APRIL 13, 2025 – PALM SUNDAY – ST. HERMENEGILD, MARTYR.
- Bl. Margaret of Castello (1320). Religious, Virgin. (Historical)
- St. Hermenegild (585). Martyr. (Traditional)
- St. Martin I (665). Martyr, Priest. (Current)
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. HERMENEGILD, MARTYR.
HERMENEGILD, King of the Visigoths, had two sons, Hermenegild and Recared, who reigned conjointly with him. All three were Arians, but Hermenegild married a zealous Catholic, the daughter of Sigebert, King of France, and by her holy example was converted to the faith. His father, on hearing the news, denounced him as a traitor, and marched to seize his person. Hermenegild tried to rally the Catholics of Spain in his defense, but they were too weak to make any stand, and, after a two years’ fruitless struggle, he surrendered on the assurance of a free pardon. When safely in the royal camp, the king had him loaded with fetters and cast into a foul dungeon at Seville. Tortures and bribes were in turn employed to shake his faith, but Hermenegild wrote to his father that he held the crown as nothing, and preferred to lose sceptre and life rather than betray the truth of God. At length, on Easter night, an Arian bishop entered his cell, and promised him his father’s pardon if he would but receive Communion at his hands. Hermenegild indignantly rejected the offer, and knelt with joy for his death-stroke. The same night a light streaming from his cell told the Christians who were watching near that the martyr had won his crown, and was keeping his Easter with the Saints in glory. Leovigild, on his death-bed, though still an Arian, bade Recared seek out St. Leander, whom he had himself cruelly persecuted, and, following Hermenegild’s example, be received by him into the Church. Recared did so, and on his father’s death labored so earnestly for the extirpation of Arianism that he brought over the whole nation of the Visigoths to the Church. “Nor is it to be wondered,” says St. Gregory, “that he came thus to be a preacher of the true faith, seeing that he was brother of a martyr, whose merits did help him to bring so many into the lap of God’s Church.”
REFLECTION: St. Hermenegild teaches us that constancy and sacrifice are the best arguments for the Faith, and the surest way to win souls to God.
WORD OF THE DAY
PRINCIPLE AND FOUNDATION. Basic premise of Christian living and the first meditation of the spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Principle and Foundation states two principles and two conclusions. The principles are that "Man was created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul; and the other things on the face of the earth were created for man’s sake, and in order to aid him in the prosecution of the end for which he was created." The conclusions are that therefore: 1. "Man must make use of creatures in so far as they help him to attain his end, and in the same way he ought to withdraw himself from them in so far as they hinder him from it;" and 2. "We should make ourselves indifferent to all created things, in so far as is left to the liberty of our free will to do so, and is not forbidden; in such sort that we do not for our part wish for health rather than sickness, for wealth rather than poverty, for honor rather than dishonor, for a long life rather than a short one; and so in all other things, desiring and choosing only those which most lead us to the end for which we were created."
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.
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