint Paul, and which invariably form the subject of the Epistles from the sixth Sunday after Pentecost: the Letter to the Ephesians —which we have had already before us, and will be afterwards continued — is today interrupted, and in its stead we have some verses from the first Epistle to the Corinthians in which the Apostle gives thanks to God for the manifold gratuitous gifts granted, in Christ Jesus, to the Church. Now, the powers conferred by the imposition of the Bishop’s hands on the ministers of the Church are the most marvellous gift that is known on Earth, yes, in Heaven itself. The other portions of the Mass, too, are, as we will see further on, most appropriate to the prerogatives of the new Priesthood. So that the Liturgy of the present Sunday is doubly telling when it immediately follows the Ember Days of September. But this coincidence is far from being one of every year’s occurrence, at least as the Liturgy now stands. Nor can we dwell longer on these subjects without seeming to be going too far into archaeology and exceeding the limits we have marked out for ourselves.

Epistle – 1 Corinthians i. 4‒8

Brethren, I give thanks to my God always for you, for the grace of God that is given to you in Christ Jesus, that in all things you are made rich in Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who also will confirm you to the end without crime, in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The last Coming of the Son of Man is no longer far off! The approach of that final event, which is to put the Church in full possession of her divine Spouse, redoubles her hopes. But the Last Judgement which is also to pronounce the eternal perdition of so great a number of her children, mingles fear with her desire, and these two sentiments of hers will henceforth be continually brought forward in the holy Liturgy.

It is evident that Expectation has been, so to say, an essential characteristic of her existence. Separated as she is, at least, as to the vision of his divine charms, she would have been sighing all day long in this vale of tears had not the love which possesses her driven her to spend herself, unselfishly and unreservedly, for Him who is absolute Master of her whole heart. She, therefore, devotes herself to labour and suffering, to prayers and tears. But her devotedness, unlimited as it has been, has not made her hopes less ardent. A love without desires is not a virtue of the Church. She condemns it in her children as being an insult to the Spouse. So just and, at the same time, so intense were, and from the very first, these her aspirations, that Eternal Wisdom wished to spare his Bride by concealing from her the duration of her exile. The day and hour of His return is the one sole point on which, when questioned by His Apostles, Jesus refused to enlighten His Church (Matthew xxiv. 3, 36). That secret constituted one of the designs of God’s government of the world. But besides that, it was also a proof of the compassion and affection of the Man-God: the trial would have been too cruel, and it was better to leave the Church under the impression, which after all was a true one, that the end was near in God’s sight, with whom a thousand years are as one day (2 Peter iii. 8).

It is this which explains how it was that the Apostles, who were the interpreters of the Church’s aspirations, are continually recurring to the subjects of the near approach of our Lord’s coming. Saint Paul has just been telling us, and that twice over in the same breath, that the Christian is he who waits for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the day of His Coming. In his Epistle to the Hebrews, he applies to the second Coming, the inflamed desires of the ancient Prophets for the first (Hebrews ii. 3), and says: “Yet a little, and a very little while, and He that is to come, will come, and will not delay” (Hebrews x. 37). The reason is that under the New Covenant, as under the Old, the Man-God is called, on account of His final manifestation, which is always being looked for, HE THAT IS COMING, HE THAT IS TO COME (Apocalypse i. 8). The cry, which is to close the world’s history, is to be the announcement of His arrival: Behold! the Bridegroom is COMING (Matthew xxv. 6). And Saint Peter, too, says: “Having the loins of your mind girt up, think of the glory of that day on which the Lord Jesus is to be revealed! Hope for it with a perfect hope!” (1 Peter i. 5, 7, 13). The Prince of the Apostles foresaw the contemptuous way in which future false teachers would scoff at this long expected, but always put-off, Coming. Where is His promise, or His Coming? For, since the fathers slept, all things continue so, from the beginning of the creation! (2 Peter iii. 3, 4).

Yes, he foresaw this, and forestalled their sarcasm by answering it in the words which his brother Paul (2 Peter iii. 15) had previously used (Romans ii. 4): “The Lord delays not His promise, as some imagine; out, bears patiently, for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with great violence. And the elements will be dissolved with heat. And the Earth, and the works that are in it, will be burnt up. Seeing, then, that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversations and godliness, waiting for, and hastening to, the coming of the day of the Lord, by which, the heavens being on fire, will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with the burning heat of fire? But we look for new heavens and new earth, according to His promise, in which heavens and earth, justice dwells. Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that you may be found before Him, unspotted and blameless in peace (2 Peter iii. 9‒14)... Wherefore, brethren, knowing these things before, beware, lest, being led away by the error of the unwise, you fall from the steadfastness which is now yours (2 Peter iii. 17).

If in those last days danger is to be so great that the very powers of heaven will be moved (Matthew xxiv. 29) our Lord, as we are told in our Epistle, has providentially confirmed in us His testimony and our faith by continual manifestations of His power. And, as it were to confirm that other word of the same Epistle, that He will thus confirm to the end them that believe in Him — He is almost prodigal of prodigies in these our times, as though they were precursors of the End.

Miracles are forcing themselves on the world’s unwilling notice, and our modern facilities for propagating news are made to tell this glory of the Lord all over His earth! In the name of Jesus, in the name of one or other of His Saints, but especially in the name of His Immaculate Mother who is preparing the final triumph of the Church, the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, every misery of both body and soul is suddenly made to yield. So incontestable indeed, and so public, is the manifestation of supernatural power, that business-managers of all kinds, though they must out of regard for incredulity laugh at the facts, yet are they most serious in turning the occasion to their profit! Such very material agencies as railway companies have been but too glad to be obliged to put on extra trains to accommodate the faithful thousands, and carry them as quickly as they could, to the favoured sanctuaries where the holy Mother of God has appeared. It is not in Catholic countries only that the divine power has made itself felt. Quite recently, in the very centre of Mahometan infidelity — have we not read it in our papers how the city of the Sultans rejoiced at hearing of the marvels done by the Queen of Heaven within its own walls? The water of the miraculous fountain has been carried even into the city of Mecca where is the tomb of the founder of Islam, and into which, until but lately, it was death for any Christian to enter.

The infidel may talk as he please, about there being no God! (Psalm xiii. 1) If he hears not the divine testimony, it is because corruption or pride has more power over him than the light of reason — just as it was with the enemies of Jesus during His life upon the Earth. He is like to the asp of the Psalm (Psalm lvii. 5, 6) which makes itself deaf. It stops its ears that it may never hear the voice of the divine Enchanter who speaks that he may save. His life is one piece of madness (Psalm lvii. 5, 6) and folly (Psalm xiii. 1). He has done his best to draw down vengeance upon himself. Let us not be like him, but with the Apostle let us thank God for the rich profusion of Grace, which He has so mercifully poured out on us. Never were His gratuitous gifts more necessary than in these our miserable times. True, it is not a first promulgation that we stand in need of, but the efforts of Hell against it have become so violent that in order to withstand them there is need of a power from on high, equal, in some sense, to that we read of as granted in the beginning of the Church. Let us beseech our Lord to bless us with men, powerful in word and work. Let us, by the fervour of our fastings and prayers, obtain, from His divine Majesty, that the imposition of hands may produce, now more than ever, in them that are called to the Priesthood, its full result: that it may make them rich in all things, and especially in all utterance, and in all knowledge. May these days of ours, in which all principles are growing shadowy, find that the supernatural light, at least — the light of salvation — is kept up in full splendour and purity by the zeal of the Guides of the flock of Christ. May the compromises and flinchings of a generation in which all truth is being etiolated and minced, never lead our newly ordained Priests either themselves to shorten or permit any one else to curtail, the measure of the perfect man (Ephesians iv. 13) which was put into their hands in order that they might apply it to every Christian who is desirous of observing the Gospel! In spite of all threats, in spite of the noisy passions which are boisterous against any Priest who dares to preach the truth, let their voice be just what it should be, that is, an echo of the Word: let it, that is, possess he holy firmness and vibration of the Saints!

