Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Tuesday 2 May 2006 St.Athanasius, Bishop


Today we remember St.Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church. St.Athanasius was indefatigable in defending the Divinity of Jesus Christ against the Arian heretics. He suffered exile and persecution for the cause of the Faith. He displayed great loyalty to the Holy See and while on a visit to Rome, he was instrumental in introducing the monastic life to the city. He died in 373.

May I invite you to read from Blessed Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians, chapter 4, the verses 5-14."The Labours of the apostolate. As Bishops, Priests and Deacons in the Church of God, carrying out our Apostolic Ministry, as St.Paul said:" For ourselves, we are being hampered everywhere, yet still have room to breathe, are hard put it, but never at a loss; persecution does not leave us unbefriended, nor crushing blows destroy us; we carry continually in our bodies the dying state of Jesus, so that the living power of Jesus, may be manifested in our bodies too.

It does sound all so familiar, does it not?As Traditional Catholic Christians, we are indeed continually persecuted and battered and yet... we do not give up. Our secret of our perseverance can be found in this particular chapter of Blessed Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians. The Saints, who have gone before us endured all sorts of tribulations, but they never give up and neither will we.

Thanks be to God....

Ed Bakker

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