9 FEBRUARY – SAINT APOLLONIA (Virgin and Martyr)

 

 

Apollonia was a virgin of Alexandria. In the persecution under the Emperor Decius, when she was far advanced in years, she was brought up to trial and ordered to pay adoration to idols. She turned from them with contempt, and declared that worship ought to be given to Jesus Christ, the true God. Whereupon the impious executioners broke and pulled out her teeth. Then, lighting a pile of wood, they threatened to burn her alive unless she would hate Christ and adore their gods. She replied that she was ready to suffer every kind of death for the faith of Jesus Christ. Upon this, they seized her, intending to do as they said. She stood for a moment, as though hesitating what she should do. Then, snatching herself from their hold, she suddenly threw herself into the fire, for there was within her the flame of the Holy Ghost. Her body was soon consumed, and her most pure soul took its flight and was graced with the everlasting crown of martyrdom in 249 AD.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The holy virgin who this day claims the homage of our devotion and praise is offered to us by the Church of Alexandria. Apollonia is a Martyr of Christ. Her name is celebrated and honoured throughout the whole world, and she comes to us on this ninth day of February to add her own example to that which we have so recently had from her sister Saints, Agatha and Dorothy. Like them, she bids us fight courageously for Heaven. To her this present life was a thing of little value, and no sooner does she receive God’s inspiration to sacrifice it than she does what her would-be executioners intended doing — she throws herself into the flames prepared for her. It is no unusual thing nowadays, for men that are wearied of the trials, or afraid of the humiliations, of this world, to take away their own lives and prefer suicide to the courageous performance of duty: but Apollonia’s motive for hastening her death by a moment’s anticipation was to testify her horror of the apostasy that was proposed to her. This is not the only instance we meet with during times of Persecution of the Holy Spirit’s inspiring this lavish sacrifice to saintly virgins who trembled for their faith or their virtue. It is true, such examples are rare, but they teach us, among other things, that our lives belong to God alone, and that we should be in a readiness of mind to give them to Him when and as He pleases to demand them of us. There is one very striking circumstance in the martyrdom of Saint Apollonia. Her executioners, to punish the boldness with which she confessed our Lord Jesus Christ, beat out her teeth. This has suggested to the faithful, when suffering the cruel pain of tooth-ache, to have recourse to Saint Apollonia, and their confidence is often rewarded, for God would have us seek the protection of His Saints, not only in our spiritual, but even in our bodily, sufferings and necessities.

*****

What energy was yours, Apollonia! Your persecutors threaten you with fire, but far from fearing it, you are impatient for it as though it were a throne, and you ambitious to be queen. Your dread of sin took away the fear of death, nor did you wait for man to be your executioner. This your courage surprises our cowardice, and yet the burning pile into which you threw yourself when asked to apostatise, and which was a momentary pain leading your soul to eternal bliss, was nothing when we compare it with that everlasting fire to which the sinner condemns himself almost every day of his life. He heeds not the flames of Hell, and deems it no madness to purchase them at the price of some vile passing pleasure. And with all this worldlings can be scandalised at the Saints and call them exaggerated, extravagant, imprudent, because they believed that there is but one thing necessary! Awaken in our hearts, Apollonia, the fear of sin, which gnaws for eternity the souls of them who die with its guilt upon them. If the fire which had a charm for you seems to us the most frightful of tortures, let us turn our fear of suffering and death into a preservative against sin which plunges men into that abyss from which the smoke of their torments will ascend forever and ever (Apocalypse xiv. 11) as Saint John tells us in his Revelations. Have pity on us, most brave and prudent Martyr. Pray for sinners. Open their eyes to see the evils that threaten them. Get us the fear of God so that we may merit His mercies and begin in good earnest to love Him.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Alexandria, St. Cyril, bishop and Doctor of the Church. He is mentioned on the twenty-eighth of January.

At Rome, the passion of the holy martyrs Alexander, and thirty eight others crowned with him.

At Solum in Cyprus, the holy martyrs Ammonius and Alexander.

At Antioch, under the emperor Valerian, St. Nicephorus, martyr, who was beheaded and thus received the crown of martyrdom.

In Africa, in a village called Lemelis, the holy martyrs Primus and Donatus, deacons, who were killed by the Donatists for defending an altar in the church.

In the monastery of St. Vandrille, St. Ansbert, bishop of Rouen.

At Canossa in Apulia, of St. Sabinus, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

9 FEBRUARY – MONDAY OF SEXAGESIMA WEEK

 

Lesson – Genesis vii. 1‒17

And the Lord said to Noah: “Go in thou and all your house into the ark: for you I have seen just before me in this generation. Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female. But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and the female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth. For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the Earth.” And Noah did all things which the Lord had commanded him. And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth. And Noah went in and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. And of beasts clean and unclean, and of fowls, and of every thing that moves upon the earth, two and two went in to Noah into the ark, male and female, as the Lord had commanded Noah. And after the seven days were passed, the waters of the flood overflowed the earth. In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were opened: And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day Noah, and Sem, and Cham, and Japheth his sons: his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark: They and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in their kind, and every thing that moves upon the earth according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, all birds, and all that fly, went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein was the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in on the outside. And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark on high from the earth.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (Genesis vi. 12). The terrible lesson, then, which men had received by being driven out of Paradise in the person of our First Parents had been without effect. Neither the certainty of death, when they would have to stand before the Divine Judge — nor the humiliations which attend man’s first coming into this world — nor the pains and fatigues and trials which beset the whole path of life — had subdued men’s hearts or brought them into submission to that Sovereign Master whose hand lay thus heavy upon them. They had the divine promise that a Saviour should be given to them and that this Redeemer (who was to be the Son of Her that was to crush the Serpent’s head) would not only bring them salvation, but would moreover re-instate them in all the happiness and honours they had lost. But even this was not enough to make them rise above the base passions of corrupt nature. The example of Adam’s nine hundred years’ penance, and the admonitions he could so feelingly give that had received such proofs of God’s love and anger began to lose their influence upon his children. And when he at last descended into the grave, his posterity grew more and more heedless of what they owed to their Creator. The long life which had been granted to man in this the first Age of the World was made but a fresh means of offending Him who gave it. When, finally, the sons of Seth took to themselves wives of the family of Cain, the human race reached the height of wickedness, rebelled against the Lord and made their own passions be their god.

