2016
What is the Sacred Heart of Jesus - #Novena - #Litany to the #SacredHeart - Prayers to SHARE
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been evident for many centuries under different forms. However, Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a Visitation Nun of the monastery of Paray-le-Monial, France received visions of the Sacred Heart and spread its devotion with this feast. Jesus appeared asking for a devotion of expiatory love and frequent Communion, Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy Hour.
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12 Promises of Jesus given in the Vision
1. I will give them graces necessary for their state in life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.4. They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.
5. I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9. I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who propagate this devotion shall have their name written in My Heart, and it shall never be effaced.
12. I promise thee in the excess of the mercy of My Heart, that its all-powerful Love will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of Nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving the Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour.
CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART
FOR INDIVIDUAL FAMILIES
FOR INDIVIDUAL FAMILIES
Lord Jesus Christ, we consecrate ourselves to You today, each one of us, and all of us together as a family. Your Sacred Heart, the heart of your crucified and risen Body, is the ever living source of mercy and grace, hope and love for all of us. We desire to pledge ourselves and our lives to You in return.
Teach us to be always united with You, through Your Holy Spirit in mind and heart, in all our thoughts, words, deeds, joy and sufferings. Grant that we may ever know You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly.
We wish to share in Your redeeming work in our world: that your Father's will may truly be done on earth as it is in heaven, that the civilization of justice and love may thus be built up in our land.
Heart of Jesus, help us to keep sin away from our lives. Help us to keep loving, serving and forgiving each other. Live in our hearts and in our homes always, Make us wholly Yours.
With Your Mother's Immaculate Heart, we renew our consecration to Your Sacred Heart, for the ever greater glory of the Father in Heaven, Amen.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, be with us and bless us now and at the hour of our death, Amen.
| In 1899 Pope Leo XIII approved this Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for public use. | |
| Lord, have mercy Christ, have mercy Lord, have mercy Christ, hear us Christ, graciously hear us. God the Father of Heaven, God the Son, Redeemer of the world, God, the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, One God, Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God, Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty, Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God, Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High, Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven, Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love, Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues, Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, Heart of Jesus, in whom are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of divinity, Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased, Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received, Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful, Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke Thee, Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness, Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium, Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses, Heart of Jesus, obedient to death, Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, Heart of Jesus, our peace and our reconciliation, Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee, Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee, Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints, Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, V. Jesus, meek and humble of heart. | Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. spare us, O Lord. graciously hear us, O Lord. have mercy on us, O Lord. R. Make our hearts like to Thine. |
| Let us pray; Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Thy most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which He offers Thee in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Thy mercy, in Thy great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee forever and ever. Amen. | |
This powerful prayer was recited every day by Padre Pio for all those who recommended themselves to his prayers:
I. O my Jesus, You said "verily I say to You, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you", behold I knock, I seek and I ask for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
II. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to You, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you", behold in your name I ask the Father for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
III. O my Jesus, You said, "verily I say to You, heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall not pass away", behold I encouraged by your infallible words, now ask for the grace of...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father. Sacred Heart of Jesus I put all my trust in Thee.
O sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom one thing alone is impossible, namely, not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of Thee through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your and our tender Mother.
Say the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) and add, St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us
Wow Sisters of Life Celebrate 25 years of #ProLife Evangelization - God bless their Work! SHARE
The Sisters of Life Celebrate their 25th Anniversary!
About
The Sisters of Life is a contemplative / active religious community of women founded in 1991 by John Cardinal O’Connor for the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of every human life. Like all religious communities, we take the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. We also are consecrated under a special, fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.
Reverence and gratitude for the unique and unrepeatable gift of each human life made in the image and likeness of God fuels the prayer of each Sister, our first mission in building the Kingdom of God and the “Culture of Life.” It also provides the starting point for our interactions with others, especially relationships in community between our 80 Sisters (who come from across the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and Spain), and in our apostolates.
Inspired by the love of Christ our Spouse, the author of Life, we desire to pour out all our gifts of nature and grace in the apostolate, that nothing of the gift of life, and no one to whom it has been given, should be lost.
