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No Matter What, He Always "Acts Like a Priest" [Ecumenical]
On Priestly Identity
What Can I Do For the Year of the Priest?
The Rosary for the Year of the Priest [Catholic Caucus]

Pope Notes His Goal for Year for Priests
On the Year for Priests
WHY A YEAR FOR PRIESTS?
Curé d'Ars: Model Priest [Year of the Priest]
ZENIT Launches Column on Priesthood

[Justin] Cardinal Rigali on the Year for Priests
Church Being Given Chance to Rediscover Priesthood [Year of the Priest]
Celebrating the Year of the Priesthood
St. John Vianney's Pastoral Plan
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI PROCLAIMING A YEAR FOR PRIESTS [Catholic Caucus]

Year of the Priest Letter (Media immediately scrutinize its contents for controversy)
Year of the Priest [Catholic Caucus]
The Year for Priests [Catholic Caucus]
Year of the Priest Begins Friday
U.S. bishops launch website for Year for Priests

~ PRAYER ~

St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle
 Be our protection against the wickedness
and snares of the devil;
May God rebuke him, we  humbly pray,
 and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
 by the power of God,
 Cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits
who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
 Amen
+

Prayer Campaign Started to Convert Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians to Pro-Life

Change Worth Praying For

[Catholic Caucus] One Million Rosaries

July Devotion: The Precious Blood

Chaplet of the Most Precious Blood
The Traditional Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Catholic Caucus)
Devotion to the Precious Blood
DOCTRINE OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,And More on the Precious Blood

Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ
NOTHING IS MORE POTENT AGAINST EVIL THAN PLEADING THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST
FORMER PENTECOSTAL RELATES MIRACLE THAT OCCURRED WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
St.Gaspar:Founder of the Society of the Precious Blood[AKA The Hammer of Freemasons]

From: Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30

Jacob Journeys to Egypt

---

[1] So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and
offered sacrifices to the God of his lather Isaac. [2] And God spoke to Israel in vi-
sions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here am I.” [3] Then
he said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt;
for I will there make of you a great nation. [4] I will go down with you to Egypt,
and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” [5]
Then Jacob set out from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their
father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent
to carry him. [6] They also took their cattle and their goods, which they had
gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring
with him, [7] his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’
daughters; all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

[28] He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to appear before him. in Goshen; and
they came into the land of Goshen. [29] Then Joseph made ready his chariot
and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen; and he presented himself to
him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. [30] Israel said to
Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still
alive.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

46:1-47:12. The narrative now focuses again on the family of Jacob in Canaan.
The figure and position of Joseph act as the backdrop against which to explain
the establishment of Israel in Egypt; it is the result of a divine command.

Jacob goes down to Egypt forced by the famine which is ravaging the land of Ca-
naan (cf. 47:4). The Lord has prepared the way for him by means of a series of
painful events and a series of tests whose meaning is now plain to see. This is
a common human experience: “The test, I don’t deny it, proves to be very hard:
you have to go uphill, ‘against the grain’. What is my advice? That you must say
“omnia in bonum”, everything that happens, ‘everything that happens to me I for
my own good...’ Therefore the right conclusion is to accept, as a pleasant reality,
what seems so hard to you” (St. J Escrivá, “Furrow”, 127).

46:1-5. This movement to Egypt could have put a question-mark against God’s
promise to give the descendants of Abraham and Isaac the land of Canaan.
God’s intervention convinces Jacob that this is all part of God’s providential plans.
In fact, Jacob’s move to Egypt is the outcome of an express command from God.
In Genesis 26:2 God forbade Isaac to go to Egypt: this was a sign that his land
was Canaan. Now a similar command is needed to make Israel leave the coun-
try. Like everything in the patriarchal period this command is given in a night-time
vision, the last such vision the patriarchs are to receive The command does not
however cancel God’s promise about Canaan: God himself will go with Jacob to
Egypt, and he will take him out of there. The reference to this is not just to the
fact that Jacob will be buried in Canaan (cf. 50:1-14) but to the ultimate liberation,
the Exodus.

Jacob’s status is not reduced by his going into Egypt; on the contrary, it is en-
hanced and underlined: “For, what does he need if God goes with him? [...] Who
is as powerful in his homeland as Jacob was in a strange country? Who had
such abundance of wealth, as he had in a time of famine? Who was as strong in
his youth, as this man was in his old age? [...] Who was as rich in his kingdom,
as this man on his pilgrimage? He even blessed kings [...], and who will call him
poor whom the world was not worthy to know? for his company was in heaven”
(St. Ambrose, “De Iacob Et Vita Beata”, 2, 9. 38).

