"As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you . . ."
Posted on 10/20/2013 8:44:17 PM PDT by Salvation
http://holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/saints/1021_hilarion.asp
St. Hilarion
Feast Day: October 21
Born: 291 :: Died: 371
Hilarion was born at Tabatha, south of Gaza in Palestine. He was the son of Pagan parents who did not believe in God. When he was a teenager he left his home in Palestine to study in Alexandria in Egypt.
There at the age of 15, he learned about the Christian faith, and soon was baptized. His conversion started him out on a glorious journey leading him closer to God. Before long, he was off to visit the famous St. Anthony of Egypt in the desert.
Hilarion wanted to be alone to serve Jesus, whom he had just come to love. He stayed two months with St. Anthony, but it was not quiet enough there for him.
Many people came to St. Anthony for help. Hilarion could not find the peace he was looking for, so he left. After giving everything he had to the poor, he went into the wilderness to live alone as a hermit.
He wore a shirt made of hair and skins and a short shepherd’s cloak. He fasted during the day and had a small meal after sunset. He supported himself by weaving baskets but spent the rest of his time in prayer.
Hilarion faced many temptations and at times he felt that God did not hear his prayers at all. But he did not let these temptations stop him from praying even harder.
After twenty years in the desert, the holy man worked his first miracle. He was also able to drive demons out of people.
Soon many people began coming to his hut to beg his help. Several men asked him to let them stay with him to learn from him how to pray and do penance.
In his great love for God and people, the saint invited them to stay. But finally, when he was sixty-five, he began to travel. He went from one country to another in search of peace and quiet.
However, the fame of his miracles of mercy always brought crowds of visitors. A few years before his death in 371, Hilarian finally found a lonely cave in Cyprus and at last felt that he was truly alone with God. He was eighty years old when he died
Monday, October 21
Liturgical Color: Green
Today the Church honors St. Margaret
Clitherow, one of the Martyrs of
England. Because she hid priests and
allowed Masses to be said on her
property during a time of persecution,
she was pressed to death at Tyburn in 1556.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-10-21
Daily Readings for:October 21, 2013
(Readings on USCCB website)
Collect: Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
RECIPES
o Ancient Roman Fava Bean Dip
o Skewered Beef Roman Style
o Spiedino Romano
ACTIVITIES
o Religion in the Home for Elementary School: October
o Religion in the Home for Preschool: October
o What is a Nameday?
PRAYERS
o Collect for Feast of St. Ursula
o
o Ordinary Time: October 21st
o Monday of the Twenty Ninth Week of Ordinary Time
o
Old Calendar: St. Hilarion (Hilary), abbot; Saints Ursula and companions, virgins and martyrs
According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Hilarion, who was born of pagan parents near Gaza in Palestine toward the close of the third century. He studied at Alexandria and became a Christian at the age of 15. Following the example of St. Anthony in Egypt, Hilarion resolved to become a hermit in the desert, and Anthony himself trained the youth. He gave all his possessions to the poor, and became the father of monasticism in Palestine and Syria, famous for his miracles and sanctity. He lived to be over 80, dying on the island of Cyprus in 372.
This date is also the commemoration of St. Ursula and her companions. In medieval times her legend developed into many versions; but all that may be said with certainty of these martyrs is that they suffered martyrdom at or near Cologne, and were sufficiently well known to have had a church built in their honor during the fourth century.
________________________________________
Sts. Ursula and Companions
According to a legend that appeared in the tenth century, Ursula was the daughter of a Christian King in Britain and was granted a three-year postponement of a marriage she did not wish to a pagan prince. With ten ladies in waiting, each attended by a thousand maidens, she embarked on a voyage across the North Sea, sailed up the Rhine to Basle, Switzerland, and then went to Rome. On their way back they were all massacred by pagan Huns at Cologne in about 451 when Ursula refused to marry their chieftain.
According to another legend, America was settled by British colonizers and soldiers after Emperor Magnus Clemens Maximus conquered Britain and Gaul in 383. The ruler of the settlers, Cynan Meiriadog, called on King Dionotus of Cornwall for wives for the settlers, whereupon Dionotus sent his daughter Ursula, who was to marry Cynan, with eleven thousand noble maidens and sixty thousand common women. Their fleet was shipwrecked and all the women were enslaved or murdered.
