Saint Braulio of Saragossa -Night Office Reading

   

 Patristic Reading, 29/10/2014

http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-braulio-of-saragossa/

Wednesday 30th Week Ord. TimeYear II

First Reading Wisdom 4:1-20

Second Reading (Alternative)

From a letter by Braulio of Saragossa (Epistola 3O:PL 80, 677)

Daily becoming empty for the living

O bitter terms of death; without Christ is all our life vain. The tears escape, the very life is oppressed with heaviness, my dictation quavers, and for grief the words do not come in correct order. She has gone, she has gone whom we loved, in whom you had the ties of love and all consolation, while to me she brought distinction and was an example of charity. She was your glory, our praise, your ornament, and our source of exultation. Who would believe that she would depart so early in life, when she appeared to be God's provision for your old age, to refresh you when weary and to comfort you when anxious amid the cares of the world? But what we did not expect has occurred and what we did not even think of has come. Alas for mortal life, daily becoming empty for the living!

What can we do, since such is the condition of mortals? Let us be consoled in the Lord, in whom is the consolation of a far better life and, as true faith holds, let us not cease to hope that she has been carried to a better place and released from the misery of this life. I doubt if one could find a single person who enjoys living in the face of all the evils that constantly arise; if one could, he would prove to be either foolish or stupid. Therefore, since our Creator and Redeemer, who both sees the future and holds the present, has seen what was best for her soul, I think she was carried away because he loved her, and lest wickedness of the world should pervert her mind, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Therefore, let us rejoice, rather than mourn; not because we have lost, but because we have had such a one, you a wife and I a sister.

Because it is a part of your wisdom to live in such a way that you will not incur reproof from your enemies, be consoled and magnanimously avoid grief; to express it very briefly, you should hold within yourself both love for her who is gone and a reasonable consolation. I think that will become easier as time passes, but you must begin now, for everything that is thought over and meditated frequently becomes easier, no matter how dreadful it may seem. Therefore, most illustrious of men, use all your efforts to console yourself and your family; at her death, you must not forget those whom you and she both loved, lest you seem to have lost the affection you had through her when she was alive.

May Almighty God fill your heart with his grace and take away your sorrow and allow you, after a long time, to share immortal life with her.

            . Responsory   1 In 4:9.16b; In 3:16

God's love for us was revealed when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. + God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God and God lives in him.

V. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. + God is love ...

   Youtube ...

alt.christnet.theology ›

March 28th - St. Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa d. 651 

AT the college founded in Seville by St. Isidore, one of the more promising of the alumni was a boy of noble birth called Braulio, who grew up to be so eminent a scholar that Isidore regarded him as a friend and disciple rather than a pupil, and used to send him his own writings to correct and revise. Braulio prepared for the priesthood and was ordained, and when in 631 the see of Saragossa became vacant at the death of his brother Bishop John, the neighbouring prelates assembled to elect a successor and their choice fell upon Braulio. They are said to have been assisted in their selection by the appearance of a globe of fire which rested above Braulio's head, whilst a voice pronounced the words, "Behold my servant whom I have chosen and upon whom my spirit rests". 

As a pastor, St. Braulio laboured zealously to teach and encourage his people, and at the same time to extirpate the Arian heresy which continued to flourish even after the conversion of King Reccared. He kept in close touch with St. Isidore, whom he assisted in his task of restoring church order and regularizing ecclesiastical discipline. A small portion of the correspondence between the two saints has survived to this day. So great was St. Braulio's eloquence and his power of persuasion, that some of his hearers asserted that they had seen the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, resting On his shoulder and imparting in his ear the doctrine he preached to the people. 

   He took part in the fourth Council of Toledo, which was presided over by his friend and master St. Isidore, and also in the fifth and sixth. The last-named assembly charged him to write an answer to Pope Honorius I, who had accused the Spanish bishops of negligence in the fulfilment of their duties. His defence was dignified and convincing. 

The good bishop's duties did not prevent his constant ministrations in his cathedral church and in that of our Lady "del Pilar", where he spent many hours of the day and night in prayer. Luxury of all kinds he abhorred: his garments were rough and plain, his food simple and his life austere. An eloquent preacher and a keen controversialist, he could carry conviction by his telling arguments and absolute sincerity. His liberality to the poor was only matched by his tender care of all his flock. The close of his life was saddened by failing eyesight--a heavy trial to anyone, but especially to a scholar. As his end drew near, he realized that he was dying, and the last day of his life was spent in the recitation of psalms. According to! a legend, which, however, appears to be comparatively modern, heavenly music resounded in the chamber of death, and a voice was heard to say, "Rise, my friend, and come away!" The saint, as though waking from sleep, replied with his last breath, "I come, Lord : I am ready!" 

Of St. Braulio's writings, we have a Life of St. Emilian with a poem in his honour, forty-four letters, which were discovered at Leon in the eighteenth century and shed great light on Visigothic Spain, and an eulogy of St. Isidore, as well as a catalogue of his works. He is said to have completed some writings which St. Isidore lelt unfinished, and he is almost certainly the author of the Acts of the Martyrs of Saragossa. St. Braulio is the patron of Aragon and one of the most famous of the Spanish saints. 

See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii; Florez, España Sagrada, vol. xxx, pp. 305 seq. Cams, Kirchengeschichte Spaniens, vol. ii, pt a, pp. 145-149; DTC., vol. ii, cc. 1123 seq.; DHG., vol. x, cc. 441 seq.; and C.H. Lynch, St. Braulio (1938). Indispensable work is now the critical edition of saint's letters by J. Madoz, published in Madrid in 1941. 


Saint Quote: 
Be assured that he who shall always walk faithfully in God's presence, always ready to give Him an account of all his actions, shall never be separated from Him by consenting to sin. 
-- St. Thomas Aquinas 

Bible Quote: 
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.  [Matt. 16: 18-20] 


<><><><> 
Almighty God, give us wisdom to perceive you, 
intellect to understand you, 
diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, 
eyes to behold you, a heart 
to meditate upon you and life to proclaim you, 
through the power of the 
Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Attributed to St. Benedict (480-543)