10 St. Columban Things that Caught My Eye Today (Nov. 23, 2015)

1. St. Columban died 1,400 years ago today.

2. “He was a Celtic monk and abbot who called people, by his example and his words, to total commitment to God.”

3.

Loving God renews His image in us. True love is shown not merely in word but in deed & in truth #StColumban

— Msgr Stanley Deptula (@Msgr_Deptula) November 23, 2015

4. From Pope Benedict XVI:

St Columban’s message is concentrated in a firm appeal to conversion and detachment from earthly goods, with a view to the eternal inheritance. With his ascetic life and conduct free from compromises when he faced the corruption of the powerful, he is reminiscent of the severe figure of St John the Baptist. His austerity, however, was never an end in itself but merely the means with which to open himself freely to God’s love and to correspond with his whole being to the gifts received from him, thereby restoring in himself the image of God, while at the same time cultivating the earth and renewing human society.

5.

St. Columban once asked St. Deicolus, "Why are you always smiling?" Deicolus answered, "Because no one can take God away from me." 🙂

— Katie Warner (@catholickatie) November 14, 2015

6. From an instruction by Saint Columban, in the Liturgy of the Hours today:

Moses wrote in the law: God made man in his image and likeness. Consider, I ask you, the dignity of these words. God is all-powerful. We cannot see or understand him, describe or assess him. Yet he fashioned man from clay and endowed him with the nobility of his own image. What has man in common with God? Or earth with spirit?—for God is a spirit. It is a glorious privilege that God should grant men his eternal image and the likeness of his character. Man’s likeness to God, if he preserves it, imparts high dignity.

If man applies the virtues planted in his soul to the right purpose, he will be like God. God’s commands have taught us to give him back the virtues he sowed in us in our first innocence. The first command is to love our Lord with our whole heart because he loved us first from the beginning, before our existence. Loving God renews his image in us. Anyone who loves God keeps his commandments, for he said: If you love me, keep my commandments. His command is that we love each other. In his own words: This is my command, that you love each other as I also have loved you.

True love is shown not merely in word, but in deed and in truth. So we must turn back our image undefiled and holy to our God and Father, for he is holy; in the words of Scripture: Be holy, for I am holy. We must restore his image with love, for he is love; in John’s words: God is love. We must restore it with loyalty and truth, for he is loyal and truthful. The image we depict must not be that of one who is unlike God; for one who is harsh and irascible and proud would display the image of a despot.

Let us not imprint on ourselves the image of a despot, but let Christ paint his image in us with his words: My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. But the knowledge that peace is good is of no benefit to us if we do not practice it. The most valuable objects are usually the most fragile; costly things require the most careful handling. Particularly fragile is that which is lost by wanton talk and destroyed with the slightest injury of a brother. Men like nothing better than discussing and minding the business of others, passing superfluous comments at random and criticizing people behind their backs. So those who cannot say: The Lord has given me a discerning tongue, that I may with a word support him who is weary should keep silent, or if they do say anything it should promote peace.

7. Pope Pius XII:

How that name, Columban, rings clear down the length of fourteen hundred years, an echo of the bells of Bangor, that sent that heroic figure of scholar and apostle on his way to pioneer Christian civilization in a half-barbarian Europe. France, Germany and Italy were to see Christian knowledge and culture awaken to a new life in many parts at the commanding eloquence of this saintly Irish monk. St. Columban never came to Rome, but Rome had come to him, as it does to all true Irishmen, and laid claim to the fealty of his mind and heart. More than that; when the bark of Peter was being buffeted by the rising tempest of heresy, and the waters were lapping the gunwales, it was the bold, courageous, challenging voice of Columban that resounded above the storm, — and there followed a great calm and peace.

8. Via EWTN and Our Sunday Visitor:

St. Columban suffered for his outspokenness in the face of moral corruption and public depravity. He was exiled, but his words were remembered years later and many of his warnings heeded. He preached the word of Christ fearlessly and was not afraid of the anger of kings. It is the kind of Christian courage we should have.

9. A prayer. And a statue in Cincinnati.

10.

"If man applies the virtues planted in his soul to the right purpose, he will be like God." saint columban

— fr stan fortuna cfr (@frstan) November 23, 2015