Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

Saint Ephrem
Doctor of the Church.
Also known as
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
and Saint Ephraim

Saint Ephrem was born around the year 306 at Nisibis, a city which was under Roman rule at that time.( I am not sure whether Nisibis was in present day Turkey, Syria of Iraq. some sources talk of " Nisibis, in Mesopotamia; others talk of Nisibis "The modern Turkish town Nusaybin, on the border of Syria"
He was the son of a pagan priest.( Here also some sources I have read claim that Ephrem was born into a Christian family. The main reason for this school of thought is from this quotation from his writings: "I was born in the way of truth: though my childhood was unaware of the greatness of the benefit, I knew it when trial came."
Ephrem's parents were poor. As a child he tended the herds in the fields. There is an interesting story about an incident which happened to him while still an adolescent and which he later recounted to his followers. Here it is:

One day, as a youngster, he chased a neighbour's cow, just for the fun of it. He was chasing the poor beast and throwing stones at it to see it run even faster and enjoying himself hugely. Unfortunataly for him, the cow dropped dead, literally. Ephrem then denied all knowledge of the beast's whereabouts when the owners missed it and came searching. About one month later, he found himself detained in prison supposedly for a crime of which he was completely innocent. He accepted this as Divine Justice. He was
being punished for the crime that had remained unpunished. He accepted his punishment. He was released after two months.

It seems that as a youth, Ephrem was driven from his home by his pagan father when he realized that his son was tending towards Christianity. He must have found refuge at the Church because Saint James, the famous Bishop of Nisibis saw to his spiritual instruction. He was baptized at the age of eighteen (or twenty-eight).
He headed the local catechetical school and served under Saint James. In 325, he accompanied the bishop to the Council of Nicaea.

In 363, the city of Nisibis came under Persian control. There were fierce persecutions of Christians going on in all Persian territories. The faithful fled the city in droves. Ephrem was one of the many who left Nisibis. He went to Edessa (Turkey). It was here that he became a deacon (he was by now in his sixties or fifties.) and started preaching. Sometime in 364 he settled as a solitary ascetic on Mount Edessa.

The Saint had no formal education and knew only his own language, the Syriac Aramaic language which was a dialect of the same language, Aramaic, spoken by Our Lord and the apostles. Edessa was at that time, a hotbed of heresy; there were no less that ten heretical sects. Ephrem confronted them all; both by preaching and by writing. His writings support the Immaculate Conception. It is said that the Saint

"He had the gift of tears and for years he wept, literally without ceasing, according to the testimony of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, who wrote: “At times he was weeping over the sins of men, and again over his own. His sighs succeeded his tears, and then brought them forth again.” It was also said that the tears he shed so profusely, instead of disfiguring his face, seemed to augment its serenity and grace; all who had seen or heard Saint Ephrem were inspired to venerate his holiness."

According to tradition, Ephrem began to write hymns in order to counteract the heresies that were rampant at that time.
Those of us who think of hymns simply as the song at the end of Mass that keeps us from leaving the church early, it may come as a surprise that Ephrem and others recognized and developed the power of music to get their points across. Tradition tells us that Ephrem heard the heretical ideas put into song first and in order to counteract them made up his own hymns. It is said he wrote over five hundred hymns.

In 370 Ephrem visited Saint Basil in Caesarea. He returned to Edessa to serve the poor and the needy during the famine that hit Edessa in 372. The famine ended in a year of abundant harvest the following year and Ephrem died shortly thereafter, as we are told, at an advanced age. We do not know the exact date or year of his death but June 9, 373 is accepted by many.
Saint Ephrem is credited with introducing hymns into public worship.
He was declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. He is referred to as the “Sun of the Syrians" and the "Harp of the Holy Spirit" because he was the most prolific writer of Bible commentaries in the Syrian Church and composed a large number of liturgical hymns as already mentioned. His influence among both the Syrians and the Persians was so great that some twenty years after his death, Saint Jerome had this to say of him:
" Ephrem, a deacon of the Church at Edessa, wrote many works in Syriac and became so famous that in some churches his writings are read out publicly after sacred Scripture"

Saint Ephrem,
Pray for us!

