Wanting No Share in Comfort (8)

[Weedy]

Wanting No Share in Comfort (8)

I have never met a man so religious and devout that he has not
experienced at some time a withdrawal of grace and felt a lessening
of fervor. No saint was so sublimely rapt and enlightened as not to be
tempted before and after.
He, indeed, is not worthy of the sublime contemplation of God who
has not been tried by some tribulation for the sake of God. For
temptation is usually the sign preceding the consolation that is to
follow, and heavenly consolation is promised to all those proved by
temptation. "To him that overcometh," says Christ, "I will give to eat
of the Tree of Life." Apoc. 2:7. Divine consolation, then, is given in
order to make a man braver in enduring adversity, and temptation
follows in order that he may not pride himself on the good he has
done.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 9

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7 March – Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs

(died c203) in Carthage (Roman province of Africa – modern day Tunisia)
– Patrons of Mothers, Expectant Mothers, ranchers, butchers,
Carthage, Catalonia

Vibia Perpetua was a married noblewoman, said to have been 22 years
old at the time of her death and mother of an infant she was nursing.
Felicity, a slave imprisoned with her and pregnant at the time, was
martyred with her. They were put to death along with others at
Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. According to the passion, a
slave named Revocatus, his fellow slave Felicitas, the two free men
Saturninus and Secundulus, and Perpetua, who were catechumens, that
is, Christians being instructed in the faith but not yet baptised,
were arrested and executed at the military games in celebration of the
Emperor Septimus Severus’s birthday. To this group was added a man
named Saturus (the Catechist of St Perpetua) who voluntarily went
before the magistrate and proclaimed himself a Christian.

St. Perpetua kept a diary during her last days, while she awaited her
execution. Her diary, along with an eyewitness’s account of her death,
is one of the oldest, most reliable histories of a martyr’s
sufferings. This account was passed down to encourage other Christians
to witness to the world with their lives—to teach others that greater
than life itself is knowing Jesus and being loyal to him.

Perpetua’s account records the events that took place in Carthage,
Africa, in the year 202, when the Emperor Severus issued an
anti-Christian law forbidding anyone to be baptized and become a
Christian. At that time twenty-two-year-old Perpetua was a catechumen,
studying to become a Christian. She was also the mother of an infant
son. Perpetua was arrested along with four other catechumens,
including Felicity, her slave woman, who was about to give birth to a
child. All were tried and sentenced to be thrown to the wild beasts in
the amphitheater during a national holiday. Their deaths would be
scheduled along with sports events and various games.

During the days before their execution, their teacher Saturus
voluntarily joined the catechumens so that he might die for Christ
with them. Perpetua’s father, a wealthy pagan, pleaded with her to
offer sacrifice to the pagan gods so she could be free, but she
refused. She said, “Father do you see this water jar, or whatever it
is, standing here? Could one call it by any other name than what it
is? Well, in the same way I cannot be called by any other name than
what I am—a Christian.”

While they were awaiting death, Perpetua and her companions were
baptised. Shortly before the scheduled execution, Felicity gave birth
to a baby girl. During childbirth, she had cried out in pain. Someone
hearing her asked her how she would ever endure the suffering of
martyrdom. She replied, “Now it is I who suffer what I am suffering;
then, there will be another in me who will suffer for me, because I
will be suffering for him.”

On the day of their execution, the martyrs left their prison “joyfully
as though they were on their way to heaven” and entered the arena,
where they were killed before the cheering crowd. Perpetua and
Felicity were beheaded; the others were killed by wild beasts. Today
these women are mentioned in the first Eucharistic Prayer.


https://anastpaul.com/2017/03/07/


Quote/s of the Day – 7 March
“Father do you see this water jar,
or whatever it is, standing here?
Could one call it by any other name
than what it is? Well, in the same way
I cannot be called by any other name
than what I am—a Christian.”……..St Perpetua

“Now it is I who suffer what I am suffering;
then, there will be another in me who will
suffer for me, because I will be suffering for Him.”…St Felicity



The devil’s strategy

The devil demonstrates simultaneously his weakness and his wickedness.
He is unable to harm anyone who does not harm himself. In fact, anyone
who denies heaven and chooses the earth is, as it were, rushing
towards a precipice, even though running of his own accord.
The devil, however, starts working as soon as he sees someone living
up to faith’s commitments, someone who has a reputation for virtue,
who does good works.

He tries to worm vanity into him, to make it possible for him to be
puffed up with pride, become presumptuous, lose trust in prayer and
not attribute to God the good that he does but to take all the credit
himself.
by St Ambrose of Milan (337-397 AD) Doctor of the Church

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Our Morning Offering

O God of love,
You are and shall be forever
the only delight of my heart
and the sole object of my affections.
Since Jesus said “Ask and you shall receive”;
I do not hesitate to say,
‘Give me Your love and Your grace’,
grant that I may love You and be loved by You.
I want nothing else.
Amen
by St Alphonsus Liguori