The Human Cry of Jesus

[Rich]

The Human Cry of Jesus

"Christ intended to teach us what we should spurn in this life and
what we should hope for in the next.

Thus at the very height of his passion, when his enemies thought they
had won such a mighty victory, he gave voice to our human weakness
that was being crucified together with our former selves to set our
sinful bodies free. And his cry was: 'My God, My God, why have you
forsaken me?'"
--St. Augustine--Letter 140, 15

Prayer: Let my heart praise you and my tongue say: "Lord, who is like
you?" Then may you tell my soul: "I am your salvation."
--St. Augustine--Confessions 9, 1

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18 December – Saint Gatian of Tours

(c 251- 301)
First Bishop of Tours, Missionary – St Gatian was the founding Bishop
of the see of Tours. He was one of the “Seven apostles of Gaul”
commissioned by Pope Fabian to evangelise in the region. St Gatian is
also known as Catianus, Gatianus, Gratianus; French: Cassien, Gatien,
Gratien. Patronage – Tours, both the City and the Archdiocese.

Pope Fabian sent out seven Bishops from Rome to Gaul to preach the
Gospel – Gatian to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Paul to Narbonne,
Saturnin to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromoine to Clermont and
Martial to Limoges. A community of Christians had already existed for
many years in Lyon, where Irenaeus had been bishop.

St Gatien arrived with St Dionysius of Paris, about the middle of the
third century and preached the faith principally at Tours in Gaul,
where he fixed his episcopal see.

There were few Christians in Tours at that time and in one of the
troubled years of his Episcopate, he is said for a time to have lain
concealed in a cave on the banks of the Loire, at a spot where later
rose the great Abbey of Marmoutier. Gratian would go into the city
only when opportunities of preaching presented themselves. He devoted
half a century to evangelisation, amid innumerable difficulties but
with great success too, for at his death, the diocese of Tours was
securely established.

In a part of the Empire where Mithraism was a dominating force among
the legions, the Abbé Jaud reports that Gatian likewise retreated into
a grotto and there celebrated the mystical banquet. Gatian was often
portrayed officiating a ceremony in a cavern-like setting. Two grottos
cut into the limestone hill above the Loire, across from Tours at
Marmoutier Abbey, are designated the first sites where Gatian
celebrated the liturgy.

Gatianus established a hospice for the poor outside the walls of
Tours. There he lay, overcome with weariness, after five decades of
fasting, penances and toil. And there, the Sbbé Jaud relates, the
Saviour appeared to him, saying, “Fear not! Thy crown is readied and
the Saints await thy arrival in Heaven.” The date was 18 December 301.

After his death, the Bishopric of Tours was orphaned for 36 years due
to the recent persecution of Christians by the Emperor Diocletian.
Only his successor St Litorius (337-371) was able to build the first
church in Tours. It replaced a memorial to the martyr Mauritius.
Bishop St Martin of Tours found the burial site of St Gatian and had
them transferred to this church, from which today’s cathedral was
built. Since then it has been called Saint Gatian.

Today many towns, institutions, schools, an airport and even a golf
course bear the name of Saint Gatian.
St Gregory of Nazianzen wrote this poem in St Gatian’s honour and it
appears in the Roman Martyrology:

https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/18/


Saint Quote:
Among the many means of performing our actions well, one is to do each
of them as if it were to be the last of our lives. At every action,
then, say to yourself: "If you knew that you were to die immediately
after this action, would you do it? and would you do it in this way?"
--St. Vincent de Paul


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“You dissolved darkness
and gave birth to Light
in order to create all things in Light
and to give consistency, to unstable matter,
by shaping it into the shape of a world.
You have, here below,
introduced the image of splendour from above,
so that by the Light man looks at the Light
and becomes entirely Light.”

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Excerpt from Dom Guéranger
(1805 - 1875), Liturgical Year - Dec. 18th (Année Liturgique)

"O valiant warriors of Christ! Do not cast away your everlasting
crowns of victory because of the tears of your relatives.

Do not remove your feet from the necks of your enemies who lie
prostrate before you, lest they regain their strength and attack you
more fiercely than before. Raise your banner high over every earthly
attachment.

If those whom you see weeping knew that there is another life where
there is neither sickness nor death, where there is unceasing gladness
and everything is beautiful, then assuredly they would wish to enter
it with you.

Anyone who fears to exchange this brief earthly life for the unending
joys of the heavenly Kingdom is foolish indeed.

For he who rejects eternity wastes the brief time of his existence,
and will be delivered to everlasting torment in Hades."