September 13—St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

The Greek word “Chrysostom” means Golden-mouth.  St. John Chrysostom had a golden mouth, meaning that he spoke with great eloquence.  He started out as a monk in Antioch and became very popular due to his homilies.  He was ordained Patriarch, or Archbishop, of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire in 398.  Constantinople was a place of intrigue and luxury.  Once ordained he began to reform the discipline of the church in Constantinople.  He also preached for better morals among the elite of government, including the empress.  Others, including some bishops in the East, feared his power in deposing corrupt bishops, and wanted him out.  Eventually, the displeasure of the empress along with those who opposed him in the Eastern Church led to his exile and ultimately to his death.

St. John Chrysostom’s homilies, writings, and letters were extensive and influential in supporting Church dogma and doctrine.  Thus, he is a Doctor of the Church.  They were also what led him to his exile because he spoke for greater moral behavior, especially among the rich, who were told to share their wealth with the poor, as befits Christians who should care for others.  In other words, St. John spoke truth, earning him enemies among the powerful.

We are called to seek truth.  We are called to live truth.  We are called to speak truth.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  When we seek Him; when we live the truth of his love; when we speak the truth of caring for others, especially the poor, even at the risk of sacrificing money, comfort, possessions, and reputation, we will also make enemies among those who think we go too far.  But love also means standing up for the truths of the faith.  We cannot have a “social” Gospel and leave it at that.  Jesus was not a social worker.  He is our Savior.  We must have the fullness of the Gospel and the fullness of the truth it contains.  The Catholic Church teaches the fullness of the Gospel and has been blessed with a magisterium that, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, can guide us in truth.  St. John Chrysostom was a preeminent member of the magisterium because of his words, but also because of his deeds.  We would do well to follow our bishop and pray for him.

If you are interested in reading more about the saints, go to Mr. Mueting’s Saint Weblog at http://mrmuetingsaints.blogspot.com/.

September 3--St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

There are only four popes who have been called “Great”, St. Leo the Great, St. Nicholas the Great, soon to be St. John Paul the Great, and St. Gregory the Great.  St. Gregory was born in Rome at the end of the sixth century.  After serving in various public offices in Rome, he quit public life to become a Benedictine monk.  But his diplomatic skills required his services as an ambassador to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.  He was elected pope in 590 and served until 604.  In that time he wrote extensively on theological and moral subjects as well as writing hundreds of letters.  He is credited with introducing Gregorian Chant into the liturgy.  He sent missionaries to England to evangelize the Germanic tribes there.  He organized the processes of giving donations and food to the poor in Rome.  He is also considered the pope who revitalized the papacy and brought the institution of the papacy to its central place in the Church as first in charity and authority.  He introduced the title Servum servorum Dei, “Servant of the Servants of God”, which is the last of the eight titles of a pope.

There is a great deal that St. Gregory accomplished for the Church.  As pope he had care for all people’s spiritual needs, but he also cared for the physical needs of those in Rome who had been brought low by bad economics and war.  He even cared for the needs of those who weren’t Christian by sending missionaries.  Servanthood is founded upon Jesus’ commitment to serve us:  “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.  I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do” (Jn. 13:14-15).

We are servants and friends of Jesus if we do as he commands.  What greater thing can we do than serving each other and our society by our lives of Christian love and fellowship?  Our worship together on Sunday solidifies our solidarity in living as Christ calls us:  “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34).  This is the true legacy that St. Gregory the Great, and all the saints, gives us.

August 29—The Passion of St. John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist is commemorated in two feasts, his birth and his death.  We know from Scripture that he died due to the whims of Herodias, the invalid wife of Herod Antipas, and the acquiescence of her daughter, who is traditionally known as Salome.  Salome danced before Herod, who was so delighted that he promised to give her anything she wanted, up to half of his kingdom.  Herodias told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist, who had condemned her marriage to Herod because she was wife to Herod’s brother, Philip.  John the Baptist was not killed for his love for Christ as such; as the last of the prophets, he was killed because he witnessed to God’s truth of the sanctity of marriage.