Yet all this while they had had granted to them the power of resisting the evil propensities of their hearts. God had offered them His grace by which they were enabled to conquer pride and concupiscence. The merits of the Redeemer to come were even then present to Divine Justice, and the Blood of the Lamb, slain, as Saint John tells us, from the beginning of the world (Apocalypse xiii. 8) was applied, in its merits, to this, as to every generation, which existed before the Great Sacrifice was really immolated. Each individual of the human family might have been just as Noah was, and like him have found favour with the Most High, but the thought of their heart was bent upon evil, and not upon good, and the Earth grew covered with enemies of God. Then it was that it repented God that He made man (Genesis vi. 6), as the Sacred Scripture forcibly expresses it. He decreed that man’s life on Earth should be shortened in order that the thought of death might be ever before us. He, moreover, resolves to destroy, by a universal Deluge, the whole of this perverse generation, saving only one family. The world would thus be renewed and man would learn from this awful chastisement to serve and love this his Sovereign Lord and God.

8 FEBRUARY – SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

 

Epistle – 2 Corinthians xi. 19 to xii. 9

Brethren, you gladly suffer the foolish, whereas yourselves are wise. For you suffer if a man brings you into bondage, if a man devours you, if a man takes from you, if a man is lifted up, if a man strikes you on the face. I speak according to dishonour, as if we had been weak in this part, therein if any man dare (I speak foolishly), I dare also. They are Hebrews. So am I. They are Israelites. So am I. They are the seed of Abraham. So am I. They are the ministers of Christ: (I speak as one less wise). I am more; in many, more labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. From the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the, city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness. Besides these external things, there is my daily concern, the solicitude for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalised, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I lie not. At Damascus the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes to apprehend me, and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands. If I must glory (it is not expedient indeed), but I will come to the visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not, or but of the body, I know not. God knows): such an one rapt even to the third heaven. And I know such a man (whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knows), that he was caught up in paradise and heard secret words which it is not granted to man to utter. For such an one I will glory, but for myself I will glory nothing but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I will not lie foolish, for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he sees in me, or anything he hears from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me: there was given me a sting in my flesh, an Angel of Satan, to buffet me. Wherefore thrice I besought the Lord that it might depart from me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Epistle is that admirable passage from one of Saint Paul’s Epistles in which the great Apostle, for the honour and interest of his sacred ministry, is necessitated to write his defence against the calumnies of his enemies. We learn from this his apology what labours the Apostles had to go through in order to sow the Word of God in the barren soil of the Gentile world and make it Christian.

Gospel – Luke viii. 4‒15

At that time, when a very great multitude was gathered together and hastened out of the cities to Him, He spoke by a similitude. “The sower went put to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And other some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And other some fell among thorns; and the thorns growing up with it, choked it. And other some fell upon good ground, and being sprung up, yielded fruit an hundredfold.” Saying these things, He cried out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And his disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom He said, “To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables; that seeing, they may not see, and hearing, may not understand. Now, the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. And they by the wayside are they that hear; then the devil comes and takes the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved. Now they upon the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no roots, for they believe for a while, and in time of temptation they fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit. But that on good ground are they who, in a good and very good heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Saint Gregory the Great justly remarks that this parable needs no explanation since Eternal Wisdom Himself has told us its meaning. All that we have to do is to profit by this divine teaching and become the good soil in which the heavenly seed may yield a rich hardest. How often have we not, hitherto, allowed it to be trampled on by them that passed by, or to be torn up by the birds of the air? How often has it not found our heart like a stone that could give no moisture, or like a thorn plot that could but choke? We listened to the Word of God. We took pleasure in hearing it. And from this we argued well for ourselves. Nay, we have often received this Word with joy and eagerness. Sometimes, even, it took root within us. But, alas, something always came to stop its growth. Henceforth it must both grow and yield fruit. The seed given to us is of such quality that the Divine Sower has a right to expect a hundred-fold. If the soil, that is, if our heart, be good — if we take the trouble to prepare it. by profiting of the means afforded us by the Church — we will have an abundant harvest to show our Lord on that grand day when, rising triumphant from His tomb, He will come to share with His faithful people the glory of His Resurrection.

7 FEBRUARY – SATURDAY OF SEPTUAGESIMA WEEK

Lesson – Genesis v. 15‒31

And Malaleel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. And Malaleel lived after he begot Jared, eight hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Malaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died. And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Henoch. And Jared lived after he begot Henoch, eight hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. And Henoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Mathusala. And Henoch walked with God: and lived after he begot Mathusala, three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Henoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him. And Mathusala lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. And Mathusala lived after he begot Lamech, seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Mathusala were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son. And he called his name Noah, saying: “This same will comfort us from the works and labours of our hands on the earth, which the Lord has cursed.” And Lamech lived after he begot Noah, five hundred and ninety-five years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Lamech came to seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The sentence pronounced by the Almighty on our First Parents was to fall upon their children to the end of time. We have been considering, during this Week of Septuagesima, the penalties of the great sin. But the severest and most humiliating of them all remains to be told. It is the transmission, to the whole human race, of Original Sin. It is true that the merits of the promised Redeemer will be applied to each individual man in the manner established by God at various periods of time: still, this spiritual Regeneration — while cleansing us from the leprosy which covered us, and restoring us to the dignity of children of God — will not remove every scar of the old wound. It will save us from eternal death and restore us to life. But as long as our pilgrimage lasts, we will be weak and sickly.

Thus it is, that Ignorance makes us to be short-sighted in those great truths which should engross all our thoughts. And this fills us with illusions which, by an unhappy inclination of our will, we cling to and love. Concupiscence is ever striving to make our soul a slave to the body, and in order to escape this tyranny, our life has to be one continual struggle. An unruly love for Independence is unceasingly making us desire to be our own masters and forget that we were born to obey. We find pleasure in sin, whereas virtue rewards us with nothing in this life, save with the consciousness of our having done our duty.

