Saturday, November 18 : Saint John Cassian

“The poor and needy shall praise the name of the Lord.” (Ps 73:21) And indeed what greater or holier poverty can there be than that of one who knowing that he has no defense and no strength of his own, asks for daily help from another’s bounty, and as he is aware that every single moment his life and substance depend on Divine assistance, professes himself not without reason the Lord’s bedesman, and cries to Him daily in prayer: But I am poor and needy: the Lord helps me. And so by the illumination of God Himself he mounts to that manifold knowledge of Him and begins henceforward to be nourished on sublimer and still more sacred mysteries, in accordance with these words of the prophet: “The high hills are a refuge for the stags, the rocks for the hedgehogs.” (Ps 103:18 Vulgate) This is very fairly applied in the sense we have given, because whosoever continues in simplicity and innocence is not injurious or offensive to any one, but being content with his own simple condition endeavours simply to defend himself from being spoiled by his foes, and becomes a sort of spiritual hedgehog and is protected by the continual shield of that rock of the gospel, i.e., being sheltered by the recollection of the Lord’s passion and by ceaseless meditation….. “He escapes the snares of his opposing enemies. And of these spiritual hedgehogs we read in Proverbs as follows: “And the hedgehogs are a feeble folk, who have made their homes in the rocks.” (Prov 30:26) And indeed what is feebler than a Christian, what is weaker than a monk!

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team