We have found the Messiah

[Weedy]

We have found the Messiah

"'We have found the Messiah' reveals that his fame was widespread and
had come from the time of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-6). That fame was
renewed by means of John, who had baptized him, and by the witness of
the Spirit. Then Jesus became solitary once again during his fast of
forty days. This was why the elect were thirsting after news of him.
These were his instruments, just as he had said, 'You were chosen by
me before the world' (John 15:16,19). He chose Galileans, a people
without learning whom the prophets described as 'dwelling in darkness'
(Isaiah 9:1), since these had seen the light, so that he might put the
doctors of the law to shame. 'For he chose the foolish of the world,
so that he might put the wise to shame through them' (1 Corinthians
1:27)."
by Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD)(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S
DIATESSARON 4.18)

<<>><<>><<>>
April 24th - Saint Egbert, Monk
(also known as Ecgberht)

Saint Egbert was born in England of noble parentage in approximately
the year 639. In his youth, he went to study at a monastery in Ireland
called Rathmelsigi in Connaght. Soon after his arrival at Rathmelsigi,
his traveling companion Æthelhun died of the plague and Egbert
contracted it too. Egbert prayed that God might spare him, and vowed
voluntary exile for life if he recovered. A vow of exile was
considered a supremely holy act of self-denial and sacrifice, not
unlike a vow of poverty or celibacy. Egbert’s prayer was answered, and
due to vow he never returned to England, though he lived to the age of
90.

After his ordination as a priest, Egbert was filled with zeal for the
conversion of the pagan Germanic tribes in Friesland. The Frisians
were early empire-builders among the scattered tribes of the Dark
Ages, controlling an area stretching from Denmark to Belgium. The
Frisians so dominated sea-going trade that the North Sea was then
known as Mare Frisicum. St. Egbert felt a strong call that the gospel
should be preached to the Frisians and trained several bands of monks
for these missions including St. Wigbert and St. Willibrord. Egbert
wanted desperately to be their apostle in person and longed to make
the trip himself, but his plans to travel there were repeatedly
thwarted.

In 688, in the midst of his most determined attempt to make the
voyage, a brother monk who had been a loving disciple of St. Boisil
breathlessly reported to Egbert that he had had a vision very early
that morning. According to the Venerable Bede, St. Boisil, dead many
years, appeared to the brother and said: "I am come to bring Egbert a
message from our Lord and Saviour, which must be delivered to him by
you. Tell him that he cannot perform the journey he has undertaken;
for it is the will of God that he should rather go to teach the
monasteries of Columba." Egbert initially expressed doubt about the
vision, and asked the brother not to tell anyone else about it, but
even after additional discernment persuaded him the vision was true,
Egbert continued making plans for his missionary trip to Friesland.

The sacred messenger would not be deterred, and a few days later
Boisil to the same brother, saying: "Why did you tell Egbert so
negligently and after so lukewarm a manner that which I enjoined upon
you to say? Yet, go now and tell him, that whether he wants to or not,
he must go to Columba’s monasteries, because their ploughs are not
driven straight; and he must bring them back into the right way."
"Their ploughs are not driven straight" was taken to be a reference to
the schismatic practice in those monasteries of celebrating Easter on
the "wrong" date.

Egbert again asked the brother not to tell anyone about the vision,
and despite believing the vision was true, he stubbornly continued his
preparations, loading his ship with many provisions for a long voyage.
One day while the fully loaded ship was waiting for good sailing
weather, a violent storm arose in the harbor that tossed the ship to
and fro, spilled most of the precious cargo, and left the vessel lying
broken open on its side in the sea. Only the belongings of Egbert and
his companions were spared. Egbert finally (!) got the message God did
not want him to make the trip, cancelled the voyage, and gave up his
plans for missionary work in Friesland forever. Many other Celtic
notables either studied with Egbert or did missionary work with him in
Ireland, including St. Adalbert, St. Swithbert, and St. Chad.

Egbert did not leave Ireland for Iona until the year 716. By his
sweetness and humility over 13 years he eventually succeeded in
straightening their liturgical plough: Egbert is credited with
inducing the Iona monks to relinquish their mode of Easter
computation. He had the satisfaction of living to see the completion
of his earthly mission: on the day of his death in 729, Easter was
finally celebrated at Iona for the first time according to the Roman
reckoning, even though Easter had already arrived earlier in the year
according to their former rule.

St. Egbert is not to be confused with the Egbert who served as
Archbishop of York for 34 years. References in the work of the great
theological scholar Alcuin, which refer to an Egbert with the Latin
terms antistes and episcopus, both meaning bishop, probably refer to
that Archbishop of York, who founded a cathedral school at York that
Alcuin attended as a child. The dates are also wrong for St. Egbert to
be the same Egbert who served as the 12th bishop of Lindisfarne; the
latter Egbert’s consecration to the episcopate occurred in the year
803, seventy-five years after the death of the Egbert we celebrate
today.

St. Egbert died, hours after serving as celebrant at a joyful Easter
Mass, on April 24, 729.


Saint Quote:
The stench of impurity before God and the angels is so great, that no
stench in the world can equal it.
--St. Philip Neri

Bible Quote:
"The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me,
these do, and the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:9)


<><><><>
On the Holy Spirit

"The law of Thy mouth, O Lord, is good unto me, I keep Thy
commandments.'' Thou hast Thyself said that Thou art one with the
Father. Because Peter believed this, he received the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and without anxiety for himself forgave sins.
Judas, because he believed not this, strangled himself with the cord
of his own wickedness. O the hard stones of unbelieving words! O the
unseemly cord of the betrayer, and the still more hideous
purchase-money of the Jews! O hateful money wherewith either the just
is bought for death, or sold! Joseph was sold, Jesus Christ was
bought, the one to slavery, the Other to death. O detestable
inheritance, O deadly sale, which either sells a brother to suffering
or sets a price on the Lord to destroy Him, the Purchaser of the
salvation of all.
-- Saint Ambrose of Milan from"On the Holy Spirit, Book III"