*****

Knowing all this, we are filled with admiration and love when we think of you, O Mary, you purest of God’s creatures! You are our Sister in nature. You are a Daughter of Eve. But you were conceived without sin and are therefore the honour of the human race. You are of the same flesh and blood as ourselves, and yet you are Immaculate. The divine decree which condemned us to inherit the disgrace of Original Sin could not include your most pure Conception, and the serpent felt, as your foot crushed his haughty head, that you had never been under his power. In you, Mary, we find our nature such as it was when our God first created it. Hail, then, spotless Mirror of Justice! O Mary! Beautiful in your unsullied holiness, pray for us who are weighed down by the consequences of that sin of our First Parents which God would not suffer to approach you. You are the implacable enemy of the Serpent. Watch over us, lest his sting inflict death on our souls. We were conceived in sin and born in sorrow. Pray for us that we may so live as to merit blessing. We are condemned to toil, to suffering and to death. Intercede for us that our atonement may find acceptance with our Lord. We are exposed to the treachery of our evil inclinations. We are in love with this present life. We forget eternity. We are ever striving to deceive our own hearts — how could we escape Hell, were the grace of your Divine Son not unceasingly offered to us, enabling us to triumph over all our enemies? You, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus, are the Mother of Divine Grace! Pray for us that we who glory in being your kindred by nature may be daily more and more enriched with this priceless gift.

7 FEBRUARY – SAINT ROMUALD (Abbot)

 

Romuald was the son of a nobleman named Sergius. He was born at Ravenna and while still a boy withdrew to the monastery of Classis, there to lead a life of penance. The conversation of one of the religious increased in his soul his already ardent love of piety, and after being twice favoured with a visit of Saint Apollanaris who appeared to him during the night in the church which was dedicated to him, he entered the monastic state, agreeably to the promise made him by the holy Martyr. A few years later on he went to a hermit named Marinus, who lived in the neighbourhood of Venice and was famed for his holy and austere life that, under such a master and guide, he might follow the narrow path of high perfection. Many were the snares laid for him by Satan, and envious men molested him with their persecutions. But these things only excited him to be more humble, and assiduous in fasting and prayer. In the heavenly contemplation with which he was favoured, he shed abundant tears. Yet such was the joy which ever beamed in his face, that it made all who looked at him cheerful. Princes and Kings held him in great veneration, and his advice induced many to leave the world and its allurements and live in holy solitude. An ardent desire for martyrdom induced him to set out for Pannonia, but a malady which tormented him as often as he went forward and left him when he turned back, obliged him to abandon his design. He wrought many miracles during his life, as also after his death, and was endowed with the gift of prophecy. Like the Patriarch Jacob, he saw a ladder that reached from Earth to Heaven on which men, clad in white robes, ascended and descended. He interpreted this miraculous vision as signifying the Camaldolese Monks, whose founder he was. At length, having reached the age of 120, after having served his God by a life of most austere penance for 100 years, he went to his reward in 1027. His body was found incorrupt five years after it had been in the grave and was then buried, with due honour, in the church of his Order at Fabriano.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Calendar’s list of Martyrs is interrupted for two days. The first of these is the feast of Romuald, the hero of penance, the Saint of the forests of Camaldoli. He is a son of the great Patriarch Saint Benedict and, like him, is the father of many children. The Benedictine family has a direct line from the commencement, even to this present time. But from the trunk of this venerable tree there have issued four vigorous branches, to each of which the Holy Spirit has imparted the life and fruitfulness of the parent stem. These collateral branches of the Benedict Order are: Camaldoli, by Romuald. Cluny, by Odo. Vallombrosa, by John Gualbert. And Citeaux, by Robert of Molesmes.

The Saint of this seventh day of February is Romuald. The Martyrs whom we meet with on our way to Lent give us an important lesson by the contempt they had for this short life. But the teaching offered us by such holy penitents as the great Abbot of Camaldoli, is even more practical than that of the Martyrs. They that are of Christ, says the Apostle, have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences (Galatians v. 24) and in these words he tells us what is the distinguishing character of every true Christian. We repeat it — what a powerful encouragement we have in these models of mortification who have sanctified the deserts by their lives of heroic penance! How they make us ashamed of our own cowardice which can scarcely bring itself to do the little that must be done to satisfy God’s justice and merit His grace! Let us take the lesson to heart, cheerfully offer our offended Lord the tribute of our repentance, and purify our souls by works of mortification.

*****

Faithful servant and friend of God! How different was your life from ours! We love the world and its distractions. We think we do wonders if we give each day a passing thought to our Creator, and make Him, at long intervals, the sole end of some one of our occupations. Yet we know how each hour is bringing us nearer to that moment when we must stand before the divine tribunal with our good and our evil works to receive the irrevocable sentence we will have merited. You, Romuald, did not thus waste life away. It seemed to you as though there were but one thought and one interest worth living for — how best to serve your God. Lest anything should distract you from this infinitely dear object, you fled into the desert. There, under the Rule of the great Patriarch Saint Benedict, you waged war against the flesh and the devil. Your tears washed away your sins, though so light if compared with what we have committed. Your soul, invigorated by penance, was inflamed with the love of Jesus for whose sake you would fain have shed your blood. We love to recount these your merits, for they belong to us in virtue of that Communion which our Lord has so mercifully established between Saints and Sinners. Assist us, therefore, during the penitential Season which is soon to be upon us. Divine Justice will not despise our feeble efforts, for He will see them beautified by the union He allows them to have with such glorious works as yours. When you were living in the Eden of Camaldoli, your amiable and sweet charity for men was such that all who came near you were filled with joy and consolation: what may we not expect from you, now that you are face to face with the God of Love? Remember, too, the Order you have founded. Protect it, give it increase, and ever make it, to those who become its children a Ladder to lead them up to Heaven.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At London in England, the birthday of the blessed bishop Augulus, who terminated his career by martyrdom and deserved to receive an eternal recompense.

In Phrygia, St. Adaucus, martyr, an Italian of noble birth, who was honoured by the emperors with almost every dignity. While he was still discharging the office of quaestor, he was judged worthy of the crown of martyrdom for his defence of the faith. Also many holy martyrs, inhabitants of the same city, whose leader was Adaucus, just named. As they were all Christians and persisted in the confession of the faith, they were burned to death by the emperor Galerius Maximian.

