SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR (II)
Mystery of the day: Joyful
Saint of the day
St. Apollonia
The details of the birth of St. Apollonia are not known. The details available about her are only the details written by Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria to Fabian, Bishop of Antioch. She was one of the virgin martyrs of Christianity. She was martyred in Alexandria for not renouncing her Christian faith during the reign of Emperor Philip, the Arab. One of the poets prophesied that a calamity could happen in Alexandria due to the presence of Christians there. On hearing this prophesy the people of Alexandria got furious and committed bloody outrages against innocent Christians. But the Government took no efforts to safeguard the Christians from the atrocities of other people. An old Christian man named Metrius and a Christian woman Quinta were martyred in the outrage. St. Apollonia who was a deaconess then, did not flee Alexandria, when all other Christians were fleeing from Alexandria to escape death. She was arrested and was threatened to be killed by fire. Her entire teeth were knocked down before killing her. But she voluntarily jumped into the fire to safeguard her modesty in the year 249. Some people considered the voluntary jumping into the fire by St. Apollonia as a suicide, which is not permitted in Christianity. But St. Augustine considered the voluntary martyrdom of St. Apollonia as a special inspiration from the Holy Spirit.
She is venerated as the patron saint of dentistry and dental diseases.
Reflection of the day
Theme: The promise kept.
"O Lord, remember us with the favour you show to your people." (Psalm 106: 4a)
True friendship lies in trust, on the ground of human level, when mistrust sets into relationship, the centre could not hold it again, as envy, hatred and doubt become the order of the day.
In contrary to this, God's promise to His people is always kept despite our shortcomings and weaknesses. To buttress this fact, that the Psalmist today reechoed God's faitfulness in the antiphon of today's psalm saying:
"O Lord, remember us with the favour you show to your people." (Psalm 106: 4a)
In the past, His faithfulness was told everywhere. And in our days, the story is not different. Let us be hopeful that God is in charge and He will do beyond our expectation. Peace! Be with you.
Let us pray
Almighty and merciful God, we thank You for yet another opportunity to see the light of the day, grant we pray the grace to be true to Your words ,so that we may be counted among the elects. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
© The ARCHIVE 1202222
Amen 🙏, more grace fr.
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