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Build your house upon a rock
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Rich
Jun 19, 2023, 4:12:51 AM6/19/23
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Build your house upon a rock
"He that heareth these sayings and doeth them is like unto a man
who built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods
came and the wind blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it
was founded upon a rock." When your life is built upon obedience to
God and upon doing His will, as you understand it, you will be
steadfast and unmovable even in the midst of storms. The serene,
steadfast, unmovable life--the rock home--is laid stone by
stone--foundation, walls, and roof--by acts of obedience to the
heavenly vision. The daily following of God's guidance and the daily
doing of His will build your house upon a rock.
<<>><<>><<>>
June 19th - St. Bruno of Querfurt, Bishop and Martyr
(Also known as Brun or Boniface d. 1009)
This missionary monk was born about the year 974 of a noble Saxon
family at Querfurt, and was baptized Bruno. He was educated in St.
Adalbert's city of Magdeburg, from whence he went to the court of Otto
III, who regarded him with much confidence and affection and made him
a court chaplain. When Otto went to Italy in 998, Bruno accompanied
him and, like his master, came under the influence of St. Romuald.
With the memory of St. Adalbert of Prague fresh in mind (who had been
martyred the previous year) he received the monastic habit at the
abbey of SS. Boniface and Alexis in Rome, and about 1000 he joined St.
Romuald. In the following year the emperor founded a monastery for
them at Pereum, near Ravenna.
It was here that there came to Boniface (as he was now named) the call
to carry the Christian message to the Veletians and Prussians and thus
to continue the work of St. Adalbert, whose life he had set himself to
write. This scheme met with imperial approval, and two monks were sent
in advance to Poland to learn Slavonic, while Boniface went to Rome
for a papal commission; but these two, Benedict and John, with three
others, were murdered by robbers on November 10, 1003, at Kazimierz,
near Gniezno, before he could join them. These were the Five Martyred
Brothers, whose biography Boniface subsequently wrote. With the
authorization of Pope Silvester II duly granted, he set out for
Germany in the depth of a winter so severe that his boots sometimes
froze tight to the stirrups. After interviewing the new emperor, St
Henry II, at Regensburg, he was consecrated a missionary bishop by the
archbishop of Magdeburg at Merseburg--perhaps "missionary archbishop"
would be more accurate, for he had received a pallium from the pope,
which has given rise to the suggestion that Boniface was in fact meant
to be a metropolitan for eastern Poland. But owing to political
difficulties he had to work for a time among the Magyars around the
lower Danube; here he had no great success, and he went on to Kiev
where, under the protection of St. Vladimir, he preached Christ's
gospel among the Pechenegs.
Eventually Boniface made another attempt to reach the Prussians from
the Polish territories of Boleslaus the Brave, after writing an
eloquent but fruitless letter to the Emperor St. Henry, imploring him
not to ally himself with the heathen against the Christian Boleslaus.
While much is uncertain in his career we can accept without hesitation
the statement made by the chronicler Thietmar, bishop of Merseburg,
who was related to Boniface. He tells us that his kinsman encountered
violent opposition in his efforts to evangelize the borderland people
in eastern Masovia; and that when he persisted in disregarding their
warnings he was cruelly slain with eighteen companions on March 14,
1009. The saint's body was purchased by Boleslaus, who removed it to
Poland; and the Prussians afterwards honoured his memory by giving his
name to the town of Braunsberg, on the reputed site of his martyrdom.
St. Boniface was a missionary of large ideas, including the
evangelization of the Swedes, to whom he sent two of his helpers,
perhaps from Kiev; but his achievements were, humanly speaking,
disappointing.
Because he was sometimes called Bruno and sometimes Boniface, several
later historians, including Cardinal Baronius in the Roman Martyrology
(June 19 and October 15), have made the mistake of regarding Boniface
and Bruno of Querfurt as different persons.
Sources for this life are not copious. There is a passage in the
chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, another in St. Peter Damian's Life
of St. Romuald, a short passio attributed to Wibert, who claimed to be
a companion of the martyr, and a set of legendae in the Halberstadt
Breviary. A rather tantalizing document has been published by H. G.
