Against the Vain Judgements of Men: [II]

Why should you fear mortal man?(Isa.51:12) Today he is here; tomorrow
he is gone forever. Fear God and you need never fear man. What real
harm can the words or actions of any man do to you? He injures himself
rather than you and he cannot escape the judgement of God, whoever he
is. Keep God always before you and do not engage in bitter
controversies. Even if for the present you seem to suffer defeat and
undeserved disgrace, do not complain nor lessen your due reward
through impatience.(Heb.12:1) Instead, raise your eyes to Me in
Heaven, for I have power to deliver you from all shame and wrong and
to reward every man according to his merits.(Rom.2:6)
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 36

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August 5th – St. Nonna of Nazianzen, Matron

Died 374
Let me introduce St. Nonna (1), a model Christian wife and mother.

Nonna was born around 290 AD in Cappadocia (now a part of Turkey). Her
prominent Christian parents raised her in a firm Christian faith. It
might seem odd, then, that she should have married a non-Christian.
Her husband, Gregory, a magistrate in the city of Nazianzus, belonged
to a small sect, half-pagan, half-Jewish, called the Hypsistarians.
But even though the Church discourages such marriages as risky for the
Catholic party, this particular mixed marriage turned out brilliantly.

Influenced by the good example of his wife, Gregory not only became a
Christian, but a priest and bishop of Nazianzus. (In those days Church
law still permitted married bishops.) Indeed, Gregory was so
outstanding that today we venerate him as St. Gregory of Nazianzus the
Elder.

Nonna and Gregory had three children: Gregory Junior, Gorgonia and
Caesarius. Before young Gregory was born, his mother offered him to
God as a special gift. God accepted. Gregory Junior became a monk, a
priest, a bishop and as St. Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 330-390), one of
the four great Eastern doctors of the Church. He won special fame as a
defender of the divinity of Christ against Arius of Alexandria, who
claimed that Jesus was no more God than you or I.

Gorgonia, much like her mother in her virtues, married and raised a
family with equal care. She devoted her spare time to the needs of the
local church and the poor of the district. Caesarius became a
physician, held in the highest respect as a medic and a man. Emperor
Julian the Apostate so admired him that he offered him all sorts of
favors to win him over to paganism. Caesarius not only refused but
resigned the public offices he already held.

The Christian Emperor Valens, who succeeded Julian, named him his
private financial secretary. In 368, however, after narrowly escaping
death in an earthquake, Caesarius renounced worldly life and gave all
his property to the poor.

St. Gregory the Younger preached at the funerals of both Gorgonia and
Caesarius. Since then, they too, have been venerated as saints.

What a family Nonna gave to God – herself and four other saints! True
to the scriptural ideal of the “valiant woman,” she won from her
husband and children deserved thanks and praise (Proverbs, 31).

Nonna (1), mother of Gregory Nazianzen ; a lady of good birth, the
child of Christian parents, Philtatius and Gorgonia, brought up in the
practice of the Christian virtues, of which she was so admirable an
example. Her son describes in glowing terms the holiness of her life
and the beautiful conformity of all her actions to the highest
standards of Christian excellence. To her example, aided by her
prayers, he ascribes the conversion of his father from the strange
medley of paganism and Christianity which formed the tenets of the
Hypsistarian sect, to which by birth he belonged (Greg. Naz. Or. ii,
19; Carm. 1, 2). We know of two other children of the marriage, a
sister named Gorgonia, probably older than Gregory, and a brother
named Caesarius. Nonna's death probably occurred on Aug. 5 (on which
day she is commemorated both by the Greek and Latin churches) in 374
(Orat. 19, p. 315; Carm. 1, p. 9). Tillem. Mém. eccl. t. ix. pp.
309-311, 317, 318, 322, 385, 397.
–Father Robert F. McNamara

Saint Quote:
Humility is necessary not only for the acquisition of virtues, but
even for salvation. For the gate of Heaven, as Christ Himself
testifies, is so narrow that it admits only little ones.
--St. Bernard

Bible Quote:
He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us
according to our iniquities. For according to the height of the
heaven above the earth: he hath strengthened his mercy towards them
that fear him. (Psalms 102:10-11)

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A Prayer of Petition

Let us adore and give thanks to God the Father everlasting, Who, of
the great love He bore us, was pleased to send His only-begotten Son
into the world to suffer and die on the gibbet of the Cross; and let
us beseech Him, for the sake of His passion and death and by the
intercession of Saint Gabriel, that most loving follower of our
crucified Lord, to grant us the favor for which We pray [here mention
your request].

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

Let us adore and give thanks to God the eternal Son, Who, becoming man
and dying for us upon the Cross, left us Mary most holy to be our
Mother; and let us beseech Him, by the merits of this sorrowful Virgin
Mother and by the intercession of Saint Gabriel, who was her most
devoted servant, to grant us the favor for which we pray [here mention
your request].

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

1. Synarchie or synarchia - a secret society whose goal is to control
the technological growth in the world and its financial consequences.
The term is habitually used to refer to the Masonic control of
technology, or simply as synonymous with the technocratic mentality,
as in this comment of Prof. Plinio.