Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time: June 9 (Fr. Kevin Mac Donald, C.Ss.R.)

It is hard to pass by a feast day honoring a saint who has been declared “Doctor of the Church.” After all, there have been only 38 declared in the long history of the Catholic Church and they all have something special to teach us.  St. Ephrem, a deacon born to Christian parents around the year 306, spent his life teaching Christians throughout Mesopotamia. He did it mostly through hymns, even organizing an all-women choir to perform in church, something that was not practiced at the time. The choir members were even known as “deaconesses.” Ephrem often referred to himself as the “herdsman” and the bishop as the “shepherd.”  In 337, Emperor Constantine I died. Constantine was responsible for legalizing and promoting the practice of Christianity. Seeing an opportunity, the King of Persia, Shapur II, began to systematically attack the area where Ephrem lived. His hometown was besieged, but remained safe within its walls, even when Shapur’s army diverted a river to undermine them. When the attacking army elephants and calvary got bogged down in the wet ground, it allowed the citizens of the city to quickly refortify the walls. Ephrem even wrote a hymn commemorating the event, referring to the city as “Noah’s Ark,” floating to safety on the flood.  Eventually, his home city was captured, and all the Christians were expelled. Ephrem moved to Edessa in modern day Greece. He began to build the local church by establishing a learning center where he served as a teacher. He succumbed to the plague as he ministered to its victims in 373. I will conclude with a portion of one of Ephrem’s sermons:  “In your sacrament we daily embrace you and receive you into our bodies; make us worthy to experience the resurrection for which we hope. We have your treasure hidden within us ever since we received baptismal grace; it grows ever richer at your sacramental table…Savior, your crucifixion marked the end of your mortal life; teach us to crucify ourselves and make way for our life in the Spirit.” Amen. Blessings, Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R.