Bible Verse
- 1 Peter 5:8-9 -
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the
faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing
the same kind of sufferings.
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"There is nothing that Satan can do for his evil cause that he does not do. We
may be halfhearted, but he never is. He is the very image of ceaseless industry
and untiring earnestness. He will do all that can be done in the time of his
permitted rage. We may be sure that he will never lose a day."
- Charles H. Spurgeon
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December 14th - Saint Nicasius, Archbishop of Rheims, Seer
and his Companions, Martyrs (5th century)
In the fifth century an army of Vandal barbarians from Germany, while ravaging
part of Gaul, plundered the city of Rheims. Nicasius, its holy bishop, an
emissary of peace, justice and charity, had foretold this calamity to his flock;
for the city of Rheims, which for a long time had been docile to his word,
little by little was seen by the afflicted pastor to be sinking into vice and
corruption. He endeavored to waken them to penance: "Weep, lament in sackcloth
and ashes, unfortunate flock, for God has numbered your iniquities, and if you
do not do penance, dreadful punishments are going to come upon you!" But his
words were unheeded.
When Saint Nicasius saw the enemy at the gates and in the streets, forgetting
himself and solicitous only for his spiritual children, he went from door to
door encouraging everyone to patience and constancy, and awakening in each
breast the most heroic sentiments of piety and religion. By endeavoring to save
the lives of his flock, he exposed himself to the sword of the infidels, who
indeed slew him, while he was praying on his knees the words of a Psalm: "Lord,
my soul has been as though fastened to the earth; Lord, give me life, according
to Your word!" Florens, his deacon, and Jocond, his lector, were massacred by
his side. His sister Eutropia, a virtuous and beautiful virgin, fearing she
might be reserved for a fate worse than death, boldly cried out to the infidels
that it was her unalterable resolution to sacrifice her life rather than her
faith or her virtue. In reply, they dispatched her with their cutlasses, and
continued their massacre.
Then, suddenly, a strange and terrible noise was heard in the Church of
Notre-Dame, and the alarmed barbarians took flight without taking time to
pillage the houses or burn the city, or even take the booty they had already
amassed.
When the city's inhabitants who had fled to the mountains of the region felt it
was safe to return, having seen an unexplained flame above the place of the
torment and heard what seemed to be an angelic concert in that area, they went
with the intention of piously burying the remains of the slain, and they found
there Saint Nicasius, their bishop, his assistants, and Saint Eutropia. Many
miracles occurred at their tomb.
Reflection: Bear patiently and with gentleness bodily sufferings, and prepare
for the time of trial which is sure to come, by courageous endurance of the
daily crosses which inevitably attend your state.
Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's
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. 14.
Quote:
O Lord of my soul, who can find words to tell what Thou givest to those who
trust in Thee, and how much, on the other hand those lose, who though they may
have attained to ecstasies and rapture, yet confide in themselves! -St. Teresa
Bible Quote
8 He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the
cross. 9 For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name
which is above all names: 10 That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: (Philippians 2:8-10)
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Covetousness
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also... No man can serve
two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or
else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve
God and mammon" (Matthew 6:19-21, 24).
"Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth" (Colossians 3:1-2).
"Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they
increase in riches" (Psalm 73:12).
"He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the
word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful" (Matthew 13:22).
"He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent" (Proverbs
28:20).
"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some
coveted after, they have erred from the faith" (1 Timothy 6:10).
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John
2:15).
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