In thy light do we see light

In thy light do we see light

See how the words of the Lord accord with the truth of the Psalm:
'With thee is the fountain of life; in thy light do we see light'
[Psalms 36:10]. The Psalmist connects light with the source of life
and the Lord speaks of a 'light of life.' When we are thirsty, we look
for a fountain; when we are in darkness we look for light...[...]. Not
so with God: he is light and fountain. He who shines for you to enable
you to see, flows for you to enable you to drink.
--St. Augustine, In. Ioannis Evangelium,34.6

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February 26th – St. Porphyry of Gaza B (RM)
 (Also known as Porphyrius)

Born in Thessalonica, Macedonia, in 353; died at Gaza in 420
.
Born into a wealthy home, Porphyry at the age of 25 left Thessalonica
for Egypt, where he entered the famous desert monastery of Skete. Five
years later he went to Palestine to visit its holy places, and settled
in a cave near the Jordan River for another five years. At this time
he developed a serious illness and decided to spend his last days in
Jerusalem, where he could daily visit the sites of our Lord's Passion.
He practiced great austerities and after a period became so ill that
he could only with difficulty, leaning on a stick, visit the shrines
that he loved.

About this time he met a former friend of his called Mark, who, seeing
his weakness and with what difficulty he walked, offered his arm, but
Porphyry refused it. He had come to Palestine, he said, to seek pardon
for his sins, and it was not right that he should be eased by anyone.
"Rather let me undergo labor and inconvenience, that God, beholding
it, may have compassion on me."

Thus he lived and suffered, each day receiving the Sacrament and
visiting some spot made sacred by our Lord, and happy despite his
pain, except for one thing: he still retained his wealth, and the
thought of it troubled him. One day, therefore, he commissioned his
friend Mark to return to Thessalonica and act on his behalf, giving
him instructions to sell his property. Mark set out, and three months
later returned with the assets to the value of 4,500 pieces of gold.
Porphyry embraced him with joy, and Mark was delighted to find that
his friend had fully recovered from his sickness.

When asked how he had been cured, Porphyry replied: "Forty days ago,
being in extreme pain, I made a shift to reach Mount Calvary, where,
fainting away, I felt such a blinding trance that I thought I saw our
Savior on the Cross, and the good thief hanging beside Him. I said:
'Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' whereupon He
ordered the thief to come to my assistance, and he, raising me off the
ground on which I lay, bade me go to Christ. I ran to Him, and He,
coming off His Cross, said to me: 'Take this wood (meaning the Cross)
into your custody.' In obedience I carried it on my shoulders, and
then I awoke and have been free from pain ever since."

The dream appears to have come true, for in course of time (about age
40) he was ordained priest and the bishop of Jerusalem committed to
him the care of the Cross. But first, having distributed his wealth
among the poor of Palestine and become impoverished, he learned to
make shoes and earned his living as a cobbler.

In his later life he was sent for by the archbishop of Caesarea and,
on appearing before him, found that without his knowledge he had been
made a bishop in 396. And, as bishop of Gaza, he returned to
Palestine, where he continued his simple lifestyle and remained the
guardian of the Cross.

Most people in Gaza were still heathen and openly resented Porphyry's
initial success in evangelizing their neighbors; therefore, he was
harassed by the pagans of his see. The year of his consecration was
also marked by a drought in Gaza. Pagans blamed the Christians for
bringing this new man into their midst, and locked the saint out of
the city. It is said that this happened when Porphyry and his
supporters were proceeding around the boundaries of the city asking
God to send rain. At that moment the rain began to fall, and grateful
citizens again opened the gates to let in their bishop.

But other sources say that the conversion or expulsion of nearly every
pagan by the time of his death was not so easy. They report that
Porphyry applied to Emperor Arcadius, who gave him permission and the
imperial troops needed to demolish a temple to Mamas, which had been a
cause of great trouble to the Christians in Gaza. Other pagan temples
and idols were destroyed as well. Riots resulted, his house was
pillaged, and his life was threatened. The people of Gaza were at
length brought to Christianity only by Porphyry's patient teaching.

On the site of the razed temple to Mamas, Porphyry built a large
church, which was consecrated in 408. By the time of his death, his
see was free of paganism. His friend, Mark, who had become his deacon,
wrote his biography. Another biography, however, seems to deny that
Porphyry appealed to force.

Mark's biography is a valuable document for its picture of the last
days of paganism around the eastern Mediterranean; it is also a
witness to the reverence given at Jerusalem at the end of the 4th
century to what purported to be a large piece of the wood of Christ's
Cross (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill,
White).


Reflection:
Adversity is the touchstone of the soul, because it makes manifest the
degree of its virtue. One act of thanksgiving when matters go wrong,
is worth a thousand thanks when all things please us.

Bible Quote:
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who
refused him that spake on earth,
much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh
from heaven:  (Hebrews 12:25)

Saint Quote:
Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only
love which lends value to our actions.
--Saint Faustina Kowalska


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A prayer in reparation to the Blessed Sacrament:

With that profound humility which the Faith itself inspires in me, O
my God and Saviour Jesus Christ, true God and true man, I love Thee
with all my heart, and I adore Thee who art hidden here, in reparation
for all the irreverences, profanations and sacrileges which Thou
receivest in the most  adorable Sacrament of the Altar.

I adore Thee, O my God, if not so much as Thou art worthy to be adored
nor so much as I am bound to do, yet as much as I am able; would that
I could adore Thee with that perfect worship which the Angels in
heaven are enabled to offer Thee. Mayest Thou, O my Jesus, be known,
adored, loved and thanked by all men at every moment in this most holy
and divine  Sacrament.  Amen.