June 1
Justin, Martyr Born at the beginning of the second century, Justin was raised in a pagan family. He was student of philosophy who converted to the Christian faith and became a teacher in Ephesus and Rome. After refusing to make pagan sacrifices, he was arrested, tried and executed, along with six other believers. The official Roman court proceedings of his trial before Rusticius, a Roman prelate, document his confession of faith. The account of his martyrdom became a source of great encouragement to the early Christian community. Much of what we know of early liturgical practice comes from Justin.
My favorite quote from Justin is this:
For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but just as our Savior Jesus Christ, being incarnate through the work of God, took flesh and blood for our salvation, so too we have been taught that the food over which thanks have been given by a prayer of the Word that is from Him, from which our flesh and blood are fed by transformation, is both the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus. (First Apology 66:2)
Almighty and everlasting God, You found Your martyr Justin wandering from teacher to teacher, searching for the true God. Grant that all who seek for a deeper knowledge of the sublime wisdom of Your eternal Word may be found by You, who, sent Your Son to seek and to save the lost; through Jesus Christ, our Lord...
Small note, but not only short of Speech #1, a different point.
ReplyDeleteCelebrating Justin Neurotic on 1 June is NOT a Vatican II innovation, yet it is. Huh?
1 June as his feast is of great antiquity, going back at least to the 800s -- in the East. In 1882 Pope Leo XIII ordered a Mass and Office written for his feast to be celebrated on 14 April. Which often falls during the Easter season. So Vatican II changed it to match the age old Eastern observance, not something of its own invention.