See God in Your Neighbor
You who do not yet see God will, by loving your neighbor, make
yourself worthy of seeing him. By loving your neighbor, you cleanse your
eyes so
you can
see God.
Love your neighbor, then, and see within yourself the source of this love
of
neighbor. There
you will see God insofar as you are able.
- Sermon on John 17, 8
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January 3rd - Saint Fulgentius
(468-533)
Born in Africa of illustrious and Catholic parents, Fulgentius was an
excellent
student of languages and of various other practical disciplines. His
father had
died while still young, and Fulgentius soon became the support of his
mother and
younger brother. He was appointed at an early age procurator of his
province at
Carthage; but this elevation in the world's esteem was distasteful to him,
and
he was enlightened by the Spirit of God to see the vanity of the world.
At the age of twenty-two, having read Saint Augustine's treatise on the
Psalms,
he resolved to embrace monastic life, and began to prepare for it by
mental
prayer, fasting, and other penances practiced in secret. When he was
accepted
into a monastery by a holy bishop named Faustus, his mother hoped to
change his
mind; but when she arrived he remained firm and did not consent to see
her. Such
are the austerities of the Saints, called to accomplish much for God. He
later
renounced all his goods on behalf of his mother and younger brother.
After six years of peace, his monastery was attacked by Arian heretics,
and
Faustus, Fulgentius and the other monks were driven out, destitute, into
the
desert. Fulgentius entered another monastery on his Superior's advice, and
there
he shared the duties of the Superior, to the latter's great consolation,
until
that house was attacked by barbarians. In the refuge to which he then
repaired
he was persecuted, held captive, and tortured by an Arian priest, but
sought no
vengeance when authorities offered him support if he would enter a
complaint.
Fulgentius and his Superior, who was with him, decided to build another
monastery in the province they had abandoned.
For a time Fulgentius remained there, but he desired solitude and set out
on a
journey to the holy places of Rome. There the imperial splendors he beheld
spoke
to him of the greater glory of the heavenly Jerusalem, his final goal. And
at
the first lull in the persecution, he returned to his African cell in the
year
500.
Elected bishop of Ruspe in 508, he was summoned to face new dangers, and
was
shortly afterwards banished by the Arian king, with some sixty other
Catholic
prelates, to Sardinia. Though the youngest of the exiles, he became the
spokesman of his brethren and the support of their orphaned flocks. By his
books
and letters, which are still extant, he confounded both Pelagian and Arian
heresiarchs, and strengthened the Catholics in Africa and Gaul. He prayed
for
all his compatriots in exile: "You know, Lord, what is most expedient for
the
salvation of our souls; assist us in our corporal necessities, that we may
not
lose the spiritual goods." On the death of the Arian king, the bishops
returned
to their flocks. Saint Fulgentius was welcomed amid the greatest joy,
after
eighteen years of exile. He labored with his fellow bishops in the synods
as
their chosen leader, and re-established discipline. When he felt his end
was
near, he retired to an island monastery, where after a year's preparation
he
called for his clergy and religious, and with their aid distributed all
his
goods to the poor. He died in peace in the year 533.
Reflection. Each year may bring us new changes and trials; let us learn
from
Saint Fulgentius to receive all that happens as appointed for our
salvation, and
from the hand of God.
Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin
(Bloud
et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 1; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a
compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by
John
Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
Saint Quote:
In her voyage across the ocean of this world, the Church is like a great
ship
being pounded by the waves of life's different stresses. Our duty is not
to
abandons ship but to keep her on her course.
Let us stand fast in what is right, and prepare our souls for trial. Let
us wait
upon God's strengthening aid and say to him: "O Lord, you have been our
refuge
in all generations."
Let us trust in him who has placed this burden upon us. What we ourselves
cannot
bear let us bear with the help of Christ. For he is all-powerful, and he
tells
us: "My yoke is easy, and my burden light."
Let us continue the fight on the day of the Lord. The days of anguish and
of
tribulation have overtaken us; if God so wills, "let us die for the holy
laws of
our fathers," so that we may deserve to obtain an eternal inheritance with
them.
--from a letter by Saint Boniface
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Prayer Against Covetousness
O Lord Jesus Christ, who though Thou wast rich yet for our sakes didst
become poor, grant that all over-eagerness and covetousness of earthly
goods
may die in us, and the desire of heavenly things may live and grow in us;
keep us from all idle and vain expenditures, that we may always have to
give
to him that needeth, and that giving not grudgingly nor of necessity, but
cheerfully, we may be loved of Thee, and be made through Thy merits
partakers of the riches of Thy heavenly treasure. Amen.
Taken from: Manual of Prayers (pg 312)
Compiled by: Third Plenary Council of Baltimore
Imprimatur: James Cardinal Gibbons. Archbishop. Baltimore
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