Ref:
Saint Companions for each day
A. J. M. Mausolfe.
J. K. Mausolfe

Our Sunday Visitor Encyclopedia Of Saints.
By Matthew Bunson, Stephen Bunson, Margaret Bunson:

The Catholic Encyclopedia.

And Others.

[odhiambo]

Reflection:
"Virginity will serve as a chariot, lifting heavenward all those who guard it, as did Elias"
Saint Ephrem

[Shin]

'If you have loved virginity, you will be favored by the Lord in all things.'

St. Ephrem of Syria

Here are from some of the Beatitudes St. Ephraem wrote..

'Blessed the one who has become wholly free in the Lord from all the earthly things of this vain life and loved God alone, the good and compassionate.

Blessed the one who has become a good ploughman of the virtues and raised a harvest of fruits of life in the Lord, like a ploughed field bearing wheat.

Blessed the one who has become a good husbandman of the virtues and planted a spiritual vine, plucked the grapes and filled his presses with fruits of life in the Lord.

Blessed the one who has made his fellow servants glad with spiritual gladness from the fruit of the virtues, which he planted by toiling to give back the fruit of life in the Lord.

Blessed the one who stands in the assembly and prays like an Angel from heaven, keeping his thoughts pure day by day, and has given no entrance to the Evil One to make his soul a prisoner, far from God his Saviour.

Blessed the one who with understanding has loved weeping and with compunction rained tears upon the ground, like fair pearls before the Lord.

Blessed the one who loves holiness like the light and has not defiled his body with dark deeds of the Evil One in the sight of the Lord.

Blessed the one who keeps his body for holiness for the Saviour and has not shamed his soul by unnatural deeds, but remained well-pleasing to the Lord.

Blessed the one who has hated evil-doing that is full of shame and presented himself as a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to the Lord.

Blessed the one who always keeps the memory of God in himself, he will be wholly like an Angel from heaven upon earth, ministering to the Lord with fear and love.
Blessed the one who loves repentance that saves sinners and has not thought of doing ill, like someone ungrateful before God our Saviour.

Blessed the one who seated in his cell, like a noble warrior, guards the treasure of the kingdom, that is his body with his soul, blameless in the Lord.

Blessed the one who seated in his cell like Angels in heaven keeps his thoughts pure and with his mouth sings praise to the One who has authority over everything that breath.

Blessed the one who has become like the Seraphim and the Cherubim and never wearied in his spiritual ministry, unceasingly giving glory to the Lord.'

[odhiambo]

From Sacra Virginitas , Encyclical of Pope Pius XII
on Consecrated Virginity, we are made to understand that Virginity is a better means for growing in the love of God than marriage is.

Here is an excerpt from the source:

"24. It is first and foremost for the foregoing reasons that, according to the teaching of the Church, holy virginity surpasses marriage in excellence. Our Divine Redeemer had already given it to His disciples as a counsel for a more perfect life.(44) St. Paul, after having said that the father who gives his daughter in marriage "does well," adds immediately "and he that gives her not, does better."(45) Several times in the course of his comparison between marriage and virginity the Apostle reveals his mind, and especially in these words: "for I would that all men were even as myself. . . But I say to the unmarried and to widows: it is good for them if they so continue, even as I."(46) Virginity is preferable to marriage then, as We have said, above all else because it has a higher aim:(47) that is to say, it is a very efficacious means for devoting oneself wholly to the service of God, while the heart of married persons will remain more or less "divided."(48)"

[odhiambo]

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Margaret of Scotland
Among many other saints.

[odhiambo]

Saint Margaret of Scotland.

