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- 2 Timothy 2:15 -
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman
who does
not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
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Because God will examine what kind of workers we have been for
him, we
should build our lives on his Word and build his Word into our lives -
it alone
tells us how to live for him and serve him. Believers who ignore the
Bible will
certainly be ashamed at the judgement. Consistent and diligent study
of God's
Word is vital, otherwise we will be lulled into neglecting God and our
true
purpose for living.
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October 21st - Saint Hilarion
Patriarch of the Solitaries of Palestine
(d. 372)
Saint Hilarion was born of pagan parents near Gaza, and was converted
while
studying grammar in Alexandria. He renounced games, the theater and
all the vain
amusements of young people, to attend the reunions of his fellow
Christians. He
desired to see the great Saint Anthony in the desert and went to
Egypt, where he
remained near him for two months. He carefully observed everything in
his life
and conduct his affability, his gentleness towards others and his
severity
towards himself, then returned to Palestine with a few solitaries to
settle his
affairs. His father and mother had both died, and he kept nothing of
his
heritage for himself. At this time he was only fifteen years old.
Despite his youth and delicate health, he retired to a desert; he
practiced
severe mortification, tempted continually by the demons expending all
their
efforts to make him abandon this life of total renouncement. He
redoubled his
austerities, tilled the ground and, following the example of the
Egyptian monks,
made baskets of reeds and willow branches. He lived first in a cabin
of reeds,
then in one of clay, so low and narrow that it seemed more like a tomb
than a
lodging for a young man. He learned all of Holy Scripture by heart and
repeated
it with admirable devotion. When thieves approached him one day he
told them he
did not fear them, because he had nothing to lose, and death did not
alarm him
since he was ready to die. They were so touched by his answers they
promised him
to abandon their life of pillage.
He soon began to work miracles by his prayers, and visitors made their
way to
his former solitude. Several remained nearby to become his disciples,
and thus
gave rise to the monastic life in Palestine, of which Hilarion is
regarded as
the founder. Saint Anthony esteemed him highly, sometimes wrote him
letters, and
sent to him the sick persons who came to him from Syria, telling them
they had
no need to make so long a journey. Saint Hilarion was a master
exorcist and
healer of all illnesses, but he refused all remuneration for his
assistance,
saying to his visitors from the city that they were better placed than
he to
distribute in alms the money they were offering him. Frequently the
scattered
solitaries of Palestine came to him to listen to his instructions, and
he also
visited them. The pagans too gathered around him. His exhortations to
abandon
idolatry were so powerful that on one occasion a group of Saracens
promised to
convert, asking him to send them a priest to baptize them and
establish a
church. One day, accompanied by three thousand persons who were
following him,
he blessed the vine of a solitary who received him. The vine furnished
a triple
harvest and all in the crowd were well nourished.
Saint Hilarion found his solitude transformed into a city, and decided
at the
age of sixty-five to go elsewhere. His Palestinian disciples attempted
to change
his mind without success, and taking with him only forty monks, he set
out for
Egypt on foot. Saint Anthony had recently died, and he wished to visit
the
places where he had dwelt. After spending some time in Egypt, he went
with only
two religious to a village a few days' distance from Babylon. He
remained only a
short time there also, afterwards going elsewhere, and everywhere
assisting
those who had recourse to his prayers. In Sicily he delivered a
demoniac, and
then a crowd came to surround him once again. In Dalmatia he worked
still more
miracles, and saved a city from being engulfed by tidal waves raised
by an
earthquake. These traditions are still alive in the regions where he
passed. He
tried many times to live unknown but never could succeed.
Saint Hilarion died in 372 on the island of Cyprus, at the age of
seventy years.
His last words were: "Go forth, my soul; why dost thou doubt? Nigh
seventy years
hast thou served God, and dost thou fear death?" His body was found
incorrupt
some time afterwards, and was transported to Palestine to his original
monastery. Saint Jerome was his original biographer.
Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin
(Bloud et
Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 12.
Saint Quote:
The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the
Immaculate Heart
of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he desires and
works
with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God's love.
Nothing
deters him: he rejoices in poverty; he labours strenuously; he
welcomes
hardships; he laughs off false accusations; he rejoices in anguish. He
thinks
only of how he might follow Jesus Christ and imitate him by his
prayers, his
labours, his sufferings, and by caring always and only for the glory
of God and
the salvation of souls.
-St Anthony Mary Claret
Bible Quote:
Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole
heart, and
with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. 38 This is the greatest
and the
first commandment. 39 And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love
thy
neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:37-39)
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Antiphon, Versicle
and Prayer in honor of Immaculate Mary:
Ant. This is the rod in which was neither knot of original sin, nor
rind of
actual guilt.
V. In thy conception, O Virgin! thou wast immaculate,
R. Pray for us to the Father, whose Son thou didst bring forth.
Let us pray:
O God, Who, by the immaculate conception of the Virgin,
didst prepare a worthy habitation for Thy Son;
we beseech Thee that, as in view of the death of that Son,
Thou didst preserve her from all stain of sin,
so thou wouldst enable us,
being made pure by her intercession,
to come unto Thee.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Pope Pius IX, on March 31, 1876, granted to the faithful for devout
recitation of the preceding, a traditional indulgence of 100 days.
Imprimatur: + John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, Sept 19, 1908.
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The fourteenth prayer of St. Bridget:
O Jesus, only-begotten Son of the most high Father, splendor and
figure of
His substance, remember the commendation wherewith Thou didst commend
Thy
Spirit to Thy Father, saying, "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my
spirit"; and then, with lacerated body and broken heart, with a loud
cry,
the bowels of thy mercy exposed, didst expire to redeem us. By this
precious death I beseech Thee, O king of saints, strengthen me to
resist
the devil, the world, the flesh, and blood, that dead to the world I
may
live to Thee; and in the last hour of my departure receive Thou my
exiled,
wandering spirit returning to Thee. Amen.
Pater noster... Ave Maria... |
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