- 1 Chronicles 29:11-15 -
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
"But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give
as
generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only
what comes from your hand. We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as
were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without
hope.
______________________________________________________________________________
King David contrasts God's everlasting nature with the fleeting lives of
his
people. Nothing lasts unless it is rooted in God's unchanging character.
If
our most impressive deeds fade as dust before God, where should we place
our
confidence? Only in a relation****p with God can we find anything
permanent.
His love never fades and nothing can take it away.
<<>><<>><<>>
June 16th - Sts. Cyricus and Julitta, Martyrs
(Cyricus also known as Cyr, Cyriacus, Quiriac, Quiricus)
Died 304. Although the legend of Julitta and Cyricus was proscribed by
pseudo-Gelasius, it still persists in various forms. We are told that when
persecution was raging against Christians under Diocletian, a wealthy and
pious noblewoman named Julitta was widowed with a three-year-old son named
Cyricus. As a Christian Julitta decided that life in her native Iconium in
Lycaonia was too dangerous.
Taking Cyricus and two maids, she fled to Seleucia and to her alarm found
that the governor there, Alexander, was savagely persecuting Christians.
The
four fugitives journeyed on to Tarsus in Antioch. Unfortunately, Alexander
was paying a visit to that city when the fugitives were recognized and
arrested.
Julitta was put on trial. She brought her young son with her to the
courtroom. She refused to answer any questions about herself, except to
say
that she was a Christian. The court pronounced its sentence: Julitta was
to
be stretched on the rack and then beaten.
The guards, about to lead Julitta away, separated Cyricus from his mother.
The child was crying, and Alexander, in a vain attempt to pacify him, took
Cyricus on his knee. Terrified and longing to run back to his mother,
Cyricus kicked the governor and scratched his face. Alexander stood up in
a
rage and flung the toddler down the steps of the tribune, fracturing the
boy's skull and killing him.
Cyricus's mother did not weep. Instead she thanked God and went cheerfully
to torture and death. Her son had been granted the crown of martyrdom.
This
made the governor even angrier. He decreed that her sides should be ripped
apart with hooks, and then she was beheaded. Both she and Cyricus were
flung
outside the city, on the heap of bodies belonging to criminals, but the
two
maids rescued the corpses of the mother and child and buried them in a
nearby field.
There is some evidence for an otherwise unknown child-martyr named Cyricus
at Antioch, and it may have been about him that this legend had evolved in
several different versions. There are places named after Cyricus all over
Europe and the Middle East, but without the name Julitta attached. As
early
as the sixth century the acta of Cyricus and Julitta were rejected in a
list
of apocryphal do***ents (the list was formerly attributed to Pope Saint
Gelasius I).
Cyricus is the Saint-Cyr found in several French place names, where his
cultus is strong because some relics were brought back from Antioch by the
4th-century Bishop Saint Amator of Auxerre. A Nivernaise story that is
reproduced in the Golden Legend also fuels the flames of devotion.
According
to this tale, Blessed Charlemagne dreamed he was saved from death by a
wild
boar during a hunt by the appearance of a child, who promised to save him
from death if he would give him clothes to cover his ****dness. The bishop
of Nevers interpreted this to mean that he wanted the emperor to repair
the
roof of the cathedral dedicated to Saint Cyr. (Attwater, Benedictines,
Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Julitta leads Cyricus by the hand. The pair may also be
shown
(1) as Cyricus is dashed to the ground by Alexander and a fountain springs
from his blood; (2) as a fountain springs from Julitta's blood; (3) with
Julitta burned at the stake; (4) with oxen near Julitta; (5) with Cyricus
mounted on a wild boar; or (6) as Julitta holds a cross and palm (Roeder).
The oldest known representations of Cyricus is a series of frescoes (8th
century) at Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome. A 12-century antependium at the
Museum of Barcelona depicts scenes from the legend, as do stained-glass
windows at Issoudun (Farmer).
This Version taken from:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm
Saint Quote
When we pray, the voice of the heart must be heard more than that
proceeding from the mouth.
-St Bonaventure
Bible quote:
If you will be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor...
and
come, follow Me. St. Matthew 19:21
<><><><><>
THANK-YOU LORD
I thank you O Lord
for bringing me to the light
of another day with all
its blessing and graces.
Grant that I may
yet attain to the height of
perfection to which
You would lead me.
Repair for me also,
I entreat You,
the harm I have done
to the souls of others.
Through Christ, our Lord.
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