Christ destroyed death to bring us life

[Weedy]

Christ destroyed death to bring us life

"God's compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ
died, not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the
sinful, and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the
sting of death, he took to himself, through his birth as one of us,
something he could offer on our behalf. The power of his death once
confronted our death. In the words of Hosea the prophet: Death, I
shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying he
submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again he destroyed
them. He did away with the everlasting character of death so as to
make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so
all will be brought to life in Christ."
from a sermon by Leo the Great, 400-461 A.D.

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9 March – Saint Bosa of York OSB

(Died c 705)
Fourth Bishop of York, Benedictine Monk, ecclesiastical reformer St
Bosa was highly regarded by the Venerable St Bede who praised his
humility and sanctity.

Nothing is known of the birth or early life of Bosa. Bosa was a
Northumbrian, educated at Whitby Abbey under the Abbess St Hilda. He
subsequently joined the Monastery as a Monk and became one of five men
educated at Whitby who went on to become Bishops. The other four were
Oftfor, Ætla, St John of Beverley, and St Wilfrid II.

In 678, after Wilfrid was removed from the Bishopric of York and
banished from Northumbria, the Diocese of York was divided into three.
Bosa was appointed to the now greatly reduced Diocese of York, which
included the sub-kingdom of Deira, thanks to the support of King
Ecgfrith of Northumbria and St Theodore of Tarsus, the Archbishop of
Canterbury.

Bosa was Consecrated in his Cathedral at York in 678 by Theodore but
Wilfrid declared that he was unable to work with Bosa because he did
not consider him to be a member of the Catholic Church. Bosa’s
episcopate lasted nine years but with Wilfrid back in favour, in 687,
Bosa was removed just as his predecessor had been. He returned to York
in 691, after Wilfrid was once again expelled. While Bishop, Bosa
introduced a communal life for the clergy of the Cathedral and set up
a continuous liturgy in the Cathedral.

The date of Bosa’s death is unknown; he was still alive in 704 but
must have died before 706, when his successor was named. His successor
at York was St John of Beverley, the Bishop of Hexham. A contemporary
writer, the Venerable St Bede, praised Bosa as a man of “singular
merit and sanctity.” St Bede also praised Bosa’s humility. Bosa was
also responsible for the early education of St Acca, later Bishop of
Hexham, who grew up in his household.

Bosa appears as a saint in an 8th-century liturgical calendar of York,
the only sign that he was venerated as a saint before the Norman
Conquest of England. The 16th-century English antiquary John Leland
included Bosa in his list of saint’s resting places in England, giving
it as York.

https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/09/


Saint Quote:
The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs
of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: 'But as many as
received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....'
Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles,
martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord.
And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience
under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also
share their crowns of glory.
-- Saint John of Damascus

Bible Quote:
Now we are well aware that whatever the Law says is said for those who
are subject to the Law, so that every month may be silence, and the
whole world brought under the judgment of God. So then, no human being
can be found upright at the tribunal of God by keeping the Law; all
that the Law does is to tell us what is sinful. [Romans 3:19-20.]


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Prayers for Selfless Service:

O Dearly beloved Word of God, teach me to be generous, to serve Thee
as Thou dost deserve, to give without counting the cost, to fight
without fretting at my wounds, to labor without seeking rest, to spend
myself without looking for any reward other than that of knowing that
I do Thy holy will. Amen.