Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar

The most admirable of the martyrs was Polycarp. When he heard of all that had taken place, he was not disturbed and even decided to stay in Smyrna; but most people advised him to slip out quietly. And so he left secretly for a small estate on the outskirts, staying there with a few friends. Day and night he did little else but pray for everyone and for all the churches scattered throughout the world, as he was indeed accustomed to do… The police and cavalry set out… with the usual arms as though against a brigand. It was late in the evening when they closed in: they found him reclining in a small room upstairs. He could have left and gone elsewhere but he refused, saying: “May the will of God be done.” And so, hearing that they had arrived he went downstairs to talk with them, while all those present were surprised at his composure and his old age, and why there should have been such concern to capture so elderly a man. At any rate Polycarp immediately ordered food and drink to be set before them, as much as they wished, even at this hour, and only requested that they might grant him an hour to pray undisturbed. When they consented, he stood up and began to pray…, and so full was he of God’s grace that he was unable to stop for two hours, to the amazement of those who heard him, and many were sorry that they had come out to arrest such a godlike old man. Finally he finished his prayer, after calling to mind all those who had ever come into contact with him, both important and insignificant, famous and obscure, and the entire Catholic Church scattered throughout the world. It was now time to go, and so they put him on a donkey and thus conducted him into the city. It was a great Sabbath day.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

The reading of holy Scripture is a spiritual meadow and paradise of pleasure, far more agreeable than the paradise of former times. God has not planted this paradise on earth but in the souls of the faithful. He has not set it in Eden nor in some precise location in the East (Gn 2:8) but has spread it all over the earth and displayed it to the ends of the inhabited world. And since you understand that he has spread out holy Scripture through all the inhabited world, listen to the prophet who says: “Their voice resounds through all the earth and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps 18:5; Rm 10:18)… This paradise also has a source like the former one (Gn 2:6.10), a source from which innumerable rivers flow… Who says so ? God does, who made us the gift of all these rivers : « Whoever believes in me, » he says, « as Scripture says : rivers of water will flow from within him » (Jn 7:38)… This source has no equal, not only for its abundance but still more by its nature. In effect, these are not rivers of water but gifts of the Spirit. This source is shared amongst the souls of all the faithful yet it is not lessened. It is divided but not stanched… Wholly in all and wholly in each: these are indeed the gifts of the Spirit. Do you want to know what the abundance of those rivers means ? Do you want to know the nature of these waters? How they differ from waters here below because they are superior and more splendid? To understand the abundance of the source listen again to Christ speaking to the Samaritan woman: “The water I shall give to one who believes will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14)… Would you like to know its nature as well? Use it! In fact it is of no use for life here below but for eternal life. So let us spend our time in this paradise: let us receive an invitation to drink from this source.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team