Margaret was the daughter of Prince Edward d’Outremer and
Agatha, a German Princess.
She was born in 1046 and raised in the Court of King Stephen of Hungary.
At twelve, she went to England, to the Court of her uncle King Saint Edward the Confessor.
Then, Duke William of Normandy invaded England and established himself as king, after winning the battle of Hastings.
Many members of the English nobility sought refuge in the Court of King Malcolm III Canmore of Scotland, who had himself been an exile in England during the reign of Macbeth.
Among the English refugees were Margaret and her brother Edgar.
While King Malcolm was hospitable to all his quests, he was rather more hospitable to Margaret, marrying her in 1070 to make her the Queen of Scotland.
Margaret impressed not only Malcolm, but many other members of the Scottish Court both for her knowledge as well as her piety. Because of the influence she had on Malcolm as well as her own activities, Margaret became a very powerful Queen. Prominent among these activities was religious reforms.
She instigated reforms within the Scottish Church, as well as development of closer ties to the Roman Church in order to avoid a schism between the Celtic Church and Rome.
She was patroness of both Scottish Christian hermits as well as the Benedictine Order. Although Benedictine monks were prominent throughout Western Europe, there was previously no Benedictine monastery known to exist in Scotland.
Margaret invited English Benedictine monks to establish monasteries in her kingdom.

Margaret was also active in works of charity. She frequently visited and cared for the sick. She had hostels constructed for the poor.
Saint Margaret lost her husband Malcolm and her eldest son, Edward in battle between England and Scotland at a time when she herself was ailing.
Four days after learning of their deaths, whether from illness or a broken heart, she too died; the date was November 16, 1093.
She was declared patroness of Scotland in 1673.

Saint Margaret,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

A princess, a queen, and a saint!

Bringing in the Benedictines and taking care of hermits is so important for the spiritual life of a country.

[Shin]

You know Martin that hymn to St. Columba is just strikingly full of love and devotion. It's a real treasure. 

[Shin]

Here's from an introduction of the life of St. Columba:

St. Columba was born on December 7, ca. 521 A.D. to Fedhlimidh and Eithne of the Ui Neill clan in Gartan (Donegal). As a young man, Columba soon took an interest in the church, joined the monastery at Moville, and was ordained a deacon by St. Finnian. After studying with a bard called Gemman, Columba was ordained a priest by Etchen, the bishop of Clonfad. Columba entered the monastery of Mobhi Clarainech, and when disease forced the disbanding of that monastery, Columba went north and founded the church of Derry. Tradition has it that after founding several other monasteries, Columba copied St. Finnian's psalter without the permission of Finnian, and thus devalued the book. When Finnian took the matter to High King Dermott for judgement, Dermott judged in favor of Finnian, stating "to every cow its calf; to every book its copy" (I am borrowing this quote from Cathach Books in Dublin). Columba refused to hand over the copy, and Dermott forced the issue militarily. Columba's family and clan defeated Dermott at the battle of Cooldrevny in 561. Tradition further holds that St. Molaisi of Devenish, Columba's spiritual father, ordered Columba to bring the same number of souls to Christ that he had caused to die as pennance. In 563, Columba landed on Iona with 12 disciples, and founded a new monastery. After founding several more monasteries, confounding the local druids, and participating in another battle (this time against St. Comgall over who owned the church of Colethem), Columba died on June 9, 597.

'Then let us call this place the Monastery of Tears.'

St. Columba

'AT another time, while the holy man sat in his little cell engaged in writing, on a sudden his countenance changed, and he poured forth this cry from his pure breast, saying, "Help! Help!" Two of the brothers who stood at the door, namely, Colga, son of Cellach, and Lugne Mocublai, asked the cause of such a sudden cry. The venerable man answered, saying, "I ordered the angel of the Lord who was just now standing among you to go quickly to the relief of one of the brothers who is falling from the highest point of a large house which is now being built in the Oakwood Plain (Derry)." And the saint added afterwards these words, saying, "How wonderful and almost unspeakable is the swiftness of angelic motion, like, as I imagine, to the rapidity of lightning. For the heavenly spirit who just now flew away from us when that man began to fall, arrived there to support him, as it were, in the twinkling of an eye, before his body reached the ground; nor was the man who fell able to feel any fracture or bruise. How wonderful, I say, is that most swift and timely help which could be given so very quickly, even though such an extent of land and sea lay between!"'

