Tag: eusebiusofcaesarea

Posted in ADVENT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, St JOHN the BAPTIST, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 17 December – Prepare the way of the Lord make straight His paths. – Luke 3:4

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 17 December – “The Month of the Divine Infant and the Immaculate Conception” – Saturday of Ember Week in Advent – Isaias 19:20-22, Luke 3:1-6 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: ‘A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord make straight His paths.’” – Luke 3:4

REFLECTION – “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.’ The prophecy makes clear that it is to be fulfilled, not in Jerusalem but in the wilderness, it is there that the glory of the Lord is to appear and God’s salvation is to be made known to all mankind.

It was in the wilderness that God’s saving presence was proclaimed by John the Baptist and there that God’s salvation was seen. The words of this prophecy were fulfilled when Christ and His glory were made manifest to all after His Baptism, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, rested upon Him and the Father’s Voice was heard, bearing witness to the Son: ‘This is My beloved Son, listen to Him.‘

The prophecy meant that God was to come to a deserted place, inaccessible from the beginning. None of the pagans had any knowledge of God, since His holy servants and prophets, were kept from approaching them. The Voice commands that a way be prepared for the Word of God – the rough and trackless ground is to be made level, so that our God may find a highway when He comes. Prepare the way of the Lord – the way is the preaching of the Gospel, the new message of consolation, ready to bring to all mankind, the knowledge of God’s saving power.

Climb on a high mountain, bearer of good news to Zion. Lift up your voice in strength, bearer of good news to Jerusalem. These words harmonise very well with the meaning of what has gone before. They refer, opportunely, to the Evangelists and proclaim the coming of God to men, after speaking of the voice crying in the wilderness. Mention of the Evangelists suitably follows the prophecy of John the Baptist.

What does Zion mean if not the City previously called Jerusalem? This is the mountain referred to in that passage from Scripture: Here is mount Zion, where Thou dwelt. The Apostle says: You have come to mount Zion. Does not this refer to the company of the Apostles, chosen from the former people of the circumcision?

This is the Zion, the Jerusalem, which received God’s salvation. It stands aloft on the mountain of God, that is, it is raised high on the Only-begotten Word of God. It is commanded to climb the high mountain and announce the Word of Salvation. Who is the bearer of the good news but the company of the Evangelists? What does it mean to bear the good news but to preach to all nations but first of all, to the cities of Judah, the coming of Christ on earth?” – Eusebius of Caesarea (c 265-339) Bishop, Theologian, Historian, Father (An excerpt from his Commentary on Isaias).

PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we, who are heavy-laden under the yoke of sin, maybe delivered from the bondage of old, by the long-awaited new birth of Thy Only-begotten Son. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Rejoice! ejoice! Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, O Israel. Amen (Collect)

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 1 October – The seventy[two] disciples … Luke 10:1

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 1 October – Thursday of the Twenty Sixth week in Ordinary Time, Readings: Job 19:21-27, Psalms 27:7-8, 8-9, 13-14, Luke 10:1-12 and the Memorial of St Romanos the Melodios (c 490-c 556) and St Thérèse of the Child Jesus/Lisieux OCD (1873 – 1897) Doctor of the Church

“After this the Lord appointed seventy [-two] others whom He sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place He intended to visit…” … Luke 10:1

REFLECTION – “The names of the apostles of the Saviour are clear to everyone from the Gospels but no list of the seventy[two] disciples is in circulation anywhere. Some have said, to be sure, that Barnabas was one of them and the Acts of the Apostles and Paul writing to the Galatians, have made special mention of him. They say Sosthenes was of these as well. Together with Paul, he wrote to the Corinthians. Tradition also holds that Matthias, who was listed among the apostles in place of Judas and Joseph Justus, who was honoured with him, at the same casting of lots, were considered worthy of the same calling among the seventy. They say that Thaddaeus was also one of them, about whom I shall presently relate a story which has come down to us.

