- Psalm 116:1-2 -
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
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God is so responsive that you can always reach him. He bends down and
listens to
your voice. This writer's love for the Lord had grown because he had
experienced
answers to his prayers. If you are discouraged, remember that God is
always
near, listening carefully to every prayer and answering each prayer in
order
to
give you his best.
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January 13th - St. Veronica of Binasco, OSA V (RM)
Born in Binasco (near Milan), Italy, c. 1445; died in Milan in 1497;
cultus
confirmed in 1517. Veronica was the daughter of poor peasants, with whom
she
worked in the fields. Hands occupied, united with nature, she raised her
heart
to God as she labored at reaping and hoeing.
Anxious because her illiteracy might prevent her from growing in holiness,
she
unsuccessfully tried to teach herself to read while the rest of her family
slept. Veronica began to experience constant ecstasies and successive
visions of
the life of Christ. The Blessed Virgin appeared to her and taught her that
all
she needed were three mystical letters. The first signified purity of
intention;
the second, abhorrence of complaining and criticism; the third, daily
meditation
upon the Passion.
Having learned her lesson well from the Virgin, each day she would arise
and
dedicate the work of her hands to God. In concentrating upon perfecting
her
own
offering, she had no time for judging others. She did, however, pray for
those
who manifestly erred. By meditating on the Passion, she forgot her own
pains
and
sorrows in those of Our Lord and her frequent, silent tears in remembering
His
sufferings.
After three years of patient waiting, she was received as a lay- sister by
the
Augustinian nuns of Saint Martha's in Milan and spent her life in
collecting
alms for the convent. Three years later she was afflicted with secret but
bodily
pains, yet never would consent to being relieved of her labors or to omit
her
prayers. She said, "I must work while I can, while I have time." She
perfected
the virtue of joyful obedience. She died on the day she had foretold,
after
a
six-month illness, aged 52 (Benedictines).
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Today is also The Baptism of Our Lord
Usually celebrated the Sunday after Epiphany
In the life of Christ, His baptism in the Jordan is an event of the
highest
im****tance, because it represents a significant phase in the work of
redemption.
We know that the liturgy of the ecclesiastical year commemorates all the
phases
of Christ's redemptive work; and recently, during the season of the
Nativity, we
have reflected on His coming into the world, poor and solitary in a grotto
at
Bethlehem, and on His cir***cision. Now His baptism in the Jordan marks
the
divinely inaugurated beginning of Our Lord's public life. Indeed, Saint
Peter
states that at His baptism, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel, He
was
anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Christ, the Messiah, which means the
Anointed
One: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power,
and He
went about doing good and healing all who were in the power of the devil,
for
God was with Him." (Acts 10:38) An anointing has always been the symbolic,
visible representation of an intimately established union, a specific,
defined
alliance or covenant between God and one of His servants. God the Father
speaks
at this moment, to make clear who this Person is. The foretold Saviour is
His
Divine Son, begotten from all eternity: "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I
am
well pleased."
In the symbolism of His baptism, Christ, Himself immaculate, assumes the
sins of
the world, descends into the purifying waters, and raises mankind to
divine
son****p. His baptism was vicarious in nature; He stands in the Jordan in
our
stead. Consequently, this act must find its complement in our personal
redemption. Our lives are profoundly altered through Christ's redemptive
sacrifice, on at least three such occasions: our Baptism, our attendance
at
Holy
Mass, and our death in Christ.
At our Baptism we were immersed with Jesus, with Him we died and were
buried.
Then we emerged, and for the first time heaven opened to us, as the Holy
Spirit
made His advent into our soul, and our Father in heaven looked down upon
us,
now
"His sons, His children."
In each Holy Mass, Christ's baptismal offering is again operative. Through
the
Holy Sacrifice we are immersed in His sacrificial death; heaven then opens
and
the Holy Spirit descends through Holy Communion. Through the pledge of the
sacrificial Banquet the Father assures us of renewed and enriched son****p
in
Christ.
The baptism of Christ is accomplished within us a third time at our death,
if we
are united with Him, for death is indeed a sort of baptism. Death is like
immersion into the dark depths, but when we receive the Last Sacraments,
on
emerging, it is to a different life - it is our hope and our confidence,
if
we
have been faithful to God's grace, that it will be the life of glory, the
beatific vision. Then we will see the Blessed Trinity, no longer through
the
darkened sun-glass of faith, but in immediate vision, face to face.
To sum up, today's liturgy helps us to understand more clearly the basic
structure of spiritual life, the redemptive acts of Christ. Upon that
foundation
the edifice rises through the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist,
while
the
Lord's return, at our death, brings completion to the work.
Saint Quote:
He enters by the door who enters by Christ, who imitates the suffering of
Christ, who is acquainted with the humility of Christ so as to feel and
know
that, if God became man for us, men should not think themselves God, but
men. He
who, being man, wishes to appear God, does not imitate Him who, being God,
became man. Thou art not bid to think less of thyself than thou art, but
to
know
what thou art.
-St. Augustine
Bible Quote:
Go, and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." (St.
Matthew
9:13)
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Saint Anthony, Example of Humility
Dear St. Anthony, after all these years in the school of Christ,
I still haven't learned the lesson of true humility. My feelings
are easily ruffled. Quick to take offense, I am slow to forgive.
St. Anthony, Example of Humility, teach me the im****tance
and necessity of this Christian virtue. In the presence of
Jesus, who humbled Himself and whom the Father exalted,
remember also these special intentions of mine.
(Name them.)
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