“Remain faithful and attentive to me even in the smallest things. This will strengthen your power!” (Interior word)
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Memorial of Saint Scholastica: The primacy of contemplation
Lk 10:38-42
‘In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me. ‘But the Lord answered, ‘Martha, Martha,’ he said, ‘you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.’
FRIEND OF LIFE
“Thou sparest all things, for they are thine, O Lord who lovest the living” (Wisdom 11:26).
If we consider all the atrocities that human beings commit on Earth, how many times could our Father have destroyed it! Both in the past and in the present…
Salt of the earth, light of the world
Note: According to the traditional liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of Saint Cyril of Alexandria. In his honour, the following Gospel is read, which we will meditate on today.
Mt 5:13-16
You are salt for the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled under people’s feet. You are light for the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in people’s sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven.
The fruit of God’s Word
Note: According to the traditional liturgical calendar, today is Sexagesima Sunday, in preparation for the imminent beginning of Lent. We will reflect on the Gospel chosen by the Church for this occasion. Those who would prefer a meditation on the reading or the Gospel according to the new liturgical calendar can find the corresponding links at the end of the text.
Lk 8:4-15
When a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.”
A PIECE OF ADVICE FROM SAINT PAUL
“Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation” (Rom. 12:12).
The Apostle Saint Paul addresses this exhortation to the Christian community in Rome to strengthen them in the Spirit of the Lord. We must always keep the flame of hope alive. However, it should not be confused with human optimism, which is fleeting; rather, it is one of the three theological virtues that deeply unite us to our Heavenly Father. True hope is always directed toward God, for He Himself is our hope.
DEALING WITH SLANDER
“The silent contempt with which one meets slander or injustice is usually a more salutary antidote than sensitivity, strife, or revenge.” —Francis de Sales
It is evil when people speak ill of one another. It can go so far that more sensitive souls suffer so deeply that their lives seem destroyed. In today’s world, with modern means of communication, slander can become a real plague.
Saint Theodore of Heraclea: the Dragon Slayer
How rich are the stories of the saints, which introduce us to people who lived their faith to the utmost and followed Our Lord with total conviction! Undoubtedly, many of them show us a radicalism that could frighten us. As Saint Francis de Sales said, some saints are more to be admired than imitated. However, there is something we must always keep in mind—and something each of them would attest to: it was the grace of our Heavenly Father that enabled them to do extraordinary things. Whether they were tireless missionaries who spared no effort to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth, saints who practiced works of mercy to the point of total self‑denial, or monks who lived the monastic life with great discipline and asceticism and contributed to the building up of the Church.
But we cannot forget the many others who, in a more discreet but no less fruitful way, served God in the heroic fulfillment of their duties. It was always the holy presence of the Lord that shaped and sanctified them. In this sense, the life of each saint is also a message from Christ addressed to us, exhorting us to follow the path that God has laid out for us and encouraging us to respond to the universal call to holiness.
EVERY HOUR IS PRECIOUS
“Don’t wait for a more opportune moment, because you can’t be sure you’ll live to see it. Time slips away without us noticing. Therefore, the prudent do not waste time or squander the present moment, which belongs to them, in exchange for a moment that is not yet in their hands” (St. Catherine of Siena).
The victory of faith and love
The Church is rich in missionaries and martyrs in whom the victory of faith and love was accomplished. This is true of the Japanese blood witnesses Paul Miki and his companions, whose memorial day we celebrate today.
In 1542-1543 the Portuguese had discovered Japan and in 1549 St. Francis Xavier had begun his missionary work there. Thus, in 1590 there were approximately half a million Christians in Japan.
The initially tolerant Japanese ruler increasingly turned against Christianity and in 1596 arrested twenty-six Christians in Osaka: 3 Japanese Jesuits, 6 Spanish Franciscans, among them Peter Baptist, and 17 Japanese Franciscan Tertiaries, i.e. lay people who belonged to the Third Order of St. Francis, including 3 altar boys aged 12 to 14.