Daily Reflections

Acts 15:16-17; 14

That the rest of mankind and all peoples who hear My name
may seek the LORD,
– I shall return and rebuild the fallen house of David,
says the LORD.

As Scripture says:
God came to choose from among the Gentiles
a people to bear His name.
– I shall return and rebuild the fallen house of David,
says the LORD.

The Vigil of St. Lawrence, Deacon, Martyr (Traditional)

Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Martyr

Saint Romanus, Martyr (Traditional)

THE VIGIL OF ST. LAWRENCE, DEACON, MARTYR

The vigil of Saint Lawrence has been observed in the Church certainly since the Fourth Century. The ancient vigils consisted of a fixed number of scriptural Lessons alternated with Responsorial Psalms and Episcopal Collects. When the day began to break, the Holy Sacrifice was offered, and the fast came to an end.

COMMEMORATION OF ST. ROMANUS, MARTYR

Saint Romanus was a Roman soldier. He was converted to the Christian Faith by the preaching of St. Lawrence, and was beheaded the day preceding that of the saint’s martyrdom.

ST. TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS, MARTYR

EDITH STEIN was born in Breslau, Germany on 12 October 1891 of Jewish heritage, but  became an atheist at the age of fourteen. During World War I she became a nursing assistant. She earned a doctorate in philosophy  and began to teach at the University of Freiburg. After reading the works of Saint Teresa of Avila, she converted to Catholicism and eventually professed vows as a discalced Carmelite at the age of forty-two, along with her sister, Rosa. At her profession in 1938, in the face of growing German anti-Semitism, she told her prioress: “Human action cannot help us, but only the sufferings of Christ. My aspiration is to share them.” During the Nazi terror they were moved for their safety to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands, but were arrested in August 1942 and deported to Auschwitz, where they perished in the gas chambers on 9 August 1942. She was canonized by Saint John Paul II on 11 October 1988 as a “martyr for love” and is one of the principal patrons of Europe.

From a letter attributed to Barnabas (Apostle of St. Paul)
(Cap. 19, 1-3. 5-7. 8-12: Funk 1, 53-57)

The Way of Light

Consider now the Way of Light; any man who is bent on reaching his appointed goal must be very careful in all he does. Now these are the directions that have been given to us for this journey: love your Creator; reverence your Maker; give glory to Him who redeemed you when you were dead; be single-minded but rich in spiritual treasure; avoid those who travel down death’s highway; hate whatever is displeasing to God; detest all hypocritical pretense; do not abandon God’s Commandments. Do not put on airs, but be modest whatever you do; claim no credit for yourself. Plot no evil against your neighbour, and do not give pride an entrance into your heart.

Love your neighbour more than your own life. Do not kill an unborn child through abortion, nor destroy it after birth. Do not refrain from chastising son or daughter, but bring them up from childhood in the fear of the LORD. Do not set your heart on what belongs to your neighbour and do not give in to greed. Do not associate with the arrogant but cultivate those who are humble and virtuous.

Accept as a blessing whatever comes your way in the knowledge that nothing ever happens without God’s concurrence. Avoid duplicity in thought or in word, for such deception is a deadly snare.

Share with your neighbour whatever you have, and do not say of anything, this is mine. If you both share an imperishable treasure, how much more must you share what is perishable. Do not be hasty in speech; the mouth is a deadly snare. For your soul’s good, make every effort to live chastely. Do not hold out your hand for what you can get, only to withdraw it when it comes to giving. Cherish as the apple of your eye anyone who speaks to you of the Word of the LORD.

Night and day you will bear in mind the hour of judgment; every day you will seek out the company of God’s faithful, either by preaching the Word, earnestly exhorting them, ever considering how you can save souls by your eloquence, or else by working with your hands to make reparation for your past sins.

Never hesitate to give, and when you do give, never grumble; then you will know the one who will repay you. Preserve the traditions you have received, adding nothing and taking nothing away. The evildoer will ever be hateful to you. Be fair in your judgments. Never stir dissension, but act as peacemaker and reconcile the quarrelsome. Confess your sins, and do not begin to pray with a guilty conscience.

Such then is the Way of Light. 

DAILY MEDITATION

Many religious men, rightly or not, have long been expecting a millennium of purity and peace for the Church…. They have more or less identified the vision of Christ’s Kingdom with the elegance and refinement of mere human civilization; and have hailed every evidence of improved decency, every wholesome civil regulation, every beneficent and enlightened act of state policy, as signs of their coming LORD….. They have countenanced and acted with men who openly professed unchristian principles. They have acccepted and defended what they considered to be reformations and ameliorations of the existing state of things, though injustice must be perpetuated in order to affect them, or long-cherished rules of conduct, indifferent perhaps in their origin but consecrated by long usage, must be violated. They have sacrificed Truth to expedience ….

… They easily get themselves to believe that those strong declarations of Scripture do not belong to the present day, or that they are figurative. They have no language within their heart responding to them. Conscience has been silenced…. They seize on such parts of Scripture as seem to countenance their own opinions; they insist on its being commanded us to “rejoice evermore”; and they argue that it is our duty to solace ourselves here[in moderation, of course] with the goods of this life –  that we have only to be thankful while we use them – that we need not alarm ourselves – that God is a merciful God – that amendment is quite sufficient to atone for our offences – that though we have been irregular in our youth, yet that is a thing gone by – that we forget it, and therefore, God forgets it – that the world is, on the whole, very well disposed toward religion – that we should avoid enthusiasm – that we should not be overserious – that we should have large views on the subject of human nature– and we should love all men. 

This indeed is the creed of shallow men, in every age, who reason a little, and feel not at all, and who think themselves enlightened and philosophical…. The peculiar religion of a civilized age.

Saint John Henry Newman [+1890] – Outstanding English convert, priest, and theologian who led the Oxford movement of the nineteenth century.

Ardent Faith in the LORD Alone

Only when for God’s sake the soul divests herself of all that is not God—that is what is called Love!—will the soul be illumined by and transformed in God. “God will so communicate his supernatural being to the soul that she will possess what God himself possesses” (John of the Cross)…. [What] is demanded for this transforming union is effected in the intellect through Faith, in the memory through Hope, and in the will through Love (Charity)….

Faith gives the intellect a sure but dark knowledge. It shows God as Inaccessible Light, as the incomprehensibly Infinite One. [In Faith the intellect] recognises its own powerlessness and God’s greatness. [Hope] teaches us to hope for everything from God and not from ourselves or any other creature; to expect to receive from Him the bliss that will have no end and therefore to renounce in this life every pleasure and possession. Love (Charity) finally frees the will from all things since it obliges the will to love God above all….

This way of perfect renunciation has already been called the narrow way that only a few find. The Way that leads to the high mountain of perfection can only be travelled by those who are not weighed down by any burden. It is the Way of the Cross to which the LORD invites His disciple: If anyone wants to be a follower of Mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein († 1942), was a German philosopher and a convert from Judaism who became a Carmelite nun and was put to death at Auschwitz. [From The Collected Works of Edith Stein: The Science of the Cross, Volume Six, Josephine Koeppel, o.c.d., Tr. ©

Psalm 119:101-102

I keep my foot from every evil path,
– that I may keep Your Word, O LORD.

I do not turn away from Your Ordinances,
for You have instructed me.
– That I may keep Your Word, O LORD.

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” – Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen