{"id":3185,"date":"2008-04-11T17:43:01","date_gmt":"2008-04-11T17:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2008\/04\/immolated-on-the-altar\/"},"modified":"2008-04-11T17:43:01","modified_gmt":"2008-04-11T17:43:01","slug":"immolated-on-the-altar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2008\/04\/immolated-on-the-altar\/","title":{"rendered":"Immolated on the Altar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Beautiful%20St%20Gemma.jpg\"<\/a> \"04-11%20Santo%20Stanislao.JPG\"<\/a>
\nThird Friday of Paschaltide
\nMemorial of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr<\/strong>
\nActs 9:1-20
\nJohn 6:52-59<\/em>
\nSaint Stanislaus<\/strong>
\nWe celebrate today the feast of Saint Stanislaus, patron of Poland. Like the young Karol Wojtyla, his successor as Bishop of Krakow, Stanislaus wished to embrace monastic life. Divine Providence, however, disposed otherwise. Stanislaus was appointed a canon of the cathedral of Krakow, and later, in 1071, named bishop of the same see by Duke Boleslaus. It was Boleslaus, become King of Poland, who with his own hand murdered Bishop Stanislaus on May 8, 1079, as he was celebrating Holy Mass.
\nStanislaus had publicly reproved Boleslaus for his evil life and, as a last resort, excommunicated him. Boleslaus, instead of humbling himself and repenting of his sins, became enraged. One of the surest signs of the capital sin of pride is the inability to accept correction. Pride gives birth to rage. Rage either simmers below the surface, poisoning the soul, or expresses itself in violence. Had Boleslaus imitated the repentance of King David, he might have become a saint. Instead, he grew hard in his pride, and to his other sins added murder.
\nSaint Gemma<\/strong>
\nToday is also the dies natalis<\/em> of Saint Gemma Galgani. When she was twenty years old, Gemma developed meningitis. Mystically befriended by the young Passionist Saint Gabriel of the Mother of Sorrows, Gemma was miraculously cured through his intercession. Sufferings, both physical and emotional, refined Gemma’s soul until her configuration to Jesus Crucified was confirmed by the wounds she bore in her flesh. Gemma died at the age of twenty-five on April 11, 1903. She was beatified in 1933, and canonized in 1940. Like Saint Gabriel, her spiritual brother, Saint Gemma is a powerful intercessor for young people. In Rome, I would sometimes go to pray at the altar dedicated to her in the Basilica of Saints John and Paul<\/a>.
\nThe Altar<\/strong>
\nWhat did the tenth century Saint Stanislaus and the twentieth century Saint Gemma have in common? They ate the Flesh of the Son of Man and drank His Blood. They anticipated the life of heaven by living on earth a life of Eucharistic grace. Saint Stanislaus died at the altar, perfectly identified with Jesus, Victim and Priest. Saint Gemma, worn out by sufferings, died on the altar of her bed, identified in her own way with Jesus, Victim and Priest.<\/p>\n


\nVictim and Priest<\/strong>
\nBoth saints took to heart the words of Our Lord in today’s Gospel: “He who eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood, lives continually in me, and I in him (Jn 6:57). There you have it. That is holiness. To live continually in Christ, allowing Him to live out all His mysteries in us, including the one that sums them all up: that of His Victimal Priesthood consummated on the altar of the Cross. I am reminded today of the words that Suzanne Wrotnowksa (Mother Marie des Douleurs) prayed in the crypt of the basilica of Montmartre on the morning of April 11, 1930:
\nBehold, we are Yours;
\nmake us whatever You will.
\nWe ask to be little hosts
\nimmolated on the altar of Your Heart<\/em>.
\nWe have only one desire:
\nit burns intensely,
\nand You have put it in our souls:
\nwe want our lives to be but a moment of Your Passion.
\nWe do not want to die
\nwithout having fulfilled in our flesh
\nwhat is lacking to Your sufferings
\nfor the sake of Your Body which is the Church.
\nWe are happy to surrender ourselves entirely to You
\nby this consecration;
\nwe renounce once and for all the right to dispose of ourselves.
\nO Divine Master,
\nwe place our life in Your hands with an immense confidence,
\nbecoming, as it were, strangers to ourselves.
\nMake use of us as You please.
\nIn the fire of Your infinite love consume us.
\nTake us, like little hosts, into Yourself forever . . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Third Friday of Paschaltide Memorial of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr Acts 9:1-20 John 6:52-59 Saint Stanislaus We celebrate today the feast of Saint Stanislaus, patron of Poland. Like the young Karol Wojtyla, his successor as Bishop of Krakow, Stanislaus wished to embrace monastic life. Divine Providence, however, disposed otherwise. Stanislaus was appointed a canon <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paschaltide-2008","category-saints"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-Pn","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}