Saint John of Egypt

Saturday, 27 March 2010 SAINT JOHN OF EGYPT (+ 394) Till he was twenty-five, John worked as a carpenter with his father. Then feeling a call from God, he left the world and committed himself to a holy solitary in the desert. His master tried his spirit by many unreasonable commands, bidding him roll the hard rocks, tend dead trees, and the like. John obeyed in all things with the simplicity of a child. After a careful training of sixteen years he withdrew to the top of a steep cliff to think only of God and his soul. The more he knew of himself, the more he distrusted himself. For the last fifty years, therefore, he never saw women, and seldom men. The result of this vigilance and purity was threefold: a holy joy and cheerfulness which consoled all who conversed with him; perfect obedience to superiors; and, in return for this, authority over creatures, whom he had forsaken for the Creator. St. Augustine tells us of his appearing in a vision to a holy woman, whose sight he had restored, to avoid seeing her face to face. Devils assailed him continually, but John never ceased his prayer. From his long communings with God, he turned to men with gifts of healing and prophecy. Twice each week he spoke through a window with those who came to him, blessing oil for their sick and predicting things to come. A deacon came to him in disguise, and he reverently kissed his hand. To the Emperor Theodosius he foretold his future victories and the time of his death. The three last days of his life John gave wholly to God: on the third he was found on his knees as if in prayer, bud his soul was with the blessed. He died in 394. Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Saturday of the Fifth week of Lent Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 11:45-56. Saint Cyril of Alexandria (380-444), Bishop, Doctor of the Church Commentary on the letter to the Romans, 15, 7 "To gather into one the dispersed children of God" It is written that: «We, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another» (Rom 12,5), for Christ gathers us into a unity by bonds of love: «He made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity... abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims that he might create in himself one new person in place of two» (Eph 2,14-15). Therefore we ought to have the same feelings towards each other: «If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy» (1Cor 12,26). Hence, as Saint Paul again says: «Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God» (Rom 15,7). Let us welcome each other if we would share these same feelings. «Let us bear one another's burdens; striving to preserve unity of Spirit through the bond of peace» (Eph 4,2-3). This is how God has welcomed us in Christ. For that man spoke truly when he said: «God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son» (Jn 3,16). For indeed the Son was given as a ransom for the lives of all of us and we have been liberated from death, set free from death and sin. Saint Paul illuminates the outline of this plan of salvation when he says that: «Christ became a minister of the circumcised to show God's truthfulness» (Rom 15,8). For God had promised the patriarchs, fathers to the Jews, that he would bless their descendants, who would also become as numerous as the stars of heaven. And this is the reason why the Word, who is God, was manifested in the flesh and became man. He upholds all creation in being and maintains the well-being of all that exists because he is God. But he came into this world when he became incarnate «not to be served» but, as he himself said: «to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many» (Mk 10,45).