Deus, in adjutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
As I have noted before, and have on occasion covered a saint or two, the Church recognizes the holiest of souls with commemorations of Masses in their honor. Most days recognize the gifts of some saint or other.
September started out with the commemoration of St. Giles an abbot of the 6th century and the twelve Holy Brothers who were martyrs in Africa under Emperor Valerian in 258 A.D. September 2 was the feast of St. Stephen, King of Hungary, who consecrated Hungary, his kingdom to the Blessed Mother. He converted his people to Christianity and died in 1038. Pope Pius X, the wonderful shepherd who condemned modernism and relativism is celebrated on September 3. Our Lady herself is celebrated on September 8 with the memory of her own nativity.
September 11, a date that we can all relate to, celebrates a couple of little known saints, brothers, Protus and Hyacinth who were beheaded under Valerian in 262 A.D. There is a Mass said for martyrs, and these two are of course remembered in this particular Mass.
They are not the main reason, though, that I mention this particular Mass. There is a choice of Gospels to be read for the Mass. One is Luke 12: 1-8, with Christ warning us against the fear of the world and covetousness, and admonishing us to keep watch. In part it says, ..."Be not afraid of them who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you Whom you shall fear: Fear ye Him Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cat into hell......And I say to you: whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the Angels of God."
It is the other Gospel that gets my attention, and especially that this particular one, read on September 11, foretells the destruction of the temple: with the signs that shall come before it and before the last judgment. Again, we must always watch. It is Matthew 24: 3-13. I set down the whole thing here. Are these indeed the times to keep watch?
"At that time, as Jesus was sitting on Mount Olivet, the disciples came to Him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the world? And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you. For many will come in My name, saying I am Christ: and they will seduce many. For you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places. Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved."
As we see the Christians in Syria being tortured, beheaded, their churches desecrated and destroyed, and not only Syria but Egypt and elsewhere in the muslim dominated parts of the world, we see more martyrs for Christ. Let us pray for them and for ourselves. The following hymn is apropos and is in my Daily Missal.
" The merits of the Saints, blessed for evermore, Their love that never faints, the toils they bravely bore. For these the Church today pours forth her joyous lay; Thee victors win the noblest bay.
They, whom this world of ill, while it yet held, abhorred: Its withering flowers that still they spurned with one accord: They knew them short-lived, all, and followed at Thy call, King Jesus, to Thy heavenly hall.
For Thee all pangs they bare, fury and mortal hate, The cruel scourge to tear, the hook to lacerate; But vain their foes' intent: for every torment spent, Their valiant spirits stood unbent.
Like sheep their blood they poured: and without groan or tear, They bent before the sword for Him their King most dear; Their souls, serenely blest, in patience they possessed, And looked in hope towards their rest.
What tongue may here declare, fancy or thought descry, The joys Thou dost prepare for these Thy Saints on high! Empurpled in the flood of their victorious blood, They won the laurel from their God.
To Thee, O Lord most high, One in Three Persons still, To pardon us we cry, and to preserve from ill: Here give Thy servants peace; hereafter, glad release. And pleasure that shall never cease. Amen"
(Apoc. 21:4) God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes:
and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor
sorrow shall be any more: for the former things are passed away.
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