How foolish of me, so caught up in the festival of the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas--long may his doctrine be cherished--that I missed the chance to remember with the Orthodox Churches on January 28th our common Doctor, the sublime St. Ephrem of Syria, who gave God glory in song.
Among those who took the occasion to offer tribute to St. Ephrem's glorious memory were
Hilarius and
The Badgers Sett.St. Ephrem, whose feast is celebrated on June 9th in the Roman Calendar, was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.
Here is a nice writeup on Catholic Online of his life and times, which were even more dramatic and interesting than our own. An excerpt:
Ephrem relates in his dying testament a childhood vision of his life that he gloriously fulfilled:
There grew a vine-shoot on my tongue: and increased and reached unto heaven, And it yielded fruit without measure: leaves likewise without number. It spread, it stretched wide, it bore fruit: all creation drew near, And the more they were that gathered: the more its clusters abounded. These clusters were the Homilies; and these leaves the Hymns. God was the giver of them: glory to Him for His grace! For He gave to me of His good pleasure: from the storehouse of His treasures.
Through his gracious intercession may our own lives bear fruit. May our words witness to the truth of Jesus Christ with a boldness born of charity.
