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June 28, 2006 Memorial of St. Irenaeus, bishop and martyr Old Calendar: St. Irenaeus; Vigil of Saints Peter and Paul
Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar the Vigil of Sts. Peter and Paul was observed with a special vigil Mass. The reform removed this vigil Mass from the Calendar. Tomorrow is a solemnity, and so observance of Saints Peter and Paul begins with Evening Prayer I in the Liturgy of the Hours this evening. The liturgical day is from midnight to midnight in the Church's observance, except for Sunday and solemnities which begin with the evening of the preceding day.
St. Irenaeus Saint Irenaeus was born in the year 120; he was of the Greek tongue, and probably a native of Asia Minor. His parents, who were Christians, placed him while still young under the care of the great Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. It was in this holy school that he learned the sacred science which later made him a great ornament of the Church and the terror of her enemies. Saint Polycarp cultivated his rising genius and formed his mind to piety by his precepts and example, and the zealous young scholar was careful to reap all advantages offered him by the solicitude of such a master. Such was his veneration for his tutors sanctity that he observed all the acts and virtues he saw in that holy man, the better to copy his example and learn his spirit. He listened to his instructions with an insatiable ardor, and so deeply did he engrave them in his heart that the impressions remained vivid even in his old age. In order to confound the heresies of his age, this Doctor of the Church acquainted himself with the conceits of the pagan philosophers, and thereby became qualified to trace every error to its sources and set it in its full light. By his writings he was already known to Tertullian, Theodoret and Saint Epiphanus, who speak of him as a luminous torch of truth in the darkness of those times. After Irenaeus had spent a number of years in combat against the eastern gnostics and philosophers of error, Saint Polycarp determined to send him to Gaul, where many of the heretics of Asia Minor had already migrated to pursue the Catholic religion, which was beginning to find roots there. With a company of about forty Christians, the valiant soldier of Christ ascended the Rhone to Lyons to rejoin and aid Saint Pothinus, its bishop. Saint Pothinus was already advanced in age, and his churchs neophytes could not always distinguish truth from the gnostic aberrations. Saint Pothinus received the apostles with joy and soon ordained Saint Irenaeus. This great Doctor of the Church wrote many important works, of which the most famous is his Adversus Haereses, Against the Heresies, in explanation of the Faith. By his preaching, Saint Irenaeus in a short time converted almost the whole country to the Faith; the Christians of Lyons became models by their candor, their estrangement from all ambition, their poverty, chastity and temperance, and in this way confounded many adversaries of their religion. Saint Irenaeus continued to imitate what he had seen done by his beloved master, Saint Polycarp, himself the disciple and imitator of Saint John the Apostle. One can readily imagine the excellence of the administration and the breadth of charity reigning in the Church of Lyons. Finally he suffered martyrdom there, with many others, in the year 202, under the Emperor Septimus Severus, after eighty years spent in the service of the Lord. The imperial decrees renewing the persecutions arrived at Lyons at the time of the celebration of Severus tenth year of reign; the pagans found amid the celebrations an opportunity to take vengeance on the Christians, who refused to participate in the debaucheries which accompanied these feastings. Assassins armed with daggers, stones and knives filled the city with blood, and thousands of Christians won, with their bishop, the crown they had always admired as the greatest glory God could grant His servants. From Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butlers Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 7. Symbols: Lighted torch; book. Things to Do:
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By Their Fruits You Will Know Them Saint Irenaeus, bishop and martyr Matthew 7:15-20 Introductory Prayer: Father, give me the courage to bear witness to your truth and the strength to defeat the power of sin and evil. Grant this through Christ Our Lord. Petition: Jesus, help me to bear good fruit in my daily life. 1. Beware of False Prophets. Not everything that glitters is gold. The paths leading to either a selfless or selfish love each promise us happiness, yet only one of them can deliver. Jesus and his Church invite us to enter freely into his life-giving love by dying to ourselves and learning to love the truth about God and the human person. The devil and his allies, on the other hand, tempt us towards an apparent happiness that ultimately alienates the human person from God and even from ones very self. The forces of evil promise eternal bliss but, in the end, the only lasting thing they can offer are emptiness and death. The greatest deception, and the deepest source of unhappiness, is the illusion of finding life by excluding God, of finding freedom by excluding moral truths and personal responsibility (Pope John Paul II, Homily, July 28, 2002). 2. By Their Fruits You Will Know Them. Jesus tells us not to judge the intentions of a person. But he nonetheless reminds us that we must also be discerning about certain persons, groups, activities and milieus. It is true that both human wisdom and Gospel law tell us not to judge others or their attitudes. Equally true, however, that we have to reject unhesitatingly everything that could come between us and God or our faith, of course with due charity and respect. The very first object of this discernment process must be my own life. If I profess to be a Christian, my life must bear the fruit Christ asks of his followers. St Paul reveals some of the fruit we must expect to find in a Christian soul: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This is not to say that a good person will not lose his temper, be selfish or lack gentleness from time to time. Sin affects each of us. But when the fruits listed by St Paul are consistently found in a persons life, we may discern that the source of this fruit is good. 3. A Good Tree Cannot Bear Bad Fruit. Christian life is not the ascetic result of superhuman souls. It is rather the fruit that divine grace produces in those who generously let it work and actively cooperate with it. Just as God cannot do something evil, grace cannot produce bad fruit. In the spiritual life, Gods grace is the ultimate source of fruit that is good. Therefore, when we freely cooperate with this grace, the result is always the good fruit of holiness and our transformation into Christ. This was the conclusion reached by the good thief. As he suffered on the cross next to Jesus, he was able to witness from within, so to speak, the patience, love and mercy with which Jesus responded to the hatred and abuse they hurled at him. In this moment of grace he was able to discern that only a truly good man is capable of living such a degree of forgiveness and self-giving. Dialogue with Christ: Dear Lord, you ask from me fruit that is good, fruit that will last. Give me the grace to bear the fruit that you seek from me. My heart is ready; give me your strength. Plant the seed of your goodness in my soul and I will strive to water it with care. Mother Most Pure, make my heart only for Jesus. Resolution: Today I will take 10 minutes to reflect deeply on St Pauls list of spiritual fruit to determine where I need to focus my growth. |