Constant effort is necessary

[Rich]

Constant effort is necessary

Constant effort is necessary if I am to grow spiritually and develop
my spiritual life. I must keep the spiritual rules persistently,
perseveringly, lovingly, patiently, and hopefully. By keeping them,
every mountain of difficulty shall be laid low, the rough places of
poverty of spirit shall be made smooth, and all who know me shall know
that God is the Lord of all my ways. To get close to the spirit of God
is to find life and healing and strength.
--From Twenty-Four Hours a Day

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March 31st - St. Acacius, or Achatius, Bishop
3rd v.

This Acacius has been claimed as a bishop of Antioch in Pisidia by
some and of Melitene in Armenia Minor by others; a third view is that
he was not a bishop at all. But a report of his trial has been
preserved, in a document of which the Greek original is lost.
According to this, Acacius was the great support of the Christians of
Antioch, and as such was hailed before the consular agent Martian. He
declared that Christians were loyal subjects of the emperor, who
prayed for him regularly, but when invited to an act of worship of the
same emperor he refused.

Thereupon ensued a discussion between Martian and Acacius which ranged
over the seraphim, Greco-Roman mythology, the Incarnation, Dalmatian
morals, the nature of God and the religion of the Cataphrygians
(Christian heretics, who arose in the second century; so called
because the first lived in Phrygia. They followed the errors of
Montanus). When ordered to accompany the officer to sacrifice in the
temple of Jupiter and Juno, Acacius replied, “I cannot sacrifice to
someone who is buried in the isle of Crete. Or has he come to life
again?” Then Martian made an accusation of magic and wanted to know
where were the magicians who helped him; and to Acacius’s rejoinder
that all came from God and that magic was hateful to Christians he
objected that they must be magicians, because they had invented a
religion. “You make your own gods and are afraid of them; “we destroy
them”, responded Acacius. “When there are no masons, or the masons
have no stone, then you have no gods. We stand in awe of our God--but
we did not make Him; He made us; for He is Master. And He loves us,
for He is Father; and in His goodness He has snatched us from
everlasting death.”

Finally Acacius was required to disclose the names of other
Christians, on pain of death, and he would not. “I am on trial and you
ask for names. If you cannot overcome me alone, do you suppose you
would be successful with the others. You want names--all right: I am
called Acacius, and I have been surnamed Agathangelus [‘good angel ‘].
“Do what you like.” Acacius was then returned to prison and the
proceedings of the examination forwarded to the emperor, Decius, who,
we are told, could not forbear to smile when reading them. The
emperor Decius having read the interrogatory, recompensed Martian by
making him governor of Pamphilia, but admired so much the prudence and
constancy of Acacius, that he ordered him to be discharged, and
suffered him to profess the Christian religion.

The acta disputationis (appropriately so called) are in Acta Sanctorum
for March, vol. iii, and in Ruinart. Father Delehaye assigns them to
his third category of such documents, viz. an embroidery of an
otherwise reliable document: see his Les Passions des Martyrs. See
also Allard, Histoire des Persecutions, vol. ii; and J. Weber, De
actis S. Achatii (1913) but cf. the unfavourable judgement passed on
Weber’s dissertation by Delehaye in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxiii
(1914), pp. 346-347.


Saint Quote:
It is difficult to live a saintly life in this world even with the
best of intentions. There always exists the dangerous menace of one's
being left entirely to oneself and also the probability of one's being
absorbed by work, by the necessities of life, and by the occupations
of every sort which conditions or our own will impose. Then too, one
is most always ignorant of the right road to pursue!
--St. Peter Eymard

Bible Quote:
Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit. And there
are diversities of ministries. but the same Lord. And there are
diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all.
(1 Corinthians 12:4-6 ) DRB


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A Lenten Offering
By St Thérèse of the Child Jesus
and the Holy Face of Lisieux (1873-1897)

O my God!
I offer Thee all my actions of this Lent
for the intentions and for the glory
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart,
my every thought, my simplest works,
by uniting them to Its Infinite Merits
and I wish to make reparation for my sins,
by casting them into the furnace
of Its Merciful Love.
O my God!
I ask of Thee for myself
and for those whom I hold dear,
the grace to fulfil perfectly Thy Holy Will,
to accept for love of Thee,
the joys and sorrows of this passing life,
so that we may one day
be united together in Heaven, for all eternity.
Amen