Our missions are carried out with the heart of the Church and with the hope of revealing to those we serve the inherent goodness and beauty of their own lives, so that each person may see and experience the truth that they are an unrepeatable creation of the Master.
History
During a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp, the then Bishop-elect John J. O’Connor placed his hands inside the red brick crematoria oven and “felt the intermingled ashes of Jew and Christian, rabbi, priest and minister.” Struck to the heart, he proclaimed, “Good God, how could human beings do this to other human beings?” In that instant, he received a life-transforming grace and vowed to do all he could, from that moment forward, to protect and enhance the sacredness of every human life, wherever it was most vulnerable.
Several years later, now John Cardinal O’Connor, Archbishop of New York and the leading voice for life within the Church, he prayed to understand why the efforts of the pro-life cause were not gleaning the results expected. His eyes fell upon the passage from Scripture, “This kind of demon can only be cast out by prayer and fasting,” and another, life-transforming, grace was his. This time, though, the grace was not just a personal one, but one for the whole Church; it was the grace that gave birth to a new charism, a new religious community in the Church, the Sisters of Life.
After receiving hundreds of responses to his weekly newspaper column titled, “Help Wanted: Sisters of Life,” eight women entered the newly formed community on Foundation Day, June 1, 1991. Among those eight was Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, the first Superior General of the Sisters of Life.
JOIN the Sisters of Life!
The Sisters of Life welcome vocation inquiries from single, Catholic women who do not have living children and are in good physical and mental health. Generally, the women who enter the community have completed some level of higher education, and are in the age range of 21-35.
For information on our “Come and See” weekends, or for additional information on discerning a call to the Sisters of Life, please fill out the Vocational Inquiry Form.
Sr. Grace Dominic, S.V.
Vocations Director
Annunciation
38 Montebello Road
Suffern, NY 10901
845.357.0258
Vocations Director
Annunciation
38 Montebello Road
Suffern, NY 10901
845.357.0258
Text Edited from the http://www.sistersoflife.org/ Website
#BreakingNews former #EWTN Priest found not-guilty of Child Sex Abuse - Please PRAY
A Jefferson County jury found a former EWTN priest and TV personality not guilty of child sexual abuse on May 31, 2016. David Stone, 55, (formerly Fr. Francis Mary Stone) hosted the talk show "Life on the Rock" for youth from 2001-2007 on EWTN. While working at EWTN he fathered a child with an EWTN employee, Christina Presnell. The child was born in 2008. . Stone was accused by Presnell of sexually abusing his son. He was suspended from his religious order and placed on long-term leave of absence at EWTN after it became known he had fathered the child. Presnell was fired from EWTN. Please PRAY for all involved.Please pray for
#PopeFrancis Special Request for month of June - “I invite everyone to pray the Heart of Jesus for the entire month of June..."
(Vatican Radio) At the General Audience Wednesday, Pope Francis recalled that Friday, 3 June, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus which he said this year “is enriched by the Jubilee for Priests.”
Pray the Sacred Heart of Jesus for your priests in June
“I invite everyone to pray the Heart of Jesus for the entire month of June and to support with closeness and affection your priests so that they always reflect the image of that Heart full of merciful love,” the Pope said.
The Jubilee for Priests falls on the 160° anniversary of the institution of the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, introduced in 1856 by Pope Pius IX.
To celebrate their Jubilee in Rome, on Wednesday clergy and seminarians from around the world began the first of three days of prayer and reflection 1-3 June with pilgrimages to the Jubilee churches: S. Salvatore in Lauro, S. Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) and S. Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini.
In a note, the Holy See Press Office said that some 6,000 priests and seminarians “are already present for this Jubilee” in Rome.
Events will provide opportunities for them to reflect and mediate together on the Word of God, to adore the Most Blessed Sacrament, to receive the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, and to make a pilgrimage through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Pope to offer mediations for televised spiritual retreat Thursday
On Thursday, Pope Francis will offer three meditations for a spiritual retreat on the theme of “the Good Shepherd: the priest as a minister of mercy and compassion, close to his people and servant of all.”