At Heracles, in the reign of Licinius, St. Theodore, a military officer, who was beheaded after undergoing many torments, and went victoriously to heaven.

In Egypt, St. Moses, a venerable bishop, who first led a solitary life in the desert, and being afterwards made bishop, at the request of Mauvia, queen of the Saracens, converted to the faith the greater part of that barbarous people, and, rich in merits, passed peacefully to his reward.

At Lucca in Tuscany, the demise of St. Richard, king of England.

At Bologna, St. Juliana, widow.

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

Thanks be to God.

6 FEBRUARY – FRIDAY OF SEPTUAGESIMA WEEK

Henoch (Enoch)

Lesson – Genesis iv. 17‒26; v. 1‒5

And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Henoch: and he built a city and called the name thereof by the name of his son Henoch. And Henoch begot Irad, and Irad begot Maviael, and Maviael begot Mathusael, and Mathusael begot Lamech: Who took two wives: the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Sella. And Ada brought forth Jabel: who was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of herdsmen. And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of them that play on the harp and the organs. Sella also brought forth Tubalcain, who was a hammerer and artificer in every work of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubalcain was Noema. And Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sella: “Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech, listen to my speech: for I have slain a man to the wounding of myself, and a stripling to my own bruising. Sevenfold vengeance will be taken for Cain: but for Lamech seventy times sevenfold. Adam also knew his wife again: and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth, saying: “God has given me another seed, for Abel whom Cain slew.” But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos; this man began to call on the name of the Lord.

This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him to the likeness of God. He created them male and female; and blessed them: and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters. And all the time that Adam lived came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The curse which is henceforth to lie so heavily on every human being has been expressed in the sentence pronounced against Eve. The curse to which the Earth itself is to be subjected is Adam’s sentence. “Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat, cursed is the Earth in your work” (that is, on account of what you have done) (Genesis iii. 17). Adam had excused his sin. God does not admit his excuse, yet He mercifully makes allowance for him, seeing that he sinned not so much to gratify himself, as to please the frail creature that had been formed out of his own substance. He is not the originator of the disobedient act. God, therefore, sentences him to the personal humiliation of labour and toil, and of eating his bread in the sweat of his brow (Genesis iii. 17, 19). Outside the Garden of Eden there lies the immense desert of the Earth. It is to be the valley of tears, and there must Adam dwell in exile for upwards of nine hundred years, with the sad recollection in his heart of the few happy days spent in Paradise! This desert is barren: Adam must give it fruitfulness by his toil, and draw from it, by the sweat of his brow, his own and his children’s nourishment.

If, in after ages, some men will live without toil, they are the exception confirming the general law and chastisement. They rest, because others have laboured long and hard for them. Neither will God ratify their exceptional dispensation from labour, except on the condition that they give encouragement, by their charity and other virtues, to their fellow-men in whom Adam’s sentence is literally carried out. Such is the necessity of toil that if it be refused, the Earth will yield but thorns and thistles. Such, too, the importance of this law imposed on fallen Man, that idleness will not only corrupt his heart, it will also enervate his bodily strength.

Before his sin the trees of Paradise bent down their branches and man fed on their delicious fruits, but now he must till the earth and draw from it, with anxiety and fatigue, the seed which is to give him bread. Nothing could better express the penal relation between him and the earth, from which he was originally formed, and which is henceforth to be his tomb, than this law to which God sentences him — of being indebted to the earth for the nourishment which is to keep him in life. And yet, here also Divine Mercy will show itself for, when God will have been appeased, it will be granted to man to unite himself to his Creator by eating the Bread of Life, which is to come down from Heaven, and whose efficacy for the nourishing of our souls, will be greater than ever the fruit of the Tree of Life could have been for the immortalising our bodily existence.

6 FEBRUARY – SAINT DOROTHY (Virgin and Martyr)

 

The holy virgin Dorothy of Caesarea in Cappadocia was apprehended by Apficius, the governor of that province, on account of her professing the faith of Christ. She was put under the care of her two sisters, Chrysta and Callista, who had apostatised from the faith and would be able to shake the resolute constancy of Dorothy. But she brought them back to the faith, for which they were burnt to death in a cauldron. The governor ordered Dorothy to be hoisted on the rack, and she said to him, as she lay upon it: “Never in my whole life have I felt such joy, as I do today.” Then the governor ordered the executioners to burn her sides with lighted lamps, and beat her for a very long time on the face, and finally behead her with the sword. While she was being led to the place of execution she said: “I give thee thanks, O thou the lover of our souls, that thou call me to thy Paradise!” Theophilus, one of the governor’s officers, hearing her words, laughed and said to her: “Hear me, Bride of Christ! I'll ask you to send me some apples and roses from this Paradise of your Spouse.” Dorothy replied: “Well, and so I will.” Before she was beheaded she was allowed a moment for prayer when lo! a beautiful child came to her, bringing with him in a napkin three apples and three roses. She said to him: “Take them, I pray you, to Theophilus.” Then, the executioner struck her head off with his sword and her soul fled to Christ. While Theophilus was jocosely telling his fellows the promise made him by Dorothy, he saw a boy bringing him in a napkin three fine apples and three most lovely roses who, as he gave them, said: “Lo! The most holy virgin Dorothy sends you, as she promised, these gifts from the Paradise of her spouse.” Theophilus was beside himself with surprise, for it was February and the frost most sharp. But taking the gifts, he exclaimed: “Christ is truly God!” He openly professed the Christian faith, and courageously suffered for the same a most painful martyrdom.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Today again it is one of the most amiable of Christ’s spouses that comes to console us by her presence. It is Dorothy, the simple and intrepid virgin who strews the path of her martyrdom with prodigies of sweetest charity. The religion of Christ alone can produce in timid women, like the Saint of today, an energy which, at times, surpasses that of the most valiant Martyrs among men. Thus does our Lord glorify His infinite power by crushing Satan’s head with what is by nature so weak. The enmity put by God between the Woman and the Serpent (Genesis iii. 15) is forever showing itself in those sublime Acts of the Martyrs where the rebel Angel is defeated by an enemy whom he knew to be weak, and therefore scorned to fear. But that very weakness which made her victory the grander, made his humiliation the bitterer. Surely such history must have taught him how powerful an enemy he has in a Christian woman. And we, who can boast of having so many heroines among the ancestors of our Holy Faith, should cherish their memory and confide in their protection, for their intercession is powerful with Him they died for. One of the noblest of these comes to us today. Let us celebrate her victory and merit her patronage.

