Revealed to babes

[Weedy]

Revealed to babes

"And he revealed these things to children. To which children? Not
those who are children in age but to those who are children in respect
to sin and wickedness. To them Jesus revealed how to seek the
blessings of paradise and the things to come in the kingdom of heaven,
because thus it was well pleasing before God that 'they should come
from the east and the west and that they should lie down with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but that the sons of this
worldly kingdom should be cast into the outer darkness, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:11-12).'"
by Epiphanius the Latin (late 5th century)(excerpt from
INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 26)

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July 24th - Bl. Niceforo and Companions

The Passionist Martyrs of Daimiel were a group of priests and brothers
of the Passionist Congregation Executed in 1936 by anti-clericalist
forces during the Spanish Civil War.

When we speak of martyrs we are probably thinking of people who
suffered for the Faith in ancient times. But in every age of
Christianity, even our own, Christ has continued to call on some men,
women and children to die for Him and with Him.

A Christian martyr is one killed out of hatred for his Faith or its
teachings. Thus Pope Pius XI said of the thousands of Catholics
brutally killed in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, that they were
“genuine martyrs.”

This terrible civil war has often been called a rehearsal for World
War II, because international Fascism and Communism became involved in
it. Nevertheless, it remained a typically Spanish conflict, the
culminating struggle in a century-long series of contests between
anti-Catholic and Catholic Spaniards in this traditionally Catholic
but very diversified country.

In 1931, the Spanish Liberal elements (including rationalists,
Freemasons, and various socialist groups) succeeded in ousting King
Alfonso XIII and establishing a republic. While any nation has a right
to choose its own form of government, the foundation of the Spanish
Republic was ominous, because it was accompanied by anti-Catholic
legislation and the burning of convents by anarchist groups. A
Catholic reaction reversed this tendency in 1933-1936, but the fire
was by no means extinguished.

In 1936, General Francisco Franco, a staunch Catholic, formed a
national movement to restore legality and order in Spain. The
opposition, under the banner of the Republic, sent its army against
Franco’s army. A bitter contest followed, in which most Protestant
countries of the West were inclined to favor the Republican Loyalists
(supported by international Communism) against Franco (who received
some aid from Hitler and Mussolini). In a sense, therefore, the
Spanish Civil War became an ideological contest.

Especially at the start, however, the Loyalists renewed the attack on
the Catholic Church, its property and its representatives. Critics of
the modern Spanish Church sometimes claimed that the Spanish clergy
and religious were unworthy and decadent. But it stands to reason that
not all the many church victims could be that worthless. The number of
bishops killed was 12; of secular priests, 4100; of religious-order
clergy, 2300; and of nuns, 382. Records were kept of these victims,
who died particularly in 1936 and 1937. It was impossible to keep a
record of the countless laymen and laywomen executed, sometimes simply
because they were caught with a crucifix, medal or rosary.

General Franco eventually won the war and restored the rights of the
Church. He was succeeded in 1975 by a revived and modernized monarchy,
headed by King Juan Carlos I. While Catholicism has lost some of its
prerogatives in our day, it still retains a favored position in Spain.

Once the wounds of the Civil War were healed, the popes were able to
entertain the proposal to declare its noblest victims, martyrs. This
is now being done gradually. Thus on October 1, 1991, Pope John Paul
II beatified the Spanish Passionist Father, Niceforo de Jesus, and 25
of his confreres at the monastery of Daimiel.

Their story is brief but moving. The Passionist monastery at Daimiel
specialized in training its young members in missionary methods. It
housed six priests, four lay brothers, and 15 students, aged 18 to 21.

At midnight on July 21, 1936, when the anti-religious campaign was at
its height, a crowd of some 200 armed men surrounded the Passionist
house and demanded that all leave immediately. Father Niceforo, the
provincial superior, first gathered his men together. He gave them
general absolution and Holy Communion. All of them agreed to be
faithful to God and to their vocation, no matter what. Then they were
herded off to the local cemetery and charged with being members of a
religious order. The local mayor intervened to prevent their being
buried alive, or shot right there; so, having said farewell to each
other, they were led off in different directions, like sheep to the
slaughter. Niceforo and five of the students were killed on July 23 at
Manzanares; nine others at another place on the same day. The rest
were shot in groups on July 25, September 25, and October 23. That was
their earthly end. It was also their heavenly beginning.

The ready acceptance of death by these young men revives, as does any
such martyrdom, the questions: If your faith and my faith were to be
challenged in this way, how would we respond?

Once the wounds of the Civil War were healed, the popes were able to
entertain the proposal to declare its noblest victims, martyrs. This
is now being done gradually. Thus on October 1, 1991, Pope John Paul
II beatified the Spanish Passionist Father, Niceforo de Jesus, and 25
of his confreres at the monastery of Daimiel. The cause for the
canonization of the Passionist martyrs of Daimiel was opened in 1984.
They were declared ‘Venerable’ on 28 November 1988 and were beatified
by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 1989. Their relics are preserved and
venerated in the crypt of the monastery of Daimiel.
–Father Robert F. McNamara


Saint Quote:
"Now on what ground does this person pray that he may not be
'rebuked in indignation, nor chastened in hot displeasure"? (He
speaks) as if he would say unto God, 'Since the things which I already
suffer are many in number, I pray Thee let them suffice;' and he
begins to enumerate them, by way of satisfying God; offering what he
suffers now, that he may not have to suffer worse evils hereafter."
--Augustine, Exposition of the Psalms, 38(37)

Bible Quote:
The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into
your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out,
'Abba, Father!' The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness
that we are children of God. (Romans 8:15-16 )


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An act of love, to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament
(with Psalm passages):

Good Jesus, I love Thee. I love Thee with my whole heart
and above all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee, but I
wish to love Thee daily more and more, and to do what is
most pleasing to Thee.

"My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God...For
the sparrow hath found herself a house and the turtle a nest
for herself...Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my
God," there Thou dost bid me peace in Thy Body and Blood.

"What have I in heaven? And besides Thee what do I desire
upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that
is my portion forever..."