Voigt, which, though preserved in a manuscript of very late date, has
some pretensions to retain traces of a much older biography. It was
first edited in the periodical Sachsen und Anhalt, vol. iii (1927),
pp. 87-134; but it has since been included in Pertz, MGH., Scriptores,
vol. xxx, part II. See also H. G. Voigt, Bruno von Querfurt... (1907)
and Bruno als Missionar der Ostens (1909); the Historisches Jarbuch,
vol. xiii (1892), 493-500; the Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, vol. liii
(1897), pp. 266 seq.; F. Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern
Europe (1949), pp. 196-204 and passim; and the Cambridge History of
Poland, vol. i (1950), pp. 66-67.
Saint Quote:
He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully when he says
even the very smallest prayer, will also be faithful in great things.
-- St. Louis de Montfort
Bible Quote:
“Stretch forth your hand to the poor,
so that your blessing may be complete.
Give graciously to all the living,
and withhold not kindness from the dead.
Do not fail those who weep,
but mourn with those who mourn.
Do not shrink from visiting the sick man,
because of such deeds you will be loved.
In all that you do, remember the end of
your life, and then you will never sin.” [Sirach 7: 32-36]
<><><><>
O Jesus, My Redeemer, I trust in Thy blood, that Thou hast forgiven me
all my offences against Thee; and I fondly hope to come one day to
bless Thee for it eternally in heaven: The mercies of the Lord I will
sing forever. I plainly see now that I have over and over again fallen
in times past, from the want of entreating Thee for holy perseverance.
I earnestly beg Thee at this present moment to grant me perseverance:
“Never suffer me to be separated from Thee.” And I purpose to make
this prayer to Thee always; but especially when I am tempted to offend
Thee. I indeed make this resolution and promise; but what will it
profit me thus to resolve and promise, if Thou dost not give me the
grace to run and cast myself at Thy feet? By the merits, then, of Thy
sacred Passion, oh, grant me this grace, in all my necessities to have
recourse to Thee.
O Mary, my Queen, and my Mother, I beseech thee, by thy tender love
for Jesus Christ, to procure me the grace of always fleeing for
succor, as long as I live, to thy blessed Son and to thee.
"He that heareth these sayings and doeth them is like unto a man
who built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods
came and the wind blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it
was founded upon a rock." When your life is built upon obedience to
God and upon doing His will, as you understand it, you will be
steadfast and unmovable even in the midst of storms. The serene,
steadfast, unmovable life--the rock home--is laid stone by
stone--foundation, walls, and roof--by acts of obedience to the
heavenly vision. The daily following of God's guidance and the daily
doing of His will build your house upon a rock.
<<>><<>><<>>
June 19th - St. Bruno of Querfurt, Bishop and Martyr
(Also known as Brun or Boniface d. 1009)
This missionary monk was born about the year 974 of a noble Saxon
family at Querfurt, and was baptized Bruno. He was educated in St.
Adalbert's city of Magdeburg, from whence he went to the court of Otto
III, who regarded him with much confidence and affection and made him
a court chaplain. When Otto went to Italy in 998, Bruno accompanied
him and, like his master, came under the influence of St. Romuald.
With the memory of St. Adalbert of Prague fresh in mind (who had been
martyred the previous year) he received the monastic habit at the
abbey of SS. Boniface and Alexis in Rome, and about 1000 he joined St.
Romuald. In the following year the emperor founded a monastery for
them at Pereum, near Ravenna.
It was here that there came to Boniface (as he was now named) the call
to carry the Christian message to the Veletians and Prussians and thus
to continue the work of St. Adalbert, whose life he had set himself to
write. This scheme met with imperial approval, and two monks were sent
in advance to Poland to learn Slavonic, while Boniface went to Rome
for a papal commission; but these two, Benedict and John, with three
others, were murdered by robbers on November 10, 1003, at Kazimierz,
near Gniezno, before he could join them. These were the Five Martyred
Brothers, whose biography Boniface subsequently wrote. With the
authorization of Pope Silvester II duly granted, he set out for
Germany in the depth of a winter so severe that his boots sometimes
froze tight to the stirrups. After interviewing the new emperor, St
Henry II, at Regensburg, he was consecrated a missionary bishop by the
archbishop of Magdeburg at Merseburg--perhaps "missionary archbishop"
would be more accurate, for he had received a pallium from the pope,
which has given rise to the suggestion that Boniface was in fact meant
to be a metropolitan for eastern Poland. But owing to political
difficulties he had to work for a time among the Magyars around the
lower Danube; here he had no great success, and he went on to Kiev
where, under the protection of St. Vladimir, he preached Christ's
gospel among the Pechenegs.