*****

Your promises, O Dorothy, are faithful as yourself. In the garden of your heavenly Spouse you forget not the exiles on Earth. How fortunate was Theophilus to have had one of your promises! He asked for fruits and flowers. He got them, and with them, the richer gifts of faith and perseverance which we also would now ask you to send us. You know our wants. We want courage to conquer the world and our passions. We want the grace of conversion. We want the spirit of penance without which we can never reach that Heaven of our vocation where we are to be your companions in bliss. Promise us your prayers, and we will not fail. And on the grand Day of the Easter we are preparing for, our souls, having been purified in the Blood of the Lamb, will be as fragrant as the fruits, and as fair as the flowers, which you sent to a pagan whose prayer was less confident than ours.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The holy martyrs Saturninus, Theophilus and Revocata.

At Emesa in Phrenicia, in the time of the emperor Maximian, St. Silvanus, bishop, who, after having governed that church forty years, was delivered to the beasts with two other Christians, and having his limbs all mangled, received the palm of martyrdom.

At Clermont in Auvergne, St. Antholian, martyr.

The same day, the holy bishops Vedastus and Amandus, who were illustrious by many miracles, both in life and death. The former governed the church of Arras, the latter that of Maestricht.

At Bologna, St. Guarinus, bishop of Palestrina and Cardinal, renowned for holiness of life.

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

Thanks be to God.

5 FEBRUARY – THURSDAY OF SEPTUAGESIMA WEEK

  Lesson – Genesis iv. 1‒16

And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said: “I have gotten a man from God.” And she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the first of his flock, and of the fat of it. And the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering. But to Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: “Why are you wroth? And why is your countenance fallen? If you do well will you not be accepted? And if you do not well, does not sin lie at the door? But the desire thereof is under you and you have control over it.” And Cain said to Abel his brother: “Let us go forth abroad.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said to Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said: “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said to him: “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to Me from the ground. Now, therefore, cursed will you be upon the earth which has opened her mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground it will not henceforth yield to you her fruits: a fugitive and a vagabond will you be on the earth.” And Cain said to the Lord: “My sin is too great for me to gain pardon thereof. Behold, you have driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from your face will I be hid, and I will be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. Everyone therefore that finds me will slay me.” And the Lord said to him: “It will not be so, but whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt a vagabond in the land on the East of Eden.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Forgiveness is promised but atonement must be made. Divine Justice must be satisfied, and future generations be taught that sin can never pass unpunished. Eve is the guiltier of the two, and her sentence follows that of the serpent. Destined by God to aid man in peopling the Earth with happy and faithful children — formed by this God out of man—his own substance, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones — woman was to be on an equality with man, but sin has subverted this order and God’s sentence is this: conjugal union, notwithstanding the humiliation of concupiscence now brought upon it, is to be, as before, holy and sacred. But it is to be inferior in dignity, both before God and man, to the state of virginity which disdains the ambitions of flesh.

Secondly, woman will be mother still, as she would have been in the state of innocence, but her honour will be a burden. Moreover, she will give birth to her children amid cruel pains, and sometimes even death must be the consequence of her infant’s coming into the world. The sin of Eve will thus be memorialised at every birth, and nature will violently resist the first claims of him whom sin has made her unwelcome lord.

Lastly, she who was at first created to enjoy equality of honour with man is now to forfeit her independence. Man is to be her superior, and she must obey him. For long ages, this obedience will be no better than slavery, and this degradation will continue till that Virgin comes, whom the world will have expected for four thousand years, and whose humility will crush the serpent’s head. She will restore her sex to its rightful position, and give to Christian woman that influence of gentle persuasiveness which is compatible with the duty imposed on her by Divine justice, and which can never be remitted: the duty of submission.

5 FEBRUARY – SAINT AGATHA (Virgin and Martyr)

 

The holy virgin Agatha was born in Sicily of noble parents. The cities of Palermo and Catania both claim the honour of having been the place of her birth. She received the crown of a glorious martyrdom at Catania under the persecution of the Emperor Decius. Her beauty, which was as great as her chaste and innocent life was praiseworthy, attracted the notice of Quintianus, the governor of Sicily. He spared no means by which to compass his lustful designs on the innocent virgin, but seeing that she scorned his offers, he had her apprehended as being guilty of the Christian superstition, and gave her in charge of a woman named Aphrodisia, who was noted for her power of alluring to evil. But finding that her words and company had no effect on the holy maiden, and that she was immoveable in her resolution to maintain both her faith and her virginity, Aphrodisia told Quintianus that she was but losing her time with Agatha. He then ordered the virgin to be brought before him, and he said to her: “Are you not, that are so noble by birth, ashamed to lead the life of a base and slavish Christian? She replied: “Better by far is the baseness and slavery of a Christian than the wealth and pride of kings.”

