Ordinary Time: November 25th

Optional Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr

MASS READINGS

November 25, 2017 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Almighty ever-living God, who gave Saint Catherine of Alexandria to your people as a Virgin and an invincible Martyr, grant that through her intercession we may be strengthened in faith and constancy and spend ourselves without reserve for the unity of the Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Prayers (6)

Old Calendar: St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr ; Other Titles: St. Katherine

From time immemorial St. Catherine had been venerated at the monastery on Mount Sinai when, in the fifteenth century, the monks discovered her body. Legend has made of her a young Christian of Alexandria who rejected the advances of the Emperor Maximinus and routed a meeting of learned men gathered together to induce her to deny Christ. This feast was restored to the calendar in 2002.

St. Catherine of Alexandria
The account of her martyrdom is legendary and defies every attempt to cull out the historical kernel. Old Oriental sources make no mention of her. In the West her cult does not appear before the eleventh century, when the crusaders made it popular. She became the patroness of philosophical faculties; she is one of the "Fourteen Holy Helpers." The breviary offers the following:

Catherine, virgin of Alexandria, devoted herself to the pursuit of knowledge; at the age of eighteen, she surpassed all her contemporaries in science. Upon seeing how the Christians were being tortured, she went before Emperor Maximin (311-313), upbraided him for his cruelty, and with convincing reasons demonstrated the need of Christian faith in order to be saved. Astounded by her wisdom, the Emperor ordered her to be kept confined, and having summoned the most learned philosophers, promised them magnificent rewards if they could confound the virgin and turn her from belief in Christ. Far from being successful, a considerable number of the philosophers were inflamed by the sound reasons and persuasiveness of Catherine's speech with such a love for Jesus Christ that they declared themselves willing to offer their lives for the Gospel.

Then the Emperor attempted to win her by flattery and by promises, but his efforts proved equally fruitless. He ordered her whipped with rods, scourged with leaden nodules, and then left to languish eleven days without food in prison. The Emperor's wife and Porphyrius, general of the army, visited Catherine in prison; her words brought both to Christ and later they too proved their love in blood. Catherine's next torture consisted of being placed upon a wheel with sharp and pointed knives; from her lacerated body prayers ascended to heaven and the infernal machine fell to pieces. Many who witnessed the miracle embraced the faith. Finally, on November 25 Christ's servant was beheaded (307 or 312). By the hands of angels her body was carried to Mt. Sinai, where it was interred in the convent which bears her name.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

Patron: Apologists; craftsmen who work with a wheel (potters; spinners; etc.); archivists; attorneys; barristers; dying people; educators; girls; jurists; knife grinders; knife sharpeners; lawyers; librarians; libraries; maidens; mechanics; millers; nurses; old maids; philosophers; potters; preachers; scholars; schoolchildren; scribes; secretaries; spinners; spinsters; stenographers; students; tanners; teachers; theologians; turners; unmarried girls; wheelwrights.

Symbols: Wheel set with sharp knives; broken wheel; sword; crown at her feet; hailstones; bridal veil and ring; dove; scourge; book; spiked wheel; woman strapped to the spiked wheel on which she was martyred; woman arguing with pagan philosophers.

Things to Do:

St. Catherine was invoked by young girls seeking husbands. If you have children, you could use this feast to discuss the qualities of a good spouse. You could bake St. Catherine's wigs and have your discussion as part of the fun (a spoon full of sugar).
Read more about St. Catherine.
St. Catherine's remains are in St. Katherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai. The Monastery, a 1,600-year old fortress at the base of Mt. Sinai, is inhabited by Coptic monks (not in union with Rome). Inside the chapel is believed to be the Burning Bush, through which God first appeared to Moses. Read more about the history of the Church of Alexandria and the Council of Chalcedon where the Coptic Church broke from the bark of Peter and pray for the reunion of all Eastern Churches under the Pope.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Luke 20:27-40

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr (Optional Memorial)

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection . . . (Luke 20:27)

You don’t hear much about the Sadducees in the gospels, but they played an important role during Jesus’ time. In fact, the chief priests and most of the Temple authorities were part of this group. The Sadducees generally came from Israel’s privileged class, and they tended to see the Pharisees as less refined. The Sadducees taught a strict adherence to the Law of Moses, while the Pharisees took a more open-ended approach to Scripture.

Theological disagreements like this one kindled deep divisions among the people of Israel. You can see an example of this in the story of St. Paul’s trial in Jerusalem, when a riot breaks out when some Sadducees learn that he is a Pharisee who believes in the resurrection (Acts 23:6-11).

As it was in Jesus’ day, so it is now: division among God’s people tends to blind us to all that we have in common. The Pharisees and Sadducees had the same love for the Law of Moses, and they were both part of God’s chosen, holy people. Today, Christians from many different churches, traditions, and denominations share the Sacrament of Baptism, belief in the Trinity, the centrality of Jesus’ cross, the power of the Holy Spirit, and so many other truths. For decades now, the Catholic Church has taught that the more we focus on all we have in common, the easier it will be for us to resolve our differences.

This year marks the five-hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. In the past this story has been recounted by both Catholics and Protestants in accusatory tones. But this year, leaders from many different Christian churches commemorated this event together and committed themselves to rediscover the power of the gospel in our day and age. This gracious approach to our painful history shows us that the Holy Spirit is at work. At a time when the world seems to be getting more divided, God is helping his fragmented people provide an example of what the path to unity can look like.

So in a spirit of unity and love, let’s all echo Jesus’ heartfelt prayer from the Last Supper:

“May they all be one . . . so that the world may believe.” (John 17:21)

1 Maccabees 6:1-13
Psalm 9:2-4, 6, 16, 19