- the Life of St. Columba, by St. Adamnan

'Having written the aforementioned verse at the end of the page, the saint went to the church to the nocturnal vigils of the Lord's Day; and so soon as this was over, he returned to his chamber, and spent the remainder of the night on his bed, where he had a bare flag for his couch, and for his pillow a stone, which stands to this day as a kind of monument beside his grave.

While then he was reclining there, he gave his last instructions to the brethren, in the hearing of his attendant alone, saying: "These, O my children, are the last words I address to you, that ye be at peace, and have unfeigned charity among yourselves; and if you thus follow the example of the holy fathers, God, the Comforter of the good, will be your Helper and I, abiding with Him, will intercede for you; and He will not only give you sufficient to supply the wants of this present life, but will also bestow on you the good and eternal rewards which are laid up for those that keep His commandments."

Thus far have the last words of our venerable patron, as he was about to leave this weary pilgrimage for his heavenly country, been preserved for recital in our brief narrative. After these words, as the happy hour of his departure gradually approached, the saint became silent.

Then as soon as the bell tolled at midnight, he rose hastily, and went to the church; and running more quickly than the rest, he entered it alone, and knelt down in prayer beside the altar. At the same moment his attendant Diormit, who more slowly followed him, saw from a distance that the whole interior of the church was filled with a heavenly light in the direction of the saint. And as he drew near to the door, the same light he had seen, and which was also seen by a few more of the brethren standing at a distance, quickly disappeared.

Diormit therefore entering the church, cried out in a mournful voice, "Where art thou, father?" And feeling his way in the darkness, as the brethren had not yet brought in the lights, he found the saint lying before the altar; and raising him up a little, he sat down beside him, and laid his holy head on his bosom.

Meanwhile the rest of the monks ran in hastily in a body with their lights, and beholding their dying father, burst into lamentations. And the saint, as we have been told by some who were present, even before his soul departed, opened wide his eyes and looked round him from side to side, with a countenance full of wonderful joy and gladness, no doubt seeing the holy angels coming to meet him. Diormit then raised the holy right hand of the saint, that he might bless his assembled monks. And the venerable father himself moved his hand at the same time, as well as he was able, that as he could not in words, while his soul was departing, he might at least, by the motion of his hand, be seen to bless his brethren. And having given them his holy benediction in this way, he immediately breathed his last.

After his soul had left the tabernacle of the body, his face still continued ruddy, and brightened in a wonderful way by his vision of the angels, and that to such a degree that he had the appearance, not so much of one dead, as of one alive and sleeping. Meanwhile the whole church resounded with loud lamentations of grief.'

- the Life of St. Columba, by St. Adamnan

[martin]

Shin I will send you a link to a book on the life of St. Columba writen by a priest from Derry, Fr William Doherty. It's in PDF format. Maybe you'd like to include it in the saints books.

[odhiambo]

'AT another time, while the holy man sat in his little cell engaged in writing, on a sudden his countenance changed, and he poured forth this cry from his pure breast, saying, "Help! Help!" Two of the brothers who stood at the door, namely, Colga, son of Cellach, and Lugne Mocublai, asked the cause of such a sudden cry. The venerable man answered, saying, "I ordered the angel of the Lord who was just now standing among you to go quickly to the relief of one of the brothers who is falling from the highest point of a large house which is now being built in the Oakwood Plain (Derry)." And the saint added afterwards these words, saying, "How wonderful and almost unspeakable is the swiftness of angelic motion, like, as I imagine, to the rapidity of lightning. For the heavenly spirit who just now flew away from us when that man began to fall, arrived there to support him, as it were, in the twinkling of an eye, before his body reached the ground; nor was the man who fell able to feel any fracture or bruise. How wonderful, I say, is that most swift and timely help which could be given so very quickly, even though such an extent of land and sea lay between!"'

