- Psalm 23:1-3 -
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
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When we allow our shepherd to guide us, we have contentment. When we
choose to
sin, however, we go our own way and cannot blame God for the environment
we
create for ourselves. Our shepherd knows the "green pastures" and "quiet
water"
that will restore us. We will reach these places only by following him
obediently. Rebelling against the shepherd's leading is actually rebelling
against our own best interests. We must remember this the next time we are
tempted to go our own way rather than the shepherd's way.
<<>><<>><<>>
March 27th - St. Gelasius of Armagh
In 1169, the English pope, Adrian IV, by the bull <Laudabiliter>, granted
sovereignty over Ireland to King Henry II of England, who wreaked havoc in
the
Irish Church by pillaging monasteries and replacing Irish bishops with
Norman
bishops. The archbishop of Armagh at the time was St. Gelasius who tried
desperately to undo the damage done by the Normans and work for the
upbuilding
of the Irish Church.
Before the Norman takeover, Ireland was undergoing something of a
religious
renaissance: literary, artistic, and architectural activity flourished
throughout Ireland; the art of illumination was recovered; monastic
centers,
like Clonmacnoise, were flouri****ng; Clonfert was rebuilt; Mellifont had
been
founded; and Irish monks were staffing the remarkable monastery founded by
Marianus Scotus in Regensburg.
No one really knows the reason for Adrian IV's "donation of Ireland" to
Henry
II, but it spelled the end of a uniquely Irish Church.
Gelasius had been abbot of Derry, St. Columba's famous monastery. His
father was
a bard, an honored profession among the Irish and most probably a teacher
at
Derry, where Gelasius was educated.
Gelasius called a synod at Armagh in 1170 to try to deal with the
Anglo-Norman
takeover, but a synod at Cashel in the following year called by the papal
legate
who sup****ted the Normans made any effort of the Irish useless. Norman
usages
and customs were imposed on the Irish, many Irish princes submitted to
Henry II,
and the English king's religious decrees became the law of the land. In
1172,
Pope Alexander II confirmed Adrian's "donation" to Henry, with Gelasius
trying
to undo the harm until his death in 1174. It was a sad time in the history
of
the Irish Church, and Gelasius died a broken man with a broken heart.
Gerald of Wales thus describes what happened in the time of Gelasius: "The
clergy of Ireland are reduced to beggary, the cathedral churches have been
stripped of their possessions." It would take almost seven hundred years
for
Ireland to recover.
Thought for the Day: Sometimes we have to face complete failure, and there
is
often a mystery of Divine Providence in the work of the Church. God does
not
always ask us to succeed, only to give our best. When that best is not
enough,
we have to leave the rest in His hands.
Taken from "The One Year Book of Saints" by Rev. Clifford Stevens
published by
Our Sunday Visitor Publi****ng Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.,
Huntington, IN
46750.
<><><><>
Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself. (Matthew 16:24)
"Take heed not to foster thy own judgment, for, without doubt, it will
inebriate
thee; as there is no difference between an intoxicated man and one full of
his
own opinion, and one is no more capable of reasoning than the other"
-St. Francis de Sales
The blessed Alexander Sauli, a Corsican bishop, always asked others advice
in
the affairs of his diocese, not trusting to his own opinion. He considered
himself ignorant and totally unfit for the duties of his office, though he
had
been a famous professor of theology and director of St. Charles, and had
even
been called the ideal of bishops.
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". March - Mortification)
Bible Quote:
15 And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove
them
all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the
changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew. 16 And to them that
sold
doves he said: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my
Father a
house of traffic. (John 2:15-16)
<><><><>
The fourth glorious mystery prayer of the Eucharistic Rosary,
to be offered before the Blessed Sacrament:
The Death and Assumption of Mary, offered for filial
devotion to Mary:
O Jesus, no longer could Thou leavest here below Thy
blessed Mother; already she didst hear Thy voice calling her,
and amid the trans****ts of an ineffable communion, Thy love
didst take away her soul from the land of exile. But her
virginal body, like that of her divine Son, must not know
corruption; so Thou didst raise her from the dead, and,
brilliant as the sun, assume her soaring on angels' wings to
the seat of eternal glory.
O Jesus, our resurrection and our life, we adore Thee and we
pray that, through the intercession of Thy holy Mother, we
may die in the arms of her who is also our own Mother, after
having received in a fervent communion the pledge of our
glorious resurrection.
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