Canticle Magnificat
My soul rejoices in the Lord
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God, my salvation.
For he has shown me such favour -
me, his lowly handmaiden.
Now all generations will call me blessed,
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
His name is holy,
his mercy lasts for generation after generation
for those who revere him.
He has put forth his strength:
he has scattered the proud and conceited,
torn princes from their thrones;
but lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
he has remembered his mercy as he promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
<><><><>
December 15th - St. Maximin or Mesmin of Verdun
Abbot of Micy (died ca. 520)
Saint Maximin was a native of Verdun. A priest named Euspicius, uncle of
Maximin, brought about a reconciliation between the French monarch Clovis and
his subjects of that city, after the latter had engaged in a revolt. Clovis,
appreciating the virtues of the good priest, persuaded Euspicius to take up his
residence at the court in Orleans; and the servant of God took Saint Maximin,
his nephew, with him. Maximin was ordained a deacon by the bishop of Orleans,
and then a priest.
A site about two leagues from the city was given by Clovis to Euspicius for a
monastery. He with Maximin and several disciples built there the large
monastery, of which he then took charge. His young assistant knew well how to
attract many young men of admirable piety and fervor to the religious state.
At the death of the Abbot two years later, the young priest was appointed to
replace him. Solitaries left their cells to come and place themselves under his
direction, and soon the gift of miracles was bestowed upon the abbot. He
multiplied wine and grain during a famine, to assist the afflicted people; he
delivered a possessed man and cured two blind men, though he knew one of them
had become blind only after he maliciously cut down a tree belonging to the
monastery. Through his prayers he brought about so many other prodigies that he
was called the thaumaturge (wonderworker) of his century.
His soul was soon ripe for the beatitude he had earned, and after having
governed his monastery for ten years, he died as he had lived, in the odor of
sanctity, and in the arms of his spiritual sons, on the 15th of December in
about the year 520.
Reflection: Few are called to serve God by great actions, but all are bound to
strive for perfection in the ordinary actions of their daily lives. "This is the
Will of God - that you be saints." (Saint Paul, I Thessalonians 4:3)
Bible Quote:
8 O God, when thou didst go forth in the sight of thy people, when thou didst
pass through the desert: 9 The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the
presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel. (Psalm
67:8-9)
.
|