Angered by her words, the governor bids her choose one of these two: adoration to the gods or sharp tortures. On her refusal to deny her faith, he ordered her to be buffeted with blows and cast into prison. On the following day she was again led to trial. Finding that she was still firm in her purpose, they hoisted her on the rack and laid hot iron plates on her flesh, and cut off her breasts. While suffering this last torture, she thus spoke to Quintianus: “Cruel tyrant, are you not ashamed to cut a woman’s breast, that was yourself fed at the breast of your mother?” She was then sent back to prison where, during the night, a venerable old man, who told her that he was the Apostle of Christ, healed her. A third time she was summoned by the governor and being still firm in confessing Christ, she was rolled upon sharp potsherds and burning coals. Suddenly, the whole city was shaken by a violent earthquake and two of the governor’s intimate friends were killed by the falling of two walls. The people were in such a state of excitement that the governor began to fear a sedition, and therefore ordered the almost lifeless Agatha to be secretly conveyed back to her prison. She thus prayed to our Lord: “O God! that has watched over me from my infancy, that has separated me from the love of this world, that has given me strength to bear the tortures of my executioners, receive my soul!” Her prayer being ended, her soul took its flight to Heaven on the Nones of February (February 5th), and the Christians buried her body.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Since the commencement of the Ecclesiastical Year we have kept the feasts of two out of the four illustrious Virgins whose names are daily honoured in the Holy Sacrifice of the Lamb: the third comes today, lighting up the Heaven of the Church with her bright soft rays. Lucy, first. Then, Agnes and now the gracious visit of Agatha. The fourth, Caecilia, the immortal Caecilia, is to be one of that magnificent constellation which gives such splendour to the closing of the year. Today, then, let us keep a feast in honour of Agatha, the Virgin Daughter of that same fair Sicily which can boast of her Lucy. We must not allow the holy sadness of our present Season to take anything from the devotion we owe to our Saint. The joy with which we celebrate her merits will lead us to study her virtues. She will repay us by her prayers. She will encourage us to persevere in the path which is to bring us to the God she so nobly loved and served, and with whom she is now forever united.

*****

How lovely are your palms, Agatha! But how long and cruel was your combat for them! The day yours. Your faith and your virginity triumphed but the battlefield was streamed with your blood, and your glorious wounds bear testimony to the Angels how stern was the courage of your fidelity to Jesus, your Spouse. When your enemies left you, it was to Him you looked up, and then your soul flew to its rest in the bosom of your King and God. The whole Church keeps feast today, praising her Lord in you, great Martyr and Virgin! She knows the love you bear her and how, amid the joys of Heaven, her interests and her wants are the object of your prayers. You are our Sister. Be too our Mother by interceding for us. Centuries have passed away since that day on which your soul quitted the body you had sanctified by purity and suffering, but the great battle between the spirit and the flesh is still waging here on Earth, and will so to the end of time. Assist us in the struggle. Keep up within our hearts the holy fire which the world and our passions are ever seeking to quench.

It is now the season when every Christian should renew his whole being by repentance and compunction. We know the power of your prayer. Let it procure us these gifts: the fear of God, which keeps down the workings of corrupt nature; the spirit of penance, which repairs the injuries caused by our sins, and a solid love for our dear Lord, which sweetens the yoke and ensures perseverance. More than once a whole people has witnessed how a relic of yours, your veil, has checked the stream of lava which rolled down the sides of Etna. We are threatened with a torrent of vice which will drive the world back to pagan corruption unless Divine Mercy stay its wild fury, and prayers such as yours can obtain it for us. Delay not, O Agatha! Each day gives strength to the danger. Not a nation but what is now infected with the poison of a literature that is infidel and immoral. By your prayers keep the poisonous cup from them that have not tasted, neutralise its power in them that have drunk its venom of death. Oh! spare us the shame of seeing our Europe the slave of sensuality and the dupe of Hell.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Pontus, during the persecution of Maximian, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, some of whom had molten lead poured over them, others had sharp-pointed reeds thrust under their nails, and were often times horribly tormented in many other ways. Thus, by their glorious passion, they deserved at the hands of God palms of victory and unfading crowns.

At Alexandria, during the persecution of Decius, St. Isidore, martyr, who was beheaded for the faith of Christ by Numerian, the general of the army.

In the kingdom of Japan, the passion of twenty-six martyrs, who, by being crucified for the Catholic faith and pierced with lances, gloriously died in praising God and preaching that same faith. Blessed Pius IX canonised them in 1862.

At Vienne, blessed Avitus, bishop and confessor, whose faith, labours and admirable learning protected France against the ravages of the Arian heresy.

At Brixen, the holy bishops Genuinus and Albinus, whose lives were illustrious for miracles.

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

Thanks be to God.

4 FEBRUARY – WEDNESDAY OF SEPTUAGESIMA WEEK

Lesson – Genesis iii. 1‒20

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: “Why has God said you must not eat of every tree of the garden?” And the woman said to the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said: You must not eat of it, neither may you touch it, lest you die.” And the serpent said to the woman: “you will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil.” And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired: and she took of its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of them both were opened. And when they knew that they were naked, they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amidst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called to Adam, and said to him: “Where are you?” And he said: “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” And He said: “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?” And Adam said: “The woman whom you gave me to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the Woman: “Why have you done this?” And she said: “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. She will bruise your head, and you will bruise her heel.” And to the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrows and your conception: in sorrow you will bring forth children, and you will be in the power of your husband, and he will rule over you.” And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying: You must halt not eat of it — cursed is the ground on which you will labour. In sorrow you will eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you, and you will the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground; for out of it were you taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return.” And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The guilty pair appear before the great God whom they have offended, and instead of acknowledging their guilt they would palliate and excuse it. But Divine Justice pronounces their condemnation, and the sentence will be felt by their posterity, even to the last generation. The two beings that had committed the heinous crime had been enriched with every gift of nature and grace. It was not with them, as it is with us. Concupiscence which gives us an inclination for what is wrong. Ignorance and forgetfulness which cloud the intellect of fallen man — these miseries had nothing whatever to do with the fall of our First Parents. They sinned through sheer ingratitude. They began by weighing the proposal of revolt when they ought to have spurned it with indignation and conquered by flight. Then, by degrees, the proposed crime seemed no great harm because, though God would lose their obedience, they would gain by the disobedience! And at length, the love of God was made to give place to the love of self and they declared their independence!

Yet, God had mercy on them because of their posterity. The Angels were all created at one and the same instant, and each of them was subjected to the trial which was to decide his eternal future. Each Angel depended on his own act — on his own choice between fidelity to his Creator or rebellion against Him, so that they who rebelled drew on themselves the eternity of God’s chastisement. The human race, on the contrary, existed not save as represented in its two First Parents, and was plunged by and with them into the abyss of God’s reprobation. Therefore God who spared not the Angels, mercifully spared the human race.

