"My sheep follow me"

[Rich]

"My sheep follow me"

Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD), an early church father and
theologian, contrasts those who listen for the voice of the Good
Shepherd, and those who close their ears to his call.
The mark of Christ's sheep is their willingness to hear and obey,
just as disobedience is the mark of those who are not his. We take the
word hear to imply obedience to what has been said. People who hear
God are known by him. No one is entirely unknown by God, but to be
known in this way is to become part of his family. Therefore, when
Christ says, 'I know mine,' he means I will receive them and give them
a permanent mystical relationship with myself. It might be said that
inasmuch as he has become man, he has made all human beings his
relatives, since all are members of the same race. We are all united
to Christ in a mystical relationship because of his incarnation. Yet
those who do not preserve the likeness of his holiness are alienated
from him... 'My sheep follow me,' says Christ. By a certain God-given
grace, believers follow in the footsteps of Christ. No longer subject
to the shadows of the law, they obey the commands of Christ and guided
by his words rise through grace to his own dignity, for they are
called 'children of God' (Matthew 5:9). When Christ ascends into
heaven, they also follow him."
(excerpt from the COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 7.1)

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• November 17th – St. Dionysius of Alexandria B (RM)
(Also known as Dionysius the Great)

Died at Alexandria in 265. A native of Alexandria, Egypt, Saint
Dionysius was converted to Christianity by a vision. He became a pupil
of Origen in the Alexandria catechetical school and succeeded him in
232 as its head, which he directed for about 14 years. In 247-48 he
was made patriarch (bishop) of Alexandria. Persecution soon broke out
there, and Dionysius was arrested; but he was enabled to escape, and
directed his church from a hiding-place in the Libyan Desert until the
death of the persecuting Emperor Decius in 251.

In the controversy that followed about those who had lapsed under
persecution and then repented, Dionysius was a zealous supporter of
lenient treatment for them. He upheld Pope Saint Cornelius against the
antipope Novatian, and denounced and fought Novatianism.

Dionysius was reproved by Pope Saint Stephen I for his mistaken view
in supporting Cyprian that baptism by heretics was invalid and by Pope
Saint Dionysius for his view on the Trinity, which Dionysius explained
in an apologia to the Pope. Nevertheless, he is considered an
indefatigable defender of the faith.

At the beginning of Valerian's persecution in 257, Dionysius was again
arrested, and was exiled from Alexandria to Kephro in Libya by
Emilian, prefect of Egypt. Restored under Gallienus in 261, he
returned to a city that was demoralized by civil strife, plague, and
famine: it was as dangerous for a man to stay at home as to go out,
wrote the bishop, easier to go from East to West than from one street
in Alexandria to another. He devoted himself to aiding the persecuted
Christians and the victims of the plague. He died in Egypt in 265.

Despite all the disturbances of his 17 years as bishop, Saint
Dionysius took an active part in church affairs and wrote extensively,
but few of his writings have been preserved. He was a student of pagan
as well as Christian literature, but he is best known as an
outstanding theologian and Biblical scholar.

His virtues and learning were widely recognized; Saint Athanasius
styles him "the teacher of the whole Church" and Saint Basil referred
to as Dionysius "the Great." Several of his works, Extant Fragments,
Exegetical Fragments, Letter to Basilides, are available on the
Internet (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).


Saint Quote:
"The sacrament or Baptism may be wanting to someone ... both in
reality and in desire; as is the case with those who neither are
baptized, nor wished to be baptized: which clearly indicates contempt
of the sacrament, in regard to those who have the use of the
free-will. Consequently those to whom Baptism is wanting thus, cannot
obtain salvation: since neither sacramentally nor mentally are they
incorporated in Christ, through Whom alone can salvation be obtained."
—St. Thomas Aquinas (Doctor, 1225-74) - "Summa Theologica"

Bible Quotes:
"Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again
of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God"
(John 3:5 )

"One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your
calling. One Lord, one faith, one Baptism" (Eph 4:5)


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THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS
FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL (Imprimatur 1946)

Twenty-Fourth Day

VALUE OF GOOD WORKS OFFERED FOR THE SUFFERING SOULS

St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, affirms that the succor
and suffrage given to the departed are more acceptable to God than
that which is bestowed upon the living, because the former are more in
need and unable to obtain help for themselves as the living can. The
revered Louis Blosius, a great master of the spiritual life, says:
"Our good and merciful Lord loves the souls of His elect, who must be
purified after death, and desires their release so ardently, that
whenever in Christian charity we set free, by our suffrages, any soul
from Purgatory, we do a thing as acceptable to God as if we had
delivered the Lord Himself from a hard captivity. He promises to give
us as full a recompense as such a work of mercy practiced towards
Himself would deserve; for He Himself has said: "Amen, I say to you:
as long as you did it to one of these, My least brethren, you did it
to Me." (Matth. xxv. 40.)

The same is affirmed by St. Ambrose : "Whatever we do for the
suffering souls, with a pious intention, will revert to our own merit,
and will be returned a hundred fold, at the hour of death."

Prayer: O God of love and mercy ! animated with charity and compassion
for our departed brothers and sisters, we offer Thee our prayers and
good works, and supplicate Thee to accept them as a propitiatory
sacrifice in their behalf. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who were negligent
in offering good works for the suffering souls.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine
upon them; may they rest in peace. Amen. (Three times)

Practice: Bear your sufferings with patience, and offer them for the holy souls.