JANUARY 26, 2025 – ST. POLYCARP, BISHOP, MARTYR.

• St. Paula (404). Widow. (Historical)
• St. Polycarp (166). Bishop, Martyr. Patron of Against earaches. (Traditional)
• Sts. Timothy & Titus (97). Bishop, Martyr. They are patrons of Against stomach disorders. (Current)

ST. POLYCARP, Bishop of Smyrna, was a disciple of St. John. He wrote to the Philippians, exhorting them to mutual love and to hatred of heresy. When the apostate Marcion met St. Polycarp at Rome, he asked the aged saint if he knew him. “Yes,” St. Polycarp answered, “I know you for the firstborn of Satan.” These were the words of a saint most loving and most charitable, and specially noted for his compassion to sinners. He hated heresy because he loved God and man so much. In 167, persecution broke out in Smyrna. When Polycarp heard that his pursuers were at the door, he said, “The will of God be done;” and meeting them, he begged to be left alone for a little time, which he spent in prayer for “the Catholic Church throughout the world.”

He was brought to Smyrna early on Holy Saturday: and as he entered, a voice was heard from heaven, “Polycarp, be strong.” When the proconsul besought him to curse Christ and go free, Polycarp answered, “Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me wrong; how can I blaspheme my King and Saviour?” When he threatened him with fire, Polycarp told him this fire of his lasted but a little, while the fire prepared for the wicked lasted forever. At the stake he thanked God aloud for letting him drink of Christ’s chalice. The fire was lighted, but it did him no hurt; so he was stabbed to the heart, and his dead body was burnt. “Then,” say the writers of the Acts, “we took up the bones, more precious than the richest jewels or gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, at which may God grant us to assemble with joy to celebrate the birthday of the martyr to his life in heaven!”

REFLECTION: If we love Jesus Christ, we shall love the Church and hate heresy, which rends His mystical body, and destroys the souls for which He died. Like St. Polycarp, we shall maintain our constancy in the faith by love of Jesus Christ, who is its author and its finisher.

WORD OF THE DAY

ANTHROPOCENTRISM. The belief that the human race is the center of the universe, on whom all else depends and from whom everything derives. As such it is only a variant of pantheism. There is, however, a valid anthropocentrism that recognizes creation of human beings by God and total dependence on him. But it also views the universe as having been created to serve human beings and, by being rightly used, to help them attain the heavenly destiny for which they were made. A distorted form of anthropocentrism has become a feature of the "New Christianity," in which the love and service of God are reduced to the love and service of humankind. The first commandment, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart," is transformed into the second commandment, "You must love your neighbor," which becomes not the second but the only commandment. (Etym. Greek anthropos, man + kentron, center: centering in man.)

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!)

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