Gospel – Matthew ix. 1‒8

At that time, Jesus entering into a boat, passed over the water, and came into His own city. And behold, they brought to Him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed, and Jesus seeing their faith said to the man sick of the palsy, “Be of good heart, son, your sins are forgiven.” And behold some of the tribes said within themselves, “he blasphemes.” Jesus, seeing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? Is it easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, arise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins (then He said he to the man sick of the palsy), “Arise, take up your bed and go into your house.” And he arose and went into his house. And the multitude seeing it feared and glorified God who had given such power to men.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

In the thirteenth century, in many Churches of the West, the Gospel for today was that in which our Lord speaks of the Scribes and Pharisees as seated on the chair of Moses (Matthew xxiii 1‒12). The Abbot Rupert, who gives us this detail in his book on the Divine Offices, shows how admirably this Gospel harmonised with the Offertory, which is the one we still have, and which alludes to Moses. “This Sunday’s Office,” says he, “eloquently points out to him who presides over the House of the Lord and has received charge of souls, the manner in which he should " comport himself in the high rank where the divine call has placed him. Let him not imitate those men who unworthily sat on the Chair of Moses, but let him follow the example of Moses himself who, in the Offertory and its verses, presents the heads of the Church with such a model of perfection. Pastors of souls ought, on no account, to be ignorant of the reason why they are placed higher than other men: it is, not so much that they may govern others, as that they may serve them.” Our Lord, speaking of the Jewish doctors, said: “All whatever they will say to you, observe and do. But according to their works, do not: for they say, and do not” (Matthew xxiii. 3). Contrariwise to these unworthy guardians of the Law, they who are seated on the Chair of doctrine, “should teach, and act conformably to their teaching,” as the same Abbot Rupert adds, “or rather,” says he, “let them first do, what it is their duty to do, that they may afterwards teach with authority. Let them not seek after honours and titles, but make this their one object: to bear on themselves the sins of the people, and to merit to avert, from those who are confided to their care the wrath of God, as we are told in the Offertory, Moses did.”

The Gospel which speaks of the Scribes and Pharisees who were seated on the Chair of Moses has now been appointed for the Tuesday of the second week of Lent. But the one which is at present given for this Sunday equally directs our thoughts to the consideration of the superhuman powers of the Priesthood, which are the common boon of regenerated humanity. The Faithful, whose attention used formerly, on this Sunday, to be fixed on the right of Teaching, which is confided to the Pastors of the Church, are now invited to meditate upon the prerogative which these same men have — of forgiving sins and healing souls. As a conduct, in opposition with their teaching, would in no wise interfere with the authority of the sacred Chair from which, for the Church and in her name, they dispense the bread of doctrine to her children — so whatever unworthiness there may happen to be on the soul of a Priest, it does not in the least lessen the power of the Keys which he has had put into his hands, and which open Heaven, and shut Hell. For it is the Son of Man — it is Jesus —who, by the Priest, be he a saint or be he a sinner, rids of their sins His brethren and His creatures, whose miseries He has taken upon Himself and has atoned for their crimes by His Blood (Hebrews ii. 10‒18). The miracle of the cure of the Paralytic, which gave an occasion to Jesus of declaring His power of forgiving sins inasmuch as He was Son of Man, has always been especially dear to the Church. Besides the narration she gives us of it from Saint Matthew in today’s Gospel, she again, on the Ember Friday of Whitsuntide, relates it in the words of Saint Luke (Luke v. 17‒26).

The Catacomb frescoes which have been preserved to the present day equally attest the predilection for this subject with which she inspired the Christian artists of the first centuries. From the very beginning of Christianity heretics had risen up, denying that the Church had the power. which her divine Head gave her. of remitting sin: such false teaching was equivalent to the irretrievably condemning to spiritual death an immense number of Christians who, unhappily, had fallen after their baptism, but who, according to Catholic dogma, might be restored to grace by the Sacrament of Penance. With what energy, then, would not our Mother the Church defend the treasure, we mean, the remedy, which gives life to her children! She uttered her anathemas upon, and drove from her communion, those Pharisees of the New Law who, like their Jewish predecessors, refused to acknowledge the infinite mercy and universality of the great mystery of the Redemption. Like her divine Master, who had worked under the eyes of the Scribes and His contradictors, the Church, too, in proof of her consoling doctrine, had worked an undeniable and visible miracle in the presence of the false teachers. And yet she failed to convince them of the reality of the miracle of sanctification and grace invisibly wrought by her words of remission and pardon. The outward cure of the Paralytic was both the image and the proof of the cure of his soul which, previously had been in a state of moral paralysis.

But he himself represented another sufferer: that other was the human race which, for ages, had been a victim to the palsy of sin. Our Lord had left the Earth when the faith of the Apostles achieved this their first prodigy of bringing to the Church the world, grown old in its infirmity. Finding that the human race was docile to the teaching of the divine messengers, and was already an imitator of their faith, the Church spoke as a Mother, and said: “Be of good heart, Son, your sins are forgiven you!” At once, to the astonishment of the philosophers and sceptics, and to the confusion of Hell, the world rose up from its long and deep humiliation. And to prove how thoroughly his strength had been restored to him, he was seen carrying on his shoulders, by the labour of penance and the mastery over his passions, the bed of his old exhaustion and feebleness on which pride, lust and covetousness had so long held him. From that time forward, complying with the word of Jesus which was also said to him by the Church, he has been going on towards his house, which is Heaven, where eternal joy awaits him! And the Angels, beholding such a spectacle on Earth of conversion and holiness, are in amazement and sing glory to God who gave such power to men.

Let us also give thanks to Jesus whose marvellous dower, which is the Blood He shed for His Bride, suffices to satisfy, through all ages, the claims of eternal justice. It was at Easter Time that we saw our Lord instituting the great Sacrament which thus, in one instant, restores the sinner to life and strength. But, how doubly wonderful does not its power seem when we see it working in these times of effeminacy and well-near universal ruin! Iniquity abounds, crimes are multiplied, and yet the life-restoring pool kept full by the sacred stream, which flows from the open Side of our crucified Lord, is ever absorbing and removing, as often as we permit it, and without leaving one single vestige of them, those mountains of sins, those hideous treasures of iniquity which had been amassed during long years by the united agency of the devil, the world and man’s own self.