Marriage is a sacred covenant, symbolic of Jesus’ love for the Church.  Marriage freely vows the husband and wife to a life of love as demonstrated in their acceptance of fidelity, permanence, and openness to each other in fertility, that is, willingness to accept children as gifts from God.  Jesus raised the institution of marriage to a sacrament and stated, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife], and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mark 10:6-9).  

Marriage is not about the fulfillment of a sexual desire, or a statement of civil rights, but rather it is a witness to the love of Christ for the Church.  Therefore, every sacramentally married couple participates in a special way in the very love of Christ for us, his Church.  And so it is up to every sacramentally married couple to witness to that love by their faithfulness to each other, by the permanence of their marriage until death do them part, and in their willing acceptance of children as conceived in accord with the great gifts of unity and potential procreation in each act of marital love.  These are the truths for which St. John the Baptist died.  He can be called the patron and defender of marriage in our day and age.

August 20—St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was the most famous man of the 12th century. When he was about 23 he joined the monastery at Citeaux with thirty other young noblemen. However, three years later he was sent out to establish a new monastery, at Clairvaux, whereupon he was chosen abbot. He became known as a persuasive writer and speaker even to the point that he was asked by the bishops of France to judge between two rival claimants to the papacy. St. Bernard decided that Innocent II was the legitimate pope and succeeded in helping Innocent be recognized as such. He even counseled the successor to Innocent, Eugenius III on how to be a good pope. Pope Eugenius had previously been a follower of St. Bernard. He also asked St. Bernard to preach the Second Crusade. After its failure, many blamed St. Bernard, but he attributed the failure to the sins of the crusaders. St. Bernard is called the last of the Church Fathers, a group of men who taught theology based on Scripture from the time of the early Church. He was also named Doctor Mellifluous, or “Honey-voiced” Doctor due to his eloquence in speaking and writing truths of the faith.

We have much to be thankful for regarding St. Bernard. He had a great devotion to Our Lady and composed the Memorare. He wrote many volumes on Scripture, especially about the Song of Songs, in which he saw the main characters as allegories, or symbols, of Jesus and the Church. The love shared between the two is the same as the love of Christ for his Church. St. Bernard was no stranger to controversy, pointing out error where he saw it. He also founded 163 monasteries which, by the time of his death, had expanded to number 343. We can look to St. Bernard as a saint who was deeply in love with God and deeply involved in the affairs of man for the sake of God. We need to be as deeply in love with God as he was and as willing to be involved in making our society holier.

August 14—St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a martyr in the new age of martyrs, the 20^th century.  But as with all martyrs, St. Maximilian showed love, God’s love, in his martyrdom.  Imprisoned at Auschwitz, Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take the place of another prisoner chosen to be starved to death in retribution for an escape.  After two weeks with no food or water St. Maximilian was still alive when the other nine chosen to be killed with him had died.  He then was given an injection of carbolic acid, whereupon he entered into heavenly glory.

Some may say that the age of martyrs was over sixteen hundred years ago when the Romans killed men and women who stood up for their faith.  Actually, the 20^th century is THE age of the martyrs.  Blessed Pope John Paul II canonized or beatified 266 martyrs of that century.  The situations varied:  the Spanish Civil War, Communist persecution, the Mexican Revolution, Nazi occupation.  But each man, woman, or child died due to hatred of the faith or hatred of the Church.  Each also died forgiving those who persecuted them.

Blessed Pope John Paul II declared in Tertio Millennio Adveniente (On the Preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000) that, “At the end of the second millennium, the Church has once again become a Church of martyrs. The persecutions of believers —priests, Religious and laity—has caused a great sowing of martyrdom in different parts of the world. The witness to Christ borne even to the shedding of blood has become a common inheritance of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants, as Pope Paul VI pointed out in his Homily for the Canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs” (37).

Martyrs are honored as witnesses to Christ, as those who love one another as Christ loved us, with their very lives.

August 10--St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

“Bring me the treasure of the Church!”  This was the charge made by the prefect of Rome to St. Lawrence in A.D. 258.  As first among the seven deacons of Rome, St. Lawrence was responsible for the goods of the Church, its treasury and monies, as well as distributing alms to the poor.  Thus it was most likely that he be the one to hand over (traditore—from which we get the word “traitor”) the wealth of the Church.  He requested three days to gather the wealth.  In that time he distributed all that he could to the poor of the Church and on the third day presented the true wealth of the Church to the prefect:  the poor, the suffering, the blind and crippled, saying that these were the treasures of the Church.  It is said that he declared to the prefect:  “The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor.…  This is the Church’s treasure.”  With that, according to legend, he was sentenced to death by being grilled alive on a gridiron.

