Apr 19th - Alphege

Alphege was bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of Canterbury during the Danish raids of the early 11th century. He had managed to quell the raids through artful diplomacy but with a change in Danish leadership that ended. He was captured in a raid and killed in frustration when he refused to be ransomed. I mention him today because over 100 years later Thomas a Becket commended his cause of reform against power to Alphege. One never knows the effect one has when one lives for Christ.

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The slip of a vine planted in the ground bears fruit at the proper time. The grain of wheat falls into the ground and decays only to be raised up again and multiplied by the Spirit of God who sustains all things. The Wisdom of God places these things at the service of man and when they receive God’s word they become the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ. In the same way our bodies, which have been nourished by the Eucharist, will be buried in the earth and will decay, but they will rise again at the appointed time, for the Word of God will raise them up to the glory of God the Father. Then the Father will clothe our mortal nature in immortality and freely endow our corruptible nature with incorruptibility, for God’s power is shown most perfectly in weakness.

-- Against Heresies by Irenaeus