26 SEPTEMBER – SAINTS CYPRIAN (Martyr) AND JUSTINA (Virgin and Martyr)

Cyprian, who was first a magician and afterwards a martyr, attempted by charms and spells to make Justina, a Christian virgin, consent to the passion of a certain young man. He consulted the devil as to the best way to succeed and was told in reply that no art would be of any service to him against the true disciples of Christ. This answer made so great an impression on Cyprian that, grieving bitterly over his former manner of life, he abandoned his magical arts and was completely converted to the faith of Christ our Lord. Accused of being a Christian, he was seized together with the virgin Justina, and they were both severely scourged. They were then thrown into prison to see if they would change their mind. But on being taken out, as they remained firm in the Christian religion, they were cast into a cauldron of boiling pitch, fat and wax. Finally they were beheaded at Nicomedia. Their bodies were left six days unburied, after which some sailors carried them secretly by night to their ship and conveyed them to Rome. They were first buried on the estate of a noble lady named Rufina, but afterwards were translated into the city and laid in Constantine’s basilica, near the baptistery.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“Whoever you be that are seduced by the mysteries of the demons, none of you can equal the zeal I once had for these false gods, nor my researches into their secrets, nor the vain power they had communicated to me, to me Cyprian, who from my infancy was given up to the service of the dragon in the citadel of Minerva. Learn from me the deceitfulness of their illusions. A virgin has proved to me that their power is but smoke. The king of the demons was arrested at the door of a mere child, and could not cross the threshold. He who promises so much is a liar. A woman makes sport of the boaster who vaunted he could shake Heaven and Earth. The roaring lion becomes a startled gnat before the Christian virgin Justina” (Confessio Cypriani Antiocheni, I. 2).

* * * * *

He who sought to ruin you is now, O virgin, your trophy of victory. And for you, O Cyprian, the path of crime turned aside into the way of salvation. May you together triumph over Satan in this age when spirit-dealing is seducing so many faltering, faithless souls. Teach Christians, after your example, to arm themselves against this and every other danger with the Sign of the Cross. Then will the enemy be forced to say again: “I saw a terrible sign and I trembled. I beheld the sign of the Crucified and my strength melted like wax” (Acta Cypriani et Justinoe).

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the holy martyr Callistratus and forty-nine other soldiers, who endured martyrdom together in the persecution of Diocletian. The companions of Callistratus were converted to Christ on seeing him miraculously delivered from drowning in the sea, where he had been thrown sewn up in a bag.

Also at Rome, Pope St. Eusebius.

At Bologna, St. Eusebius, bishop and confessor.

At Brescia, St. Vigilius, bishop.

At Albano, St. Senator.

In the territory of Frascati, the blessed abbot Nilus, founder of the monastery of Crypta-Ferrata, a man of eminent sanctity.

At Città-di-Castello, St. Amantius, a priest distinguished for the gift of miracles.

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

Thanks be to God.

26 SEPTEMBER – EMBER SATURDAY IN SEPTEMBER

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Lesson – Luke xiii. 6 – 13

He spoke also this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down therefore: why cumbereth it the ground? But he answering, said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that you shall cut it down. And he was teaching in their synagogue on their sabbath. And behold there was a woman, who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years: and she was bowed together, neither could she look upwards at all. Whom when Jesus saw, He called her to him, and said to her: “Woman, you are delivered from your infirmity”. And He laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Pope St. Gregory the Great:

Our Lord and Redeemer speakes to us sometimes by words, and sometimes by deeds, sometimes one thing by words, and another by deeds, and sometimes the same thing both by word and deed. In the portion of the Gospel which has this day been read, you have heard, my brethren, two things, the parable of the fig-tree and the history of the woman which was bowed together. In both is a manifestation of the Lord’s mercy, but in the one by a parable, in the other by an example. But the barren fig tree signifies the same thing as does the woman bowed together, and the patience shown to the fig tree the same thing as does the healing of the woman bowed together.

Of what is the fig tree a type, but of mankind? Of what is the woman bowed together by a spirit of infirmity a type, but of the same mankind? Man was originally placed in a garden like the fig tree, and created upright like the woman, but man fell away by his own wilful fault; like the fig tree he brought forth no fruit; like the woman he ceased to stand straight. When he wilfully went into sin, because he would not bring forth the fruit of obedience, he lost his uprightness. The nature which had been created in the image of God, continued not in honour, but cast aside the state in which it had been placed and made. The lord of the vineyard came thrice to the fig tree, for God has come in hope, and in warning, seeking fruit from mankind under three successive dispensations, that is to say, before the law, under the law, and under grace.

He came before the law, in that by natural understanding. He let all know by example of Himself, what and how they should do toward their neighbour. In the law He came teaching. After the law He came by grace, opening, manifesting His merciful Presence. But after all these three years He yet has to complain that He finds no fruit on the fig tree, for there are still some degraded minds which the inborn voice of the natural law does not control, which the commandments do not teach, and which the wonders of the Incarnation itself do not convert. Of what is the dresser of the vineyard a type, but of the Episcopacy? For these are they who have the government in the Church, and are therefore truly called the dressers of the Lord’s vineyard

25 SEPTEMBER – EMBER FRIDAY IN SEPTEMBER

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Epistle – Osee xiv. 2‒10

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God: for you have fallen down by your iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to Him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods, for you will have mercy on the fatherless that is in you. I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them. will be as the dew, Israel will spring as the lily, and his root will shoot forth as that of Libanus. His branches will spread, and his glorywill be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Libanus. They will be converted that sit under his shadow: they will live on wheat, and they will blossom as a vine: his memorial will be as the wine of Libanus. Ephraim will say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me is your fruit found. Who is wise, and he will understand these things? prudent, and he will know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just will walk in them: but the transgressors will fall in them.

Thanks be to God.

Gospel – Luke vii. 36‒50

At that time, one of the Pharisees desired Jesus to eat with him. And He went into the house of the Pharisee, and sat down to meat. And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that He sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment; and standing behind at His feet, she began to wash His feet, with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And the Pharisee, who had invited Him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: “This man, if he were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that touches him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus answering, said to him: “Simon, I have somewhat to say to you.” But he said: “Master, say it.” “A certain creditor had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which therefore of the two loves him most?” Simon answering, said: “I suppose that he to whom he forgave most.” And He said to him: “You have judged rightly.” And turning to the woman, He said to Simon: “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, you gave me no water for my feet; but she with tears has washed my feet, and with her hairs has wiped them. You gave me no kiss; but she, since she came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil you did not anoint; but she with ointment has anointed my feet. Wherefore I say to you: Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loves less.” And He said to her: “Your sins are forgiven.” And they that sat at meat with Him began to say within themselves: “Who is this that forgives sins also?” And He said to the woman: “Your faith has made you safe, go in peace.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

23 SEPTEMBER – EMBER WEDNESDAY IN SEPTEMBER

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Lesson – Mark ix. 16–28

And one of the multitude, answering, said: “Master, I have brought my son to you, having a dumb spirit. Who, wherever he takes him, dashes him, and he foams and gnashes with the teeth, and pines away; and I spoke to your disciples to cast him out and they could not”. Who answering them, said: “O incredulous generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me”. And they brought him. And when he had seen Him, immediately the spirit troubled him; and being thrown down upon the ground, he rolled about foaming. And He asked his father: “How long time is it since this has happened to him?” But he said: “From his infancy: And often he has cast him into the fire and into waters to destroy him. But if you can do any thing, help us, having compassion on us”. And Jesus saith to him: “If you believe, all things are possible to him that believes”. And immediately the father of the boy crying out with tears said: “I do believe, Lord: help my unbelief”. And when Jesus saw the multitude running together, He threatened the unclean spirit, saying to him: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, go out of him and enter not any more into him”. And crying out, and greatly tearing him, he went out of him, and he became as dead, so that many said: “He is dead”. But Jesus taking him by the hand, lifted him up; and he arose. And when He was come into the house, His disciples secretly asked Him: “Why could not we cast him out?” And He said to them: “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting”.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

The Venerable St. Bede:

Concerning this possessed person whom the Lord healed, after that He was come down from the mount, Mark said that he was deaf and dumb, and Matthew (xvii. 15) that he was lunatic. He was a figure of them of whom it is said: “A fool changes as the moon” (Ecclesiastes xxvii. 12.) These are they who continue never in one stay, but change now to one sin, and now to another, waxing and waning — dumb, in that they confess not the faith; deaf, in that they have no ears for the word of truth. They foam at the mouth also, and pine away with folly. For it is the way with idiots, and swooners, and stupified, to foam their spittle out at their mouths. They gnash their teeth when they are inflamed with the heat of passion. They wither up in the paralysis of sloth and live nerveless lives unbraced by any strong exercise.

