Monday, July 4 : Saint Augustine

“The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth” (Jn 5:28) (…) We have read in the Gospel of three dead persons who were raised to life by the Lord, and, let us hope, to some good purpose. For surely the Lord’s deeds are not merely deeds, but signs (…) We were listening with wonder (…) in the reading of the Gospel, how Lazarus was restored to life (Jn 11). If we turn our thoughts to the still more wonderful works of Christ, every one that believes rises again: if we all consider, and understand that more horrifying kind of death, everyone who sins dies. But every man is afraid of the death of the flesh; few, of the death of the soul (…) Man, destined to die, labors to avert his dying; and yet man, destined to live for ever, labors not to cease from sinning (…) ! Oh that we could arouse men, and be ourselves aroused along with them, to be as great lovers of the life that abides, as men are of that which passes away (…) ! Who has had it said to him: “Be off to sea if you would escape with your life”, and has delayed to do so? Who has had it said to him: “Set to work if you would preserve your life”, and has continued a sluggard? It is but little that God requires of us, that we may live for ever: and we neglect to obey Him. (…) If, then, the Lord in the greatness of His grace and mercy raises our souls to life, that we may not die for ever, we may well understand that those three dead persons whom He raised in the body, have some figurative significance of that resurrection of the soul which is effected by faith.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team