October 25

ow in adversity, now in prosperity, the martyrs vigilantly practice patience and self-control, and in the calamaties which exhaust the earth and herald the final consummation at the end of the world, they discern the fulfillment of prophecy and so look forward with increased confidence to the eternal happiness of their heavenly country. Although in all these events unbelieving and godless nations continue to rage against the Church of Christ, the Church gains the victory by its endurance and by the profession of a faith unshaken by the cruelty of its adversaries.

For long ages the truth lay hidden behind mysterious prophecies, but now it is revealed in the sacrifice of Christ, and those sacrificial rites which foreshadowed it are abolished by the destruction of the Jewish temple. By degrees the temples of the heathen divinities are also being destroyed together with their images and impious rites, as the prophets foretold. Under cover of Christ's name heresies spring up against his very person. This too was predicted, but by means of such errors the doctrines of our holy faith are developed.

From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.

HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman