From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Talents Are for Others   
      
       "Jesus said: "To the person who has, it shall be given." God will   
   give more to those who use for others that which they have received.   
   He will fill up and pile to the brim what he first gave.   
       Our reflections will be multiplied at his prompting. Thus, in our   
   service of him we will suffer no shortage but will rather rejoice in a   
   miraculous abundance of ideas."   
   --St. Augustine--Christian Doctrine 1, 1   
      
   Prayer: Lord, my knowledge and my ignorance lie before you. Where you   
   have opened to me, let me enter. Where you have closed to me, open   
   when I knock.   
   --St. Augustine--The Trinity 15, 51   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   February 23rd - St Polycarp, Bishop Of Smyrna, Martyr   
    (69 -155 AD),   
      
   Imagine being able to sit at the feet of the apostles and hear their   
   stories of life with Jesus from their own lips. Imagine walking with   
   those who had walked with Jesus, seen him, and touched him. That was   
   what Polycarp was able to do as a disciple of Saint John the   
   Evangelist.   
      
   But being part of the 2nd generation of Church leaders had challenges   
   that the first generation could not teach about. What did you do when   
   those eyewitnesses were gone? How do you carry on the correct   
   teachings of Jesus? How do you answer new questions that never came up   
   before?   
      
   With the apostles gone, heresies sprang up pretending to be true   
   teaching, persecution was strong, and controversies arose over how to   
   celebrate liturgy that Jesus never laid down rules for. Polycarp, as a   
   holy man and bishop of Smyrna, found there was only one answer--to be   
   true to the life of Jesus and imitate that life. Saint Ignatius of   
   Antioch told Polycarp “your mind is grounded in God as on an immovable   
   rock.”   
      
   When faced with heresy, he showed the “candid face” that Ignatius   
   admired and that imitated Jesus’ response to the Pharisees.  Marcion,   
   the leader of the Marcionites who followed a dualistic heresy –   
   believing their were two gods, a wrathful god of the Hebrew Scriptures   
   and a loving god of the New Testament, confronted Polycarp and   
   demanded respect by saying, “Recognize us, Polycarp.” Polycarp   
   responded, “I recognize you, yes, I recognize the son of Satan.”   
      
   On the other hand when faced with Christian disagreements he was all   
   forgiveness and respect. One of the controversies of the time came   
   over the celebration of Easter. The East, where Polycarp was from,   
   celebrated the Passover as the Passion of Christ followed by a   
   Eucharist on the following day. The West celebrated Easter on the   
   Sunday of the week following Passover. When Polycarp went to Rome to   
   discuss the difference with Pope Anicetus, they could not agree on   
   this issue. But they found no difference in their Christian beliefs.   
   And Anicetus asked Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his own   
   papal chapel.   
      
   Polycarp faced persecution the way Christ did. His own church admired   
   him for following the “gospel model”--not chasing after martyrdom as   
   some did, particularly the Marcionites, but avoiding it until it was   
   God’s will as Jesus did. They considered it “a sign of love to desire   
   not to save oneself alone, but to save also all the Christian brothers   
   and sisters.”   
      
   One day, during a bloody martyrdom when Christians were attacked by   
   wild animals in the arena, the crowd became so mad that they demanded   
   more blood by crying, “Down with the atheists; let Polycarp be found.”   
   (They considered Christians “atheists” because they didn’t believe in   
   their pantheon of gods.) Since Polycarp was not only known as a leader   
   but as someone holy “even before his grey hair appeared”, this was a   
   horrible demand.   
      
   Polycarp was calm but others persuaded him to leave the city and hide   
   at a nearby farm. He spent his time in prayer for people he knew and   
   for the Church. During his prayer he saw a vision of his pillow turned   
   to fire and announced to his friends that the dream meant he would be   
   burned alive.   
      
   As the search closed in, he moved to another farm, but the police   
   discovered he was there by torturing two boys. He had a little warning   
   since he was upstairs in the house but he decided to stay, saying,   
   “God’s will be done.”   
      
   Then he went downstairs, talked to his captors and fed them a meal.   
   All he asked of them was that they give him an hour to pray. He spent   
   two hours praying for everyone he had every known and for the Church,   
   “remembering all who had at any time come his way--small folk and   
   great folk, distinguished and undistinguished, and the whole Catholic   
   Church throughout the world.” Many of his captors started to wonder   
   why they were arresting this holy, 86-year-old bishop.   
      
   But that didn’t stop them from taking him into the arena on the   
   Sabbath. As he entered the arena, the crowd roared like the animals   
   they cheered. Those around Polycarp heard a voice from heaven above   
   the crowd, “Be brave, Polycarp, and act like a man.”   
      
   The proconsul begged the 86-year-old bishop to give in because of his   
   age. “Say ‘Away with the atheists'” the proconsul urged. Polycarp   
   calmly turned to the face the crowd, looked straight at them, and   
   said, “Away with the atheists.” The proconsul continued to plead with   
   him. When he asked Polycarp to swear by Caesar to save himself,   
   Polycarp answered, “If you imagine that I will swear by Caesar, you do   
   not know who I am. Let me tell you plainly, I am a Christian.”   
   Finally, when all else failed the proconsul reminded Polycarp that he   
   would be thrown to the wild animals unless he changed his mind.   
   Polycarp answered, “Change of mind from better to worse is not a   
   change allowed to us.”   
      
   Because of Polycarp’s lack of fear, the proconsul told him he would be   
   burned alive but Polycarp knew that the fire that burned for an hour   
   was better than eternal fire.   
      
   When he was tied up to be burned, Polycarp prayed, “Lord God Almighty,   
   Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we   
   have received knowledge of You, God of angels and powers, of the whole   
   creation and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your   
   sight, I bless you, for having made me worthy of this day and hour, I   
   bless you, because I may have a part, along with the martyrs, in the   
   chalice of your Christ, to resurrection in eternal life, resurrection   
   both of soul and body in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. May   
   I be received today, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, among those   
   who are in Your presence, as You have prepared and foretold and   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)