The father said: “And I spoke to your disciples, that they should cast him out, and they could not”. Here he makes a sort of accusation against the Apostles. But that cures cannot be wrought is sometimes owing not to the powerlessness of them that would heal, but to the want of faith in them that are to be healed — as says the Lord: “According to your faith be it done to you” (Matthew ix. 29.) He answereth him, and said: “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?” The meek and lowly One, Who, as a lamb before his shearers, is dumb, so opened not His Mouth, was not wearied out of patience, nor did He break out into words of passion, but He spoke as a physician might speak, who saw that the sick man did contrary to his commands: “Wherefore should I come to your house? How long am I to throw away the exercise of my skill, while I order one thing and you do another?”

And He said to them: “This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting”. While He teaches the Apostles how the very worst kind of devil must be driven out, He gives to all of us an instruction to life, that we may know that the most grievous trials, either from unclean spirits, or from men, are to be overcome by fasting and prayer. The wrath of the Lord also, when it is kindled to take vengeance of our sins, can be turned away by this remedy only. To fast, in a general sense, is not only to abstain from meats, but to restrain oneself from all the inticements of the flesh, and from all evil passions. So also, to pray, is not only to call in words for the mercy of God, but also, in all things which we do, in earnestness of faith to worship our Maker.

23 SEPTEMBER – SAINT THECLA (Virgin and Martyr)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

While honouring the first successor of Saint Peter, Rome commemorates the proto-martyr of the female sex. Together with holy Church, then, let us unite in the concert of praise unanimously lavished upon Thecla by the fathers of East and West. When the martyr pontiff Methodius gave his ‘Banquet of virgins’ to the Church about the end of the third century, it is on the brow of the virgin of Iconium that he placed the fairest of the crowns distributed at the banquet of the Spouse. And justly so, for had not Thecla been trained by Paul who had made her more learned in the Gospel than she was before in philosophy and every science? Heroism in her kept pace with knowledge. Her magnanimity of purpose was equalled by her courage while, strong in the virginal purity of her soul and body, she triumphed over fire, wild beasts and sea monsters, and won the glory of a triple martyrdom. A fresh triumph is hers at the mysterious banquet. Wisdom has taken possession of her, and, like a divine harp, makes music in her soul, which is echoed on her lips in words of wondrous eloquence and sublime poetry. When the feast is over, and the virgins rise to give thanks to the Lord, Thecla leads the chorus, singing:

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and with burning lamp I come to meet you.

I have fled from the bitter pleasures of mortals and the luxurious delights of life and its love. Under your life-giving arms I desire to be protected and to gaze forever on your beauty, O blessed One.

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and with burning lamp I come to meet you.

I have contemned union with mortal man. I have left my golden home for you, O King. I have come in undefiled robes, that I may enter with you into your happy bridal chamber.

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and, with burning lamp I come to meet you.

Having escaped the enchanting wiles of the serpent and triumphed over the flaming fire and the attacks of wild beasts, I await you from Heaven.

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and with burning lamp I come to meet you.

Through love of you, O Word, I have forgotten the land of my birth. I have forgotten the virgins my companions, and even the desire of mother and of kindred, for you, O Christ, are all things to me.

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and with burning lamp I come to meet you.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Campania, the commemoration of blessed Sosius, deacon of the church of Misenum. The holy bishop Januarius, seeing a flame arise from his head as he was reading the Gospel in the church, foretold that he would be a martyr, and not many days after, when he was thirty years of age, he and the holy bishop suffered martyrdom by decapitation.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Andrew, John, Peter and Anthony.

In the diocese of Coutances, St. Paternus, bishop and martyr.

At Ancona, St. Constantius, sacristan of the Church, renowned for the gift of miracles.

In Spain, the holy women Xantippa and Polyxena, who were disciples of the Apostles.

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

Thanks be to God.

23 SEPTEMBER – SAINT LINUS (Pope and Martyr)

Pope Linus was born at Volterra in Tuscany, and was the first to succeed Saint Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were so great that he not only cast out devils, but even raised the dead to life. He wrote the acts of blessed Peter, and in particular what he had done against Simon Magus. He decreed that no woman should enter a church with her head uncovered. On account of his constancy in confessing the Christian faith, this Pontiff was beheaded by command of Saturninus, a wicked and ungrateful ex-consul whose daughter he had delivered from the tyranny of the devils. He was buried on the Vatican, near the sepulchre of the prince of the apostles, on the ninth of the Calends of October. He governed the Church 11 years, 2 months and 23 days. In two ordinations in the month of December he consecrated 15 bishops and 18 priests.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The lives of the first Vicars of Christ are buried in a mysterious obscurity, just as the foundations of a monument built to defy the ravages of time are concealed from view. To be the supports of the everlasting Church is a sufficient glory: sufficient to justify our confidence in them, and to awaken our gratitude. As for ourselves, we will rejoice with the Church on this feast and pay our loving veneration to the humble and gentle Pontiff who was the first laid to rest beside Saint Peter in the Vatican crypts.

* * * * *

Simon Bar-Jonah was invested with the sovereign pontificate by our Lord in person, and openly before all. You, O blessed Pontiff, received in secret, yet none the less directly from Jesus, the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. In your person began the reign of pure faith. Henceforth the bride, though she hears not the Man-God repeat His injunction to Peter: “feed my lambs,” nevertheless acknowledges the continuance of His authority in the lawfully appointed representative of her divine Spouse. Obtain by your prayers that the shadows of Earth may never cause us to waver in our obedience and that hereafter we may merit, with you, to contemplate our divine Head in the light of eternal day.

 

22 SEPTEMBER – SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA (Bishop and Confessor)

Thomas was born at Fuenllana, a town in the diocese of Toledo in Spain, in 1488. From his earliest youth his excellent parents instilled into him piety and extraordinary charity to the poor. Of this virtue he gave while still a child many proofs, among the most remarkable of which was his more than once taking off his own garments to clothe the naked. As a youth he was sent to Alcala to study humanities in the great college of Saint Ildephonsus. He was recalled home by the death of his father, upon which he devoted his whole fortune to the support of destitute virgins and then returned to Alcala. Having completed his course of theology, he was promoted for his eminent learning to a chair in the University and taught philosophy and theology with wonderful success. Meanwhile he besought God, with assiduous prayers, to teach him the science of the saints, and a virtuous rule of life and conduct. He was therefore divinely inspired to embrace the institute of the hermits of Saint Augustine.

