Memorial of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, bishops and
martyrs
(I Timothy 3:1-13; Luke 7:11-17)
No quality of God bears more hope for humans than His mercy. He forgives our sins no matter how grievous
they are. Today’s gospel shows how Jesus
displays this quality when he restores to life the only son of a widowed
mother. So also do the saints we
remember today, Cornelius and Cyprian.
Cyprian was the celebrated bishop of Carthage in North
Africa. He is famous for theological
tracts like his comments on the Our Father which the Church reads every year in
the Liturgy of the Hours. Cornelius was
the bishop of Rome who had to contend with a rival named Novatian for the
position. The issue at the time was
forgiveness for those who apostatized rather than be persecuted for their
faith. Cornelius, supported by Cyprian,
taught that even this grave sin could be forgiven.
In his famous mercy speech from The Merchant of Venice
Shakespeare writes that mercy “becomes the throned monarch better than his
crown.” Mercy becomes any of us who
demonstrate it because it makes us more like God.
No comments:
Post a Comment