St. Hyacinth
St. Hyacinth was one of the first members of the Dominicans (the
Order of Preachers) and the "apostle of the North", and is also called
the "Apostle of Poland."
Hyacinth was born into nobility in 1185
at the castle of Lanka, at Kamin, in Silesia, Poland, and received an
impressive education, becoming a Doctor of Law and Divinity before
traveling to Rome with his uncle, Ivo Konski, the Bishop of Krakow.
In
Rome he met St. Dominic and decided to join the Order of Preachers
immediately, receiving his habit from Dominic himself in 1220.
After
his novitiate he made his religious profession, and was made superior
of the little band of missionaries sent to Poland to preach. In Poland
the new preachers were well received and their sermons produced
a deep conversion in the people.
Hyacinth also founded
communities in Sandomir, Kracow, and at Plocko on the Vistula in
Moravia. He extended his missionary work through Prussia, Pomerania, and
Lithuania. Then, crossing the Baltic Sea, he preached in Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, and Russia, reaching the shores of the Black Sea.
On his return to Krakow he died, on August 15, 1257.
Some of his relics can be found at the Dominican church in Paris.
St. Hyacinth is a patron of Poland.
Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63
1 Again the word of the LORD came to me:
2 "Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations,
3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your
origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was
an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.
4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your
navel string was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse
you, nor rubbed with salt, nor swathed with bands.
5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you
out of compassion for you; but you were cast out on the open field, for
you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.
6 "And when I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you in your blood, `Live,
7 and grow up like a plant of the field.' And you grew
up and became tall and arrived at full maidenhood; your breasts were
formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
8 "When I passed by you again and looked upon you,
behold, you were at the age for love; and I spread my skirt over you,
and covered your nakedness: yea, I plighted my troth to you and entered
into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine.
9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil.
10 I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with leather, I swathed you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
11 And I decked you with ornaments, and put bracelets on your arms, and a chain on your neck.
12 And I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.
13 Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your
raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered cloth; you ate
fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful, and came
to regal estate.
14 And your renown went forth among the nations
because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor which I
had bestowed upon you, says the Lord GOD.
15 "But you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and lavished your harlotries on any passer-by.
60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.
63 that you may remember and be confounded, and never
open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that
you have done, says the Lord GOD."
Matthew 19:3-12
3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?"
4 He answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,
5 and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his
father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become
one flesh'?
6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
7 They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?"
8 He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery."
10 The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry."
11 But he said to them, "Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.
12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth,
and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are
eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of
heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."
Isaiah 12:2-6
2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will
not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has
become my salvation."
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4 And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the
LORD, call upon his name; make known his deeds among the nations,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 "Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."
Lord, You have been so generous with Your blessings
19th Week in Ordinary Time
Ez. 16:1-15,60,63; (R. Ps): Is. 12:2-3,4,5-6;
Mt. 19:3-12
Ezekiel
was a master of imagery and imaginative symbolism. Centuries before
George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” and the musical version “My Fair
Lady”, he used the story of the girl in the gutter and the kind
gentleman to bring out the contrast between God’s unfailingly generous
love and the infidelity that often plagues the human heart. In Ezekiel’s
story, Jerusalem is the girl abandoned in the gutter, and God is the
man who finds her and loves her in marriage almost to the point of
extravagance. God’s generosity was met by Jerusalem’s ungrateful
infidelity.
We have been raised from the gutter of sin, and are
now Jerusalem, the people of God. But have we forgotten to give thanks
to God, the sole provider of our many gifts? Even if we have, God is
kind and will always remember His covenant with us.
Just as God
blessed Jerusalem, He has also sanctified Christian marriage with many
blessings. Our heavenly Father desires that Christian couples live their
marriage vocation faithfully.
Lord, You have been so generous
with Your blessings. Teach us to appreciate Your gifts, and to make good
use of them so that we can better praise, revere and serve You.