After his profession Thomas excelled in all virtues which should adorn a religious man: humility, patience and continence. But he was especially remarkable for ardent charity. In the midst of his many and varied labours, his unconquered spirit was ever intent on prayer and meditation of divine things. On account of his reputation for learning and holiness, he was commanded to undertake the duty of preaching and, by the assistance of heavenly grace, he led countless souls from the mire of vice to the way of salvation. In the government of the brethren to which he was next appointed he so united prudence, equity and sweetness, to zeal and severity, that in many places he restored or confirmed the ancient discipline of his Order. When elected to the archbishopric of Granada, he rejected that high dignity with wonderful firmness and humility. But not long after, he was obliged by his superiors to undertake the government of the Church of Valencia, which he ruled for about eleven years as a most holy and vigilant pastor.

Thomas changed nothing of his former manner of life but gave free scope to his insatiable charity, and distributed the rich revenues of his church among the needy, keeping not so much as a bed for himself. For the bed on which he was lying when called to Heaven was lent to him by the person to whom he had shortly before given it in alms. He fell asleep in our Lord on the sixth of the Ides of September at the age of 68. God was pleased to bear witness to his servant’s holiness by miracles both during life and after death. A barn which was almost empty, the grain having been distributed to the poor, was by his intercession suddenly filled, and a dead child was restored to life at his tomb. These and many other miracles having rendered his name illustrious, Pope Alexander VII enrolled him among the saints and commanded his feast to be celebrated on the fourteenth of the Calends of October.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

In 1517 a cruel blow fell upon the great Augustinian family. Luther, one of its members, raised the cry of revolt which was to be echoed for centuries by every passion. But the illustrious Order which had unwittingly nurtured this child of evil, was nonetheless acceptable to God and He deigned, before long, to demonstrate this for the consolation of institutes whose very excellence exposes unworthy subjects to more dangerous falls. It was at the First Vespers of All Saints that Luther broached, at Wittenburg, his famous theses against indulgences and the authority of the Roman Pontiff. Within a month, on November 25 of the same year, Thomas of Villanova pronounced his vows at Salamanca and filled up the place left vacant by the heresiarch. Amid the storms of social disorder and the noise of the world’s disturbances, the glory rendered by one saint to the ever-tranquil Trinity outweighs all the insults and blasphemies of Hell.

* * * * *

Your name, as well as your justice, will remain forever, O Thomas, because you have distributed and given to the poor (Psalm cxi.). All the church of the saints will declare your alms (Ecclesiasticus xxxi. 11). Teach us to show mercy to our brethren so that, by your prayers, we may obtain for ourselves the mercy of God. You have great power with the Queen of Heaven, whose praises you loved to celebrate and whose birthday on Earth was your birthday in Heaven. Give us an ever increasing knowledge of her, and an ever growing love. You are the glory of Spain. Watch over your country, over your Church of Valencia, and over the Order adorned with such saints as Nicholas of Tolentino, John of San Facundo, and yourself. Bless the religious women who have inherited your charity and who, for well-near [four] centuries, have caused your name, and that of your father Saint Augustine, to be held in veneration. May the preachers of the divine word throughout the world profit by the writings you have fortunately left us, monuments of that e1oquence which made you the oracle of princes, the light of the poor and the mouth-piece of the Holy Ghost.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Sion in Valais, at a place called Agaunum, the birthday of the holy martyrs Maurice, Ewuperius, Candidus, Victor, Innocent, and Vitalis, with their companions of the Theban legion who were massacred under Maximian for the name of Christ, and fitted the whole world with the renown of their martyrdom.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let us unite with Rome in paying honour to these valiant soldiers, the glorious patrons of Christian armies as well as of numerous churches. “Emperor,” said they, “we are your soldiers, but we are also the servants of God. To Him we took our first oaths. If we break them, how can you trust us to keep our oaths to you?” No command, no discipline can overrule our baptismal engagements. Every soldier is bound, in honour and in conscience, to obey the Lord of hosts rather than all human commanders, who are but His subalterns.

At Rome, the martyrdom of the holy virgins and martyrs Digna and Emerita, under Valerian and Gallienus. Their relics are kept in the church of St. Marcellus.

At Arpajon near Paris, St. Jonas, priest and martyr, who went to France with St. Denis, and after being scourged by order of the prefect Julian, ended his martyrdom by the sword.

At Ratisbon in Bavaria, St. Emmeramus, bishop and martyr, who, to deliver others, endured patiently a most cruel death for the sake of Our Lord.

At Antinoopolis in Egypt, the holy martyrs Irais, an Alexandrian virgin, and her companions. Having gone out to draw water at a fountain near by, and seeing a boat loaded with Christian confessors, she immediately left her vessel and joined them. Being conducted to the city with them, after many torments, she was the first to have her head struck off, and after her, priests, deacons, virgins, and all others underwent the same kind of death.

At Meaux, blessed Sanctinus, bishop, a disciple of St. Denis, the Areopagite, who, being consecrated by him bishop of that city, was the first to preach the Gospel there.

In the territory of Coutances, St. Lauto, bishop.

In Poitou, the holy priest Florentius.

In the territory of Bourges, St. Sylvanus, confessor.

At Laon, St. Salaberga, abbess.

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

Thanks be to God.

21 SEPTEMBER – SAINT MATTHEW (Apostle, Evangelist and Martyr)

Matthew, also named Levi, was an apostle and evangelist. He was sitting in the custom house at Capharnaum when called by Jesus, whom he immediately followed and then made a feast for Him and His disciples. After the resurrection of Christ, and before setting out for the province which it was his lot to evangelise, Matthew was the first to write the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote it in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who had been converted. Soon after he went into Ethiopia where he preached the Gospel and confirmed his teaching by many miracles. One of the greatest of these was his raising to life the king’s daughter, by which he converted the king and his wife, and the whole country. After the king‘s death, his daughter Iphigenia was demanded in marriage by his successor Hirtacus who, finding that through Matthew’s exhortation she had vowed her virginity to God and now persevered in her holy resolution, ordered the apostle to be put to death, as he was celebrating the holy mysteries at the altar. Thus on the eleventh of the Calends of October, he crowned his apostolate with the glory of martyrdom. His body was translated to Salerno and in the time of Pope Gregory VII it was laid in a church dedicated in his name.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew i. 1). The Eagle and the Lion have already risen in the heavens of the holy liturgy. Today we salute the Man, and next month the Ox will appear to complete the number of the four living creatures who draw the chariot of God through the world (Ezechiel i.) and surround His throne in Heaven. These mysterious beings with their six seraph-wings are ever gazing with their innumerable eyes on the Lamb who stands on the throne as it were slain. And they rest not day and night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” Saint John beheld them giving to the elect the signal to praise their Creator and Redeemer, and when all created beings in Heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth have adoringly proclaimed that the Lamb who was slain is worthy of power and divinity and glory and empire for ever, it is they that add to the world’s homage the seal of their testimony, saying: “Amen, so it is!” (Apocalypse iv., v.)