46:28-34. Joseph does not wait for Jacob to visit him as would be his due, given
his high social position and the fact that the patriarch has immigrant status. His
filial feelings and the honor owed to his father lead him to go to meet him without
delay and throw himself into his arms.

Jacob sees all his sons gathered around him. Now he knows that his mission as
Israel, the father of the people, is accomplished; he can die in peace. Because
the Israelites are shepherds, they keep a certain distance from the Egyptians;
this also ensures they do not lose their identity as a people. As regards Goshen,
see the note on 45:10.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Matthew 10:16-23

Jesus’ Instructions to the Apostles

---

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [16] “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst
of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. [17] Beware of men; for
they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, [18] and you
will be dragged before governors and kings for My sake, to bear testimony before
them and the Gentiles. [19] When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you
are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you
in that hour; [20] for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking
through you. [21] Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child,
and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; [22] and you will
be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.
[23] When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you,
you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of Man
comes.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

16-23. The instructions and warnings Jesus gives here apply right through the
history of the Church. It is difficult for the world to understand the way of God.
Sometimes there will be persecutions, sometimes indifference to the Gospel or
failure to understand. Genuine commitment to Jesus always involves effort —
which is not surprising, because Jesus Himself was a sign of contradiction; in-
deed, if that were not the experience of a Christian, he would have to ask him-
self whether he was not in fact a worldly person. There are certain worldly things
a Christian cannot compromise about, no matter how much they are in fashion.
Therefore, Christian life inevitably involves nonconformity with anything that goes
against faith and morals (cf. Romans 12:2). It is not surprising that a Christian’s
life often involves choosing between heroism and treachery. Difficulties of this
sort should not make us afraid: we are not alone, we can count on the powerful
help of our Father God to give us strength and daring.

20. Here Jesus teaches the completely supernatural character of the witness
He asks His disciples to bear. The documented accounts of a host of Christian
martyrs prove that He has kept this promise: they bear eloquent witness to the
serenity and wisdom of often uneducated people, some of them scarcely more
than children.

The teaching contained in this verse provides the basis for the fortitude and con-
fidence a Christian should have whenever he has to profess his faith in difficult
situations. He will not be alone, for the Holy Spirit will give him words of divine
wisdom.

23. In interpreting this text, the first thing is to reject the view of certain rationa-
lists who argue that Jesus was convinced that soon He would come in glory and
the world would come to an end. That interpretation is clearly at odds with many
passages of the Gospel and the New Testament. Clearly, Jesus refers to Him-
self when He speaks of the “Son of Man”, whose glory will be manifested in this
way. The most cogent interpretation is that Jesus is referring here, primarily, to
the historical event of the first Jewish war against Rome, which ended with the
destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple in the year 70, and which led to the
scattering of the Jewish people. But this event, which would occur a few years
after Jesus’ death, is an image or a prophetic symbol of the end of the world (cf.
note on Matthew 24:1).

The coming of Christ in glory will happen at a time which God has not revealed.
Uncertainty about the end of the world helps Christians and the Church to be
ever-vigilant.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Scripture readings taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd

A Pro-Life Prayer For Our President And Public Officials

Lord God, Author of Life and Source of Eternal Life,

Move the hearts of all our public officials and especially our President, to fulfill their responsibilities worthily and well to all those entrusted to their care.

Help them in their special leadership roles, to extend the mantle of protection to the most vulnerable, especially the defenseless unborn, whose lives are threatened with extermination by an indifferent society.

Guide all public officials by your wisdom and grace to cease supporting any law that fails to protect the fundamental good that is human life itself, which is a gift from God and parents.

You are the Protector and Defender of the lives of the innocent unborn. Change the hearts of those who compromise the call to protect and defend life. Bring our nation to the values that have made us a great nation, a society that upholds the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Mary, the Mother of the living, help us to bear witness to the Gospel of Life with our lives and our laws, through Christ, Our Lord.

Amen.

