John 15:15
- From: "Traudel" <hildegard8@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 11:15:11 -0600
Bible Verse
-- John 15:15 --
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's
business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you.
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Because Jesus Christ is Lord and Master, he should call us servants --
instead he calls us friends. How comforting and reassuring to be chosen as
Christ's friends. Because he is Lord and Master, we owe him our unqualified
obedience, but most of all, Jesus asks us to obey him because we love him.
<><><><>
December 29th - St. Ebrulf, Abbot & Confessor
(Also known as Evroul, Evroult, Ecruifus)
A.D. 596
EVROUL, called in Latin Ebruifus, was born at Bayeux, in 517, and was of the
most illustrious family of that country. But he learned from his cradle to
esteem nothing great but what is so in the eyes of God. The same sentiments
he made the rule of his holy and disinterested conduct in the court of king
Childebert I, who, being charmed with his accomplishments both of mind and
body, raised him to several posts of honor and authority, which he never
sought-for all his ambition aimed at goods infinitely surpassing those of
the earth, for which he testified a total indifference, even while they
flowed in upon him unasked. He showed by his example how possible it is for
a Christian to live in the world without being of it in spirit, and to
possess riches without being possessed by them. But then he made continual
use of the antidotes which heaven has afforded us to fence our hearts
against that contagious air, which are assiduous prayer, pious reading,
meditation, and the mortification of the senses. His friends importuned him
to marry, and he chose a virtuous wife, whose inclinations were perfectly
suitable to his own. By reading the lives of the saints they mutually
inflamed each other with a desire of forsaking the world. In this view they
agreed to a separation, and she took the veil in a holy nunnery, while he
distributed his whole fortune among the poor.
It was, however, a considerable time before he was able to obtain the leave
of King Clothaire I. (who, after the death of his brother Childebert, had
become master of all France) to retire from court. At length, he procured it
by reiterated importunities, and without delay took refuge in a monastery in
the diocese of Bayeux. By his profound humility, fervor, and all heroic
virtues, he gained the esteem and veneration of his fellow monks. But the
respect which he met with was to him a true affliction; he regarded it as a
snare, and a temptation to vanity. To shun it, he, with three others,
privately withdrew, and hid himself in the most remote part of the forest of
Ouche, in the diocese of Lisieux, which was only inhabited by wild beasts
and robbers. These new hermits had taken no measures for provisions. They
settled near a spring of clear water, made an enclosure with a hedge of
boughs, and built themselves little huts of branches and mud. A country
peasant discovered them in this place, to his great astonishment, and made
known to them that the woods were a retreat of cruel thieves: "We are come
hither," said Evroul, "to bewail our sins; we place our confidence in the
mercy of God, who by his providence feeds the birds of the air, and we fear
no one." The countryman brought them the next morning three loaves and some
honey, and was so edified by their conversation, that he soon after joined
them. One of the thieves happening to light upon them, saw there was no
booty to be expected, and, out of humanity and compassion, endeavored to
persuade them that their lives would be in danger from others of his
profession. Evroul represented to him, that having God for their protector,
they stood in fear of no danger from men who could have no inducement to
murder those who sought to hurt no man, and had no other occupation than to
lead penitential lives, and to please God. He then powerfully exhorted him
to change his life. The robber was converted upon the spot, and going to
his companions, brought many of them, in the same dispositions with himself,
to the saint, by whose advice they betook themselves to till the land, and
labor in the country for an honest maintenance. Several of them chose to
remain with these anchorets, in the practice of penance. They cultivated the
land, but it was too barren to yield them sufficient nourishment even in
their most abstemious way of living. But the inhabitants of the country
brought them in a little provision. Evroul accepted their alms, but whatever
remained he gave immediately to other poor, reserving nothing for the next
day.
The advantages and sweets of holy solitude, in uninterrupted contemplation,
made him desire to live always an anchoret, without being burdened with the
care of others. But fraternal charity overruled this inclination, for he
could not remain indifferent to the salvation of his neighbors. He therefore
received those who desired to live in penance under his direction, for whom
he was obliged to build a monastery at Ouche in Normandy, which to this day
bears his name. His community daily increasing, and many offering him lands,
he built fifteen other monasteries of men or women, of which his own always
remained the chief, and this he always governed himself. His affability
charmed every one; he seemed to know no pleasure equal to that of serving
his neighbor. He used to exhort all to labor, telling them, that they would
gain their bread by their work, and heaven by serving God in it. His example
sufficed to encourage others, by his indefatigable constancy in labor, his
patience in adversity, his perfect resignation to the will of God in all
things with equal joy, and his cheerfulness in the most severe practices of
perpetual penance. He arrived at a great old age though always sighing after
the joys of eternity. His patience in his last sickness made him seem never
sensible to pain. He lived forty-seven days without being able to take any
thing, except a little water, and the Sacred body of Jesus Christ. He never
ceased to exhort his disciples till he bid them adieu with joy, shutting his
eyes to this world on the 29th of December, 596. His body was buried in the
church of St. Peter, which he had built. His name occurs in Usuard, and in
the Roman Martyrology on this day. See his exact life in Mabillon, saec. 1;
Ben. p. 354; William of Gemblours, &c., also Bulteau, 1. 2, c. 31.
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The desire of Paradise:
O my God, when shall I behold Thine infinite beauty; when
shall I behold Thee face to face? In paradise I shall love
Thee, and Thou wilt love me in all eternity, my God and my All!
My Jesus, when shall I behold Thee and kiss thine wounds
which were inflicted on Thee for my sake?
O Mary, when shall I find myself at the feet of the Mother who
has loved and aided me so tenderly?
My sweet Protectress, turn thou on me thine eyes of mercy.
Take me from this land of exile, and show me the blessed
fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Amen.
.
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