Great and singular, then, is the glory of the evangelists. The name of Matthew signifies one who is given. He gave himself when, at the word of Jesus “follow Me,” he rose up and followed Him. But far greater was the gift he received from God in return. The Most High, who looks down from Heaven on the low things of Earth, loves to choose the humble for the princes of His people. Levi occupied in a profession that was hated by the Jews, and despised by the Gentiles, belonged to the lowest rank of society. But still more humble was he in heart when, laying aside the delicate reserve shown in his regard by the other evangelists, he openly placed his former ignominious title beside the glorious one of apostle. By so doing, he published the magnificent mercy of Him who had come to heal the sick, not the healthy, and to call not the just, but sinners. For thus exalting the abundance of God’s grace, he merited its superabundance: Matthew was called to be the first evangelist. Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost he wrote, with that inimitable simplicity which speaks straight to the heart, the Gospel of the Messiah expected by Israel and announced by the prophets: of the Messiah the teacher and Saviour of His people, the descendant of its kings, and Himself the King of the daughter of Sion; of the Messiah who had come not to destroy the Law, but to bring it to its full completion in an everlasting, universal covenant.

In his simple-hearted gratitude, Levi made a feast for His divine Benefactor. It was at this banquet that Jesus, defending His disciple as well as Himself, replied to those who pretended to be scandalised: “Can the children of the Bridegroom mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew ix. 15). Clement of Alexandria bears witness to the apostle’s subsequent austerity, assuring us that he lived on nothing but vegetables and wild fruits. The legend tells us moreover of his zeal for the Master who had so sweetly touched his heart, and of his fidelity in preserving for Him souls inebriated with the “wine springing forth virgins” (Zacharias ix. 17). This fidelity, indeed, cost him his life: his martyrdom was in defence and confirmation of the duties and rights of holy virginity. To the end of time the Church, in consecrating her virgins, will make use of the beautiful blessing pronounced by him over the Ethiopian princess, which the blood of the apostle and evangelist bas imbued with a peculiar virtue.

* * * * *

How pleasing must your humility have been to our Lord: that humility which has raised you so high in the kingdom of Heaven and which made you, on Earth, the confidant of Incarnate Wisdom. The Son of God who hides His secrets from the wise and prudent and reveals them to little ones, renovated your soul by intimacy with Himself, and filled it with the new wine of His heavenly doctrine. So fully did you understand His love that He chose you to be the first historian of His life on Earth. The Man-God revealed Himself through you to the Church. She has inherited your glorious teaching as she calls it in her Secret, for the Synagogue refused to understand both the divine Master and the prophets His heralds. There is one teaching, indeed, which not all, even of the elect, can understand and receive: just as in Heaven not all follow the Lamb wherever He goes, nor can all sing the new canticle reserved to those whose love here on Earth has been undivided. O evangelist of holy virginity and martyr for its sake, watch over the choicest portion of our Lord’s flock. Remember also, O Levi, all those for whom, as you tell us, the Emmanuel received His beautiful name of Saviour. The whole redeemed world honours you and implores your assistance. You have recorded for us the admirable sermon on the mount: by the path of virtue there traced out, lead us to that kingdom of Heaven which is the ever-recurring theme of your inspired writing.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In the land of Saar, the holy prophet Jonas, who was buried in Geth.

At Rome, St. Pamphilus, martyr.

At twenty miles from Rome, on the Via Claudia, the martyrdom of St. Alexander, bishop, in the time of the emperor Antoninus. For the faith of Christ he was loaded with fetters scourged, tortured, burned with torches, torn with iron hooks, exposed to the beasts and cast into the flames, but having overcome all these torments, he was finally beheaded, and so attained the glory of eternal life. His body was afterwards carried into the city by the blessed Pope Damasus, on the twenty-sixth of November, on which day his feast is celebrated by order of the same Pontiff.

In Phoenicia, St. Eusebius, martyr, who, of his own accord, went to the prefect, and declaring himself a Christian, was subjected by him to many torments, and finally beheaded.

In Cyprus, St. Isacius, bishop and martyr.

In the same place, St. Meletius, bishop and confessor.

In Ethiopia, St. Iphigenia, virgin, who being baptised and consecrated to God by the blessed Apostle St. Matthew, ended her holy life in peace.

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

Thanks be to God.

20 SEPTEMBER – SAINT EUSTACE AND COMPANIONS (Martyrs)

Eustace (Eustachius), otherwise called Placid, was a Roman, illustrious for his birth, wealth and military renown so that under the emperor Trajan he became a general of the Roman army. Once while hunting, he was chasing a stag of remarkable size which suddenly halted and showed him between its horns a large and bright image of Christ our Lord hanging on the cross and inviting him to make everlasting life the object of his pursuit. Thereupon together with his wife Theopista and his two little sons Agapitus and Theopistus, he entered the ranks of the Christian warfare.

Some time afterwards Eustace returned to the place of the vision, in obedience to the command of our Lord, from whom he there heard how much he was to suffer for God’s glory. He underwent, with wonderful patience, such incredible losses that in a short time he was reduced to the utmost need and was obliged to retire privately. On the way he had the unhappiness to see first his wife, and then his two sons taken from him. Overwhelmed by all these misfortunes, he lived for a long time unknown in a distant country as a farm bailiff until at length a voice from Heaven comforted him and soon after, a fresh occasion of war arising, Trajan had him sought out and again placed at the head of the army.

During the expedition, he unexpectedly found his wife and children again. He returned to Rome in triumph amid universal congratulations, but was soon commanded to offer sacrifice to the false gods in thanksgiving for his victory. On his firm refusal, every art was tried to make him renounce the faith of Christ, but in vain. He was then, with his wife and sons, thrown to the lions. But the beasts showed nothing but gentleness. The emperor, in a rage, commanded the martyrs to be shut up in a brazen bull heated by a fire underneath it. There, singing the praises of God, they consummated their sacrifice and took their flight to eternal happiness on the twelfth of the Calends of October. Their bodies were found intact, and reverently buried by the faithful, but were afterwards translated with honour to a church erected to their names.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The twentieth of September marks one of the saddest events in history. At the height of her power, in the glorious days of Pepin and Charlemagne, the eldest daughter of the Church had crowned her mother, and the Church, in the person of her Head, reigned in reality as well as by right until, a thousand years later, Satan took advantage of the fallen state of France to despoil Peter of the patrimony which ensured his independence. The holy cross is still shedding its rays on us.

Today a group of martyrs, and this time a whole family, father, mother and sons, take up their position around the standard of salvation. While the antiquity of their cultus in both East and West rests on the best authority, the details of their life are extremely vague. Could Placid the tribune, whose exploits are recorded by Josephus in his Wars of the Jews, be the same as the Eustace we are celebrating today? Does the genealogy of our saint connect him with the Octavian family from which Augustus sprang? Again are we to recognise as his direct descendant the noble Tertullus who confided to Saint Benedict his son Placid, the favourite child of the holy patriarch and the proto-martyr of the Benedictine Order? Subiaco long possessed the mountain designated by ancient tradition as the site of the apparition of the mysterious stag. Tertullus may have bequeathed it to the monastery, as his son’s patrimony. But we have not space enough to do more than record the fact that these questions have been raised.

* * * * *

Our trials are light compared with yours, O blessed martyrs! Obtain for us the grace not to betray the confidence of our Lord when He calls us to suffer for Him in this world. It is thus we must win the glory of Heaven. How can we triumph with the God of armies unless we have marched under His standard? Now that standard is the cross. The Church knows it, and therefore she is not troubled even by the greatest calamities. She knows, too, that her Spouse is watching over her, even when He seems to sleep, and she looks to the protection of such of her sons as are already glorified.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The vigil of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.