The legends are pious fictions, but what is true is that one Clematius, a senator, rebuilt a basilica in Cologne that had originally been built, probably at the beginning of the fourth century, to honor a group of virgins who had been martyred at Cologne. They were evidently venerated enough to have had a church built in their honor, but who they were and how many of them there were are unknown. From these meager facts, the legend of Ursula grew and developed.
Excerpted from Dictionary of Saints, John J. Delaney
The 11,000 number probably resulted from a misreading of the term “11M” which indicated 11 Martyrs, but which a copyist took for a Roman numeral. St. Ursula is the namesake for the Ursuline Order, founded for the education of young Catholic girls and women.
Patron: Catholic education (especially of girls); Cologne, Germany; educators; holy death; schoolchildren; students; teachers; Ursuline order.
Symbols: Large mantle lined with ermine; two arrows; three arrows; dove; book; ship; white banner charged with red cross; book and arrow; crown; pilgrim’s staff; arrow and furled banner; clock; maiden shot with arrows, often accompanied by a varied number of companions who are being martyred in assorted, often creative ways.
Things to Do:
• Read a more detailed account of St. Ursula and her companions in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Take a few minutes to view the beautiful paintings from the life of St. Ursula by Vittore Carpaccio at the Web Gallery of Art. If you are really into art you might also look at Hans Memling’s Saint Ursula Shrine at the same site.
________________________________________
St. Hilarion
St. Hilary was born at Tabatha near Gaza, Palestine, in the year 291. His pagan parents sent him, while still a youth, to study at Alexandria. He was remarkable for his diligence and good manners, and he shortly became a convert to Christianity, making great progress in faith and charity. He was zealous in visiting churches, in fasting and prayer, in scorning all earthly joys and pleasures. Lured by the fame of St. Anthony, Egypt’s illustrious hermit, he entered the desert and for two months remained his disciple. While absent, his parents died. Now Hilary gave all he had to the poor, and although hardly fifteen years old (306), he returned to the desert, built a little hut scarcely large enough to accommodate himself, and slept on the bare ground.
Most of his time was spent in reading and in meditating upon holy Scripture. A few figs and a little soup from herbs sufficed for his nourishment, but this he never took before the setting of the sun. Because of his mortifications and humility, he triumphed over fierce assaults by the evil one and healed many who were possessed. After founding numerous hermitages (he had two thousand followers) and working countless miracles, he became ill at the age of eighty. In his last agony he encouraged himself by saying: “Go thither, my soul, why do you fear? Why do you tremble? Seventy years you have served Christ, and now you fear death?” The day of Hilary’s death is given as October 21, 371. His grave is on the island of Cyprus. St. Jerome wrote the life of the holy hermit twenty years after his death.
Excerpted from The Church’s Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Symbols: Hour glass; basket; dragon.
Things to Do:
• Read St. Jerome’s Life of St. Hilarion written in 390.
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=735&id=20302
Bigger Barns?
| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY
Monday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Father Steven Reilly, LC
Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one´s life does not consist of possessions.” Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ´What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?´ And he said, ´This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!” But God said to him, ´You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?´ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
Introductory Prayer: O God, I come to you today with all my human frailty. You know me better than I know myself. I am in your presence to accompany and console you, not to seek consolation or a nice feeling for myself. Even if I get distracted during our time together, I offer myself to you completely.
Petition: Lord, give me wisdom to understand what is truly important in this life.
1. The Scorecard of Life: Driving down the road, a bumper sticker is often seen: “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” This is a contemporary rendition of the mantra of Jesus’ rich fool: “Eat, drink and be merry.” Juggling credit cards and all kinds of financing schemes, many people live life like the rich fool in today’s Gospel. Is the drive for material pleasure, or security, impoverishing my soul?
2. A Bigger Barn vs. a Bigger Heart: What will truly make us happy? Glossy magazine ads are, for some, a source of inspiration on this point. Basically, they are about “bigger barns”: a hotter car, redder lipstick, spectacular vacations. The rich fool believes that by increasing his capacity for material pleasure, he will be happier. But it’s an illusion. Like the running wheel for a gerbil, it is lots of movement without getting anywhere. We invest energy and effort acquiring things, but the bigger barn brings us little joy. That’s because our hearts — not our barns — are what really need to be enlarged. Our heart longs for love. That Augustinian restlessness will never leave us in peace until we have encountered the Lord who loves us and discovered him in the relationships ordained by his providence.
