Saint for the Day

• November 9—St. Theodore Tyro, Martyr

  

  ST. THEODORE was born of a noble family in the East, and enrolled while still a youth in the imperial army. Early in 306 the emperor put forth an edict requiring all Christians to offer sacrifice, and Theodore had just joined the legion and marched with them into Pontus, when he had to choose between apostasy and death. He declared before his commander that he was ready to be cut in pieces and offer up every limb to his Creator, Who had died for him. Wishing to conquer him by gentleness, the commander left him in peace for a while, that he might think over his resolution; but Theodore used his freedom to set on fire the great temple of Isis, and made no secret of this act. Still his judge entreated him to renounce his faith and save his life; but Theodore made the sign of the cross, and answered: “As long as I have breath, I will confess the name of Christ.” After cruel torture, the judge bade him think of the shame to which Christ had brought him. “This shame,” Theodore answered, “I and all who invoke His name take with joy.” He was condemned to be burnt. As the flame rose, a Christian saw his soul rise like a flash of light to heaven. Reflection.—We are enlisted in the same service as the holy martyrs, and we too must have courage and constancy if we would be perfect soldiers of Jesus Christ. Let us take our part with them in confessing the faith of Christ and despising the world, that we may have our part with them in Christ’s kingdom.
• November 9 ~ St. Theodore

    Given the choice between apostasy and death, St. Theodore, a Roman soldier, preferred to be burned alive rather than to deny his faith.

    This man is holy, for he hath striven for the law of his God even unto death, and hath not feared for the words of the ungodly; for he had his foundations upon a strong rock. –Imitation: Book II.

    Ideal: This saint was burned alive; that seems very terrible. It is, too, but, he had courage enough to carry him through a torture he knew could not last more than a few hours at the most. To endure resignedly the million little teasing tortures of a lifetime is harder in a way, as you know if you have tried, but heaven is worth it all, as you reasoned out yesterday yourself.

    Today: Have you the disagreeable habit of complaining of food as it is served? Indirectly, that is an act of disrespect besides. Make up your mind today never to comment on the food unfavorably. When you no longer relish your mother’s cooking, it is time you were doing your own.

    Slogan: Only the man who can do better has a right to criticize unfavorably.

  

  ~A Character Calendar
  Sister Mary Fidelis, Sister Mary Charitas
  Imprimatur 1931

Sunday Sermon

• Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Resisting the Devil

  

  To-day’s Gospel is explained by our Lord Him self a little further on in answer to a question of His disciples. He tells us that by the good seed in the parable are meant ‘ ‘ the children of the kingdom ” — i. e., good, faithful, practical Christians; that the wicked are the cockle appearing in the field of the Church. There are some who trouble themselves about the question why God should ever have permitted evil to exist at all ; perhaps they will even go so far on that account as to impugn the wisdom of God. Why, they ask, since God is almighty, should He have permitted evil to exist when He could have prevented it, especially since the result of it all is the loss to so many of His creatures of the end for which they were created? Now, while to-day’s Gospel suggests this-problem — a problem that has troubled man’s mind for ages — the same Gospel suggests also the solution ; not, indeed, that it gives a complete answer to every question we may ask, but the solution of the problem so far as its practical bearing on the difficulties in our own daily life and work is concerned. And why should we seek to fathom the depths of the eternal counsels of the Creator, asking why He does not root up the cockle in His creation? We know, and it is enough for us to know, that there is an Almighty, All-wise, All-good, All-loving God, and, on the other hand, the fact of the existence of evil is evident to us. Whether the reasons we can give for this fact are satisfactory to us or not, the fact itself re mains as it is. The enemy has sown his bad seed, and the mixture of good and evil is there and stares us in the face, wherever we go and whithersoever we turn. Whether we understand the reasons for this or not, of this one thing we may, in any case, be sure, that for everything God does or permits He has His own sufficient reason. It is blind folly for us to seek with our puny minds to penetrate too deeply into the mysterious side of God’s providence. Let us then be content with the explanation of our Lord, that the cockle is allowed to remain for the good of the wheat. It is through combat with the powers of evil that we are made strong and perfect. History tells us of a great general who was in formed by his aide-de-camp that a certain regiment directed’to take possession of a hill could gain no foot of ground, owing to the tremendous fire of the enemy’s artillery planted on top of it. But the chief commander, knowing what his soldiers could do, coldly turned his back on the messenger with the words : ‘ ‘ Forward, then ; let them first take the battery.” And the record further tells us that this was done, not without great loss on the part of the attacking force, yet done it was at last. And so shall it be with the battle we have to fight, if we will but remember that our trials and difficulties, however great they may seem to us, are only such as thousands before us have suffered and surmounted. We have first to take the battery. The battery the enemy uses against us is our own passions. If we overcome our evil inclinations the victory is ours. “He only earns his freedom and existence who daily conquers them anew.” The conflict with evil may be under disheartening conditions, but there is never any reason to despair. The steady progress of good and righteousness proves that the struggle is not made in vain. Re member, therefore, the words of St. Bernard : “That which tires the combatant crowns the conqueror.”

  

  Five-minute Sermons for Low Masses on All Sundays of the Year By the Priests of the Congregation of St. Paul, 1893