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Emerging faith seeks maturity
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Weedy
May 9, 2022, 3:18:31 AM5/9/22
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Emerging faith seeks maturity
"In saying, 'When the Son of Man shall come, shall he find faith
upon the earth?' our Lord spoke of that faith which is fully matured,
which is so seldom found on earth. The church's faith is full, for who
would come here if there were no fullness of faith? And whose faith
when fully matured would not move mountains (Matthew 17:20; 21:22)?
Look at the apostles themselves, who would not have left all they had,
trodden under foot this world's hope, and followed the Lord, if they
had not had proportionally great faith. And yet if they had already
experienced a completely matured faith, they would have not said to
the Lord, 'Increase our faith' (Luke 17:5). Rather we find here an
emerging faith, which is not yet full faith, in that father who when
he had presented to the Lord his son to be cured of an evil spirit and
was asked whether he believed, answered, 'Lord, I believe, help me in
my unbelief' (Mark 9:24). 'Lord,' says he, 'I believe.' 'I believe':
therefore there was faith; but 'help me in my unbelief': therefore
there was not full faith (Hebrews 10:22)."
--St. Augustine--(excerpt from SERMONS ON NEW TESTAMENT LESSONS 65)
<<>><<>><<>>
May 9th - St. Nicholas, Bishop of Lincopen, Sweden, Confessor
HERMAN and MARGARET, the parents of our saint, were citizens of
Skeningen in Sweden, and held a distinguished rank in the country,
which they rendered more illustrious by their virtue. By their care,
Nicholas was imbued from the cradle with the perfect spirit of
Christian piety, and taught to dread nothing so much as whatever could
tarnish the robe of innocence and grace with which he had been clothed
in the sacred laver of baptism. In these happy dispositions, he
studied at home the first elements of grammar, and whilst yet very
young was sent to Paris, in order to accomplish himself in the
sciences.—Thence he removed to Orleans, where he both completed his
theological course, and took his degrees in civil and canon law.
Perfectly qualified by learning and virtue for the service of the
church he returned home, and was soon after appointed archdeacon of
Lincopen.
His whole life was a perfect sacrifice of penance and devotion. On
Fridays he took no other nourishment than bread with a little salt and
water, and sometimes passed that whole day from Thursday evening till
Saturday noon without food. In the discharge of his office he
suffered, with unshaken constancy and patience, many grievous
persecutions from the tyranny of great men and incorrigible sinners,
reformed the manners of a savage and ignorant people, and established
the rules of virtue and ecclesiastical discipline.—Herbert, the first
bishop of Lincopen, some pretend to have been contemporary with
Charlemagne; but the more accurate antiquarians place him about the
year 1000, something younger than St. Sigfrid. The history of the
bishops of Lincopen, in Swedish verse, [1] informs us, that Gotzcalc,
the 16th bishop of Lincopen, dying, St. Nicholas was advanced to that
see. This dignity was a fresh spur to his zeal in promoting the divine
honour, and to his fervour in every religious exercise. Raised above
all views to his own private interest, in every thing he laid himself
out for the service of God and his neighbour, and for the maintenance
of peace among all men. His meekness and patience were proof to all
trials: and prayer and heavenly meditation were to him a source of
spiritual light, comfort, and strength.
The study of the holy scriptures was principally his private
entertainment: out of the most useful sentences of the canon law and
fathers he compiled an excellent book, which he called Huitebook. He
wrote short comments on the Morals of St. Gregory, certain works of
St. Anselm, and the writings of St. Bridget, whose canonization he
warmly promoted, but died in the year in which that affair was
finished. He wrote the lives of St. Bridget, St. Anscarius, and some
other holy servants of God: and compiled a book of flowers out of the
psalms. How highly Pope Urban VI. honoured his sanctity, appears from
a letter written by that pope in 1381, quoted by Benzelius. His
successor, bishop Canut, speaks of his sanctity with great veneration.
[2] St. Nicholas died in our Lord, in 1391, and was honoured in Sweden
among the titular saints of the kingdom, with St. Sigfrid, St.
