- 1 John 3:16 -
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for
us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
___________________________________________________________________
Real love is action, not a feeling. It produces selfless, sacrificial
giving.
The greatest act of love is giving oneself for others. How can we lay down
our
lives? By serving others with no thought of receiving anything in return.
Sometimes it is easier to say we'll die for others than to truly live for
them -
this involves putting others' desires first. How clearly do your actions
say you
really love others?
<<>><<>><<>>
February 21st - Sts. Germanus & Randoald, OSB MM (AC)
(Also known as Germain & Rancald or Randaut)
Born in Trier (Trèves), Palatinate, Germany; died c. 677. Germanus, son of
a
rich senator, was an orphan raised by Bishop Modoard. At age 17, Germanus
disposed of his property and entered Saint Romaric's monastery governed by
Saint
Arnulf of Metz at Romberg in the Vosges Mountains (Remiremont). Arnulf
encouraged the young man to grow in holiness, and he did. Germanus, in
turn,
encouraged his younger brother Numerian to forsake the world and enter the
double monastery, too.
From Remiremont he migrated to Luxeuil under its third abbot Saint
Waldebert,
who introduced the Benedictine Rule into the abbey. He later became abbot
of the
Granfel (Münsterthal) Monastery in the Val Moutier, which had been founded
by
Duke Gondo of Alsace. Germanus became a pioneer in reconstruction,
road-building, dedication to the poor and under-privileged. This last was
his
downfall.
Gondo's successor, Boniface (Catihe), daily oppressed both the monks and
poor
inhabitants. The holy abbot, while bearing private injuries silently,
often
pleaded the cause of the poor. The duke laid waste to their lands,
destroyed
their harvests, and took away the means needed to eke out their poor
subsistence. Germanus went out to meet Boniface as he was ravaging their
lands
and plundering their houses at the head of a troop of soldiers. German
begged
Boniface to spare a distressed and innocent people. The duke promised to
stop,
but his soldiers took up the killing, burning, and plundering again while
the
saint prayed in the church of St. Maurice.
The soldiers had long awaited an op****tunity to expunge the inconvenient
abbot
who often denounced their ravaging of the poor. When Germanus and
Randoald, his
prior, were on their way back to Granfel, the soldiers captured, stripped,
and
pierced them with swords as the martyrs prayed. Their relics were
deposited at
Granfel, and were exposed in a rich shrine till the Reformation, when they
were
translated to Telsberg, or Delmont. Their acta were written by a
contem****ary
priest, Babolen (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
Germanus is pictured as a Benedictine abbot holding a lance. Sometimes
Randoald,
his prior, is with him. Germanus may also be shown with a poor man at his
feet
(because he was murdered by the duke for interceding for the poor) or with
a
book, palm, and crozier. Germanus is venerated in Trier, Remiremont,
Luxeuil,
and Granfel (Roeder).
Saint Quote:
He who was raised from the dead will raise us also, if we do His will and
live
by His commands and love what He loved, refraining from all injustice,
covetousness, love of money, evil-speaking, false witness, not returning
evil
for evil or abuse for abuse, or blow for blow, or curse for curse, but
remembering what the Lord said when He taught: Do not judge, so that you
may not
be judged; forgive and you will be forgiven; have mercy so that you may be
shown
mercy; with the measure you use men will measure back to you; and blessed
are
the poor and those who are persecuted for their uprightness, for the
kingdom of
Heaven belongs to them.
-St. Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians
Bible Quote:
1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of
charity,
if any society of the spirit, if any bowels of commiseration: 2. Fulfil ye
my
joy, that you may be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one
accord,
agreeing in sentiment. 3. Let nothing be done through contention, neither
by
vain glory: but in humility, let each esteem others better than
themselves: 4.
Each one not considering the things that are his own, but those that are
other
men's. 5. For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
(Philippians 2:1-5)
<><><><>
Canticle Ephesians 1
God the Saviour
Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us, in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in heaven.
In love, he chose us before the creation of the world,
to be holy and spotless in his sight.
He predestined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ,
simply because it pleased him to do so.
This he did for the praise of the glory of his grace,
of his free gift of us in his Beloved,
in whose blood we have gained redemption,
and the forgiveness of our sins.
This he did according to the riches of his grace,
which he gave us in abundance,
with all wisdom and discernment,
revealing to us the mysteries of his will,
because it pleased him to do so.
In this action he has planned, in the fulfilment of time,
to bring all things together in Christ,
from the heavens and from the earth.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
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