At Cyzicum on the sea of Marmora, the birthday of the holy martyrs Pausta, virgin, and Evilasius, in the time of the emperor Maximian. Fausta had her head shaved to shame her, and was hanged up and tortured by Evilasius, then a pagan priest, but when he wished to have her body cut in two, the executioners could not inflict any injury on her. Amazed at this prodigy, Evilasius believed in Christ, and while he was cruelly tortured by order of the emperor, Fausta had her head bored through, and her whole body pierced with nails. She was then laid on a burning pan, and being called by a celestial voice, went in company with Evilasius to enjoy the blessedness of heaven.

In Phrygia, the holy martyrs Denis and Privatus.

Also St. Priscus, martyr, who, after having had his body pierced all over with daggers, was beheaded.

At Pergen in Pamphylia, the Saints Theodore, his mother Philippa, and their fellow martyrs under the emperor Antoninus.

At Carthage, St. Candida, virgin and martyr, who, having all her body lacerated with whips, was crowned with martyrdom, under the emperor Maximian.

Also the holy martyr Susanna, daughter of Arthemius, a pagan priest, and Martha.

The same day, Pope St. Agapitus, whose sanctity was attested by Pope St. Gregory.

At Milan, St. Clicerius, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

20 SEPTEMBER — SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Gospel which is now assigned to the Mass of the Seventeenth Sunday has given it the name of the Sunday of the Love of God, dating, that is, from the time when the Gospel of the cure of the dropsy and of the invitation to the wedding-feast was anticipated by eight days. Previously, even, to that change, and from the very first, there used to be read on this seventeenth Sunday another passage from the New Testament which is no longer found in this serial of Sundays: it was the Gospel which mentions the difficulty regarding the resurrection of the dead, which the Sadducees proposed to our Lord.

Epistle – Ephesians iv. 1–6

Brethren, I, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, with all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Church, by thus giving these words from Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, again takes up the subject so dear to her — the dignity of her children. She beseeches them to correspond, in a becoming manner, to their high vocation. This vocation, this call, which God gives us is, as we have been so often told, the call or invitation made to the human family that it would come to the sacred nuptials of divine union. It is the vocation given to us to reign in Heaven with the Word who had made Himself our Spouse, and our Head (Ephesians ii. 5). The Gospel read to us eight days ago which was formerly the one appointed for this present Sunday, and was thus brought into close connection with our Epistle, that Gospel, we say, finds itself admirably commented by these words of Saint Paul to the Ephesians and it, in turn, throws light on the Apostle’s words about the vocation. When you are invited to a Wedding (“cum vocatus fueris”) sit down in the lowest place! These were our Lord’s words to us, last Sunday and now we have the Apostle saying to us: Walk worthy of the vocation in which youare called, yes, walk in that vocation with all humility.

Let us now attentively hearken to our Apostle telling us what we must do in order to prove ourselves worthy of the high honour offered to us by the Son of God. We must practise, among other virtues, these three: humility, mildness and patience. These are the means for gaining the end that is so generously proposed to us. And, what is this end? It is the unity of that immense body which the Son of God makes His own by the mystic nuptials He vouchsafes to celebrate with our human nature. This Man-God asks one condition from those whom He calls, whom He invites, to become, through the Church, His Bride, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh (Ephesians v. 30). This one condition is that they maintain such harmony among them, that it will make one body and one spirit of them all, in the bond of peace. “Bond most glorious!” cries out Saint John Chrysostom, “bond most admirable, which unites us all mutually with one another, and then, thus united, unites us with God.” The strength of this bond is the strength of the Holy Spirit Himself, who is all holiness and love. For it is that Holy Spirit who forms these spiritual and divine ties.

He it is who, with the countless multitude of the Baptised, does the work which the soul does in the human body, that is, it gives it life, and it unites all the members into oneness of person. It is by the Holy Ghost that young and old, poor and rich, men and women, distinct as all these are in other respects, are made one, fused, so to say, in the fire which eternally burns in the blessed Trinity. But in order that the flame of infinite love may thus draw into its embrace our regenerated humanity, we must get rid of selfish rivalries, and grudges, and dissensions, which, so long as they exist among us, prove us to be carnal, and therefore that we are unfit material for either the divine flame to touch, or for the union which that flame produces. According to the beautiful comparison of Saint John Chrysostom, when fire lays hold of various species of wood which have been thrown into it, if it find the fuel properly dry, it makes one burning pile of all the several woods. But if they are damp and wet it cannot act on them separately, nor reduce the whole to one common blaze: so is it in the spiritual order. The unhealthy humidity of the passions neutralises the action of the sanctifying Spirit, and union, which is both the means and end of love, becomes an impossibility.

Let us, therefore, bind ourselves to our brethren by that blessed link of charity which, if it fetters at all, fetters only our bad tempers but in all other respects it dilates our hearts by the very fact of its giving free scope to the Holy Ghost to lead them safely to the realisation of that one hope of our common vocation and calling, which is to unite us to God by love. Of course, charity, even with the Saints is, so long as they are on this Earth, a laborious virtue because even with the best, grace seldom restores to a perfect equilibrium the faculties of man which were put out of order by original sin. From this it follows that the weaknesses of human nature will sometimes show themselves, either by excess or by deficiency. And when these weaknesses do crop up, it is not only the saint himself is humbled by their getting the better of him, but, as he is well aware, they who live with him have to practise kindness and patience towards him. God permits all this in order to increase the merit of us all, and make us long more and more for Heaven. For it is there alone that we will find ourselves not only totally, but without any effort, in perfect harmony with our fellow-men. And this, because of the perfect peaceful submissiveness of our entire being under the absolute sway of the thrice holy God who will then be all to all. In that happy land, it will be God Himself who will wipe away the tears of His elect, for their miseries will all be gone. And their miseries will be gone because their whole being will be renovated, because united with Him, who is its infinite source (1 Corinthians iii. 3).

The eternal Son of God having then conquered in each member of His mystical Body the hostile powers and death itself, will appear in the fullness of the mystery of His Incarnation as the true Head of humanity, sanctified, restored, and developed in Him. He will rejoice at seeing how, by the workings of the sanctifying Spirit, there has been wrought the destined degree of perfection in each of the several parts of that marvellous Body which He vouchsafed to aggregate to Himself by the bond of love. And all this in order that He might eternally celebrate, in a choir composed of Himself, the Incarnate Word and all creation, the glory of the ever adorable Trinity. How will not the sweetest music of Earth be then surpassed! How will not our most perfect choirs seem to us then to have been almost like the noise of children singing out of tune, compared with the concord and harmony of that eternal song! Let us get ourselves ready for that heavenly concert. Let us put our voices in order by now attuning our hearts to that plenitude of love which, alas, is not often enjoyed here below, but which we should ever be trying to realise by that patiently supporting the faults of our brethren and ourselves, which the Epistle so earnestly impresses upon us.

One would almost say that in the ecstasy of her delight, at hearing these few sounds of heaven’s music brought to her by such a singer as her Apostle, our Mother the Church feels herself carried away far beyond time, and boldly joins a short song of her own to that of her Jesus and His Paul. Yes, it looks like it, for by way of a conclusion to the text of our Epistle, she adds an ardent expression of praise, which is not in the original, and thus she forms a kind of doxology to the inspired words of her apostolic Chanter.