 

• Imprimatur:
• January 22, 2009
• Most Reverend Robert J. Baker
• Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama

Office of Readings and Invitatory Psalm

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings (on USCCB site):
» July 10, 2009
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Collect: Father, through the obedience of Jesus, your servant and your Son, you raised a fallen world. Free us from sin and bring us the joy that lasts for ever. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

« July 10, 2009 »

Friday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Old Calendar: Seven Holy Brothers, martyrs and Sts. Rufina and Secunda, virgins and martyrs #cal_links li { padding: 0px; }

 

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According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of the Seven Brothers and Sts. Rufina and Secunda. The Roman widow Felicitas and her seven sons were martyred in about the year 162. Pope Gregory the Great said of this widow, "She was more than a martyr, for seeing her seven children martyred before her eyes, she was in some sort a martyr in each of them." A century later, Rufina and Secunda, daughters of a wealthy Roman, refused to marry two suitors who had apostatized from the Christian religion. They were scourged and beheaded.

---

Seven Holy Brothers
During the persecution decreed by Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-168), seven brothers, sons of the saintly Felicitas, were tempted to renounce their Christian faith; the prefect Publius first used flattery, then resorted to atrocious torments. But they remained steadfast, and their mother encouraged them in confessing Christ. Different types of death were allotted them. Januarius died under the scourge; Felix and Philip were beaten with clubs; Silanus was cast from a rock; Alexander, Vitalis and Martial were beheaded. Four months later their mother, too, suffered martyrdom. Burial took place in different cemeteries. During the eighth century Silanus and his mother were taken to the Church of St. Susanna at Rome, where they still rest. Alexander came into the possession of the abbey church of Farfa.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

---

Sts. Rufina and Secunda
Rufina and Secunda were sisters and virgins of Rome. Their parents had betrothed them to Armentarius and Verinus, but they refused to marry, saying that they had consecrated their virginity to Jesus Christ. They were, therefore, apprehended during the reign of the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. When Junius, the prefect, saw he could not shake their resolution either by promises or by threats, he first ordered Rufina to be beaten with rods. While she was being scourged, Secunda thus addressed the judge: "Why do you treat my sister thus honorably, but me dishonorably? Order us both to be scourged, since we both confess Christ to be God." Enraged by these words, the judge ordered them both to be cast into a dark and fetid dungeon; immediately a bright light and a most sweet odor filled the prison. They were then shut up in a bath, the floor of which was made red-hot; but from this also they emerged unhurt. Next they were thrown into the Tiber with stones laid to their necks, but an angel saved them from the water, and they were finally beheaded ten miles out of the city on the Aurelian Way. Their bodies were buried by a matron named Plautilla, on her estate, and were afterwards translated into Rome, where they now repose in the Basilica of Constantine near the baptistery.

Excerpted from The Liturgical Year, Abbot Gueranger O.S.B.

Symbols: Broken images or pottery.

Matthew
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Matthew 10
16.	Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.	Ecce ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum. Estote ergo prudentes sicut serpentes, et simplices sicut columbæ.	ιδου εγω αποστελλω υμας ως προβατα εν μεσω λυκων γινεσθε ουν φρονιμοι ως οι οφεις και ακεραιοι ως αι περιστεραι
17.	But beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.	Cavete autem ab hominibus. Tradent enim vos in conciliis, et in synagogis suis flagellabunt vos :	προσεχετε δε απο των ανθρωπων παραδωσουσιν γαρ υμας εις συνεδρια και εν ταις συναγωγαις αυτων μαστιγωσουσιν υμας
18.	And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles:	et ad præsides, et ad reges ducemini propter me in testimonium illis, et gentibus.	και επι ηγεμονας δε και βασιλεις αχθησεσθε ενεκεν εμου εις μαρτυριον αυτοις και τοις εθνεσιν
19.	But when they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what to speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak.	Cum autem tradent vos, nolite cogitare quomodo, aut quid loquamini : dabitur enim vobis in illa hora, quid loquamini :	οταν δε παραδιδωσιν υμας μη μεριμνησητε πως η τι λαλησητε δοθησεται γαρ υμιν εν εκεινη τη ωρα τι λαλησετε
20.	For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.	non enim vos estis qui loquimini, sed Spiritus Patris vestri, qui loquitur in vobis.	ου γαρ υμεις εστε οι λαλουντες αλλα το πνευμα του πατρος υμων το λαλουν εν υμιν
21.	The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death.	Tradet autem frater fratrem in mortem, et pater filium : et insurgent filii in parentes, et morte eos afficient :	παραδωσει δε αδελφος αδελφον εις θανατον και πατηρ τεκνον και επαναστησονται τεκνα επι γονεις και θανατωσουσιν αυτους
22.	And you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.	et eritis odio omnibus propter nomen meum : qui autem perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit.	και εσεσθε μισουμενοι υπο παντων δια το ονομα μου ο δε υπομεινας εις τελος ουτος σωθησεται
23.	And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another. Amen I say to you, you shall not finish all the cities of Israel, till the Son of man come.	Cum autem persequentur vos in civitate ista, fugite in aliam. Amen dico vobis, non consummabitis civitates Israël, donec veniat Filius hominis.	οταν δε διωκωσιν υμας εν τη πολει ταυτη φευγετε εις την αλλην αμην γαρ λεγω υμιν ου μη τελεσητε τας πολεις του ισραηλ εως αν ελθη ο υιος του ανθρωπου

