DECEMBER 2 – ST. BIBIANA, VIRGIN, MARTYR.
ST. BIBIANA was a native of Rome. Flavian, her father, was apprehended, burned in the face with a hot iron, and banished to Acquapendente, where he died of his wounds a few days after; and her mother, Dafrosa, was some time after beheaded. Bibiana and her sister Demetria, after the death of their parents, were stripped of all they had in the world and suffered much from poverty. Apronianus, Governor of Rome, summoned them to appear before him. Demetria, having made confession of her faith, fell down and expired at the foot of the tribunal, in the presence of the judge. Apronianus gave orders that Bibiana should be put into the hands of a wicked woman named Rufina, who was to bring her to another way of thinking; but Bibiana, making prayer her shield, remained invincible. Apronianus, enraged at the courage and perseverance of a tender virgin, ordered her to be tied to a pillar and whipped with scourges loaded with leaden plummets till she expired. The Saint underwent this punishment cheerfully, and died in the hands of the executioners.
REFLECTION: Pray for a fidelity and patience like Bibiana’s under all trials, that neither convenience nor any worldly advantage may ever prevail upon you to transgress your duty.
WORD OF THE DAY
INDWELLING. Presence of the Holy Spirit in a person who is in the state of grace. He is present not only by means of the created gifts of grace, which he dispenses, but by his uncreated divine nature. This personal indwelling does not produce a substantial but only an accidental union with the souls of the just. As the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is an operation of God outside himself and as all activity of God outside the Trinity is common to the three persons, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit implies the indwelling of the three divine persons. This indwelling as a manifestation of the love of God, the personal love of the Father and the Son, is appropriated to the Holy Spirit. St. Paul speaks of the third person: “Know you not that you are the temples of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you” (I Corinthians 3:16). But he also says: “You are the temple of the living God” (I Corinthians 6:16), and Christ declares: “If any one loves me, he will keep my word. And my father will love him; and we will come to him and will make our abode with him” (John 14:23).
The immediate effect of the divine indwelling is sanctifying grace, which is the created result of the uncreated grace of God’s presence. Its effect on the person is an experience that spiritual writers compare to a foretaste of the beatific vision; the mind is able to understand something of the mystery of God and the will is enamored of his goodness beyond anything possible by the light of reason or the natural affective powers of humans.
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!)
ST. ANDREW NOVENA
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, o my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
(It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew (Nov. 30th) until Christmas, will obtain what is asked). This formula of the prayer bears an Imprimatur from † Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York. New York, February 6, 1897.
DAILY ADVENT MEDITATIONS
Deepen your appreciation of the Incarnation and our salvation with The Great Truths Series by Fr. Richard Clarke S.J. Read today’s “The Golden Thread & God Our Creator” but consider this:
God created every one with certain gifts of his own that He did not give to another, and He gave him those gifts to do a special work that God had for him to do. He created me with a certain object; from all eternity He had been planning my soul and body, and providing me with all that I needed, that both one and the other might serve Him. Have I on the whole carried out God’s plan?
This article, DECEMBER 2 – ST. BIBIANA, VIRGIN, MARTYR. is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/december-2-st-bibiana-virgin-martyr/
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