The Great Commission

"The command to the apostles to be witnesses to him in Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth was not
addressed exclusively to those to whom it was immediately spoken. They
alone would not be the only ones who would carry such an enormous task
to completion. Similarly he seems to be speaking to the apostles very personally when he says: "Behold I am with you even to the end of the
world," yet who does not know that he made this promise to the
universal church which will last from now even to the consummation of
the world by successive births and deaths?"
--St. Augustine-- (excerpt from Letter 199, To Hesychius 49)

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April 8th - Saint Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours
(461-494)

Saint Perpetuus was the eighth Bishop of Tours, who governed that see
for more than thirty years, from 461 to 494. During all that time he
labored by zealous sermons, many synods and wholesome regulations, to
lead souls to virtue.

Saint Perpetuus had great veneration for the Saints and respect for
their relics; he adorned their shrines and enriched their churches. As
there was a continual succession of miracles at the tomb of Saint
Martin, Perpetuus, finding the church built by Saint Bricius too small
for the concourse of people coming there, directed its enlargement.
When the building was finished, the good bishop solemnized the
dedication of this large new church, which a writer of that time said
was one of the marvels of the world and worthy to be compared with the
temple of Solomon. The translation of the body of Saint Martin was
carried out on the 4th of July in 491. It is believed that either
Saint Martin or his Angel assisted on this occasion, for the coffin
was so heavy that no means were found to move it, until an unknown
elderly gentleman came forward and offered his aid, immediately
efficacious.

Saint Perpetuus had made and signed his last will, which is still
extant, on the 1st of March, 475, a number of years before his death.
In this testament of love, he remitted all debts owing to him; and
having bequeathed to his church his library and several farms, and
establishing a fund for the maintenance of lamps and the purchase of
sacred vessels, he declared the poor his heirs for all the rest. He
added exhortations to concord and piety, and begged a remembrance in
prayer. His ancient epitaph equals him to the great Saint Martin. He
died on the 8th of April, 494.

Reflection. The sting of poverty, says a spiritual writer, is allayed
even more by a word of true sympathy than by the alms we give. Alms
given coldly and harshly irritate rather than soothe. Even when we
cannot give, words of kindness are like a precious balm; and when we
can give, they are salt and seasoning for our alms.

Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea


Saint Quote
"O ye souls who wish to go on with so much safety and consolation, if
you knew how pleasing to God is suffering, and how much it helps in
acquiring other good things, you would never seek consolation in
anything; but you would rather look upon it as a great happiness to
bear the Cross after the Lord"
--St. John of the Cross

Blessed William the Abbot saw, one night in a dream, some angels who
were weaving a crown of marvelous richness and beauty; and when he
asked them for whom they were making it, they said that it was for
him, and would be finished when he had suffered enough.
("A Year with the Saints". April - Patience)

Bible Quote:
Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath
loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. (Luke 7:47)


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The story

He is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of
darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an
eternal kingdom; who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be
his own for ever. He is the Passover that is our salvation. It is he
who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him.
In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold,
in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb,
persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.
It is he who was made man of the Virgin, he who was hung on the
tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and
taken up to the heights of heaven. He is the mute lamb, the slain
lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the
flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and
buried at night. On the tree no bone of his was broken; in the earth
his body knew no decay. He is the One who rose from the dead, and who
raised us from the depths of the tomb.
--Melito of Sardis

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