Pope Francis will take part in Thursday’s retreat with stops in the three Papal Basilicas: St. John Lateran, Saint Mary Major and Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls (10:00, 12:00 noon and 4pm respectively). The Basilicas will be connected via video link throughout the day so that priests present can follow the entire day’s meditations.
“The great novelty” of the Jubilee, said the Holy See Press Office, is that, thanks to the Vatican Television Center which will film the event, the public will be able to follow Pope Francis’ meditations for the clergy 2 June on major national and international Catholic television networks and in streaming on the official Jubilee of Mercy website: www.im.va . Streamed video will be offered in the original Italian and with simultaneous translations in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Polish.
Among Catholic stations to broadcast the event in the U.S. are EWTN and BCTV.
The Jubilee celebrations will conclude with a Holy Mass presided by the Holy Father on Friday 3 June in St. Peter’s Square.
#BreakingNews a Hospital in Poland stops all Abortions after Doctors sign #ProLife Clause allowing for Conscience opt out - SHARE
Please SHARE this Important News: In Rzeszów, Poland a hospital has stopped doing abortions after its doctors signed a clause that allows them to opt out because of conscience.
This Specialist Hospital Pro-Familia had become famous for performing abortions when a midwife named Agata Rejman exposed its activities two years ago.
In January 2014, Rejman revealed this at a press conference and testified to the abortions that were being done in the hospital. She said she and others working there cited the conscience clause and said that they refused to be involved in abortion,Rzeszow News reported.
The management contered by demanding that Rejman retract her statements, especially those saying that Pro-Familia “kills children.” Rejman was asked to pay 50,000 zlotych for Podkarpackie Hospice for Children and was threatened with a lawsuit if she failed to do this. Edited from Christiantimes
SHARE this and Please PRAY for an end to Abortion!
#PopeFrancis " True prayer is born of a heart which repents of its faults..." #Audience FULL TEXT - Video
Pope Francis was referring to the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in which Jesus contrasts the arrogance and self-righteousness of the Pharisee’s prayer with the tax collector’s humble recognition of his sinfulness and need for the Lord’s mercy.
In his prayer, the Pharisee “showed off” his own merits and displayed “ a sense of superiority towards other men,” the Pope said. He prayed to God but in truth, he was really interested in himself. Rather than “prostrate himself before the grandeur of God,” he remains standing; he feels sure of himself, almost as if he were lord of the temple.”
The Pharisee despised people commonly seen as “impure,” sinners such as the tax collector, the Pope asserted, but God “loves all men and does not despise sinners.”
“It is not enough then, to ask ourselves how much we pray; we must also ask ourselves how we pray,” he added, saying it’s important to examine our hearts and “eradicate arrogance and hypocrisy.”
It is also important “to find the way back to our hearts” and to “rediscover the value of intimacy and silence” amid the frenetic pace of daily life because “it is there that God meets us and speaks to us.” The Pharisee makes his way confidently towards the temple, said the Pope, but he is unaware of “having lost the way towards his heart.”
The tax collector, on the other hand, comes to the temple “humble and repentant” and was even afraid to raise his eyes to heaven, noted the Pope. His was a “beautiful prayer,” the Pope said, inviting the faithful to recite it with him three times: ‘Lord, have pity on me for I am a sinner.”
The parable, he stressed, shows us that being righteous or sinners is not a question of social standing but of how we act towards God and others. Humbly recognizing his sin, the tax collector begs for God’s mercy – and shows all of us, the Pope said, the necessary condition to receive God’s forgiveness. It is he, the “despised” one, who becomes the “icon of the true believer” whereas the Pharisee is “corrupt and a hypocrite.”
Arrogance, the Pope concluded, “compromises every good action” and empties prayer of meaning. Arrogance will keep our prayers from reaching God, but the humility of the poor in heart will throw open the doors to His mercy.
