Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: the Fast of the Nativity
St. Eutychius
Feastday: December 11
4th century
Martyr of Spain at Merida or Cadiz, also called Oye. The details of his martyrdom are lost.
Pope Saint Damasus I
Feastday: December 11
b: 306? d: 384
All lovers of Scripture have reason to celebrate this day. Damasus was the pope who commissioned Saint Jerome to translate the Scriptures into Latin, the Vulgate version of the Bible.
Damasus was a sixty-year-old deacon when he was elected bishop of Rome in 366. His reign was marked by violence from the start when another group decided to elect a different pope. Both sides tried to enforce their selections through violence. Though the physical fighting stopped, Damasus had to struggle with these opponents throughout his years as pope.
Damasus may not have won this battle directly, but he won the war by initiating works that outlasted all his opponents. Not only did he commission the Vulgate translation but he also changed the liturgical language of the Church from Greek to Latin. He worked hard to preserve and restore the catacombs, the graves of the martyrs, and relics.
Damasus was a writer -- but he didn't author many-volumed treatises as other Christian writers did. Damasus liked to write epigrams in verse: short sayings that capture the essence of what needed to be said. He wrote many epigrams on martyrs and saints. And he wrote one about himself that shows his humility and the respect he had for the martyrs. In a Roman cemetery is the papal crypt he built. All that is left of him there, however, is this: " I, Damasus, wished to be buried here, but I feared to offend the ashes of these holy ones." Instead, when he died in 384, he was buried with his mother and sister.
From the Decree of Damasus (attributed to Damasus):
The arrangement of the names of Christ, however, is manifold: Lord, because He is Spirit; Word, because He is God; Son, because He is the only-begotten son of the Father; Man, because He was born of the Virgin; Priest, because He offered Himself as a sacrifice; Shepherd, because He is a guardian; Worm, because He rose again; Mountain, because He is strong; Way, because there is a straight path through Him to life; Lamb, because He suffered; Corner-Stone, because instruction is His; Teacher, because He demonstrates how to live; Sun, because He is the illuminator; Truth, because He is from the Father; Life, because He is the creator; Bread because He is flesh; Samaritan, because He is the merciful protector; Christ, because He is anointed; Jesus, because He is a mediator; Vine, because we are redeemed by His blood; Lion, because he is king; Rock, because He is firm; Flower, because He is the chosen one; Prophet, because He has revealed what is to come.
From The Faith of the Early Fathers , by William A. Jurgens, Copyright 1970, the Order of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota
In His Footsteps:
Damasus' love and respect for Scripture is shown in his authorization of the Vulgate translation. Spend 30 minutes today reading and meditating on Scripture. Try to make this a daily habit. One way to do this is keep a Bible open by your bedside and read it first thing in the morning and last thing before you turn out the light at night.
Prayer: Saint Damasus, instead of worrying about the short term of life on earth, you took God's view and looked to the things that last. Pray for me that I may be able to look beyond immediate popularity and fleeting favors, and choose to do the things that God wants me to do. Amen
More Saints of the Day
•St. Daniel the Stylite
•St. Damasus
•St. Barsabas
•St. Victoricus, Fuscian, and Gentian
•St. Trason
•St. Sabinus
•St. Sabinus
•St. Cian
•St. Eutychius
•St. Fidweten
•St. Pens
•St. Acepsius
Scriptural Readings:
11:03 PM (42 minutes ago)
First Reading - Sir 48:1-4,9-11
1And Elias the prophet stood up, as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch. 2 He brought a famine upon them, and they that provoked him in their envy, were reduced to a small number, for they could not endure the commandments of the Lord. 3 By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and he brought down fire from heaven thrice. 4 Thus was Elias magnified in his wondrous works. And who can glory like to thee?9 Who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses. 10 Who art registered in the judgments of times to appease the wrath of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. 11 Blessed are they that saw thee, and were honoured with thy friendship.
11:03 PM (42 minutes ago)
Psalm - Ps 80:2-3,15-16,18-19
2 Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth 3 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us.15 Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard: 16 And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. 18 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. 19 And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name.
11:03 PM (43 minutes ago)
Gospel - Mt 17;9a,10-13
9a And as they came down from the mountain10 And his disciples asked him, saying: Why then do the scribes say that Elias must come first? 11 But he answering, said to them: Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things. 12 But I say to you, that Elias is already come, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they had a mind. So also the Son of man shall suffer from them. 13 Then the disciples understood, that he had spoken to them of John the Baptist
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