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be (Mt. 6:21).  The Church’s treasure is Jesus, himself.  And where do we find Jesus?  In our families, in our neighbors, but especially in the poor and downtrodden.  “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours“(Lk 6:20). 

Moreover, Pope Francis reminds us about poverty and the connection to Jesus when he spoke on June 7, 2013 to students from Jesuit schools in Italy and Albania:  “You can't speak of poverty in the abstract: that doesn't exist. Poverty is the flesh of the poor Jesus, in that child who is hungry, in the one who is sick, in those unjust social structures. Go forward; look there upon the flesh of Jesus. But don't let well being rob you of hope, that spirit of well being that, in the end, leads you to becoming a nothing in life. Young persons should bet on their high ideals, that's my advice. But where do I find hope? In the flesh of Jesus who suffers and in true poverty. There is a connection between the two.”

Jesus is our treasure.  We are the Body of Christ.  The poor and the suffering are our special members for through them Jesus calls us to put our hearts where our treasure is, in Him.

July 31--St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

As founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola has exerted influence on the Church and the world that is matched by few others.  Starting out as a soldier until wounded in battle, St. Ignatius read two books as he was recovering, the Bible and the lives of the saints.   Inspired by their dedication and heroism he decided to dedicate his life to God.  He eventually gathered a group of likewise dedicated men and they presented themselves to the pope.  He asked them to teach and be missionaries, two charisms, or gifts, for which they have been known ever since.

St. Ignatius was a talented administrator.  After he founded the Jesuits, he spent much of his time directing the order, founding schools, sending missionaries across the globe, and writing letters. Administration is not seen by many as a glamorous job.  It involves paperwork, logistics, communication, bureaucracy, and so forth.  Yet, due to his skills in all these areas, St. Ignatius was able to establish and promote the largest group of male religious in the world today.  There are over 17,000 men who are Jesuit priests, scholastics (men training to become priests), brothers, and novices.  There are 28 Jesuit universities and colleges in the United States and over 50 high schools.  The time and expertise of the men and the strength of these institutions have impacted the lives of many throughout the country.  St. Ignatius had as his motto, Ad majorem dei gloriam, “To the greater glory of God”.  Would that we dedicated ourselves, as did St. Ignatius and the Jesuits, to the greater glory of God.

July 26—Sts. Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Just like everyone else, Mary had parents, and Jesus had grandparents.  We know them as Sts. Joachim and Anne.  Although not mentioned in Scripture, their legend comes from a second century document, the Protoevangelium of James.  Regardless of the lack of historical evidence, we can say that Mary’s parents were the first teachers of Mary.  Through a special grace of God, they conceived Mary without original sin.  They were the ones who instilled in her the habits and virtues that enabled her to respond with loving obedience to God’s request to be the Mother of the Son of God, Jesus Incarnate.  Joachim and Anne were faithful Jews who taught Mary to be a faithful Jew who taught Jesus to be a faithful Jew.  They were the ones who set the tone for the raising of Jesus.  

Grandparents do set the tone for future generations.  Their examples guide the parents of grandchildren.  Their faith and hope and love and perseverance give strength to those who come after them.  We remember our grandparents for their holiness and for their love of us.  As grandparents, we can do the same for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  We are called to be loving, prayerful, and perseverant, so that when we are called home our descendants may remember us as loving them for the sake of loving God.  Sts. Joachim and Anne, patron saints of grandparents, set the bar high, but with God’s grace, we too can show future generations the benefits of a constant love, the love of Christ.

July 15--St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

The Franciscans have given the Church many great saints, among these being St. Bonaventure.  St. Bonaventure lived in the 13^th century, not long after the Franciscans were founded.  He became the Minister General, or leader, of the Franciscans and also was named a cardinal.  He was also influential in helping unite the Latin and Greek churches at the Council of Lyon in 1274.  He wrote many volumes on theology and philosophy.  A contemporary of St. Thomas Aquinas, he also worked on integrating faith and reason.   He died soon after the Council of Lyon.  He was named a Doctor of the Church and called the Seraphic Doctor.

