“After he left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her.” (Luke 4:38)
In commenting on this verse from the Gospel according to Saint Luke from today’s Mass Readings, Saint Jerome writes:
“Now Simon’s mother-in-law was kept in her bed sick with a fever.” May Christ come to our house and enter in and by his command cure the fever of our sins. Each one of us is sick with a fever. When-ever I give way to anger, I have a fever. There are as many fevers as there are faults and vices. Let us beg the apostles to intercede for us with Jesus, that he may come to us and touch our hand. If he does so, at once our fever is gone. He is an excellent physician and truly the chief Physician. Moses is a physician. Isaiah is a physician. All the saints are physicians, but He is the chief Physician.” (Homilies on the Gospels, 75)
In some areas of the world today (such as Holy Family University, Philadelphia PA), the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth are celebrating the feast of the Blessed Martyrs of Nowogrodek.
From the Congregation’s website: “Sister Mary Stella CSFN, (Adela Mardosewicz) and her 10 companion sisters were executed by the Nazi regime on 1 August 1943 and buried in a common grave outside Nowogródek, then in Poland now part of Belarus.
In the wake of mass arrests the previous month in Nowogrodek, Sister Mary Stella and her companions prayed:
‘O God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us who are free from family obligations and spare those who have wives and children.’
Sr. Stella and her 10 companions were beatified by Pope John Paul II on March 5, 2000.”
From the Congregation’s website: “Sister Mary Stella CSFN, (Adela Mardosewicz) and her 10 companion sisters were executed by the Nazi regime on 1 August 1943 and buried in a common grave outside Nowogródek, then in Poland now part of Belarus.
In the wake of mass arrests the previous month in Nowogrodek, Sister Mary Stella and her companions prayed:
‘O God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us who are free from family obligations and spare those who have wives and children.’
Sr. Stella and her 10 companions were beatified by Pope John Paul II on March 5, 2000.”
O Most Blessed Trinity,
we praise and thank You
for the example of Blessed Mary Stella
and Her ten companions,
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth,
who by imitating Jesus Christ,
offered themselves as a sacrifice of love.
God of mercy and compassion,
through the merits of their martyrdom
and by their intercession,
grant us the grace we humbly ask…
(insert intention here)…
so that like them,
we may witness with our lives
to the presence of the Kingdom of God’s love
and extend it to the human family throughout the world.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Martyred Sisters of Nowogródek, pray for us.
we praise and thank You
for the example of Blessed Mary Stella
and Her ten companions,
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth,
who by imitating Jesus Christ,
offered themselves as a sacrifice of love.
God of mercy and compassion,
through the merits of their martyrdom
and by their intercession,
grant us the grace we humbly ask…
(insert intention here)…
so that like them,
we may witness with our lives
to the presence of the Kingdom of God’s love
and extend it to the human family throughout the world.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Martyred Sisters of Nowogródek, pray for us.