16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
17. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
18. And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

CHRYS; Having removed all care and anxiety from the Apostles, and armed them with the miraculous powers, He proceeds to foretell the evils which should befall them. First, that they might know his knowledge of the future; secondly, that they should not think that these things befell them because of the want of power in their Master; thirdly, that they might not be amazed if these things had come upon them unexpectedly; fourthly, that after hearing these things, of His cross; they might not be dismayed in the season; lastly, that they might learn a new method of warfare. He sends them unprovided, bidding them look to those who should receive them for support; hut rests not in that, but shows his power still further, Lo, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Where observe that He does not say merely to wolves but in the midst of wolves, to show His excellent might therein, that the sheep would overcome the wolves though they were in the midst of them; and though they received many bites from them, yet were they not destroyed, but rather convert them. And it is a much greater and a more wonderful power that can change their hearts than that can kill them. Among wolves He teaches them to show the meekness of sheep.

GREG; For he who undertakes the office of preacher ought not to do evil, but to suffer it, and by his meekness to mollify the wrath of the angry, and by his wounds to heal the wounds of sinners in their affliction. And even should the zeal of right-doing ever require that He should be severe to those that are placed under Him, His very severity will be of love and not of cruelty, outwardly maintaining the rights of discipline, and inwardly loving those whom He corrects. Too many, when they are entrusted with the reins of government, burn to make the subjects feel them, display the terrors of authority, and forgetting that they are fathers, rather desire to be thought lords, changing a station of lowliness into that of lofty dominion, if they ever seem outwardly to fawn on any one, they inwardly hate him; Of such He spoke above They come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves. For prevention whereof we ought to consider that we are sent as sheep among wolves, whose innocence we ought to preserve, not having the tooth of malice.

JEROME; He calls the Scribes and Pharisees who are the clergy of the Jews, wolves.

HILARY; The wolves indeed are all such as should pursue the Apostles with much fury.

CHRYS. Their consolation under their hardships was the excellent power of Him who sent them; wherefore He puts that before all, Lo, I send you. Be not dismayed, though you be sent into the midst of wolves; for I am able to bring it to pass that you suffer no hurt, arid that you should not only prevail over the wolves, but be made more terrible than lions. But it is good that it should be thus; Hereby your virtue is made brighter, and My power is more manifested. Also that somewhat should proceed from themselves, that they should not think themselves to be crowned without reason, He adds, Be you therefore wise as serpents, simple as doves.

JEROME; Wise, that they might escape snares; simple, that they might not do evil to others. The craft of the serpent is set before them as an example, For he hides his head with all the rest of his body, that he may protect the part in which life is. So ought we to expose our whole body, that we may guard our head which is Christ; that is, that we study to keep the faith whole and incorrupt.

RABAN; The serpent moreover seeks out narrow chinks through which it crawls to draw off its old skin; so the preacher passing through the narrow way lays aside the old unman.

REMIG. Beautifully the Lord bids the preacher have the wisdom of the serpent; because the first man was beguiled by a serpent; as though he had said, The foe is subtle to deceive, be you therefore wise to rescue; he commended the tree, do you also commend the tree of the Cross.

HILARY; He first attempted the softer sex, allured her by hope, and promised a share of immortality. Do you in like manner seize every opportunity, look well into each man's nature and inclination, use wisdom of speech reveal hope of good things to come; that what he promised falsely we may preach truly according to God's promise, that they that believe shall be like to the Angels.

CHRYS. But as we ought to have the wisdom of the serpent, that we should not be hurt in any deadly part, so also we should have the simplicity of the dove, not to retaliate when we are hurt, nor to avenge ourselves on those who have designed aught against us.

