July 30th - Saint Peter Chrysologus
- From: "Waldtraud" <richarra@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:22:20 -0500
July 30th - Saint Peter Chrysologus
Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, c.406-450
PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, a native of Imola, Italy, was baptized, educated, and
ordained a priest by Cornelius, the bishop of that city. In many of his
writings Peter speaks of Cornelius with affection and gratitude as his
spiritual father. Peter was elected bishop of Ravenna sometime between 425
and 429. The city was the imperial residence of Galla Placidia, mother of
the emperor Valentinian III. From this time it began to be an important
civil, political, and ecclesiastical center.
When he arrived in Ravenna, Peter found the demoralizing effects of paganism
ramp ant in that city. He urged his people to receive the Holy Eucharist
frequently as a means of combating vice. He pressed for complete obedience
to the commands of the pope, made apparent through the counsels of the
priests.
Although Saint Peter's charity toward the poor of his diocese was
outstanding, he is most noted for his sermons and treatises, which were
collected by Felix, archbishop of Ravenna from 708 to 724. His chief works
contain explanations of biblical texts and treatises defending the
Incarnation, which he wrote to denounce the heresy of Eutyches. He dedicated
some homilies to the Blessed Virgin, asserting the truth of the Immaculate
Conception. Not so much because of his eloquence as because of the fervor
and devotion of his sermons, he was given the name Chrysologus, meaning
"golden speech."
Saint Peter died in 451 in the city of Imola, and was buried in the Church
of Saint Cassian. Examination of his discourses and their lasting influence
led Pope Benedict XIII to declare him a Doctor of the Church in 1729.
The Gradual of the Mass for a bishop and confessor serves as the highest
praise for this holy priest: "Here was a great priest whose life was
acceptable to God. Where shall we find another to keep the law of the Most
High as he kept it?"
Saint Quote:
"Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ."
-Saint Peter Chrysologus
Bible Quote:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)
<><><><>
From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus
I appeal to you by the mercy of God. This appeal is made by Paul, or rather,
it is made by God through Paul, because of God's desire to be loved rather
than feared, to be a father rather than a Lord. God appeals to us in his
mercy to avoid having to punish us in his severity.
Listen to the Lord's appeal: In me, I want you to see your own body, your
members, your heart, your bones, your blood. You may fear what is divine,
but why not love what is human? You may run away from me as the Lord, but
why not run to me as your father? Perhaps you are filled with shame for
causing my bitter passion. Do not be afraid. This cross inflicts a mortal
injury, not on me, but on death. These nails no longer pain me, but only
deepen your love for me. I do not cry out because of these wounds, but
through them I draw you into my heart. My body was stretched on the cross as
a symbol, not of how much I suffered, but of my all-embracing love. I count
it no less to shed my blood: it is the price I have paid for your ransom.
Come, then, return to me and learn to know me as your father, who repays
good for evil, love for injury, and boundless charity for piercing wounds.
Listen now to what the Apostle urges us to do. I appeal to you, he says, to
present your bodies as a living sacrifice. By this exhortation of his, Paul
has raised all men to priestly status.
How marvelous is the priesthood of the Christian, for he is both the victim
that is offered on his own behalf, and the priest who makes the offering. He
does not need to go beyond himself to seek what he is to immolate to God:
with himself and in himself he brings the sacrifice he is to offer God for
himself. The victim remains and the priest remains, always one and the same.
Immolated, the victim still lives: the priest who immolates cannot kill.
Truly it is an amazing sacrifice in which a body is offered without being
slain and blood is offered without being shed.
The Apostle says: I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies
as a living sacrifice. Brethren, this sacrifice follows the pattern of
Christ's sacrifice by which he gave his body as a living immolation for the
life of the world. He really made his body a living sacrifice, because,
though slain, he continues to live. In such a victim death receives its
ransom, but the victim remains alive. Death itself suffers the punishment.
This is why death for the martyrs is actually a birth, and their end a
beginning. Their execution is the door to life, and those who were thought
to have been blotted out from the earth shine brilliantly in heaven.
Paul says: I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a
sacrifice, living and holy. The prophet said the same thing: Sacrifice and
offering you did not desire, but you have prepared a body for me. Each of us
is called to be both a sacrifice to God and his priest. Do not forfeit what
divine authority confers on you. Put on the garment of holiness, gird
yourself with the belt of chastity. Let Christ be your helmet, let the cross
on your forehead be your unfailing protection. Your breastplate should be
the knowledge of God that he himself has given you. Keep burning continually
the sweet smelling incense of prayer. Take up the sword of the Spirit. Let
your heart be an altar. Then, with full confidence in God, present your body
for sacrifice. God desires not death, but faith; God thirsts not for blood,
but for self-surrender; God is appeased not by slaughter, but by the
offering of your free will.
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