Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 03-18-05, Optional, St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Prayers offered up for the continued recovery of Pope John Paul II; for Terri Schindler Schiavo and the Schindler family; and for the grieving family of murdered 9 year old Jessica Lunsford in FL.

"Trust the Lord with your whole heart" bump.

American Cathlic's Saint of the Day

March 18, 2005

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

(315?-386)

Problems in the Church today are minor compared with the reverberations of the Arian heresy that denied the divinity of Christ. Cyril was to be caught up in the controversy, accused (later) of Arianism by St. Jerome, and ultimately vindicated both by the men of his own time and by being declared a Doctor of the Church in 1822. Raised in Jerusalem, well-educated, especially in the Scriptures, he was ordained a priest by the bishop of Jerusalem and given the task of catechizing during Lent those preparing for Baptism and during the Easter season the newly baptized. His Catecheses remain valuable as examples of the ritual and theology of the Church in the mid-fourth century.

There are conflicting reports about the circumstances of his becoming bishop of Jerusalem. It is certain that he was validly consecrated by bishops of the province. Since one of them was an Arian, Acacius, it may have been expected that his “cooperation” would follow. Conflict soon rose between Cyril and Acacius, bishop of the rival nearby see of Caesarea. Cyril was summoned to a council, accused of insubordination and of selling Church property to relieve the poor. Probably, however, a theological difference was also involved. He was condemned, driven from Jerusalem, and later vindicated, not without some association and help of Semi-Arians. Half his episcopate was spent in exile (his first experience was repeated twice). He finally returned to find Jerusalem torn with heresy, schism and strife, and wracked with crime. Even St. Gregory of Nyssa, sent to help, left in despair.

They both went to the (second ecumenical) Council of Constantinople, where the amended form of the Nicene Creed was promulgated. Cyril accepted the word consubstantial (that is, of Christ and the Father). Some said it was an act of repentance, but the bishops of the Council praised him as a champion of orthodoxy against the Arians. Though not friendly with the greatest defender of orthodoxy against the Arians, Cyril may be counted among those whom Athanasius called “brothers, who mean what we mean, and differ only about the word [consubstantial].”

Comment:

Those who imagine that the lives of saints are simple and placid, untouched by the vulgar breath of controversy, are rudely shocked by history. Yet it should be no surprise that saints, indeed all Christians, will experience the same difficulties as their Master. The definition of truth is an endless, complex pursuit, and good men and women have suffered the pain of both controversy and error. Intellectual, emotional and political roadblocks may slow up people like Cyril for a time. But their lives taken as a whole are monuments to honesty and courage.

Quote:

“It is not only among us, who are marked with the name of Christ, that the dignity of faith is great; all the business of the world, even of those outside the Church, is accomplished by faith. By faith, marriage laws join in union persons who were strangers to one another. By faith, agriculture is sustained; for a man does not endure the toil involved unless he believes he will reap a harvest. By faith, seafaring men, entrusting themselves to a tiny wooden craft, exchange the solid element of the land for the unstable motion of the waves. Not only among us does this hold true but also, as I have said, among those outside the fold. For though they do not accept the Scriptures but advance certain doctrines of their own, yet even these they receive on faith” (Catechesis V).

Jn 10:31-42
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
31	The Jews then took up stones to stone him.	sustulerunt lapides Iudaei ut lapidarent eum
32	Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?	respondit eis Iesus multa opera bona ostendi vobis ex Patre meo propter quod eorum opus me lapidatis
33	The Jews answered him: For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy: and because that thou. being a, man, makest thyself God.	responderunt ei Iudaei de bono opere non lapidamus te sed de blasphemia et quia tu homo cum sis facis te ipsum Deum
34	Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said, you are gods?	respondit eis Iesus nonne scriptum est in lege vestra quia ego dixi dii estis
35	If he called them gods to whom the word of God was spoken; and the scripture cannot be broken:	si illos dixit deos ad quos sermo Dei factus est et non potest solvi scriptura
36	Do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest; because I said: I am the Son of God?	quem Pater sanctificavit et misit in mundum vos dicitis quia blasphemas quia dixi Filius Dei sum
37	If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.	si non facio opera Patris mei nolite credere mihi
38	But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in the Father.	si autem facio et si mihi non vultis credere operibus credite ut cognoscatis et credatis quia in me est Pater et ego in Patre
39	They sought therefore to take him: and he escaped out of their hands.	quaerebant ergo eum prendere et exivit de manibus eorum
40	And he went again beyond the Jordan, into that place where John was baptizing first. And there he abode.	et abiit iterum trans Iordanen in eum locum ubi erat Iohannes baptizans primum et mansit illic
41	And many resorted to him: and they said: John indeed did no sign.	et multi venerunt ad eum et dicebant quia Iohannes quidem signum fecit nullum
42	But all things whatsoever John said of this man were true. And many believed n him.	omnia autem quaecumque dixit Iohannes de hoc vera erant et multi crediderunt in eum

"Cyril" is a name big in the Russian Orthodox church

Yes, but that is a different Cyril. Together with St.Methodius they created the Cyrillic alphabet in the 9th century.

Sts. Cyril and Methodius