Day 31 - Friday, 4th Week of Lent - Sant'Eusebio

Facade of Sant'Eusebio

St Eusebius is another one of those nearly anonymous saints whose stories have become so entangled through the past twenty centuries that we really know very little about them, with conflicted information at every turn.  And yet we know that their contemporaries experienced them as men and women of God, who lived exemplary lives, and were witnesses to holiness.  Many of them died confessing Christ in spite of cruel martyrdoms, and all of them lived doing so.  They are special witnesses to us in this day, when at times there are more martyrs for the faith in one year in our sadly deranged world, than in the whole of the ancient period.  This may be an uncomfortable fact for us to contemplate, and yet, sadly, it is so.  

Most of the martyrs today are also largely anonymous; we will never, on this side of the veil, know their stories.  And yet our God knows each one by name, and treasures their sacrifices, as he works to reclaim his creation from the treachery of the Evil One.  As we gaze at the beautiful frescoes in the ceilings of so many of these famous churches, like the one below, we are reminded of the saints' reception into glory, as they receive their confessors' and martyrs' crowns.  We rejoice with them in their victory and strengthen our own resolve, whether to live, or to die, confessing Christ!  An anonymous saint also makes us even more aware of the great blessing we have in such works as the biography we learned of yesterday of St Martin of Tours by Sulpicius Severus, a contemporary who wrote in real time about the life of one of God's Holy Ones.

"Brethren, how fine a thing it is to move from festival to festival, from prayer to prayer, from holy day to holy day. The time is now at hand when we enter on a new beginning: the proclamation of the blessed Passover, in which the Lord was sacrificed. We feed as on the food of life, we constantly refresh our souls with his precious blood, as from a fountain. Yet we are always thirsting, burning to be satisfied. But he himself is present for those who thirst and in his goodness invites them to the feast day. Our Saviour repeats his words: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

He quenched the thirst not only of those who came to him then. Whenever anyone seeks him he is freely admitted to the presence of the Saviour. The grace of the feast is not restricted to one occasion. Its rays of glory never set. It is always at hand to enlighten the mind of those who desire it. Its power is always there for those whose minds have been enlightened and who meditate day and night on the holy Scriptures, like the one who is called blessed in the holy psalm: Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or stood where sinners stand, or sat in the seat of the scornful, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

Moreover, my friends, the God who first established this feast for us allows us to celebrate it each year. He who gave up his Son to death for our salvation, from the same motive gives us this feast, which is commemorated every year. This feast guides us through the trials that meet us in this world. God now gives us the joy of salvation that shines out from this feast, as he brings us together to form one assembly, uniting us all in spirit in every place, allowing us to pray together and to offer common thanksgiving, as is our duty on the feast. Such is the wonder of his love: he gathers to this feast those who are far apart, and brings together in unity of faith those who may be physically separated from each other."

Glory be to God!

Here is a Life of St Athanasius, that you may want to read.  He was a great champion of Christianity in a day when he stood, almost alone at times, for the Truth. I hope it will help you make this amazing saint a close friend for times of need.  We live in perilous times.  Our Father has not left us without the support of friends . . . . .