From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Christ's wounds bring healing and life   
      
   "The Lord of hosts was not signaling weakness as he gave sight to the   
   blind, made the crooked to stand upright, raised the dead to life (Mt.   
   11:5), anticipated the effects of medicine at our prayers, and cured   
   those who sought after him. Those who merely touched the fringe of his   
   robe were healed (Mark 6:56). Surely you did not think it was some   
   divine weakness, you speculators, when you saw him wounded. Indeed   
   there were wounds that pierced his body (Mt. 27:35; Mk 15:24; Lk   
   23:33; Jn 19:18, 31-37), but they did not demonstrate weakness but   
   strength. For from these wounds flowed life to all, from the One who   
   was the life of all."   
   --St. Ambrose (excerpt from ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 4.5.54–55.16)   
      
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   February 17th - St. Finan, Bishop of Lindisfarne   
      
   The court of Northumbria was divided. Queen Eanfleda had been reared   
   in the Roman tradition. King Osway had been reared in the Celtic.   
   "Thus it is said to have happened in those times that Easter was twice   
   kept in one year;" wrote the church historian Bede, "and that when the   
   king having ended the time of fasting, kept his Easter, the queen and   
   her followers were still fasting, and celebrating Palm Sunday."   
      
   The situation was tolerated while the great Celtic missionary Aiden   
   was alive. This was largely owing to his character. As Bede tells us,   
   "...he industriously labored to practice all works of faith, piety,   
   and love, according to the custom of all holy men; for which reason he   
   was deservedly beloved by all; even by those who differed in opinion   
   concerning Easter, and was held in veneration, not only by indifferent   
   persons, but even by the bishops, Hononus of Canterbury, and Felix of   
   the East Angles."   
      
   When Aiden died, Finan, who had trained in the Celtic tradition on the   
   island of Iona, was his successor as bishop on the island of   
   Lindisfarne. Like Aiden, Finan held firmly to the Celtic tradition. No   
   doubt Celts like Finan felt hard pressed. Celtic lands had fallen to   
   Saxon invaders, Celtic culture was disintegrating in face of the   
   invaders, and now even their Christian traditions faced annihilation.   
      
   Ronan, a zealous Irishman, and champion of the Roman Easter, disputed   
   with Finan, "Yet he could not prevail upon Finan, but, on the   
   contrary, made him the more inveterate by reproof..." Bede   
   characterized Finan as an opposer of the truth, a man of a "hot and   
   violent temper," but readily acknowledged his saintly character   
   otherwise.   
      
   Finan was bishop of Lindisfarne ten years. On the whole, they were   
   successful years. Despite the mounting quarrels over whose religious   
   practices should be observed, Finan sent out missionaries to spread   
   the gospel and he consecrated bishops for the newly converted heathen.   
      
   He baptized Prince Peada of the Middle Angles and his "earls and   
   soldiers and their servants" and sent priests to teach them how to   
   live for Christ. When King Osway convinced the East Saxons to return   
   to Christianity, Finan baptized them. He founded several religious   
   institutions, including a double monastery at Whitby (Streanoeshalch).   
      
   When he died on August 31, 661 (some sources say February 17th) the   
   issue of Easter was still unresolved. He became known as a saint in   
   England, and a feast day is held for him on this day, February 17 (or   
   on the 9th). In 1898 Pope Leo XIII extended his feast to the Scottish   
   church, too.   
      
   After Finan's death, Osway moved to end the confusion of two   
   traditions. Ironically, it was in the Whitby monastery which Finan   
   founded that the Saxons and Celts held a council which decided to   
   adopt Roman customs. Many Celts refused to accept the decision. Had he   
   still been alive, Finan would almost certainly have been one of them.   
      
   Resources   
   1. Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People. (Various editions).   
   2. "Finan, St." Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F. L.   
   Cross and E. A. Livingstone. (Oxford, 1997).   
   3. Grattan-Flood, W. H. "St. Finan." The Catholic Encyclopedia.   
   (Robert Appleton, 1909).   
   4. McGrath, C. "Finan of Lindisfarne, St." New Catholic Encyclopedia.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The day you learn to surrender yourself totally to God, you will   
   discover a new world, just as I am experiencing. You will enjoy a   
   peace and a calm unknown, surpassing even the happiest days of your   
   life.   
   --Saint Jaime Hilario Barbal   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have   
   rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me;   
   Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget   
   your children.  (Hosea 4:6 )   
      
      
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   Be Joyful, Mary   
      
   Be joyful, Mary, heav’nly Queen,   
   Be joyful, Mary!   
   Your grief is changed to joy serene,   
   Alleluia!   
   Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary!   
      
   The Son you bore by heaven's grace,   
   Be joyful, Mary!   
   Did by His death our guilt erase.   
   Alleluia!   
   Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary!   
      
   The Lord has risen from the dead,   
   Be joyful, Mary!   
   He rose in glory as He said.   
   Alleluia!   
   Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary!   
      
   Then pray to God, O Virgin fair,   
   Be joyful, Mary!   
   That He our souls to heaven bear.   
   Alleluia!   
   Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary!   
      
   Music:   Leisentritt's Catholicum Hymnologium Germanicum   1584   
   Tune:   Regina Caeli Jubila   85.84.7   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)