Dec 11 – Memorial for St. Damasus I, Pope
Pope Damasus I (304-384) — All lovers of Scripture have reason to celebrate this day. Damasus was the pope who commissioned Saint Jerome to translate the Scriptures into Latin, the Vulgate version of the Bible.
Damasus was a sixty-year-old deacon when he was elected bishop of Rome in 366. His reign was marked by violence from the start when another group decided to elect a different pope. Both sides tried to enforce their selections through violence. Though the physical fighting stopped, Damasus had to struggle with these opponents throughout his years as pope.
Damasus may not have won this battle directly, but he won the war by initiating works that outlasted all his opponents. Not only did he commission the Vulgate translation but he also changed the liturgical language of the Church from Greek to Latin. He worked hard to preserve and restore the catacombs, the graves of the martyrs, and relics.
Damasus was a writer — but he didn’t author many-volumed treatises as other Christian writers did. Damasus liked to write epigrams in verse: short sayings that capture the essence of what needed to be said. He wrote many epigrams on martyrs and saints. And he wrote one about himself that shows his humility and the respect he had for the martyrs. In a Roman cemetery is the papal crypt he built. All that is left of him there, however, is this: ” I, Damasus, wished to be buried here, but I feared to offend the ashes of these holy ones.” Instead, when he died in 384, he was buried with his mother and sister.
- Source: Catholic Online
Isa 35:1-10
Lk 5:17-26
… the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy
When this article goes live, I would be in the midst of a silent retreat in Chiangmai. I humbly seek your prayers for protection over my time there as I enter into my journey with God. Meanwhile, as I write this, I am in the flames of exhaustion as I do ongoing battle with my kid’s and my own bout of flu, which has been potent. My husband is also down with the bug and with my retreat starting in barely three days and my flight out in two days, I feel very much that the verses of Isaiah 35:1-10 are God’s very words of might and strength upholding me and giving me hope and courage to press on. Press on!
Let the wilderness and the dry-lands exult,
let the wasteland rejoice and bloom,
let it bring forth flowers like the jonquil,
let it rejoice and sing for joy.
It is now the second week of Advent. We have been reminded to hope in the first week, and indeed as I write this, I am called and challenged to hope fiercely in the face of tiredness and patience infinitely tested. This period of ongoing training, in the guise of relentless illness, can be cast in a spiritual light that guides my gaze towards the coming of Christ to our world as a baby. Why would God send His holy Self into earthly flesh? His desire is to live with and amongst us, to suffer in the body with us, and to show us the way of rising up beyond this earthly mire. That our salvation is in Life beyond this life!
Hence with hope as our springboard, may we move with surefootedness into peace this second week of Advent. Peace — what a beautiful promise too! As I contemplate on this passage of time, moving from hope to peace, I am in wonder as to how He orders and allows all things to come together for His purposes, for my good. Dare I say, I never completely and fully absorbed the ache of desiring this sacred time with Him at the point I signed up for this much-awaited retreat. I did so at a time of the Holy Spirit’s prompting, and obediently so, with a faint inkling that I would like to have a break before the new year comes.
Peace lands like a dove who bears with her a holy understanding, resting on my shoulder. Peace, she perches on me and peers at my words, already knowing ahead of time what I now know — that God is already waiting for me in the future.
Strengthen all weary hands,
steady all trembling knees
and say to all faint hearts,
‘Courage! Do not be afraid.
‘Look, your God is coming,
vengeance is coming,
the retribution of God;
he is coming to save you.’
Praise be to God that I have found the sacred time to pen this down in the flurry of caregiving and packing. My child is resting beside me and lost in his world of some enjoyable cartoons and I hear his giggles. His tired body is on the mend, and I am thankful for this. Although I have arranged for help from my in-laws to care for my child while I am away, I hear now that my sister-in-law, who lives with them and helps with caring for my child, has dislocated her collarbone. Breathe, and let peace in…it will all be well. God has prepared the way from before this moment…of this, I am sure.
And through it will run a highway undefiled
which shall be called the Sacred Way;
the unclean may not travel by it,
nor fools stray along it.
No lion will be there
nor any fierce beast roam about it,
but the redeemed will walk there,
for those the Lord has ransomed shall return.
And you, my dear friends and fellow pilgrims, who walk this path of faith alongside each other…we are all journeying on this Sacred Way together. In our parallel paths, our intertwining lives and experiences, we shed light for each other. Our fellowship is like the Gospel passage of the paralytic who is carried on the stretcher by his friends to seek Jesus’ healing. As these friends lower him down through the roof of the house, we lift each other up in prayer and intercession. Courage! Do not be afraid! He is coming to save us.
They will come to Zion shouting for joy,
everlasting joy on their faces;
joy and gladness will go with them
and sorrow and lament be ended.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Debbie Loo)
Prayer: You are holy Lord, I pray to always recall your might and mercy. You will not let me fall. You have sent family and friends to support and encourage me. You have sent your Son to be with me until the end of time.
Thanksgiving: In Christ I am safe. In Christ I am saved. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this Gift above all gifts. Thank you for Peace beyond my understanding.
OXYGEN 
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