But, let us listen to the three sentences pronounced by God after the fall of Man. The first is against the serpent, and is the severest. The curse which is already upon him is deepened, and the pardon which is about to be promised to the human race, is to be given in the form of an anathema against that wicked spirit that has dared to war with God in the work of his hands. “I will put enmities between you and the woman: she will crush your head” (Genesis iii. 15). Thus does God avenge Himself of His enemy. The victory won over the woman is made to turn against the proud conqueror and become his humiliation and his defeat. In his fiendish craft, he had directed his first attack not against the man, but against the woman. She, by nature, was weaker and more credulous. And if he conquered her, he hoped — too well, alas! — that Adam would be led to turn against his Creator in order not to displease the creature. All happened as he willed it: but now, see how God uses the woman to foil and punish him. He kindles in her heart an implacable hatred against his and our enemy. This cruel serpent may raise his proud head and, here and there, find men that will adore him: the day will come when a woman’s foot will crush this head which refused to bend before God. This daughter of Eve whom all generations are to call Blessed (Luke i. 48) will be prefigured by other women: by Deborah, Judith, Esther and others, all celebrated for their victories over the Serpent. She will be followed, until the end of time, by an uninterrupted succession of Christian Virgins and Matrons who, with all their weakness, will be powerful in co-operating with God’s designs and, as the Apostle says, “the unbelieving husband will be sanctified by the believing wife” (1 Corinthians vii. 14).

Thus will God punish the serpent’s pride. Before pronouncing upon our First Parents the sentence they have deserved, He promises to bless their posterity and pours into their own hearts a ray of hope.

4 FEBRUARY – SAINT ANDREW CORSINI (Bishop and Confessor)

 

Andrew was born at Florence of the noble Corsini family in 1303. He was the fruit of his parents’ prayers and was consecrated by them to the Blessed Virgin Mary. His future was thus shown by God to the mother. She dreamt that she had given birth to a wolf which went to the church of the Carmelites and, as it entered the threshold, was suddenly changed into a lamb. Though his early education was one which was calculated to form him to piety and to everything that suited his high birth, by degrees Andrew fell into a vicious manner of life notwithstanding the frequent reproaches made him by his mother. But as soon as he was told that he had been consecrated by his parents to the Virgin-Mother of God and heard of his mother’s vision, he entered the Order of Carmelites. The devil ceased not to molest him, even then, with manifold temptations, but nothing could make him change his resolution of entering the religious life.

Shortly after his profession Andrew was sent to Paris for a course of study. Having completed it and taken his degrees, he returned to Italy and was made superior of his Order in the province of Tuscany. It happened about that time that the Church of Fiesole lost its bishop, and Andrew was chosen as his successor. But looking on himself as unworthy of such a dignity, he hid himself so that no one knew where he was. But a child who had not yet received the use of speech, miraculously revealed the place outside the town where he was, upon which the Saint, fearing that further refusal would be a resistance to the divine will, was consecrated bishop. Thus exalted to so great a dignity Andre applied himself more than ever to the practice of humility, which had always been his favourite virtue. To the zeal of a good pastor he united tender compassion for the poor, abundant alms-giving, a life of prayer, long watchings and other virtues, all which, together with the gift of prophecy he had received, gained for him a great reputation for sanctity.

Pope Urban V hearing of his great merits sent him as his Legate to Bologna to quell a sedition that had arisen in that city. The fulfilment of this charge cost him much suffering, but such was his prudence that he succeeded in restoring peace among the citizens and so prevented further bloodshed. He then returned to Fiesole. Not long after, being worn out by ceaseless labours and bodily mortifications, and having been told by the Blessed Virgin Mary of the precise day of his death, he passed from this life to the kingdom of Heaven in 1373, in the seventieth year of his age. Great was the reputation of his name on account of the many and wonderful miracles wrought through his intercession, and at length he was canonised by Urban VIII. His body reposes in the church of his Order at Florence. The citizens of that city, having often experienced that his relics have drawn down the divine protection on them in times of public calamity, their devotion to the Saint is very great.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The saintly Bishop whose feast we keep today pressingly invites us, by his austere life and his burning zeal for the salvation of souls, to procure, at all costs, our own reconciliation with the Divine Justice. We are indebted for this feast to a member of the illustrious family of the Corsini, Pope Clement XII who, however, was but the instrument used by Divine Providence. The holy Bishop of the little town of Fiesole ever sought to be unknown during his life and God, who willed that he should be glorified by the whole Church, inspired the Sovereign Pontiff to inscribe his name among the Saints of the universal Calendar. Andrew the Saint, was once a sinner. His example will encourage us in the work of our conversion.

*****

Hear, O holy Pontiff, our prayer: we are sinners and would learn from you how we are to return to the God we have offended. His mercy was poured out upon you. Obtain the same for us. Have pity on Christians throughout the world, for the grace of repentance is now being offered to all. Pray for us that we may be filled with the spirit of compunction. We have sinned. We sue for pardon. Intercession like yours can win it for us. From wolves, change us into lambs. Strengthen us against our enemies. Get us an increase of the virtue of humility which you had in such perfection, and intercede for us with our Lord that He may crown our efforts with perseverance, as He did yours, that thus we may be enabled to unite with you in singing forever the praises of our Redeemer.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Eutychius, who endured a glorious martyrdom, and was buried in the cemetery of Callistus. Pope St. Damasus wrote an epitaph in verse for his tomb.

At Fossombrone, the holy martyrs Aquilinus, Geminus, Gelasius, Magnus and Donatus.

At Thumuis in Egypt, in the persecution of Diocletian, the passion of blessed Philaeas, bishop of that city, and of Philoromus, military tribune, who rejected the exhortations of their relations and friends to save themselves, offered themselves to death, and so merited immortal palms from God. With them was crowned with martyrdom a numberless multitude of the faithful of the same place who followed the example of their pastor.

The same day, St. Rembert, bishop of Bremen.

At Troyes, St. Aventin, confessor.

At Pelusium in Egypt, St. Isidore, a monk renowned for merit and learning.

The same day, St. Gilbert, confessor, In the town of Amatrice, in the diocese of Rieti, the decease of St. Joseph of Leonissa, of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins, who suffered many afflictions from the Muslims. As he was celebrated for his apostolic labours and miracles, he was placed on the list of holy confessors by Pope Benedict XIV.

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

Thanks be to God.

