DAILY CONTEMPLATION

November 13, 2025 ~ Hathor 4, 1742

“He lies in ambush in a hiding place, like a lion in his den;
he lies in wait to seize the poor man,
to seize the poor man to drag him away” (Ps 9:30 OSB).
By a lion in a den, he means one in whom both violence and deceit will work.
For the first persecution of the Church was violent,
when by proscriptions, by torments, by murders, the Christians were compelled to sacrifice:
another persecution is crafty, which is now conducted by heretics of any kind and false brethren.
There remains a third, which is to come by Antichrist,
than which there is nothing more perilous; for it will be at once violent and crafty.
Violence he will exert in empire, craft in miracles.
To the violence, the word “lion” refers; to craft, the words “in his den.”
He is chiefly to persecute the righteous, of whom it is said,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
St. Augustine