Friday 23 April 2021
Friday of the 3rd week of Eastertide
or Saint George, Martyr
or Saint Adalbert of Prague, Bishop, Martyr
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Friday of the 3rd week of Eastertide
From a sermon by Saint Ephraem, deacon
The cross of Christ gives life to the human race
Death trampled our Lord underfoot, but he in his turn treated death as a highroad for his own feet. He submitted to it, enduring it willingly, because by this means he would be able to destroy death in spite of itself. Death had its own way when our Lord went out from Jerusalem carrying his cross; but when by a loud cry from that cross he summoned the dead from the underworld, death was powerless to prevent it.
Death slew him by means of the body which he had assumed, but that same body proved to be the weapon with which he conquered death. Concealed beneath the cloak of his manhood, his godhead engaged death in combat; but in slaying our Lord, death itself was slain. It was able to kill natural human life, but was itself killed by the life that is above the nature of man.
Death could not devour our Lord unless he possessed a body, neither could hell swallow him up unless he bore our flesh; and so he came in search of a chariot in which to ride to the underworld. This chariot was the body which he received from the Virgin; in it he invaded death’s fortress, broke open its strong-room and scattered all its treasure.
At length he came upon Eve, the mother of all the living. She was that vineyard whose enclosure her own hands had enabled death to violate, so that she could taste its fruit; thus the mother of all the living became the source of death for every living creature. But in her stead Mary grew up, a new vine in place of the old. Christ, the new life, dwelt within her. When death, with its customary impudence, came foraging for her mortal fruit, it encountered its own destruction in the hidden life that fruit contained. All unsuspecting, it swallowed him up, and in so doing released life itself and set free a multitude of men.
He who was also the carpenter’s glorious son set up his cross above death’s all-consuming jaws, and led the human race into the dwelling place of life. Since a tree had brought about the downfall of mankind, it was upon a tree that mankind crossed over to the realm of life. Bitter was the branch that had once been grafted upon that ancient tree, but sweet the young shoot that has now been grafted in, the shoot in which we are meant to recognise the Lord whom no creature can resist.
We give glory to you, Lord, who raised up your cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living. We give glory to you who put on the body of a single mortal man and made it the source of life for every other mortal man. You are incontestably alive. Your murderers sowed your living body in the earth as farmers sow grain, but it sprang up and yielded an abundant harvest of men raised from the dead.
Come then, my brothers and sisters, let us offer our Lord the great and all-embracing sacrifice of our love, pouring out our treasury of hymns and prayers before him who offered his cross in sacrifice to God for the enrichment of us all.
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Other choices for today:
Saint George, Martyr
Painting (c.1510) attributed to Hans Von Kulmbach (-1522). Wallraf-RichartzMuseum, Cologne.
From a sermon by Saint Peter Damian, bishop
Invincibly defended by the banner of the Cross
Dear brothers, our joy in today’s feast is heightened by our joy in the glory of Easter, just as the splendour of a precious jewel enhances the beauty of its gold setting.
Saint George was a man who abandoned one army for another: he gave up the rank of tribune to enlist as a soldier for Christ. Eager to encounter the enemy, he first stripped away his worldly wealth by giving all he had to the poor. Then, free and unencumbered, bearing the shield of faith, he plunged into the thick of the battle, an ardent soldier for Christ.
Clearly what he did serves to teach us a valuable lesson: if we are afraid to strip ourselves of our worldly possessions, then we are unfit to make a strong defence of the faith.
As for Saint George, he was consumed with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Armed with the invincible standard of the cross, he did battle with an evil king and acquitted himself so well that, in vanquishing the king, he overcame the prince of all wicked spirits, and encouraged other soldiers of Christ to perform brave deeds in his cause.
Of course, the supreme invisible arbiter was there, who sometimes permits evil men to prevail so that his will may be accomplished. And although he surrendered the body of his martyr into the hands of murderers, yet he continued to take care of his soul, which was supported by the unshakeable defence of its faith.
Dear brothers, let us not only admire the courage of this fighter in heaven’s army but follow his example. Let us be inspired to strive for the reward of heavenly glory, keeping in mind his example, so that we will not be swayed from our path, though the world seduce us with its smiles or try to terrify us with naked threats of its trials and tribulations.
