4th Week, Tuesday, Feb 4th
Hebrews 12:1-4 / Mark 5:21-43
Keep your eyes on Jesus; Persevere as Jesus persevered.
Lew Kraft used to drive his horse, Paddy, from store to store, selling cheese products. As he did, he talked to Paddy about his dreams. But in spite of the long hours and hard work, Lew's sales remained low and his debts high. One day someone told him bluntly, "Lew, you're either too stubborn to admit it or too dumb to see it, but you're licked." But Lew refused to give up. He continued to visit stores and talk to Paddy about his dreams.
Today, the multimillion-dollar Kraft Company stands as a monument to a man who persevered in a dream until it came true. It was this same kind of perseverance that today's reading exhorts us to have. It was this same kind of perseverance that Jesus himself had.
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How do we keep our motivation high when we become discouraged and are tempted to quit? "Bit shots are only little shots who kept on shooting." Christopher Morley
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Feb 04, Tue
St John De Britto, Martyr (1647-1693)
When Don Pedro II of Portugal was young, he had among his little pages a
modest lad named John de Britto, the son of rich and princely parents. It is
stated that when John as a child fell grievously ill, his mother, whose family
was connected with the court of Lisbon, invoked the aid of the great Jesuit
Saint, Francis Xavier, and dedicated her son to him. In answer to her prayers,
he recovered, and his mother vested him for a year in the garb worn in those
days by the Jesuit Fathers. From then on, John’s heart burned to follow the
example of the Apostle of the Indies, aspiring only to wear the habit of the
great missionary and to devote his life to the conversion of the infidel.
He was admitted into the Society of Jesus at 15. His success
in studies was so remarkable that great efforts were made after his ordination
to keep him in Portugal, but grace triumphed, and in 1673 he set sail for Goa
with sixteen of his fellow-Jesuits. The rest of his life, except for a brief
interval, was spent amid incredible hardships and hindrances of all kinds in
evangelizing Southern India.
Those who worked with him, in their letters to Europe, speak
in glowing terms of his courage and devotion, of the extraordinary austerity of
his life, and of the rich harvest of conversions which were the fruit of his
labours.
Forced to return to Portugal in 1683, John once more broke
through every obstacle, and returned to his labour of love in 1691. Like St
John the Baptist, he was beheaded after a torturous imprisonment. “I await
death,” he had written to his Superior, “and I await it with patience. It has
always been the object of my prayers. It forms today the most precious reward
of my labours and my sufferings.”
St John was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1947.
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Almighty and merciful God, who brought your martyr blessed Saint John de Brito to overcome the torments of his passion, grant that we who celebrate the day of his triumph, may remain invincible under your protection against the snares of the enemy, through our Lord Jesus Christ your son who lives and reigns with you....