Faith and reason do go together, as shown by St. Bonaventure’s, and others, works.  Many have accused Catholics and believers of having “blind faith”, that is, faith that does not have any connection to reason whatsoever.  This is not true.  Both faith and reason are gifts from God and need to be used in the correct context.  We use reason in acknowledging the existence of God.  We use reason as a natural gift from God.  We use faith as a supernatural gift from God.  Reason tells us there is a God; faith tells us that Jesus is God.  Reason tells us that the statement that Jesus is God is reasonable due to the evidence of the believers who first knew him, listened to him, and witnessed him as risen from the dead.  Faith builds on reason, just as grace builds on nature.  

“Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope …” (1 Pet. 3:15).  We need to be ready to use our reason in defense of our hope and our faith, namely Jesus Christ.  We are not “blind fools”, but rather, “We are fools on Christ’s account …” (1 Cor. 4:10).

July 11--St. Benedict, Abbot

Pope Benedict XVI named himself for St. Benedict, the man who wrote a Rule for monks to live together in community.  That Rule is the basis for the Order of St. Benedict, the religious group of monks who Christianized Europe.  St. Benedict was a young man of sixth century Italy who left his studies in Rome to become a hermit.  Some other hermits were drawn to his holiness and asked him to lead them.  He did, but they came to despise him and tried to poison him.  He left that group and later founded a monastery at Monte Cassino, where he died not long after his twin sister, St. Scholastica.

The Rule of St. Benedict is the most common Rule used by monasteries and monks for over 1,400 years.  Its first word is obsculta, a Latin word meaning both “listen” and “obey”.  The Benedictine monk is to listen to and obey the words of the Rule so that he may grow in holiness.  The Rule is also exemplary for its tone of moderation.  Nothing too hard was exacted from the monk.  Everything was to be done in moderation, both work and prayer, which are hallmarks of the Benedictine order.

Benedictine monasticism became the norm in Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 476 A.D.  Charlemagne mandated that Benedictine monasteries be founded wherever his empire extended.  By the 14^th century there were 37,000 Benedictine monasteries in Europe.  There had been 24 Benedictine popes and over 1,500 canonized Benedictine saints.  So one can understand why Pope Benedict XVI said that “with his life and work St Benedict exercised a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture.” 

We owe much to St. Benedict and to the Benedictines.

July 3--St. Thomas, Apostle

St. Thomas was one of the twelve Apostles, men who were sent out to evangelize and catechize.  We know about him primarily from the gospels, especially the Gospel of John where he is described as doubting the Resurrection.  And yet, when Jesus appears to the Eleven on the Sunday after the Resurrection, Thomas is awestruck, saying: “My Lord and my God,” which connects with the very first verse of John’s gospel:  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Thomas’s declaration of faith leads to Jesus’ response:  “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (Jn 20:29).

“Doubting Thomas” is the consummate modern person.  He decided not to believe unless he could see.  That very well may describe many of us in our modern age.  We have been conditioned to not accept those things which cannot be proven to our satisfaction.  We have transferred our faith from belief in that which cannot be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or heard—spiritual realities—to faith in that which can be experienced by our senses.

However, seeing is not believing; it is seeing.  Can we ‘see’ love? or hope? or courage? or perseverance?  No, we ‘see’ people expressing those realities in their words or actions.  “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1).  “Believing Thomas” is our model; the man who professed belief in Jesus as Lord and God.  We are the ones “who have not seen and have believed.”  We need to maintain and share our faith by our words and actions so that others may ‘see’ Christ in us.

June 29--Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles

It is rare when a saint gets more than one day in the liturgical calendar.  The Blessed Virgin Mary has numerous feast days throughout the year.  St. John the Baptist has two days and St. Joseph has two days, but Sts. Peter and Paul have three each, including one day for the both of them.  Their importance in the early Church forever links them together.  They both died in Rome during the persecution of the emperor, Nero.  Before that, they both worked together to bring Christianity to the Gentiles as shown in the Acts of the Apostles at the Council of Jerusalem.  Both wrote epistles, Peter had two, Paul had 13.  They were both apostles, Peter as one of the original twelve and Paul as one specially chosen by Jesus when he was on the road to Damascus.  They are the main protagonists in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter in the first part and Paul in the second.

