🗓️Feb 6St. Dorothy, virgin and martyr

🌹St. Dorothy, virgin and martyr of Caesarea in Cappadocia, witnessed the Christian faith with heroism during the persecution of Diocletian, surrendering her soul to God around the year 311. Consecrated to Christ from her youth, she refused to sacrifice to pagan gods and to contract earthly marriage, which earned her the wrath of the governor Apricius and cruel tortures, endured with unshakable joy. Hagiographic tradition relates that, while she was being led to the place of her execution, the lawyer Theophilus mocked her, asking her to send fruits and roses from the garden of her celestial Spouse; miraculously, an angel in the form of a child appeared with three apples and three fresh roses in the middle of winter, which Dorothy sent to the mocker. This miracle deeply moved Theophilus, leading him to immediate conversion and subsequent martyrdom. Venerated as the patroness of florists, St. Dorothy remains in the memory of the Church as a lily of purity and a rose of charity, teaching that fidelity to the "Law of the Lord" transcends death and opens access to the fruits of eternal life.

📜 Introit (Ps 118, 95-96 | ib., 1)

Me exspectavérunt peccatóres, ut pérderent me: testimónia tua, Dómine, intelléxi: omnis consummatiónis vidi finem: latum mandátum tuum nimis. Ps. Beáti immaculáti in via: qui ámbulant in lege Dómini.

The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I have understood Thy testimonies, O Lord. I have seen an end of all perfection, but Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way: who walk in the law of the Lord.

✉️ Epistle (Sir 51, 13-17)

Dómine, Deus meus, exaltásti super terram habitatiónem meam, et pro morte defluénte deprecáta sum. Invocávi Dóminum, Patrem Dómini mei, ut non derelínquat me in die tribulatiónis meæ, et in témpore superbórum sine adiutório. Laudábo nomen tuum assídue, et collaudábo illud in confessióne, et exaudíta est orátio mea. Et liberásti me de perditióne, et eripuísti me de témpore iníquo. Proptérea confitébor et laudem dicam tibi, Dómine, Deus noster.

O Lord, my God, Thou hast exalted my dwelling place upon the earth, and I have prayed for deliverance from death that was flowing down. I called upon the Lord, the Father of my Lord, that He would not leave me in the day of my trouble, and that He would not leave me without help in the time of the proud. I will praise Thy Name continually, and will praise it with thanksgiving, and my prayer was heard. And Thou hast saved me from destruction, and hast delivered me from the evil time. Therefore I will give thanks, and praise Thee, O Lord our God.

📖 Gospel (Mt 13, 44-52)

In illo témpore: Dixit Iesus discípulis suis parábolam hanc: Símile est regnum cœlórum thesáuro abscóndito in agro: quem qui invénit homo, abscóndit, et præ gáudio illíus vadit, et vendit univérsa, quæ habet, et emit agrum illum. Iterum símile est regnum cœlórum hómini negotiatóri, quærénti bonas margarítas. Invénta autem una pretiósa margaríta, ábiit, et véndidit ómnia, quæ hábuit, et emit eam. Iterum símile est regnum cœlórum sagénæ, missæ in mare et ex omni génere píscium congregánti. Quam, cum impléta esset, educéntes, et secus litus sedéntes, elegérunt bonos in vasa, malos autem foras misérunt. Sic erit in consummatióne sǽculi: exíbunt Angeli, et separábunt malos de médio iustórum, et mittent eos in camínum ignis: ibi erit fletus et stridor déntium. Intellexístis hæc ómnia? Dicunt ei: Etiam. Ait illis: Ideo omnis scriba doctus in regno cœlórum símilis est hómini patrifamílias, qui profert de thesáuro suo nova et vétera.

At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have ye understood all these things? They say to him: Yes. He said unto them: Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.

💎 The divine exchange: the price of the pearl and the treasure of virginity

The liturgy of today, celebrating the triumph of St. Dorothy, intertwines the wisdom of sacrifice with the promise of eternal beatitude, illustrated perfectly in the Gospel of the parables of the hidden treasure and the precious pearl. The Kingdom of Heaven demands a totality of surrender that the world considers madness, but which the saints recognize as the only logical transaction: selling the finite to acquire the Infinite. St. Dorothy embodies the wise merchant who, upon finding Christ - the pearl of inestimable value -, "sold all that she possessed", handing over her youth, her beauty, and her own physical life in martyrdom to ensure the eternal possession of God. As St. Gregory the Great teaches us, "the Kingdom of Heaven has no fixed price; it is worth all that you have", indicating that for Zacchaeus it was worth half of his goods, for Peter and Andrew it was worth the nets and the boat, and for the widow it was worth two coins; for Dorothy, it was worth her blood. The Introit reinforces this superior wisdom by declaring "I have seen an end of all perfection", that is, the saint perceived the finitude and limitation of earthly glories and the power of the "sinners who waited to destroy her", contrasting them with the "exceeding broad" and limitless commandment of God. The Epistle, extracted from Ecclesiasticus, resonates as the song of victory of the martyr who, even in the face of physical death ("death flowing down"), knows that she was exalted above the earth and delivered from spiritual destruction, for the true tribulation is not the suffering of the body, but the separation from God. Thus, the life of Dorothy is the "treasure" of the householder who brings forth "new things and old": the ancient faith of the patriarchs renewed in the fresh blood of martyrdom, proving that he who loses his life for the sake of the Gospel, truly finds it.