Below, please find the text of the Holy Father’s remarks to English speaking pilgrims:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now turn to the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Lk18:9-14). Jesus contrasts the arrogance and self-righteousness of the Pharisee’s prayer with the tax collector’s humble recognition of his sinfulness and need for the Lord’s mercy. True prayer is born of a heart which repents of its faults and failings, yet pleads for the grace to live the great commandment of love of God and neighbour. Indeed, the proud disdain of the Pharisee for the sinner at his side prevents him from being righteous in God’s sight. To pray well, then, we need to look into our own hearts and there, in humble silence, let the Lord speak to us. The honesty and humility which God asks of us is the necessary condition for our receiving his mercy. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the model of such prayer. In her Magnificat, she tells us that God looks with favour on the humility of his servants, and hears their plea. May she, our Mother, help us to pray as we ought.
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria, Canada and the United States of America. With prayerful good wishes that the present Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for you and your families, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today's Mass Readings and Video : Wed. June 1, 2016
Memorial of Saint Justin, Martyr
Lectionary: 355
Reading 12 TM 1:1-3, 6-12
Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God
for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dear child:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to God,
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.
For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel,
for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher.
On this account I am suffering these things;
but I am not ashamed,
for I know him in whom I have believed
and am confident that he is able to guard
what has been entrusted to me until that day.
for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dear child:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to God,
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.
For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel,
for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher.
On this account I am suffering these things;
but I am not ashamed,
for I know him in whom I have believed
and am confident that he is able to guard
what has been entrusted to me until that day.
Responsorial PsalmPS 123:1B-2AB, 2CDEF
R. (1b) To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
AlleluiaJN 11:25A, 26
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”
Saint June 1 St. Justin : #Martyr : Died 165
Born:100 at Nablus, PalestineDied:165, Rome, Roman Empire
Among the Fathers of the second century his life is the best known, and from the most authentic documents. In both "Apologies" and in his "Dialogue" he gives many personal details, e.g. about his studies in philosophy and his conversion; they are not, however, an autobiography, but are partly idealized, and it is necessary to distinguish in them between poetry and truth; they furnish us however with several precious and reliable clues. For his martyrdom we have documents of undisputed authority. In the first line of his "Apology" he calls himself "Justin, the son of Priscos, son of Baccheios, of Flavia Neapolis, in Palestinian Syria".
Flavia Neapolis, his native town, founded by Vespasian (A.D. 72), was built on the site of a place called Mabortha, or Mamortha, quite near Sichem (Guérin, "Samarie", I, Paris, 1874, 390-423; Schürer, "History of the Jewish People", tr., I, Edinburgh, 1885). Its inhabitants were all, or for the most part, pagans. The names of the father and grandfather of Justin suggest a pagan origin, and he speaks of himself as uncircumcised (Dialogue, xxviii). The date of his birth is uncertain, but would seem to fall in the first years of the second century.
He received a good education in philosophy, an account of which he gives us at the beginning of his "Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon"; he placed himself first under a Stoic, but after some time found that he had learned nothing about God and that in fact his master had nothing to teach him on the subject. A Peripatetic whom he then found welcomed him at first but afterwards demanded a fee from him; this proved that he was not a philosopher.
A Pythagorean refused to teach him anything until he should have learned music, astronomy, and geometry. Finally a Platonist arrived on the scene and for some time delighted Justin. This account cannot be taken too literally; the facts seem to be arranged with a view to showing the weakness of the pagan philosophies and of contrasting them with the teachings of the Prophets and of Christ.
The main facts, however, may be accepted; the works of Justin seem to show just such a philosophic development as is here described, Eclectic, but owing much to Stoicism and more to Platonism. He was still under the charm of the Platonistic philosophy when, as he walked one day along the seashore, he met a mysterious old man; the conclusion of their long discussion was that the soul could not arrive through human knowledge at the idea of God, but that it needed to be instructed by the Prophets who, inspired by the Holy Ghost, had known God and could make Him known ("Dialogue", iii, vii; cf. Zahm, "Dichtung and Wahrheit in Justins Dialog mit dem Jeden Trypho" in "Zeitschr. für Kirchengesch.", VIII, 1885-1886, 37-66).
