Daily Devotions

Optional Memorial of Vincent, deacon and martyr

Second Reading from the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours for January 22, Optional Memorial of Vincent, deacon and martyr

Saint Vincent, deacon of the Church of Saragossa, after suffering extreme tortures, died as a martyr at Valencia in Spain during the Diocletian persecution. His cult immediately spread throughout the Church.

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop

(Sermo 276, 1-2: PL 38, 1256)

Vincent conquers in him who conquered the world

To you, he said, has been granted on Christ's behalf not only that you should believe in him but also that you should suffer for him.

Vincent had received both these gifts and held them as his own. For how could he have them if he had not received them? And he displayed his faith in what he said, his endurance in what he suffered.

No one ought to rely on his own feelings when he speaks out, nor be confident in his own strength when he undergoes temptation. For whenever we speak prudently as we should, our wisdom comes from him, and whenever we endure evils courageously, our long-suffering comes from him.

Call to mind how Christ our Lord in the Gospel exhorted his disciples. It is the very king of martyrs equipping his troops with spiritual arms, explaining their battles, offering them support, and promising them their reward. He once said to his disciples: In this world you will suffer persecution, and then, to allay their fears, he added, but rest assured, I have conquered the world.

There is no need to wonder then, my dearly beloved brothers, that Vincent conquered in him who conquered the world. Christ said: In this world you will suffer persecution, but in such wise that the persecution will not overwhelm, and the attack will not overcome you. Against Christ's army the world arrays a twofold battleline. It offers temptation to lead us astray; it strikes terror into us to break our spirit. Hence if our personal pleasures do not hold us captive, and if we are not frightened by brutality, then the world is overcome. At both of these approaches Christ rushes to our aid, and the Christian is not conquered. If you were to consider in Vincent's martyrdom only human endurance, then his act is unbelievable from the outset. But first recognize the power to be from God, and he ceases to be a source of wonder.

Such savagery was being vented upon the martyr's body while such serenity issued from his lips, such harsh cruelties were being inflicted on his limbs while such assurance rang out in his words, that we should think that, by some miracle, as Vincent suffered, one person was speaking while another was being tortured. And this, my brothers, was true; it was really the truth; another person was speaking. Christ in the Gospel promised this to those who were to be his witnesses, to those whom he was preparing for contests of this kind. For he said: Do not give thought to how or what you are to speak. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks without you. Thus it was Vincent's body that suffered, but the Spirit who spoke. And at his voice, impiety was not only vanquished but human frailty was given consolation.

Responsory: Job 23:11; Philippians 3:8, 10

The Lord has tried me as gold is
assayed by fire;
--I have walked in his way;
I have not wandered from his path.

I count all that this world offers
as worthless if only I may know Christ,
and share in his sufferings.
--I have walked in his way;
I have not wandered from his path.

Prayer

Eternal Father,
you gave Saint Vincent
the courage to endure torture and death for the gospel
fill us with your Spirit
and strengthen us in your love.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
one God, for ever and ever.

Let us praise the Lord.
--And give him thanks.

Posted by billw at January 22, 2004 01:15 AM