Brinolph, St. Birget, St. Helen of Scoduc, St. Catharine, and St.
Ingridie of Scheningen, who died in 1282, who are invoked together in
the prayer of the mass for the feast of St. Nicholas, in the old
Swedish Missal quoted by Benzelius.
See the long particular office and lessons in honour of this saint,
formerly used in the church of Lincopen, printed at Sudercopen in
1523, and republished by Benzelius, in his Monumenta Ecclesiæ
Suevogothicæ, p. 109. Also the Swedish Chronicle of the bishops of
Lincopen, ib. p. 125, and this editor’s notes, p. 254.
Note 1. Published by Benzelius, Mon. Suec. p. 125.
Note 2. Canutus episc. Lincop. ep. ad archiep. Upsal. apud Benzel.
Mon. Suec. p. 160.]
Saint Quote:
"As Jesus died in taking away the sins of the world, that, by doing
sin to death, he might rise in righteousness, so too, when you go down
into the water [of baptism] and are, in a fashion, entombed in the
water as he was in the rock, you may rise again to walk in newness of
life."
-- St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 3:12
Bible Quote:
So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you. (John
16:22)
Our Guardian Angels
are our most faithful friends, because they are with us day and
night, always and everywhere. We ought often to invoke them.
--Saint John Vianney
<><><><>
Hymn: Custodes hominum
Angel-guardians of men, spirits and powers we sing,
Whom our Father hath sent, aids to our weakly frame,
Heavenly friends and guides, help from on high to bring,
Lest we fail through the foeman's wile.
He, the spoiler of souls, Angel-traitor of old,
Cast in merited wrath out of his honored place,
Burns with envy and hate, seeking their souls to gain
Whom God's mercy invites to heaven.
Therefore come to our help watchful ward of our lives:
Turn aside from the land God to thy care confides
Sickness and woe of soul, yea, and what else of ill
Peace of heart to its folk denies.
Now to the Holy Three praise evermore resound:
Under whose hand divine resteth the triple world
Governed in wondrous wise: glory be theirs and might
While the ages unending run. Amen
(Roman Breviary)
"In saying, 'When the Son of Man shall come, shall he find faith
upon the earth?' our Lord spoke of that faith which is fully matured,
which is so seldom found on earth. The church's faith is full, for who
would come here if there were no fullness of faith? And whose faith
when fully matured would not move mountains (Matthew 17:20; 21:22)?
Look at the apostles themselves, who would not have left all they had,
trodden under foot this world's hope, and followed the Lord, if they
had not had proportionally great faith. And yet if they had already
experienced a completely matured faith, they would have not said to
the Lord, 'Increase our faith' (Luke 17:5). Rather we find here an
emerging faith, which is not yet full faith, in that father who when
he had presented to the Lord his son to be cured of an evil spirit and
was asked whether he believed, answered, 'Lord, I believe, help me in
my unbelief' (Mark 9:24). 'Lord,' says he, 'I believe.' 'I believe':
therefore there was faith; but 'help me in my unbelief': therefore
there was not full faith (Hebrews 10:22)."
--St. Augustine--(excerpt from SERMONS ON NEW TESTAMENT LESSONS 65)
<<>><<>><<>>
May 9th - St. Nicholas, Bishop of Lincopen, Sweden, Confessor
HERMAN and MARGARET, the parents of our saint, were citizens of
Skeningen in Sweden, and held a distinguished rank in the country,
which they rendered more illustrious by their virtue. By their care,
Nicholas was imbued from the cradle with the perfect spirit of
Christian piety, and taught to dread nothing so much as whatever could
tarnish the robe of innocence and grace with which he had been clothed
in the sacred laver of baptism. In these happy dispositions, he
studied at home the first elements of grammar, and whilst yet very
young was sent to Paris, in order to accomplish himself in the
sciences.—Thence he removed to Orleans, where he both completed his
theological course, and took his degrees in civil and canon law.
Perfectly qualified by learning and virtue for the service of the
church he returned home, and was soon after appointed archdeacon of
Lincopen.
