MARCH 24, 2024 – PALM SUNDAY – ST. SIMON, INFANT MARTYR. WILLIAM OF NORWICH, INFANT MARTYR.

• St. Catherine (Karin) of Sweden (1381). Abbot or Abbess, Virgin, Widow. Female invoked against miscarriages. (Historical) daughter of St. Brigid of Sweden
• St. Gabriel the Archangel. Archangel, Patron or Patroness. Telecommunications and diplomats. (Traditional)
• St. Simon of Trent (1475). Martyr. (Historical)

PALM SUNDAY.

LESSONS without end, at once lofty and hallowing, might be deduced from the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, celebrated by the Church on this day; we limit ourselves, however, to considering the event under one aspect merely, in order to draw therefrom a moral lesson for our spiritual instruction. Jesus Christ enters Jerusalem, and the people forthwith improvise a triumph all the more noble because it has cost neither blood nor tears, and so much the more touching because it is spontaneous. The whole town is in commotion, the roadway is strewn with branches and covered with the garments of the bystanders, every mouth resounding with acclamations, and blessings, and praise. Jesus Christ is proclaimed the son of David, the King of the nation and the Messiah. Ere a few days are sped, the very people that had applauded now clamor for His death, curse and insult Him, and assist at His degrading death with fiendish cries of triumph.

Even thus pass away the glories of the world, its joys, its possessions, even life itself. Today at the height of greatness, tomorrow in the deepest abasement; but yesterday the idol of a nation, today the object of its hate; now surrounded with prosperity, and yet a little while, borne down by misfortune; one day full of life and vigor, and the next consigned to the tomb. 

Foolish, then, are they who would account as of any value, or would cling to, things perishable! What bitter awakenings have not such poor deluded beings to expect, and what chagrin and tearful disappointments do they not create for themselves! The Christian who places the aim of his hopes and the centre of his affections at a higher range is both wiser and more happy. Prosperity does not blind nor inebriate him, since he knows it to be capricious and changeful; adverse fortune does not overwhelm him, because he was prepared for it and awaited it with calmness. The unforeseen alone affords any ground for fear; and to the faithful Christian there is nothing that is unforeseen.

REFLECTION: The recommendation given by the great Apostle may be aptly brought to mind: “And they that weep be as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as they rejoiced not; and they that use this world, as though they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.”

ST. SIMON, INFANT MARTYR. WILLIAM OF NORWICH, INFANT MARTYR.

“HAIL, flowers of the martyrs!” the Church sings in her Office of the Holy Innocents, who were the first to die for Christ; and in every age mere children and infants have gloriously confessed His name. In 1472, the Jews in the city of Trent determined to vent their hate against the crucified by slaying a Christian child at the coming Passover, and Tobias, one of their number, was deputed to entrap a victim. He found a bright, smiling boy named Simon playing outside his home, with no one guarding him. Tobias patted the little fellow’s cheek, and coaxed him to take his hand. The boy, who was not two years old, did so; but he began to call and cry for his mother when he found himself being led from home. Then Tobias gave him a bright coin to look at, and with many kind caresses silenced his grief, and conducted him securely to his house. At midnight on Holy Thursday, the work of butchery began. Having gagged his mouth, they held his arms in the form of a cross, while they pierced his tender body with awls and bodkins in blasphemous mockery of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. After an hour’s torture, the little martyr lifted his eyes to heaven, and gave up his innocent soul. The Jews cast his body into the river; but their crime was discovered and punished, while the holy relics were enshrined in St. Peter’s Church at Trent, where they have worked many miracles.

WILLIAM OF NORWICH is another of these children martyrs. His parents were simple country folk, but his mother was taught by a vision to expect a Saint in her son. As a boy he fasted thrice a week and prayed constantly, and he was only an apprentice twelve years of age, at a tanner’s in Norwich, when he won his crown. A little before Easter, A.D. 1137, he was enticed into a Jew’s house, and was there gagged, bound, and crucified in hatred of Christ. Five cars passed before the body was found, when it was buried as a saintly relic in the cathedral churchyard. A rose-tree planted hard by flowered miraculously in midwinter, and all manner of sick persons were healed of their diseases at St. William’s shrine.

REFLECTION: Learn from the infant martyrs that, however weak you may be, you still can suffer for Christ’s sake, and, by suffering, win your crown.

WORD OF THE DAY

DIVINE GLORY. Recognition and praise of the infinite excellence of God. The fundamental glory of God is his infinite goodness and greatness in all attributes. Viewed as perfections in God, they constitute his internal fundamental glory, but viewed in their manifestation in creatures, they are the external, fundamental divine glory. The formal (actual) glory of God is the knowledge and love that he has of himself, which is called internal glory; and the knowledge, honor, and love shown him by rational creatures, which is called external, formal divine glory.

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!)

HOLY WEEK MEDITATIONS

Special meditations focused on Holy Week: PALM SUNDAY

LENT MEDITATION DAY 40

Enjoy daily meditations this lent from Fr. Richard Clarke, SJ. Short and powerful, written in 1880 for busy lay people to reap rewards through lent. (includes audio): Lent Day 40: The Sixth Sunday in Lent — Jesus Commends His Disciples to His Holy Mother’s Care.

March is the Month of St. Joseph

Daily devotional meditations on Saint Joseph: March 24th — St. Joseph’s Inner Life.

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