Eventually Boniface made another attempt to reach the Prussians from
the Polish territories of Boleslaus the Brave, after writing an
eloquent but fruitless letter to the Emperor St. Henry, imploring him
not to ally himself with the heathen against the Christian Boleslaus.
While much is uncertain in his career we can accept without hesitation
the statement made by the chronicler Thietmar, bishop of Merseburg,
who was related to Boniface. He tells us that his kinsman encountered
violent opposition in his efforts to evangelize the borderland people
in eastern Masovia; and that when he persisted in disregarding their
warnings he was cruelly slain with eighteen companions on March 14,
1009. The saint's body was purchased by Boleslaus, who removed it to
Poland; and the Prussians afterwards honoured his memory by giving his
name to the town of Braunsberg, on the reputed site of his martyrdom.
St. Boniface was a missionary of large ideas, including the
evangelization of the Swedes, to whom he sent two of his helpers,
perhaps from Kiev; but his achievements were, humanly speaking,
disappointing.
Because he was sometimes called Bruno and sometimes Boniface, several
later historians, including Cardinal Baronius in the Roman Martyrology
(June 19 and October 15), have made the mistake of regarding Boniface
and Bruno of Querfurt as different persons.
Sources for this life are not copious. There is a passage in the
chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, another in St. Peter Damian's Life
of St. Romuald, a short passio attributed to Wibert, who claimed to be
a companion of the martyr, and a set of legendae in the Halberstadt
Breviary. A rather tantalizing document has been published by H. G.
Voigt, which, though preserved in a manuscript of very late date, has
some pretensions to retain traces of a much older biography. It was
first edited in the periodical Sachsen und Anhalt, vol. iii (1927),
pp. 87-134; but it has since been included in Pertz, MGH., Scriptores,
vol. xxx, part II. See also H. G. Voigt, Bruno von Querfurt... (1907)
and Bruno als Missionar der Ostens (1909); the Historisches Jarbuch,
vol. xiii (1892), 493-500; the Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, vol. liii
(1897), pp. 266 seq.; F. Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern
Europe (1949), pp. 196-204 and passim; and the Cambridge History of
Poland, vol. i (1950), pp. 66-67.
Saint Quote:
He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully when he says
even the very smallest prayer, will also be faithful in great things.
-- St. Louis de Montfort
Bible Quote:
“Stretch forth your hand to the poor,
so that your blessing may be complete.
Give graciously to all the living,
and withhold not kindness from the dead.
Do not fail those who weep,
but mourn with those who mourn.
Do not shrink from visiting the sick man,
because of such deeds you will be loved.
In all that you do, remember the end of
your life, and then you will never sin.” [Sirach 7: 32-36]
<><><><>
O Jesus, My Redeemer, I trust in Thy blood, that Thou hast forgiven me
all my offences against Thee; and I fondly hope to come one day to
bless Thee for it eternally in heaven: The mercies of the Lord I will
sing forever. I plainly see now that I have over and over again fallen
in times past, from the want of entreating Thee for holy perseverance.
I earnestly beg Thee at this present moment to grant me perseverance:
“Never suffer me to be separated from Thee.” And I purpose to make
this prayer to Thee always; but especially when I am tempted to offend
Thee. I indeed make this resolution and promise; but what will it
profit me thus to resolve and promise, if Thou dost not give me the
grace to run and cast myself at Thy feet? By the merits, then, of Thy
sacred Passion, oh, grant me this grace, in all my necessities to have
recourse to Thee.
O Mary, my Queen, and my Mother, I beseech thee, by thy tender love
for Jesus Christ, to procure me the grace of always fleeing for
succor, as long as I live, to thy blessed Son and to thee.
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