REMIG. The Lord unites these two things; because simplicity without wisdom might be easily deceived, and wisdom is dangerous unless it be tempered with simplicity that does no man hurt.

JEROME; The harmlessness of doves is shown by time assumption of that form by the Holy Spirit; as the Apostle speaks In malice be you children.

CHRYS. What is harder that these commands? It is not enough that we suffer ill, but we must not be angry thereat, as is the dove's nature, for anger is extinguished not by anger, but by meekness.

RABAN. That by the wolves above He intended men, He show when He adds, Take heed of men.

GLOSS. You have indeed need to be wise as serpents, for, as they are wont to do, they will deliver you to councils, forbidding you to preach in name; then if you be not corrected, they will scourge you, and at length you shall be brought before kings and governors.

HILARY; Who will endeavor to extort from you either to be silent or to temporize.

CHRYS. How wonderful that men who had never been beyond the lake in which they fished, did not straightway depart from Him on hearing these things. It was not only of their goodness, but of the wisdom of their Teacher. For to each evil He attaches somewhat of alleviation; as here He adds, for my sake; for it is no light consolation to suffer for Christ's sake, for they did not suffer as evil or wrong doers. Again He adds, for a testimony against them.

GREG. Either that they had persecuted to the death, or that they had seen and were not changed. For the death of the saints is to the good an aid, to the bad a testimony; that thus the wicked may perish without excuse in that from which the elect take example and live.

CHRYS. This was matter of consolation to them, not that they sought the punishment of others, but that they were confident that in all things they had One present with them, and all-knowing.

HILARY; And by this their testimony not only was all excuse of ignorance of His divinity taken away from their persecutors, but also to the Gentiles was opened the way of believing on Christ, who was thus devotedly preached by the voices of the confessors among the flames of persecution; and this is that He adds, and the Gentiles.

19. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak.
20. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.

CHRYS. To the foregoing topics of consolation, He adds another not a little one; that they should not say, How shall we be able to persuade such men as these, when they shall persecute us? He bids them be of good courage respecting their answer, Saying, When they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak.

REMIG. How or what, one refers to the substance, the other to the expression in words. And because both of these would be supplied by Him, there was no need for the holy preachers to be anxious about either.

JEROME; When then we are brought before judges for Christ's sake, we ought to offer only our will for Christ. But Christ who dwells in us speaks for Himself, and the grace of the holy Spirit will minister in our answer.

HILARY; For our faith, observing all time precepts of the Divine will, will be instructed with an answer according to knowledge, after the example of Abraham, to whom when he had given up Isaac, there was not wanting a ram for a victim. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your father that speaks in you.

REMIG. Meaning, You indeed go out to the battle, but it is I who fight; you utter the words, but it is I who speak. Hence Paul speaks, Seek you a proof of Christ who speaks in me?

CHRYS. Thus He raises them to the dignity of the Prophets, who have spoken by the Spirit of God. He who says here, Take no thought what you shall speak, has said in another place, Be you always ready to give an answer to him that demands a reason of the hope that is in you. When it is a dispute among friends, we are commanded to be ready; but before the awful judgment, and the raging people, aid is ministered by Christ, that they may speak boldly and not be dismayed.

21. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22. And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved.

GLOSS. Having placed the comfort first, He adds the more alarming perils; Brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father the son; children shall rise against parents, to put them to death.

GREG. Wrongs which we suffer from strangers, pain us less than those we suffer from men on whose affections we had counted; for beside the bodily affliction, there is then the pain of lost affection.

JEROME; This we see often happen in persecutions, nor is there any true affection between those whose faith is different.

CHRYS. What follows is yet more dreadful, You shall be hated of all men; they sought to exterminate them as common enemies of all the world. To this again is added the consolation, For my name's sake; and yet further to cheer them, Whosoever shall endure to the end, he shall be saved. For many are hot and zealous in the beginning, but afterwards grow cool, for these, He says, I look at the end. For where is the profit of seeds that only sprout at first? wherefore He requires a sufficient endurance from them.

JEROME; For virtue is not to begin but to complete.

REMIG. And the reward is not for those that begin, but for those that bring to an end.

CHRYS. But that no man should say, that Christ wrought all things in His Apostles, and therefore it is nothing wonderful that they were made such as they were, since they did not bear the burden of these things, therefore He says, that perseverance was their work. For though they were rescued from their first perils, they are preserved for still harder trials, which again shall be followed by others, and they shall be in danger of snares as long as they live. This He covertly intimates when he says, Whosoever shall endure to the end, he shall be saved.