His whole life was a perfect sacrifice of penance and devotion. On
Fridays he took no other nourishment than bread with a little salt and
water, and sometimes passed that whole day from Thursday evening till
Saturday noon without food. In the discharge of his office he
suffered, with unshaken constancy and patience, many grievous
persecutions from the tyranny of great men and incorrigible sinners,
reformed the manners of a savage and ignorant people, and established
the rules of virtue and ecclesiastical discipline.—Herbert, the first
bishop of Lincopen, some pretend to have been contemporary with
Charlemagne; but the more accurate antiquarians place him about the
year 1000, something younger than St. Sigfrid. The history of the
bishops of Lincopen, in Swedish verse, [1] informs us, that Gotzcalc,
the 16th bishop of Lincopen, dying, St. Nicholas was advanced to that
see. This dignity was a fresh spur to his zeal in promoting the divine
honour, and to his fervour in every religious exercise. Raised above
all views to his own private interest, in every thing he laid himself
out for the service of God and his neighbour, and for the maintenance
of peace among all men. His meekness and patience were proof to all
trials: and prayer and heavenly meditation were to him a source of
spiritual light, comfort, and strength.
The study of the holy scriptures was principally his private
entertainment: out of the most useful sentences of the canon law and
fathers he compiled an excellent book, which he called Huitebook. He
wrote short comments on the Morals of St. Gregory, certain works of
St. Anselm, and the writings of St. Bridget, whose canonization he
warmly promoted, but died in the year in which that affair was
finished. He wrote the lives of St. Bridget, St. Anscarius, and some
other holy servants of God: and compiled a book of flowers out of the
psalms. How highly Pope Urban VI. honoured his sanctity, appears from
a letter written by that pope in 1381, quoted by Benzelius. His
successor, bishop Canut, speaks of his sanctity with great veneration.
[2] St. Nicholas died in our Lord, in 1391, and was honoured in Sweden
among the titular saints of the kingdom, with St. Sigfrid, St.
Brinolph, St. Birget, St. Helen of Scoduc, St. Catharine, and St.
Ingridie of Scheningen, who died in 1282, who are invoked together in
the prayer of the mass for the feast of St. Nicholas, in the old
Swedish Missal quoted by Benzelius.
See the long particular office and lessons in honour of this saint,
formerly used in the church of Lincopen, printed at Sudercopen in
1523, and republished by Benzelius, in his Monumenta Ecclesiæ
Suevogothicæ, p. 109. Also the Swedish Chronicle of the bishops of
Lincopen, ib. p. 125, and this editor’s notes, p. 254.
Note 1. Published by Benzelius, Mon. Suec. p. 125.
Note 2. Canutus episc. Lincop. ep. ad archiep. Upsal. apud Benzel.
Mon. Suec. p. 160.]
Saint Quote:
"As Jesus died in taking away the sins of the world, that, by doing
sin to death, he might rise in righteousness, so too, when you go down
into the water [of baptism] and are, in a fashion, entombed in the
water as he was in the rock, you may rise again to walk in newness of
life."
-- St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 3:12
Bible Quote:
So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you. (John
16:22)
Our Guardian Angels
are our most faithful friends, because they are with us day and
night, always and everywhere. We ought often to invoke them.
--Saint John Vianney
<><><><>
Hymn: Custodes hominum
Angel-guardians of men, spirits and powers we sing,
Whom our Father hath sent, aids to our weakly frame,
Heavenly friends and guides, help from on high to bring,
Lest we fail through the foeman's wile.
He, the spoiler of souls, Angel-traitor of old,
Cast in merited wrath out of his honored place,
Burns with envy and hate, seeking their souls to gain
Whom God's mercy invites to heaven.
Therefore come to our help watchful ward of our lives:
Turn aside from the land God to thy care confides
Sickness and woe of soul, yea, and what else of ill
Peace of heart to its folk denies.
Now to the Holy Three praise evermore resound:
Under whose hand divine resteth the triple world
Governed in wondrous wise: glory be theirs and might
While the ages unending run. Amen
(Roman Breviary)
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