Women's Prayer Group In Christ

Quare fremuerunt. The vain efforts of persecutors against Christ and his church.

Jesus Christ came to the world manifested as both God and man.

“When he came into the world, He was manifested as God and man. And it is easy to perceive the man in Him, when He hungers and shows exhaustion, and is weary and thirsty, and withdraws in fear, and is in prayer and in grief, and sleeps on a boat’s pillow, and entreats the removal of the cup of suffering, and sweats in an agony, and is strengthened by an angel, and betrayed by a Judas, and mocked by Caiaphas, and set at nought by Herod, and scourged by Pilate, and derided by the soldiers, and nailed to the tree by the Jews, and with a cry commits His spirit to His Father, and drops His head and gives up the ghost, and has His side pierced with a spear, and is wrapped in linen and laid in a tomb, and is raised by the Father on the third day. And the divine in Him, on the other hand, is equally manifest, when He is worshipped by angels, and seen by shepherds, and waited for b, y Simeon, and testified of by Anna, and inquired after by wise men, and pointed out by a star, and at a marriage makes wine of water, and chides the sea when tossed by the violence of winds, and walks upon the deep, and makes one see who was blind from birth, and raises Lazarus when dead for four days, and works many wonders, and forgives sins, and grants power to His disciples.”(4) -St. Hippolytus of Rome

Eternity always is. The Catholic faith proclaims the eternal generation of the only begotten son of God, Jesus Christ.

“’The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee’ (ver. 7)., Although that day may also seem to be prophetically spoken of, on which Jesus Christ was born according to the flesh;. and in eternity there is nothing past as if it had ceased to be, nor future as if it were not yet, but present only, since whatever is eternal, always is; yet as ‘today’ intimates presentiality, a divine interpretation is given to that expression, ‘To-day have I begotten Thee,’ whereby the uncorrupt and Catholic faith proclaims the eternal generation of the power and Wisdom of God, who is the Only-begotten Son.”(4) -St. Augustine

The nations are given to Christ due to his sacrifice for all people.

“‘Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance’ (ver. 8). This has at once a temporal sense with reference to the Manhood which He took on Himself, who offered up Himself as a Sacrifice in the stead of all sacrifices, who also maketh intercession for us; so that the words, ‘ask of Me,’ may be referred to all this temporal dispensation, which has been instituted for mankind, namely, that the ‘nations’ should be joined to the Name of Christ, and so be redeemed from death, and possessed by God.”(4) -St. Augustine

We are to overcome our sins of the flesh and rule over our bodies as Kings, spiritually.

“‘Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron,’ with inflexible justice, and ‘Thou shall break them like a potter’s vessel’ (ver. 9); that is, ‘Thou shalt break’ in them earthly lusts, and the filthy doings of the old man, and whatsoever hath been derived and inured from the sinful clay. ‘And now understand, ye kings’ (ver. 10). ‘And now;’ that is, being now renewed, your covering of clay worn out, that is, the carnal vessels of error which belong to your past life, ‘now understand,’ ye who now are ‘kings;’ that is, able now to govern all that is servile and brutish in you, able now too to fight, not as ‘they who beat the air, but chastening your bodies, and bringing them into subjection.’”(4) -St. Augustine

Guarding ourselves in holiness and humility, we should serve the Lord with a careful balance of fear and rejoicing.

“‘Serve the Lord with fear;’ lest what is said, ‘Ye kings and judges of the earth,’ turn into pride: ‘And rejoice with trembling’ (ver. 11). Very excellently is ‘rejoice’ added, lest ‘serve the Lord with fear’ should seem to tend to misery. But again, lest this same rejoicing should run on to unrestrained inconsiderateness, there is added ‘with trembling,’ that it might avail for a warning, and for the careful guarding of holiness. It can also be taken thus, ‘And now ye kings understand;’ that is, And now that I am set as King, be ye not sad, kings of the earth, as if your excellency were taken from you, but rather ‘understand and be instructed.’ For it is expedient for you, that ye should be under Him, by whom understanding and instruction are given you. And this is expedient for you, that ye lord it not with rashness, but that ye ‘serve the Lord’ of all ‘with fear,’ and ‘rejoice’ in bliss most sure and most pure, with all caution and carefulness, lest ye fall therefrom into pride.”(4) -St. Augustine

Have no fear in tribulations and trust in God.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) fell into a creek when she was seven and nearly drowned. This accident left her with a lifelong fear of water. So when she approached the pope to ask his approval for a new religious order of missionaries to China, she may have been hoping to travel over land. Instead, the Holy Father sent her to the United States. But Cabrini was unwilling to let her fears stand in the way of the salvation of souls, so she climbed aboard a ship—the first of over two dozen transatlantic trips she would take en route to becoming the first American saint.