3. When the Final Curtain Is Drawn: At the end of this parable, Jesus in essence says, “You can’t take it with you.” There’s a place in Rome in which this is graphically depicted. The Capuchin church of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception, on Via Veneto, is affectionately known as the “Bone Church.” Inside there is an amazingly designed and arranged display made completely out of the bones of four thousand Capuchin friars! While it may strike at modern sensitivities as somewhat morbid, like today’s Gospel it teaches an important lesson. All those bones look alike. Unless you are a forensic expert, you cannot tell who was fat or thin, smart or dull, handsome or homely. Death is the great leveler. Earthly advantages dissolve. Material goods stay in this world. We go to the Lord to render an account of our lives at death. As the little sign on the wall of the Capuchin ossarium says, “One day, we were like you. One day, you will be like us.”
Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, so often I find my eyes looking on the good things of this world more as ends than means. I need to keep my priorities straight always: you first and then everything else, inasmuch as they lead me to you. Give me the wisdom to realize that life is short and it must be lived for you alone.
Resolution: I will live charity today as fervently as if I knew this day were my last.
Do you know the names of the people on your street? Who is home when? The more you know your neighbors, the better they can be extra eyes, ears, and a helpful hand to your children. Be those eyes for your neighbor’s children too.
Rich Toward God
by Food For Thought on October 21, 2013 •
Everyone needs provisions – call it a salary, a home, presentable clothes, health insurance, etc. God knows we need these things while we live here on earth; in fact, He promised us that He would take care of all our needs if we seek His righteousness first (Luke 12:31). The Lord is not teaching us to shun working for a good living in this parable.
What He is concerned about is the disposition of our hearts regarding wealth. What is truly valuable to us? And how do we relate our wealth to God?
From the parable we can see that the rich man’s every waking moment revolved around amassing wealth. It defined him as a person, and governed the way he planned his life. He even came to the conclusion that life was “good” because he was very rich. But he was wrong – the moment he died, all the wealth he had accumulated was given to someone else. His life’s work came to nothing, making him a fool in God’s eyes.
We have to look at ourselves soberly, and identify those things that we treasure. Have these things become our standard, our reason for being? Could we live without them? Remember, you can’t take them with you when you leave this world.
Let us make sure that when we stand before the Lord, we do not bog down our relationship with Him by just talking about money, the way the man in the crowd was doing. He is telling us, “Watch out!” to make sure that our need for provision does not turn into a love for provision. Let us instead be rich toward God, treasuring our closeness to Him most of all.
One Bread, One Body
<< Monday, October 21, 2013 >>
Romans 4:20-25
View Readings
Luke 1:69-75 Luke 12:13-21
INDEPENDENCE DAY
“I will say to myself: You have blessings in reserve for years to come. Relax!” —Luke 12:19
The man in today’s Gospel was already rich (Lk 12:16). He had several grain bins on his property (Lk 12:18). It had been a year since his last harvest, and still he had no room to store this year’s harvest. Therefore, his grain bins contained at least a year’s foodstores in reserve. Then he “had a good harvest” (Lk 12:16), so large he was bursting at the seams. God blessed this man in ways foretold by the prophets (see Am 9:13-14; Is 30:23-25).
This man’s speech reveals his heart (Lk 6:45). Though rich, he was worried about his future. He could have thanked God for a bountiful harvest; instead, he told himself he was finally financially secure enough to “relax” (Lk 12:19). He could have shared his plenty with the hungry, thus growing rich for God. Instead, he only thought of growing rich for himself (Lk 12:21).
The man rejoiced most of all because he trusted in his reserves rather than in God. When deciding how to handle his harvest, he consulted himself rather than God. Now he would be self-sufficient, independent of a God he never thanks or mentions. His actions and words show he does not trust the very God Who continues to bless him so abundantly, Who cannot be outgiven, and Who continues to provide for him. In His mercy, God reserved a place for this man and all others who insist upon being independent of God “for years to come” (Lk 12:19). It’s called hell.
Some of us could also fall into this “trap” of desiring to be secure for the rest of our life (1 Tm 6:9). Repent! Trust in God alone.
Prayer: Father, I trust You alone for my daily needs (Mt 6:11). May I never turn from You in times of prosperity (Prv 30:7-9).
Promise: “Our faith will be credited to us also if we believe in Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” —Rm 4:24
Praise: After nursing a grudge and judging his in-laws for seventeen years, John finally forgave them.
"As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you . . ."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.