Gospel – Matthew xxii. 35–46

At that time, one of them, a doctor of the law, asked Him, tempting Him: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him: “You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like this: “You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets.” And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying: “What think you of Christ? whose son is he?” “They said to Him: “David’s” He said to them: “How then, does David in spirit call him Lord, saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no man was able to answer Him a word; neither did any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions.

Praise be to you, O Christ.
 

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Man-God allowed temptation to approach His sacred person in the desert (Matthew iv. 1‒11). He disdained not to sustain the attacks which the devil’s spiteful cunning has from the world’s first beginning been suggesting to him as the surest means of working man’s perdition. Our Jesus permitted the demon thus to tempt Him, in order that He might show His faithful servants how they are to repel the assaults of the wicked spirit. Today our adorable Master, who would be a model to his children in all their trials (Hebrews ii. 17, 18; iv. 15) is represented to us as having to contend, not with Satan’s perfidy, but with the hypocrisy of His bitterest enemies, the Pharisees. They seek to ensnare Him in His speech (Matthew xxii. 15) just as the representatives of the world, which He has condemned (John xvi. 8‒11) will do to His Church, and that in all ages right to the end of time.

But as her divine Spouse triumphed, so will she, for He will enable her to continue His work on Earth, and amid the same temptations and the same snares. She is ever to come off with victory by maintaining a most inviolable fidelity to God’s law and truth. The tools of Satan, who are the heretics, and the princes of the world, chafing at the restraint put by Christianity on their ambition and lust, will always be studying how best to outwit the guardian of the divine oracles by their captious propositions or questions. When necessity requires her to speak, she is quite ready, for as Bride of that divine Word who is His Father’s eternal and substantial utterance, what can she be but a voice, either to announce Him on Earth, or sing Him in Heaven? That word of hers, endowed as it is with the power and penetration of God Himself, will not only never be taken by surprise but, like a two-edged sword, it will generally go much deeper than the crafty questioners of the Church anticipated. It will not only refute their sophistry, it will also expose the hypocrisy and wickedness of their intentions (Hebrews iv. 12). By their sacrilegious attempts they will have gained nothing but disgrace and shame, and the mortification of having occasioned a fresh lustre to Truth by the new light in which it has been put, and of having procured a clearer knowledge of dogma or morals for the devoted children of the Church.

It was thus with the Pharisees of today’s Gospel. As the Homily upon it tells us, they wanted to see if Jesus, who had declared Himself to be God, would not consequently make some addition to the commandment of divine love. And if He did, they would be justified in condemning Him as having tried to change the letter of the law in its greatest commandment. Our Lord disappoints them. He met their question by giving it a longer answer than they had asked for: that is, having first recited the text of the great commandment as given in the Scripture, He continued the quotation and, by so doing, showed them that He was not ignorant of the intention which had induced them to question Him: He continued the quotation by reminding them of the second commandment which is like the first — the commandment, that is, of love of the neighbour, and that condemned their intended crime of deicide. Thus were they convicted of loving neither their neighbour, nor God Himself, for the first commandment cannot be observed if the second, which flows from, and completes it, be broken.

But, our Lord does not stop there. He obliges them to acknowledge, at least, implicitly, the divinity of the Messiah. He puts a question, in His turn, to them, and they answer it by saying, as they were obliged to do, that the Christ was to be of the family of David. But if he be His Son, how comes it that David calls him “his Lord,” just as he calls God Himself, as we have it in the 109th Psalm, where he celebrates the glories of the Messiah? The only possible explanation is, that the Messiah, who in due time and as Man, was to be born of David’s house, was God and Son of God even before time existed, according to the same Psalm: “From my womb, before the day-star, I begot you” (cix. 3). This answer would have condemned the Pharisees, so they refuse to give it. But their silence was an avowal and, before very long, the eternal Father’s vengeance on these vile enemies of His Son will fulfil the prophecy of making them His footstool in blood and shame: that time is to be the terrible day when the justice of God will fall on the deicide city.

Let us Christians, out of contempt for Satan, who stirred up the expiring Synagogue to thus lay snares for the Son of God — let us turn these efforts of hatred into an instruction which will warm up our love. The Jews, by rejecting Christ Jesus, sinned against both of the commandments which constitute charity and embody the whole law. And we, on the contrary, by loving that same Jesus, fulfil the whole law. This Jesus of ours is the brightness of eternal glory (Hebrews i. 3) one, by nature, with the Father and the Holy Ghost. He is the God whom the first commandment bids us love. And it is in Him also that the second has its truest and adequate application. For, not only is He as truly Man as He is truly God, but He is the Man by excellence (John xix. 5) the perfect Man, on whose type, and for whom, all other men were formed (Romans viii. 29). He is the model and brother to all of them (Hebrews ii. 17). He is, at the same time, the leader who governs them as their King (John xviii. 37) and offers them to God as their High Priest (Hebrews x. 14). He is the Head who communicates to all the members of the human family both beauty and life, and movement and light. He is the Redeemer of that human family when it fell, and on that account He is, twice over, the source of all right, and the ultimate and highest motive, even when not the direct Object, of every love that deserves to be called love here below. Nothing counts with God, excepting so far as it has reference to this Jesus. As Saint Augustine says, “God only loves men inasmuch as they either are, or may one day become, members of His Son. It is his Son that He loves in them. Thus He loves, with one same love, though not equally, both His Word and the Flesh of His Word, and the members of His Incarnate Word. Now, Charity is love — love such as it is in God, communicated to us creatures by the Holy Ghost. Therefore what we should love by charity, both in our own selves and in others, is the divine Word as either being, or, as another expression of the same Saint Augustine adds, “that it may be,” in others and in ourselves.

Let us take care, also, as a consequence of this same truth, not to exclude any human being from our love, excepting the damned who are thereby absolutely and eternally cut off from the body of the Man-God. Who can boast that he has the Charity of Christ if he do not embrace His Unity? The question is Saint Augustine’s again. Who can love Christ without loving, with Him, the Church which is His Body? Without loving all His members? What we do, be it to the least or be it to the worthiest, be it of evil or of good, it is to Him we do it, for he tells us so (Matthew xxv. 404‒45). Then, let us love our neighbour as ourselves because of Christ, who is in each of us, and gives, to us all union and increase in Charity (Ephesians iv. 15, 16).

That same Apostle who says: “The end of the law is charity” (1 Timothy i. 5) says also “The end of the law is Christ” (Romans x. 4) 6 and we now see the harmony existing between these two distinct propositions. We understand, also, the connection there is between the word of the Gospel: “On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets,” and that other saying of our Lord: “Search the Scriptures, for the same are they that give testimony of me” (John v. 39). The fullness of the law, which is the rule of men’s conduct, is in Charity (Romans xiii. 10), of which Christ is the end, just as the Object of the revealed Scriptures is no other than the Man-God who embodies in His own adorable unity, for us His followers, all moral teaching, and all dogma. He is our faith and our love, “the end of all our resolutions,” says Saint Augustine, “for all our efforts tend but to this — to perfect ourselves in Him. And this is our perfection — to reach Him: having reached Him, seek no farther, for he is your End.” The holy Doctor gives us, when we have reached this point, the best instruction as to how we are to live in the divine union: “Let us cling to One, let us enjoy One, let us all be one in Him:” hoereamus Uni, fruamur Uno, permaneamus unum.