Feast of St. Ephrem, June 9

Around 1924, my grandparents moved their family to the first parish in the U.S. named for a certain newly canonized saint....

• "St Ephrem the Syrian...was born into a Christian family in Nisibis in about 306 A.D. He was Christianity's most important Syriac-speaking representative and uniquely succeeded in reconciling the vocations of theologian and poet....He died... in 373, a victim of the disease he contracted while caring for those infected with the plague....
  
  "Ephrem's reflection on the theme of God the Creator is important: nothing in creation is isolated and the world, next to Sacred Scripture, is a Bible of God. By using his freedom wrongly, man upsets the cosmic order.
  
  "The role of women was important to Ephrem. The way he spoke of them was always inspired with sensitivity and respect: the dwelling place of Jesus in Mary's womb greatly increased women's dignity. Ephrem held that just as there is no Redemption without Jesus, there is no Incarnation without Mary. The divine and human dimensions of the mystery of our redemption can already be found in Ephrem's texts....
  
  "Ephrem honoured by Christian tradition with the title 'Harp of the Holy Spirit', remained a deacon of the Church throughout his life" (Pope Benedict XVI, 11/28/07).