The joys of friendship.
In friendship are joined virtue and pleasure, truth and enjoyment,
sweetness and goodwill, feeling and doing, all of which take their beginning
from Christ,
grow through Christ, and are perfected in Christ. It should not therefore seem
too hard or
unnatural to ascend from Christ who fills us with the love we have for our
friend to Christ
who gives himself to us as a friend to be loved, so that pleasure follows upon
pleasure,
sweetness upon sweetness, affection upon affection. And thus, friend cleaving to
friend
in a Christian spirit becomes one with him in heart and soul, and by the steps
of love rises
to friendship with Christ and becomes one spirit with him.
-Aelred of Rievaulx
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December 5th - St. Crispina
Saint Crispina (d. December 5, 304) was a martyr of Africa who suffered during
the Diocletian persecution. She was born at Thagara (Thacora, Tagora) (now an
archaeological site in Tunisia) in the Roman province of Africa. She died by
beheading at Theveste, in Numidia.
Crispina belonged to a distinguished family and was a wealthy matron with
children. At the time of the persecution she was brought before the proconsul
Annius Anullinus; on being ordered to sacrifice to the gods she declared she
honoured only one God.
Her head was shaved at the command of the judge, and she was exposed to public
mockery, but she remained steadfast in the Faith and was not moved even by the
tears of her children. When condemned to death, she thanked God and offered her
head with joy for execution.
The Acts of her martyrdom, written not long after the event, form a valuable
historical document of the period of the persecution. The day of St. Crispina's
death was observed in the time of St. Augustine of Hippo; in his sermons
Augustine repeatedly mentions her name, as well known in Africa and worthy to be
held in the same veneration as the names of St. Agnes and St. Thecla.
Thierry Ruinart in his collection of the Acts of the martyrs gives the account
of her examination.
Quote:
"When you perceive that God is chastening you, fly not to his
enemies...but to his friends, the martyrs, the saints, and those who
were pleasing to him, and who have great power in God."
-John Chrysostom: Orations 396 AD
Bible Quote:
19 And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath:
blood and fire, and vapour of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord come. 21
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord,
shall be saved. (Acts 2:19-21
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O My Crucified God
O my crucified God, behold me at Thy feet; deign to cast me not out, now
that I appear before Thee as a sinner. I have offended Thee exceedingly in
the past, my Jesus, but it shall be so no longer. Before my God, I put all
my sins; I have now considered them and behold, they do not deserve Thy
pardon; but do Thou cast one glance upon Thy sufferings and see how great is
the worth of that Precious Blood that flows from Thy veins. O my God, at
this hour close Thine eyes to my want of merit and open them to Thine
infinite merit, and since Thou has been pleased to die for my sins, grant me
forgiveness for them all, that I may no longer feel the burden of my sins,
for this burden dear Jesus, oppresses me beyond measure. Assist me, my
Jesus, for I desire to become good whatsoever it may cost; take away,
destroy, utterly root out all that Thou findest in me contrary to Thy holy
will. At the same time I pray Thee, O Jesus, to enlighten me, that I may be
able to walk in Thy holy light. - Amen.
-Blessed Gemma Galgani
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The angels are friends
The angels are friends of the bridegroom, so they listen to the
soul's words, and make them known to the bridegroom.
The soul's words are its desires, which the friends, that is the
angels, listen to and delight in. They make them known,
and they invite the soul to come; they console it, and advise
it to seek and knock, because anyone who seeks finds,
and to anyone who knocks the door is opened.
Meanwhile, until the bridegroom comes, they frequently visit
such a fervent soul, and by an increase of grace prepare it
more fully for his arrival. They draw its thoughts toward a
perception of their presence, and an awareness of their
friendship, so that through this knowledge it may
to divine knowledge.
-Richard of Saint Victor
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