Sunday June 23
ST. ETHELDREDA, Abbess
"Etheldreda had but one aim in life, to devote herself to His service in the religious state... Egfrid, the powerful King of Northumbria, pressed his suit upon her"
"Her life at his court was that of an ascetic rather than a queen: she lived with him not as a wife but as a sister, and, observing a scrupulous regularity of discipline, devoted her time to works of mercy and love."
"Some time after her death, in 679, her body was found incorrupt, and St. Bede records many miracles worked by her relics."
"Reflection.—The soul cannot truly serve God while it is involved in the distractions and pleasures of the world. Etheldreda knew this, and chose rather to be a servant of Christ her Lord than the mistress of an earthly court. Resolve, in whatever stat s you are, to live absolutely detached from the world, and to separate yourself as much as possible from it."
Monday June 24
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
"In his youth he remained hidden, because He for Whom he waited was hidden also. But before Christ's public life began, a divine impulse led St. John into the desert; there, with locusts for his food and haircloth on his skin, in silence and in prayer, he chastened his own soul. Then, as crowds broke in upon his solitude, he warned them to flee from the wrath to come, and gave them the baptism of penance, while they confessed their sins."
"With the baptism of St. John, Christ began His penance for the sins of His people, and St. John saw the Holy Ghost descend in bodily form upon Him. Then the Saint's work was done."
"St. John had been cast into the fortress of Machærus by a worthless tyrant whose crimes be had rebuked, and he was to remain there till he was beheaded, at the will of a girl who danced before this wretched king. In this time of despair, if St. John could have known despair, some of his old disciples visited him. St. John did not speak to them of himself, but he sent them to Christ, that they might see the proofs of His mission. "
"Reflection.—St. John was great before God because he forgot himself and lived for Jesus Christ, Who is the source of all greatness. Remember that you are nothing; your own will and your own desires can only lead to misery and sin. Therefore sacrifice every day some one of your natural inclinations to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, and learn little by little to lose yourself in Him."
Tuesday June 25
"ST. PROSPER OF AQUITAINE.—ST WILLIAM OF MONTE-VERGINE"
"ST. PROSPER was born at Aquitaine, in the year 403... St. Leo the Great, being chosen Pope in 440, invited St. Prosper to Rome, made him his secretary, and employed him in the most important affairs of the Church. Our Saint crushed the Pelagian heresy, which began again to raise its head in that capital, and its final overthrow is said to be due to his zeal, learning, and unwearied endeavors. "
"ST. WILLIAM, having lost his father and mother in his infancy, was brought up by his friends in great sentiments of piety; and at fifteen years of age, out of an earnest desire to lead a penitential life, he left Piedmont, his native country, made an austere pilgrimage to St. James's in Galicia, and afterward retired into the kingdom of Naples, where he chose for his abode a desert mountain, and lived in perpetual contemplation and the exercises of most rigorous penitential austerities... in 1119, was laid the foundation of the religious congregation called de Monte-Vergine. The Saint died on the 25th of June, 1142."
Wednesday June 26
STS. JOHN AND PAUL, Martyrs
"THESE two Saints were both officers in the army under Julian the Apostate, and received the crown of martyrdom, probably in 362. "
"Reflection.—The Saints always accounted that they had done nothing for Christ so long as they had not resisted to blood, and by pouring forth the last drop completed their sacrifice. Every action of our lives ought to spring from this fervent motive, and we should consecrate ourselves to the divine service with our whole strength; we must always bear in mind that we owe to God all that we are, and, after all we can do, are unprofitable servants, and do only what we are bound to do."
Thursday June 27
ST. LADISLAS, King
"By the pertinacious importunity of the people he was compelled, much against his own inclination, to ascend the throne, in 1080... Chastity, meekness, gravity, charity, and piety were from his infancy the distinguishing parts of his character... he was frugal and abstemious, but most liberal to the Church and the poor."
"He drove the Huns out of his territories, and vanquished the Poles, Russians, and Tartars. He was preparing to command, as general-in-chief, the great expedition of the Christians against the Saracens for the recovery of the Holy Land, when God called him to Himself, on the 30th of July, 1095."
"Reflection.—The Saints filled all their moments with good works and great actions; and, whilst they labored for an immortal crown, the greatest share of worldly happiness of which this life is capable fell in their way without being even looked for by them. In their afflictions themselves virtue afforded them the most solid comfort, pointed out the remedy, and converted their tribulations into the greatest advantages."
Friday, June 28
ST. IRENÆUS, Bishop, Martyr
"THIS Saint was born about the year 120. He was a Grecian, probably a native of Lesser Asia... St. Polycarp cultivated his rising genius, and formed his mind to piety by precepts and example... St. Polycarp sent St. Irenæus into Gaul, in company with some priest; he was himself ordained priest of the Church of Lyons by St. Pothinus. St. Pothinus having glorified God by his happy death, in the year 177, our Saint was chosen the second Bishop of Lyons. By his preaching, he in a short time converted almost that whole country to the Faith. He wrote several works against heresy, and at last, with many others, suffered martyrdom about the year 202, under the Emperor Severus, at Lyons."
"Reflection. — Fathers and mothers, and heads of families, spiritual and temporal, should bear in mind that inferiors "will not be corrected by words" alone, but that example is likewise needful."
Saturday, June 29
ST. PETER, Apostle
He was poor and unlearned... In his heart, first of all, grew up the conviction, and from his lips came the confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;" and so Our Lord chose him, and fitted him to be the Rock of His Church"
"All Scripture is alive with him; but after Pentecost he stands out in the full grandeur of his office. He fills the vacant apostolic throne; admits the Jews by thousands into the fold; opens it to the Gentiles in the person of Cornelius; founds, and for a time rules, the Church at Antioch, and sends Mark to found that of Alexandria. Ten years after the Ascension he went to Rome... There he established his Chair, and for twenty-five years labored with St. Paul in building up the great Roman Church. He was crucified by order of Nero, and buried on the Vatican Hill"
"Two hundred and sixty years after St. Peter's martyrdom came the open triumph of the Church. Pope St. Sylvester, with bishops and clergy and the whole body of the faithful, went through Rome in procession to the Vatican Hill, singing the praises of God till the seven hills rang again. The first Christian emperor, laying aside his diadem and his robes of state, began to dig the foundations of St. Peter's Church. And now on the site of that old church stands the noblest temple ever raised by man; beneath a towering canopy lie the great apostles, in death, as in life, undivided; and there is the Chair of St. Peter. All around rest the martyrs of Christ—Popes, Saints, Doctors, from east and west—and high over all, the words, "Thou art Peter, and on this Rock I will build My Church." It is the threshold of the apostles and the centre of the world."
"Reflection. — Peter still lives on in his successors, and rules and feeds the flock committed to him. The reality of our devotion to him is the surest test of the purity of our faith."
(Lives of Saints by Alban Butler)
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