We pause today in our celebration of "weekdays in Lent" to honor two outstanding bishops in the Church from the 9th century: Sts. Cyril and Methodius. They were blood brothers who joined the brotherhood of priests and then apostles who gave themselves to Christ Jesus, so that Jesus could extend his reign using them.
They were born in Thessalonica (Greece) of a wealthy family. They were well educated. Methodius had more of an organizational temperament; while Constantine was more "The Philosopher" the Teacher, the gifted communicator. Fifty days before his death, Constantine took the monastic habit, and the name Cyril. God used both their talents to bring the faith to the Slavic nations. Since both were gifted in the language of the people, they were sent by the pope to bring the truth of the Gospel to them.
In fact, Cyril combined the Greek alphabet with the Slavonic alphabet and came up with an alphabet named after himself: Cyrillic. The Bible and the Liturgy were translated into Cyrillic – it was easily understandable to the people – and they were among the first to have access to the mysteries of God in their own vernacular language. How advantageous this was both then, and now!
In the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles we see how the Gentiles rejoiced in having the word of God preached to them: to be their light, to be their guide, to be their security in a dark, cruel world.
In the gospel passage we see Jesus sending out the "further seventy-two" – mostly in pairs (like Cyril and Methodius) to announce that "the Kingdom of God is at hand for you."
These two brothers certainly were instrumental in expanding the presence of the Kingdom of God among the Gentiles in the Slavonic countries!
May we, with them, this day, tell the Good News of Jesus – and his love and his forgiveness and his salvation – to all we meet! Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News!
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