• Our Lady of Mercy. (Historical)
• St. Cyril of Jerusalem (386). Bishop, Doctor of the Church. (Current, Traditional)

CYRIL was born at or near the city of Jerusalem, about the year 315. He was ordained priest by St. Maximus, who gave him the important charge of instructing and preparing the candidates for baptism. This charge he held for several years, and we still have one series of his instructions, given in the year 344 or 348. They are of singular interest as being the earliest record of the systematic teaching of the Church on the Creed and Sacraments, and as having been given in the church built by Constantine on Mount Calvary. They are solid, simple, profound; saturated with Holy Scripture; exact, precise, and terse; and, as a witness and exposition of the Catholic Faith, invaluable. On the death of St. Maximus Cyril was chosen Bishop of Jerusalem. At the beginning of his episcopate a cross was seen in the air reaching from Mount Calvary to Mount Olivet, and so bright that it shone at noonday. St. Cyril gave an account of it to the emperor; and the faithful regarded it as a presage of victory over the Arian heretics. While Cyril was bishop, the apostate Julian resolved to falsify the words of our Lord by rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. He employed the power and resources of a Roman emperor; the Jews thronged enthusiastically to him and gave munificently. But Cyril was unmoved. “The word of God abides,” he said; “one stone shall not be laid on another.” When the attempt was made, a heathen writer tells us that horrible flames came forth from the earth, rendering the place inaccessible to the scorched and scared workmen. The attempt was made again and again, and then abandoned in despair. Soon after, the emperor perished miserably in a war against the Persians, and the Church had rest. Like the other great bishops of his time, he was persecuted, and driven once and again from his see; but on the death of the Arian Emperor Valens he returned to Jerusalem. He was present at the second General Council at Constantinople, and died in peace A.D. 386, after a troubled episcopate of thirty-five years.

REFLECTION: “As a stout staff,” says St. John Chrysostom, “supports the trembling limbs of a feeble old man, so does faith sustain our vacillating mind, lest it be tossed about by sinful hesitation and perplexity.”

WORD OF THE DAY

VALUE. That which makes a thing desirable or considered worthwhile. Value stresses the subjective and relative aspect of the good over the objective and absolute character. It means not so much the inherent excellence of an object as how it stands in one’s personal estimation; not so much its built-in perfection as its comparative place in that scale of things called the hierarchy of values. The term value commends itself to subjectivist and relativist moral philosophies, in preference to the common good. Nevertheless, it is also acceptable to Christians provided it includes the notion of an objective moral standard. (Etym. Latin valere, to be worth, be strong.)

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!)

LENT MEDITATION DAY 29

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 29: Wednesday after the Fourth Sunday in Lent — The Scourging.

March is the Month of St. Joseph

Daily devotional meditations on Saint Joseph: March 18th — St. Joseph’s Sixth Sorrow.