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Mass Introduction/
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Fr. Nivard . . .
Sent: Monday, 21 November 2011, 12:58
Subject: Your Endurance 
The basilica of San Colombano.
From: Fr. Nivard . . .
Sent: Monday, 21 November 2011, 12:58
Subject: Your Endurance
St Columban 34 Wed 23 Nov 2011
Lk. 21: 13-19.
Your endurance will win you your lives.
Jesus laid down His life for us. No one has greater love than he who lays down his life for Christ and His brothers. From the earliest times some Christians have been called upon to give the supreme testimony of this love to all men.
The Church considers martyrdom as an exceptional gift. It is the fullest proof of love. By martyrdom a disciple is transformed into an image of his Master. He freely accepts death for the salvation of the world.
Few are presented with such an opportunity. But all of us must be prepared to confess Christ before men.
Like St Columban, we must live our ‘white’ martyrdom in the monastery or the home.
Father, Fill us with joy, hope and courage, to witness the truth of your love for us, sinners, through Christ our Lord.
« Lumen gentium » §41-42 (©Libreria Vaticana editrice)
May all those who are weighed down with poverty, infirmity and sickness, as well as those who must bear various hardships or who suffer persecution for justice sake—may they all know they are united with the suffering Christ in a special way for the salvation of the world. The Lord called them blessed in His Gospel and they are those whom "the God of all graces, who has called us unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself, after we have suffered a little while, perfect, strengthen and establish" (1Pt 5,10)...
Since Jesus, the Son of God, manifested His charity by laying down His life for us, so too no one has greater love than he who lays down his life for Christ and His brothers.(cf 1Jn 3,16; Jn 15,13). From the earliest times, then, some Christians have been called upon—and some will always be called upon—to give the supreme testimony of this love to all men, but especially to persecutors. The Church, then, considers martyrdom as an exceptional gift and as the fullest proof of love. By martyrdom a disciple is transformed into an image of his Master by freely accepting death for the salvation of the world—as well as his conformity to Christ in the shedding of his blood.
Since Jesus, the Son of God, manifested His charity by laying down His life for us, so too no one has greater love than he who lays down his life for Christ and His brothers.(cf 1Jn 3,16; Jn 15,13). From the earliest times, then, some Christians have been called upon—and some will always be called upon—to give the supreme testimony of this love to all men, but especially to persecutors. The Church, then, considers martyrdom as an exceptional gift and as the fullest proof of love. By martyrdom a disciple is transformed into an image of his Master by freely accepting death for the salvation of the world—as well as his conformity to Christ in the shedding of his blood.
Though few are presented such an opportunity, nevertheless all must be prepared to confess Christ before men. They must be prepared to make this profession of faith even in the midst of persecutions, which will never be lacking to the Church, in following the way of the cross.
« Lumen gentium » §41-42 .
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