3 FEBRUARY – TUESDAY OF SEPTUAGESIMA WEEK

 

Lesson – Genesis ii. 15‒24

So the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. And He commanded him, saying: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” And the Lord God said: It is not good that the man should be alone. Let us make him a help meet for him. So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called every living creature, that was the name of it. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to every fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a help meet for him. the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. And while he slept, He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead of it. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from Adam made He a woman, and brought her to Adam. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man must leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife. And they joined will be one flesh.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The serpent’s promises had stifled, in Eve’s heart, every sentiment of Love for the God that had created her and loaded her with blessings: she ambitions to be god like Him! Her Faith, too, is wavering. She s not sure but what God may have deceived her by threatening her with death should she disobey His command. Flushed by pride, she looks up to the Forbidden Fruit. It seems good to eat, and it is fair to her eyes (Genesis iii. 6), so that her senses too conspire against God, and against her own happiness. The sin is already committed in her heart. It needs but a formal act to make it complete. She cares for nothing but self. God is no more heeded than if He did not exist. She stretches forth her daring hand. She plucks the Fruit. She puts it to her mouth and eats! God had said that if she broke His commandment, she should die. She has eaten, she has sinned, and yet she lives as before! Her pride exults at this triumph, and convinced that she is too strong for God’s anger to reach her, she resolves on making Adam a partner in her victory. Boldly she hands him the Fruit which she herself has eaten without any evil coming to her. Whether it were, that he was emboldened by the impunity of his wife’s sin, or that from a feeling of blind affection he wished to share the lot of her who was the flesh of his flesh and the bone of his bones — our First Father, also, forgets all he owes to his Creator and, as though there had never been anything of love between him and his God, he basely does as Eve suggests — he eats of the Fruit, and by that act ruins himself and all his posterity.

No sooner have they broken the tie which united them with God than they sink into themselves. As long as God dwells in the creature whom He has raised to the supernatural state, his being is complete. But let that creature drive his God away from himself by sin and he finds himself in a state worse than nothing — the state of evil. That soul which a moment before was so beautiful and pure, is a hideous wreck. Thus was it with our First Parents: they stand alone. Creatures without God, and an intolerable shame seizes them. They thought to become gods, they aspired at Infinite Being. See them now: sinners, the prey of concupiscence. Hitherto their innocence was their all-sufficient garb. The world was obedient to them. They knew not how to blush, and there was nothing to make them fear. But now they tremble at their nakedness, and must needs seek a place in which to hide! The same self-love that had worked their ruin had made them forget the greatness and goodness of God and despise His commandment. Now that they have committed the great sin, the same blindness prevents them from even thinking of confessing it, or asking the forgiveness of the Master they have offended. A sullen fear possesses them. They can think of nothing but how and where to hide!

3 FEBRUARY – SAINT BLAISE (Bishop and Martyr)

 

Blaise, whose signal virtues made him dear to the people of Sebaste in Armenia, was chosen Bishop of that city. When the Emperor Diocletian waged his cruel persecution against the Christians, the Saint hid himself in a cave on mount Argeus, and there he remained sometime concealed but was at length discovered by some soldiers of the governor Agricolaus while they were hunting. They led him to the governor, who gave orders that he should be put into prison. During his imprisonment, many sick people, attracted by the reputation of his sanctity, came to him and he healed them. Among these was a boy whose life was despaired of by the physicians, on account of his having swallowed a bone which could not be extracted from his throat. The Saint was twice brought before the governor, but neither fair promises nor threats could induce him to offer sacrifice to the gods. Whereupon he was first beaten with rods, and then his flesh was torn with iron hooks while he lay stretched on the rack. At length, he was beheaded, and nobly gave testimony to the faith of Christ our Lord on the third of the Nones of February (February 3rd).

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Now that the Church, has closed the joyous period of her Forty Days of Christmas and is putting us through a course of meditations on subjects which are to excite a spirit of penance within us, each of the Saints’ Feasts must produce an impression which will be in accordance with that spirit. From this day till Easter, we will study the Saints, as they come to us, in this special light: how much they laboured and suffered during their pilgrimage of life, and what was the plan they took for conquering the world and the flesh. “They went,” says the Psalmist, “and wept, casting their seeds: but coming they will come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves” (Psalm cxxv. 6, 7). It will be the same with us and, at the end of our Lenten labours, our Risen Jesus will hail us as His living, regenerated children.

The Calendar of this portion of the year abounds with martyrs and, at the very onset, we meet with one of the most celebrated of these glorious champions of Christ. The scene of his pastoral virtues and his martyrdom, was Sebaste, a city of Armenia, the same that will give us forty martyred soldiers on a single day. The devotion to Saint Blase is, even to this day, most fervently kept up in the East, especially in Armenia. The Western Churches soon began to love and honour his memory, and so universally that we might call him one of the most popular of our Saints.

*****

Accept, glorious Martyr, the praise which we, too, offer you in union with that given you by the whole Church. In return for this homage of our veneration, look down upon the Christian people who are now preparing to enter on the Season of penance and be converted to the Lord their God by holy compunction and tears. We ask it of you by your own combat: assist us in the one for which we are preparing. When duty required you to undergo tortures and death, it found you ready and brave. Our duty is expiation by penance, and your prayers must get us courage. Our enemies are not more cruel than yours, but they are more treacherous and if we spare them we are lost. Obtain for us that heavenly assistance which enabled you to conquer. We are children of the Martyrs. God forbid we should be degenerate!

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYOLOGY:

In Africa, St. Celerinus, deacon, who was kept nineteen days in prison loaded with fetters and confessed Christ gloriously in the midst of afflictions. By overcoming the enemy with invincible constancy he showed to others the road to victory.

Also the holy martyrs, Laurentinus and Ignatius, his uncles, and Celerina, his grandmother, who had been previously crowned with martyrdom. They are highly praised in an Epistle of St. Cyprian.

In the same country, the holy martyrs Felix, Symphronius, Hippolytus and their companions.

In the town of Gap, the holy bishops Tigides and Remedius.

At Lyons, the Saints Lupicinus and Felix, also bishops.

The same day, St. Anscharius, bishop of Bremen, who converted the Swedes and Danes to the faith of Christ.

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

Thanks be to God.