The "Apologies" throw light on another phase of the conversion of Justin: "When I was a disciple of Plato", he writes, "hearing the accusations made against the Christians and seeing them intrepid in the face of death and of all that men fear, I said to myself that it was impossible that they should be living in evil and in the love of pleasure" (II Apol., xviii, 1). Both accounts exhibit the two aspects of Christianity that most strongly influenced St. Justin; in the "Apologies" he is moved by its moral beauty (I Apol., xiv), in the "Dialogue" by its truth. His conversion must have taken place at the latest towards A.D. 130, since St. Justin places during the war of Bar-Cocheba (132-135) the interview with the Jew Tryphon, related in his "Dialogue". This interview is evidently not described exactly as it took place, and yet the account cannot be wholly fictitious. Tryphon, according to Eusebius (Church History IV.18.6), was "the best known Jew of that time", which description the historian may have borrowed from the introduction to the "Dialogue", now lost. It is possible to identify in a general way this Tryphon with the Rabbi Tarphon often mentioned in the Talmud (Schürer, "Gesch. d. Jud. Volkes", 3rd ed., II, 377 seq., 555 seq., cf., however, Herford, "Christianity in Talmud and Midrash", London, 1903, 156). The place of the interview is not definitely told, but Ephesus is clearly enough indicated; the literary setting lacks neither probability nor life, the chance meetings under the porticoes, the groups of curious onlookers who stop a while and then disperse during the interviews, offer a vivid picture of such extemporary conferences.
St. Justin lived certainly some time at Ephesus; the Acts of his martyrdom tell us that he went to Rome twice and lived "near the baths of Timothy with a man named Martin". He taught school there, and in the aforesaid Acts of his martyrdom we read of several of his disciples who were condemned with him. In his second "Apology" (iii) Justin says: "I, too, expect to be persecuted and to be crucified by some of those whom I have named, or by Crescens, that friend of noise and of ostentation." Indeed Tatian relates (Address to the Greeks 19) that the Cynic philosopher Crescens did pursue him and Justin; he does not tell us the result and, moreover, it is not certain that the "Discourse" of Tatian was written after the death of Justin. Eusebius (Church History IV.16.7-8) says that it was the intrigues of Crescens which brought about the death of Justin; this is credible, but not certain; Eusebius has apparently no other reason for affirming it than the two passages cited above from Justin and Tatian. St. Justin was condemned to death by the prefect, Rusticus, towards A.D. 165, with six companions, Chariton, Charito, Evelpostos, Pæon, Hierax, and Liberianos. We still have the authentic account of their martyrdom ("Acta SS.", April, II, 104-19; Otto, "Corpus Apologetarum", III, Jena, 1879, 266-78; P.G., VI, 1565-72). The examination ends as follows:
"The Prefect Rusticus says: Approach and sacrifice, all of you, to the gods. Justin says: No one in his right mind gives up piety for impiety. The Prefect Rusticus says: If you do not obey, you will be tortured without mercy. Justin replies: That is our desire, to be tortured for Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so to be saved, for that will give us salvation and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of Our Lord and Saviour. And all the martyrs said: Do as you wish; for we are Christians, and we do not sacrifice to idols. The Prefect Rusticus read the sentence: Those who do not wish to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the emperor will be scourged and beheaded according to the laws. The holy martyrs glorifying God betook themselves to the customary place, where they were beheaded and consummated their martyrdom confessing their Saviour."
Text from the Catholic Encyclopedia
#PopeFrancis #Prayer Intentions for June "That the aged, marginalized, and those who have no one may find...."
June
Universal: Human Solidarity
That the aged, marginalized, and those who have no one may find–even within the huge cities of the world–opportunities for encounter and solidarity.
Evangelization: Seminarians and Novices
That seminarians and men and women entering religious life may have mentors who live the joy of the Gospel and prepare them wisely for their mission.
Source Apostleship of Prayer - Image Google Images - ANSA
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