We must now cleanse ourselves, as Saint Paul tells us, from all defilement of body and spirit, so that one day we too may deserve to enter that temple of blessedness to which we now aspire.
Anyone who wishes to offer himself to God in the tent of Christ, which is the Church, must first bathe in the spring of holy baptism; then he must put on the various garments of the virtues. As it says in the Scriptures: Let your priests be clothed in justice. He who is reborn in baptism is a new man. He may no longer wear the things that signify mortality. He has discarded the old self and must put on the new. He must live continually renewed in his commitment to a holy sojourn in this world.
Truly we must be cleansed of the stains of our past sins and be resplendent in the virtue of our new way of life. Then we can be confident of celebrating Easter worthily and of truly following the example of the blessed martyrs.
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Saint Adalbert of Prague, Bishop, Martyr
Oil on Canvas (1855) by Mihály Kovács (1818-1892). Dobó István Castle Museum.
From his life, written by a contemporary
He embraced the Cross with his whole body
With angry cries and sharpened teeth the idle crowd gathered from all around in anticipation of what the village chief would do with the holy man Adalbert. The saint, for his part, questioned as to who he was, where he came from and why he had come there, by contrast replied with an affable voice: “I was born in Bohemia, my name is Adalbert and I am a monk by profession, consecrated bishop; my task now is to be your apostle. The reason for our journey is your salvation, that you turn away from those deaf and mute idols and recognise your Creator, the only God, apart from whom there is no other, so that believing in his name you may have life and may merit in reward to receive celestial joy in the eternal courts”. Thus spoke saint Adalbert. They, however, already infuriated, shouting blasphemous words against him, threatened him with death.
Finally a pagan fury came upon them, and they swooped down on Adalbert and his companions with great violence and bound them all. Saint Adalbert, who was standing in front of Gaudentius and another of the bound brothers, said: “Brothers, do not be sad! You know that we suffer this for the name of the Lord, with power beyond all powers, beauty exceeding all fairness, of indescribable strength and singular piety. What is stronger, more beautiful, than to give a beloved life for the most beloved Jesus?”
At this, a certain Siggo, full of passion, came out of the enraged crowd and, thrusting a large spear with all his might, pierced Adalbert’s heart. Purple blood flows from the wounds in all directions. He stands praying with eyes and hands raised towards heaven. They extract the spears leaving seven large wounds open; blood flows abundantly like a red river.
Once untied, he extends his hands in the form of a cross and humbly pours out prayers to the Lord for his own salvation and that of his persecutors. Just as that saintly soul escapes from its prison, so his venerable body lies on the ground in the form of the Cross. Thus shedding much blood and with that his life, he forever enjoys a blessed dwelling with Christ whom he so much loved.
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In other parts of the world and other calendars:
Blessed Teresa Maria Manetti of the Cross, Virgin
From the works of St Teresa of Avila
Fix your gaze on the Crucified and everything becomes easy
His Majesty could not grant us a greater favour than to give us a life that would be an imitation of the life that His beloved Son lived. For this reason I hold it certain that these favours are meant to fortify our weakness so that we may be able to imitate Him in his great sufferings.
Fix your eyes on the Crucified and everything will become easy for you. If His Majesty showed us His love by means of such works and frightful torments, how is it you want to please Him only with words?
Do you know what it means to be truly spiritual? It means becoming the slaves of God. Marked with His brand, which is that of the Cross, spiritual persons, because now they have given Him their liberty, can be sold by Him as slaves of everyone, as He was. In acting this way, He doesn’t do us any harm but rather He grants us a not insignificant grace.
We have always seen that those who were closest to Christ our Lord were those with the greatest trials. Let us look at what His glorious Mother suffered and the glorious apostles.
Take up the Cross of Jesus. Help your Spouse to carry the burden that weighs Him down and pay no attention to what they may say about you. If you should happen to stumble and fall like your Spouse, do not withdraw from the Cross or abandon it. No matter how great your trials may be, you will see that they are quite small in comparison to His.
If we never look at Him or reflect on what we owe Him and the death He suffered for us, I don’t know how we’ll be able to know Him or serve Him. And without these works in His service, what value will our faith have? And what value will our works have if they are separated from the inestimable merits of Jesus Christ, our Good. And then who will bring us to love this Lord?
Copyright © 1996-2021 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.