REMIG. That is, He who shall not let go the commands of the faith, nor fall away in persecution, shall be saved; he shall receive the reward of the heavenly kingdom for his earthly persecutions. And note that 'the end' does not always mean destruction, but sometimes perfection, as in that, Christ is the end of the Law. So the sense here may be, Whosoever shall endure to the end, that is, in Christ.

AUG. To endure in Christ, is to abide in His faith which works by love.

23. But when they persecute you in this city, flee you into another: for verily I say to you, You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

CHRYS. Having foretold the fearful things which should come upon them after His Cross, resurrection, and ascension, He leads them to gentler prospects; He does not bid them presumptuously to offer themselves for persecution, but to fly from it; When they persecuted you in this city, flee you to another. For because this was the first beginning of their conversion, He adapts His words to their state.

JEROME; This must be referred to the time when the Apostles were sent to preach, when it was said to them, Go not into the way of the Gentiles; they should not fear, but may shun persecution. This we see the believers did in the beginning, when on a persecution arising in Jerusalem they were scattered throughout all Judea, and thus the season of tribulation was made the seedtime of the Gospel.

AUG. Not that the Savior was unable to protect His disciples, does He here bid them fly, and Himself give them an example of it, but He instructed man's weakness, that he should not presume to tempt God, when he has any thing that he can do for himself, but should shun all evils.

ID. He might have suffered them to lay violent hands upon themselves, that they might not fall into the hands of their persecutors. Therefore if He neither commanded nor allowed this mode of departure from this world to His own, for whom He Himself had promised that He would prepare an eternal mansion; whatever instances may be brought by the Gentiles who know not God, it is clear that this is not lawful for those who believe one true God.

CHRYS. But that they should not say, What then if we fly from persecution, and again they cast us out thence whither we have fled? To remove this fear, He says, Verily I say to you, you shall not have completed, &c. that is, you shall not have made the circuit of Palestine and return to Me, before I shall take you to Me.

RABAN. Or; He foretells that they shall not have brought all the cities of Israel to the faith by their preaching, before the Lord's resurrection be accomplished, and a commission given them to preach the Gospel throughout the world.

HILARY; Otherwise; He exhorts to fly from place to place; for His preaching driven from Judea, first passed into Greece; then, wearied with divers sufferings of the Apostles up and down the cities of Greece, it takes an abiding refuge in the rest of the Gentile world. But to show that the Gentiles would believe the preaching of the Apostles, but that the remnant of Israel should only believe at His second coming, He adds, You shall not have completed the cities of Israel; i.e. After the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in, that which remains of Israel to fill up the number of the Saints shall be called into the Church in Christ's future coining to glory.

AUG. Let the servants of Christ then do as He commanded, or permitted them; as He fled into Egypt, let them fly from city to city, whenever any one of them is marked out for persecution; that the Church be not deserted, it will be filled by those who are not so sought after; and let these give sustenance to their fellow-servants whom they know cannot live by any other means. But when the threatening danger is common to all, Bishops, clergy, and laity, let not those who have need of aid be deserted by those whose aid they require. Either therefore let them all pass to some stronghold, or let those who are obliged to remain, not be deserted by those whose province it is to supply their ecclesiastical needs; that they may either all live, or all suffer whatever their Master will have them to suffer.

REMIG. Be it known moreover, that as this precept respecting endurance under persecution specially belongs to the Apostles and their successors, men of fortitude, so the permission to fly is sufficiently proper for the weak in the faith, to whom the tender Master condescends, lest if they should offer themselves for martyrdom, under the pain they should deny the faith; and the sin of flight is lighter than that of denial. But though by their flight they showed that they had not the constancy of perfect faith, yet their desert was great, seeing they were ready to leave all for Christ. So that if He had not given them permission to fly, some would have said that they were aliens from the glory of the heavenly kingdom.

JEROME; Spiritually we may say; Then they shall persecute you in one book or one passage of Scripture, let us flee to other volumes, for however contentions the adversary may be, protection will come from the Savior before the victory is yielded to the enemy.

Matthew 10

Martyrdom of St Processus and St Martinian

Valentin de Boulogne

1629
Oil on canvas, 308 x 165 cm
Pinacoteca, Vatican

Lauds -- Morning Prayer