• St. Arcadius (304). Martyr. (Historical)
• St. Benedict Biscup (690). Abbot or Abbess. (Historical)
• St. Margaret Burgeoys (1700). Founder or Foundress, Virgin. (Current)

“ONE thing thou lackest.” In these words, God called Aelred from the court of a royal Saint, David, of Scotland, to the silence of the cloister. He left the king, the companions of his youth, and a friend most dear to obey the call. The conviction that in the world his soul was in danger alone enabled him to break such ties. Long afterwards the bitterness of the parting remained fresh in his soul, and he declared that, “though he had left his dear ones in the body to serve his Lord, his heart was ever with them.”

He entered the Cistercian Order, and even there his yearning for sympathy showed itself in a special attraction to one among the brethren named Simon. This holy monk had left the world in his youth, and appeared as one deaf and dumb, so absorbed was he in God. One day Aelred, forgetting for the moment the rule of perpetual silence, spoke to him. At once he prostrated himself at his feet in token of his fault; but Simon’s look of pain and displeasure haunted him for many a year, and taught him to let no human feeling disturb for one moment his union with God. A certain novice once came to Aelred, saying that he must return to the world. But Aelred had begged his soul of God, and answered, “Brother, ruin not thyself; nevertheless thou canst not, even though thou wouldst.” However, he would not listen, and wandered among the hills, thinking all the while he was going far from the abbey. At sunset he found himself before a convent strangely like Rieveaux, and so it was. The first monk he met was Aelred, who fell on his neck, saying, “Son, why hast thou done so with me? Lo! I have wept for thee with many tears, and I trust in God that, as I have asked of Him, thou shalt not perish.” The world does not so love its friends. At the command of his superiors Aelred composed his great works, the Spiritual Friendship and the Mirror of Charity. In the latter he says that true love of God is only to be obtained by joining ourselves in all things to the Passion of Christ. He died in 1167, founder and Abbot of Rieveaux, the most austere monastery in England, and Superior of some three hundred monks.

REFLECTION: When a man has given himself to God, God gives back friendship with all His other gifts a hundredfold. Friends are then loved no longer for themselves only, but for God, and that with a love lively and tender; for God can easily purify feeling. It is not feeling, but self-love, which corrupts friendship.

WORD OF THE DAY

LUMINOUS RAYS. Phenomena of light that sometimes accompany ecstasy. They appear sometimes in a variety of forms, e.g., as a halo about the head or a glow enveloping the whole body. The norms set down to verify the supernatural character of such luminosity begin by ascertaining whether it could not be explained by natural causes. In particular inquiry should be made whether the phenomena take place in full daylight or at night and, if at night, whether the light is more brilliant than any other light; whether it is a mere spark or prolonged over a considerable length of time; whether it occurs during the course of some religious act, such as prayer, a sermon, at the altar; whether there follow provable effects of grace such as lasting conversions; and above all whether the person from whom the radiance proceeds is known to be virtuous and holy.

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)

Christmastide Meditations

Daily devotional meditations on the Birth of Our Savior and Christmastide: Their Gifts: (i) Gold – Christmas Meditation Day 19 (Jan 12)