- the Life of St. Columba, by St. Adamnan

To reach such a state where one converses with the angels is surely to be more spiritual than physical.
Saint Columba,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

June 11

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Barnabas
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Barnabas
Apostle
Martyr

Barnabas was a wealthy Jewish Levite. He was born on the island of Cyprus and his birth name was Joses( Joseph) Justus. He settled in Jerusalem and is thought to have studied in the School of Gamiliel at the same time as Saul. He was converted to Christianity soon after Pentecost. He then sold all his possessions and handed over the proceeds to the Church. The name Barnabas, which, according to Saint Luke, means "son of consolation", or "son of encouragement", was given to him by the apostles. It was Barnabas who introduced Saint Paul to the Apostles after his conversion, vouched for him to the Christians when they found it difficult at first, to believe that their fiercest persecutor had now became an ardent propagator of the Faith. To both of these great men, the Church accorded the title "Apostle", though they were not original "Apostles".
It was Barnabas who was sent to Antioch in Syria, to look into the affairs of the growing Church there. He later brought Paul from Tarsus, and with him, they embarked on the first missionary journey, taking with them John Mark, a cousin of Barnabas. They started they missionary journey with Cyprus.
Barnabas is thus considered the founder of the Cypriot Church.
At the Council of Jerusalem, he defended the membership of Gentile Christians. After the Jerusalem Council, Barnabas revisited his Cyprus missions together with John Mark.
Little is known of the later life of Saint Barnabas. He is believed to have been stoned to death before the year 61, at Salamis, when John Mark was sent to Rome to assist Paul during his imprisonment.
His remains were discovered near Salamis in Cyprus in 485 or 486. His relics were taken to Constantinople, now Istanbul, by Emperor Zeno. Other remains are also known to be in several parts.

Saint Barnabas is invoked against hailstorms, quarrels and grief.
Saint Barnabas,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Today is Pentecost Sunday.

On this day, we celebrate the great day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The day “Christ filled the Church with the power of His Holy Spirit and sent it out into the world to bring His peace, joy and forgiveness to all mankind”

At Mass today, the priest astonished us all by asking whose birthday it was to today. After asking about three times, a young man stood up and said it was indeed his birthday. The priest too said it was his birthday and requested the choir to sing in honor of this birthday.
We all joined the choir in singing “Happy Birthday to you….”
After the clapping had died down, he said that today is the birthday of us all. It is the day the Church was born. The birthday of the Church.
I had never looked at it that way.

The Following is an appropriate hymn for today written by Michael Baughen (1982).

Title: Spirit of the Living God

1 Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me;
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

2 Spirit of the living God, move among us all;
make us one in heart and mind, make us one in love:
humble, caring, selfless, sharing.
Spirit of the living God, fill our lives with love.

Happy Pentecost everyone!

[odhiambo]

June 12
Today is also the feast day of
Saint John of Sahagun
Among many other Saints.

[odhiambo]

Saint John of Sahagun
Also known as
Saint John of Fagondez

Saint John was born Juan, Gonzales Catrillo in Sahagun or Saint Fagondez in northern Spain around the year 1430.
He was a bright and high spirited child who soon came to the attention of Alphonsus of Carthage, the Bishop of Burgos. The Bishop had John educated in his own household.
He later ordained John a priest and gave him a position of responsibility in the administration of the Church.
John did not find this work fulfilling, however. So he went to the great University of Salamanca, where he engaged in study and preaching. He was a noted preacher and a miracle worker. He was also appointed a professor at the aforementioned University.

Still not satisfied with his life, he decided to join the Hermits of Saint Augustin in Salamanca in 1463. The Friars recognized his abilities, and chose him twice to serve as Prior of the Salamanca Monastery. He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
John died in Salamanca June 11, 1479. His biographer, Friar John of Seville, believed that he was poisoned by somebody who did not like the honesty of his preaching. He was beatified in 1601 and canonized in 1690. His remains are preserved at the Cathedral of Salamanca.

Saint John of Sahagun,
Pray for us!