JULY 9, 2024 – ST. EPHREM, DEACON.
- St. Augustine Zhao Rong & Companions (1815). Martyr. (Current)
- St. John Fisher (1535). Bishop, Martyr. (Historical)
- St. Maria Goretti (1902). Martyr, Virgin. (Traditional)
- St. Thomas More (1535). Martyr. (Historical)
ST. EPHREM is the light and glory of the Syriac Church. A mere youth, he entered on the religious life at Nisibis, his native place. Long years of retirement taught him the science of the Saints, and then God called him to Edessa, there to teach what he had learned so well. He defended the faith against heresies, in books which have made him known as the Prophet of the Syrians. Crowds hung upon his words. Tears used to stop his voice when he preached. He trembled and made his hearers tremble at the thought of God’s judgments; but he found in compunction and humility the way to peace, and he rested with unshaken confidence in the mercy of our Blessed Lord. “I am setting out,” he says, speaking of his own death, “I am setting out on a journey hard and dangerous. Thee, O Son of God, I have taken for my Viaticum. When I am hungry, I will feed on Thee. The infernal fire will not venture near me, for it cannot bear the fragrance of Thy Body and Thy Blood.” His hymns won the hearts of the people, drove out the hymns of the Gnostic heretics, and gained for him the title which he bears in the Syriac Liturgy to this day- “the Harp of the Holy Ghost.” Passionate as he was by nature, from the time he entered religion no one ever saw him angry. Abounding in labors till the last, he toiled for the suffering poor at Edessa in the famine of 378, and there lay down to die in extreme old age. What was the secret of success so various and so complete? Humility, which made him distrust himself and trust God. Till his death, he wept for the slight sins committed in the thoughtlessness of boyhood. He refused the dignity of the priesthood. “I,” he told St. Basil, whom he went to see at the bidding of the Holy Spirit, “I am that Ephrem who have wandered from the path of heaven.” Then bursting into tears, he cried out, “O my father, have pity on a sinful wretch, and lead me on the narrow way.”
REFLECTION: Humility is the path which leads to abiding peace and brings us near to the consolations of God.
WORD OF THE DAY
APPROPRIATION. A manner of speaking in which the properties and activities of God, though common to the three divine persons, are attributed to an individual person. The purpose of appropriation is to manifest the differences in the divine properties and persons. Four kinds of appropriations are known from Scripture and sacred tradition: 1. substantive names of God (Theos), applied to the Father, and of Lord (Kurios), applied to the Son; 2. absolute attributes of God, namely power, unity, and eternity applied to the Father; wisdom, equality, and beauty applied to the Son; goodness, harmony, and happiness applied to the Holy Spirit; 3. works of God, namely efficient cause (Father), exemplary cause (Son), and final cause (Holy Spirit); 4. worship of God, with the Father as recipient of adoration and sacrifice, and the Son and Holy Spirit as mediators between God and man. (Etym. Latin appropriatio, ascribing, the attributing of a special characteristic.)
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!)
July, Month of the Precious Blood
The Precious BIood of Jesus – Short Meditations for July. July 9th — The Precious Blood in its Earthly Origin.
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