Inner peace flows from love
Good, interior, spiritual peace consists in the repose of the
mind in God, and in a rightly ordered harmony. To bestow this peace was
the
chief reason for
Christ's coming. This inner peace flows from love. It is an unassailable
joy
of the mind in God,
and it is called peace of heart. It is the beginning and a kind of
foretaste
of the peace of the
saints in heaven - the peace of eternity.
-Denies the Cartesian
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January 23rd - St. John the Almsgiver.
Born in Amathus (Old Limaasol), Cyprus, c. 550; died November 11, c.
616-19;
feast day formerly April 9; Two near contemporary vitae about Saint John
the
Almsgiver-one by John Moschus and the other by Sophronius-tend to give
credence to the story of John the Almsgiver. John, the son of noble
Epiphanius, governor of Cyprus, married while he was still quite young,
but
when his wife and two children died he entered the religious life, gave
his
income to the poor, and became widely known for his holiness and charity.
When John was about 50 (c. 608) and still a layman, he was chosen
patriarch
of Alexandria by his adopted brother Nicetas, who had helped the Emperor
Heraclius to come to power. This church had been very greatly reduced by
the
Monophysite heresy, and John set himself to commend orthodoxy by an
example
of virtuous living and most liberal almsgiving.
On his arrival, Patriarch John ordered an exact list to be taken of his
"masters," i.e., the poor, whom John said had much power in heaven to help
those who had been good to them on earth. The list John compiled named
7,500
poor of the diocese, who he fed every day. One of his first episcopal acts
was the distribution of 80,000 pieces of gold to hospitals and
monasteries.
When some protested this action, he answered by telling of a vision he had
experienced. A beautiful woman appeared to him representing Charity who
said
to him: "I am the eldest daughter of the King. If you will be my friend, I
will lead you to Him." Thereafter, he followed this policy of charity
systematically until his death. It is said that his own charity spurred
others on to do likewise.
He was inspired by the thought that in helping the poor he was giving
thanks
to Jesus, who sacrificed so much for our salvation. When someone privately
tried to thank John, the saint cut him short, saying, "Brother, I have not
yet spilled my blood for you, as Jesus Christ, my master and my God,
commands me."
Every Wednesday and Friday he sat on a bench outside the church and
adjudicated disputes, dispensed advice, listened to the complaints of the
needy and aggrieved, and immediately sought to redress the wrongs that
they
had experienced. Nothing and nobody was too insignificant for his
attention.
The functions of his office, prayer, and pious reading occupied all his
time, so that he never spoke an idle word. He turned out of the church
those
whom he saw talking, and forbade all detractors to enter his house.
Avoiding
idle conversation was perhaps aided by his appointment of a man to remind
him on all occasions of pomp: "My lord, your tomb is unfinished; be
pleased
to give your orders to have it completed, for you know not the hour when
death will seize you."
Known for his humility, John regarded injuries as his greatest gain and
happiness. He always disarmed his enemies of their rancor by meekness, and
frequently fell at the feet of those who insulted him to beg their pardon.
When he noticed that many amused themselves outside the church during
Mass,
he went out and seated himself amongst them, saying: "My children, the
shepherd must be with his flock." This action, which covered them with
confusion, prevented them from being guilty of that ever again. He also
forbade meeting in the sanctuary, saying, "If you come here to pray,
occupy
your mind and heart with that, but if you come merely to meet someone,
remember it is written that the house of God shall be called a house of
prayer; do not turn it into a den of thieves."
The saint also insisted the believers should never under any circumstances
receive Holy Communion with heretics. He said, "Communion is so called
because he who has communion has things in common and agrees with those
with
whom he has communion; therefore I implore you never to go near the
oratories of heretics in order to communicate there."
He found and endowed seven lying-in and other hospitals of 40 beds each
(with a 'maternity benefit'), homes for the aged and infirm, and lodgings
for travellers, and built churches (over 60 of them according to one
source). He also helped the poor by regulating weights and measures and
making individual gifts, and taxed his clergy to help pay for it all. John
fought simony, rigorously forbade all his officers and servants to take
presents that he saw as bribes, and ended corruption in his diocese.
