ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 22nd of December
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
ST ISCHYRION, MARTYR
(A.D. 253) Saint Ischyrion was an inferior officer who attended on a magistrate of a certain city in Egypt, which St Dionysius has not named. His master commanded him to offer sacrifice to the idols; and because he refused to commit that sacrilege, reproached him with the most contumelious and threatening speeches. By giving way to his passion and superstition, he at length worked himself up to that degree of frenzy, as to run a stake into the bowels of the meek servant of Christ, who, by his patient constancy attained to the glory of martyrdom.
TRUE RICHES
We justly praise and admire the tender piety and heroic fortitude of this holy servant and martyr. It is not a man’s condition, but virtue, that can make him truly great, or truly happy. How mean soever a person’s station or circumstances may be, the road to both is open to him; and there is not a servant or slave who ought not to be enkindled with a laudable ambition of arriving at this greatness, which will set him on the same level with the rich and the most powerful.
FAITHFULNESS TO GOD
Nay, a servant’s condition has generally stronger incitements to holiness, and fewer obstacles and temptations than most others. But for this he must, in the first place, be faithful to God, and ardent in all practices of devotion. Some allege want of time to pray; but their meals, their sleep, their diversions demonstrate, that it is not time, but zeal for the divine service that is wanting.
DUTIES TO GOD
What Christian does not blush at his laziness in this duty, when he calls to mind Epictetus’s lamp, and Cleanthes’s labour, who wrought and earned by night what might maintain him in the study of philosophy by day! Prayer in such a station ought not to trespass upon work, but who cannot, even at his work, raise his mind to God in frequent short prayers! Also industry, faithfulness, with the most scrupulous exactness, obedience, respect, esteem, and sincere love which a servant owes to a master, with a care of their honour and interest, are duties to God, whose will he does, and whom he honours in proportion to the diligence and ardour with which he acquits himself of them.
VIRTUES CONSTANTLY TO BE EXERCISED
Justice, charity, concord, and ready mutual assistance are virtues constantly to be exercised towards fellow-servants, upon which depend the peace, happiness, and good order of the whole family. Patience, meekness, humility, and charity, must be called forth on all occasions, especially under reproofs and injuries, which must always be received in silence, and with sweetness, kindness, and a degree of gratitude when they carry any admonitions with them.
CONFIDENCE IN GOD'S WISDOM
Perfect resignation to the will of God, and confidence in his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, must be joined with constant cheerfulness and contentedness in a person’s station, which brings servants much greater advantages for happiness, and removes them from dangers, hazards, and disappointments, more than is generally considered.
ARISING TO TRUE GREATNESS
Servants who are kept mostly for state, are of all others most exposed to dangers and ruin, and most unhappy; but must by devotion and other serious employments fill up all their moments. By such a conduct, a servant, how low soever his condition may appear in the eyes of men, will arise to the truest greatness, attain to present and future happiness, and approve himself dear to God, valuable to man, a most useful member of the republic of the world, and a blessing to the family wherein he lives.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
➡️ Saint Ischyrion's entry in the Roman Martyrology (on June 1)
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