On observation, you would find that the disciples of the Saviour appear to have been more than the seventy [two]. Paul says that after the resurrection from the dead Cephas saw him first, then the Twelve. After these saw him, he was seen by more than five hundred brothers all at once, some of whom he says had fallen asleep, although the majority were still alive at the time that this account was being composed by him.” … Eusebius of Caesarea (c 260-c 340) Bishop, Historian, Theologian – (Ecclesiastical History, 1.)

PRAYER – God, our Father, Your promised Your Kingdom to the little ones and the humble of heart. Give us grace to walk confidently in the way of St Romanos and St Thérèse, so that helped by their prayers, we may see Your eternal glory. Through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.

Posted in DOMINICAN OP, FATHERS of the Church, MORNING Prayers, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 23 January –Wednesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time – First Reading: Hebrews 7:1–3

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 23 January –Wednesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time – First Reading: Hebrews 7:1–3 – and The Memorial of Blessed Henry Suso OP (1295-1366)

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him…Hebrews 7:1

REFLECTION – “An ancient priest of the Mosaic order could only be selected from the tribe of Levi.   It was obligatory without exception that he should be of the family descending from Aaron and do service to God in outward worship with the sacrifices and blood of irrational animals.   But he that is named Melchizedek, which in Greek is translated “king of righteousness,” who was king of Salem, which would mean “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without line of descent, not having, according to the account, “beginning of years or end of life,” had no characteristics shared by the Aaronic priesthood.

For he was not chosen by humans, he was not anointed with prepared oil, he was not of the tribe of those who had not yet been born and, strangest of all, he was not even circumcised in his flesh and yet he blesses Abraham, as if he were far better than he.   He did not act as priest to the Most High God with sacrifices and libations, nor did he minister at the temple in Jerusalem.   How could he?   It did not yet exist.   And he was such, of course, because there was going to be no similarity between our Saviour Christ and Aaron, for He was neither to be designated priest after a period when he was not priest, nor was He to become priest but be it.   For we should notice carefully in the words, “You are a priest forever,” he does not say, “You shall be what you were not before,” any more than, “You were that before which you are not now” — but by Him who said, “I am who I am,”1 it is said, “You are, and remain, a priest forever.”

And the fulfilment of the oracle is truly wondrous to one who recognises how our Saviour Jesus, the Christ of God, now performs through His ministers even today, sacrifices after the manner of Melchizedek’s.   For just as He, who was priest of the Gentiles, is not represented as offering outward sacrifices but as blessing,  Abraham only with wine and bread, so in exactly the same way our Lord and Saviour Himself first and then all His priests among all nations, perform the spiritual sacrifice according to the customs of the church and with wine and bread darkly express the mysteries of His body and saving blood.   This, by the Holy Spirit, Melchizedek foresaw and used the figures of what was to come, as the Scripture of Moses witnesses, when it says, “And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abraham.”   And thus it followed that to Him only was the addition of an oath, “The Lord God has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’”.…Eusebius of Caesarea (c 260-339) Bishop “Father of Church History”hebrews 2 1 - for this melchizidek - you are a priest forever - 23 jan 2019.jpg

PRAYER – Loving Father, grant me to have a true fervour in Your service. Help me to become a zealous worker for Your honour and glory, in imitation of your Son and of your holy saints. Grant that by the prayers of Blessed Henry Suso, we may grow in love, by Your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever.

“In the history of early Christianity there is a fundamental distinction between the first three centuries and those that followed the Council of Nicaea in 325, the first Ecumenical Council.   Like a “hinge” between the two periods are the so-called “conversion of Constantine” and the peace of the Church, as well as the figure of Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine.   He was the most highly qualified exponent of the Christian culture of his time in very varied contexts, from theology to exegesis, from history to erudition.   Eusebius is known above all as the first historian of Christianity but he was also the greatest philologist of the ancient Church.”…Pope Benedict XVI, 13 June 2007bl henry suso pray for us 23 jan 2019