Throughout his patriarchate, he labored to end Monophysitism and restore
orthodoxy by peaceful means.
Patriarch John worked to alleviate the onerous new taxes levied by
Governor
Nicetas. The governor left John in a passion. Saint John sent him a
message
toward evening saying, "The sun is going to set. Let not the sun set on
your
anger." The admonition had its intended effect. The governor returned to
John and asked for pardon.
One of his beneficiaries was a trader who had fallen on hard times after
two
shipwrecks: John provided him with a ship and a cargo of corn that the man
bartered for its weight in tin in the British Isles, which was
experiencing
a famine. Legend says the tin turned to finest silver on the return
journey.
John's open hand never closed. Sometimes he was deceived by impostors who
kept returning for alms in disguise when he had already helped them
generously: even when he knew he was imposed upon he still gave again and
again.
Though he was not a monk himself, he came to respect them and founded two
new monasteries in the city. Once a young monk begged alms for several
days
accompanied by an attractive young woman. As a result of the consequent
scandal, John had the woman beaten and separated from the monk, who was
scourged and placed in solitary confinement. That night John had a dream
in
which he saw the monk who told him that he had made a mistake. Upon
awakening John called for the badly lacerated monk. He told John that he
was
a eunuch and that the young woman was a Jew who wish to be baptized. John
apologized, offered compensation (which was refused), and admonished the
monk that it was unseemly for those clad in angelic robes to wander about
the city, especially with a woman. Thereafter the saint showed special
honor
and hospitality to monks.
A rather cute story is told about a wealthy admirer, who upon learning
that
John had but one ragged blanket on his bed, begged John to accept one of
great value and use it for the sake of the donor. John accepted it, but
spent a night in uneasiness and self- reproaches for being so richly
covered
while his 'masters' (the poor) were so ill-accommodated. The next day John
sold it and gave the money to the poor. The donor bought it from the
vendor,
and gave it again to John. The cycle of giving, accepting, selling, and
rebuying the blanket continued for quite a time.
When the Persians sacked Jerusalem in 614, he succored the refugees and
sent
large amounts of money, and food for the relief of that city and workmen
to
rebuild its churches. In a letter to Bishop Modestus of Jerusalem, he
wrote
that he wished it had been in his power to come in person and contribute
by
the labor of his hands. Five years later the invaders were threatening
Egypt. He was on his way to Constantinople with Nicetas to visit Emperor
Heraclius, when at Rhodes a vision of his own impending death caused him
to
return to his native Amathus, where he died.
In his last will and testament he said that he had found the treasury of
his
church full and left it empty: "I have done my best to render to God the
things that were God's." John the Almsgiver was the original patron saint
of
the Order of Saint John at Jerusalem (later, the Knights of Malta).
His relics were carried to Constantinople, where they remained until the
Turkish emperor presented them to Matthias, king of Hungary. They then
made
their way from to Tall (near Presbourg/Bratislava, Hungary) and then to
the
cathedral of Presbourg in 1632. The Orthodox Church honors John on his
dies
natalis, while the R.M. celebrates the date of the translation of his
relics
(Attwater, Benedictines, Butler, Coulson, Dawes, Delaney, Encyclopedia,
Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, Walsh).
In art, Saint John is a bishop with a wallet or loaf holding a rosary in
his
hand. Sometimes he is shown giving alms to a cripple (Roeder). In this
14th-century Russian icon with Saints Barlaam Khutynski, Paraskeva and
Anastasia.
Saint Quote:
If we are able to enter the church day and night and implore God to hear
our
prayers, how careful we should be to hear and grant the petitions of our
neighbor in need.
-Saint John the Almoner
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Saint Anthony, Martyr of Desire
Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of
shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your
thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony,
Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand
up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede
also for my other intentions. (Name them.)
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