Source of pardon and salvation

Communion Antiphon   (Today's Liturgy)

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and

renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Ps 51:10)

Prayer After Communion  (Today's Liturgy)

Having received the blessing of Your heavenly gifts,

we humbly beseech You, almighty God,

that they may always be for us a

source both of pardon and of salvation.

Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

  

St Polycarp of Smyrna

Disciple of apostle St John

Friend of Ignatius of Antioch

Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr

Exemplary in catechesis

69-155 AD

FEAST DAY - February 23

 

Polycarp was denounced to the government, arrested, and tried on the charge of being a Christian. When the proconsul urged him to save his life by cursing Christ, he replied: “Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” 

Earlier, in a Letter to the Philippians...

“Stand fast, therefore, in this conduct and follow the example of the Lord, ‘firm and unchangeable in faith, lovers of the brotherhood, loving each other, united in truth,’ helping each other with the mildness of the Lord, despising no man.”

And wrote on another occasion...

“If we pray to the Lord to forgive us, we ourselves must be forgiving; we are all under the eyes of our Lord and God, and every one of us must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, where each of us will have to give an account.”

St Polycarp, ora pro nobis!