Both Peter and Paul shared in the ministry of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Peter was the leader of the entire Church community, the shepherd appointed by Jesus to watch over his flock.  Paul was the founder of numerous communities in Asia Minor and Greece, including most of the places to whom he wrote epistles.

When portrayed in art, Peter is often shown as holding keys, recalling the passage from Mt. 16:19—“I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  This symbolized the role of Peter as pope, the one who is the visible sign of the unity of the Church.  Paul is often portrayed in art with a sword, which is how he was martyred, or a book, symbolizing his letters in the New Testament.

Both Peter and Paul are essential for us today.  Peter’s role as shepherd-pope reminds us of the importance of the Magisterium and the need to follow its teaching.  Paul’s role as missionary-letter writer reminds us of the importance of Scripture and Tradition in following Jesus.  Both remind us of the importance of witnessing to the faith in Jesus.  Since both were martyred in Rome, Peter, according to tradition on an upside-down cross, and Paul by beheading, this shows the primacy of Rome and her bishop, the pope, in leading the Church throughout the world.

June 22—Sts. John Fisher and Thomas More, Martyrs

Both St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More were martyred by King Henry VIII of England in the 16^th century because they refused to acknowledge Henry as the head of the Church of England.  Fisher previously had been Henry’s tutor, but supported Catherine of Aragon, the king’s wife when Henry appealed to Rome to annul their marriage.  Rome refused to annul the valid marriage and Henry asserted control over the Catholic Church in England, divorced Catherine, and married Anne Boleyn.  Fisher was beheaded for treason the day before the feast of the Vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, whom he had invoked in his defense of Catherine.

More authored the book Utopia as well as being Speaker of the House of Commons.  More was elevated to the position of chancellor, which is like a prime minister.  However, he resigned due to the king’s declaration of supremacy over the Church in England in place of the pope.  When More was on the scaffold to be beheaded for treason, he said that he died “the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”

Both St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More chose to oppose the unjust encroachment of the state on the Church’s prerogatives and on Church doctrine.  Henry had his church declare his marriage to Catherine annulled.  Henry had Parliament declare him the Supreme Head of the Church in England.  Further, Henry closed many monasteries and confiscated their lands.  All these actions were possible because of a people who allowed the state to take over the Church.  They valued the “liberties" of the government over the liberties of faith and religion.

We live in a similar time.  But we have the opportunity to speak up.  June 21 is the first day of the Fortnight for Freedom called for by the U.S. bishops.  It is a two-week period of prayer and action to address many current challenges to religious liberty, including the August 1, 2013 deadline for religious organizations to comply with the HHS mandate, Supreme Court rulings that could attempt to redefine marriage in June, and religious liberty concerns in areas such as immigration and humanitarian services.  St. Thomas More is the patron of statesmen and politicians.  We petition his intercession for just laws and the guarantee of the first amendment right to freedom of religion.

June 3--St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs

June 3—St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs

The word “catholic” means universal and the Catholic Church is universal, with Christ being preached and celebrated on all the continents.  This is especially true in Africa, which has 175 million Catholics, or 16% of the total population of Africa.  The Catholic Church has grown 265% there since 1978 when it had 55 million members.  The people of Africa have seen their values confirmed in the Catholic Church, including Church teaching on homosexuality and contraception, as well as working for justice for the poor.

How does this relate to St. Charles Lwanga and his companions?  They were martyred in 1886 under the reign of a Ugandan king who had demanded that they submit to his sexual desires.  Charles was a catechist who protected the young men and boys who were pages to the king.  When they were discovered as Christians, the king ordered them to walk 37 miles to a place of execution.  Some were martyred on the way, while the others were burned to death, including eleven who had converted to Protestantism.

Being faithful to God and to his Church sometimes demands that we stand up to the sins and errors of our time.  Homosexual activity is such a thing.  It is against the complementarity that exists between men and women and against the complete gift of love of husband and wife that is fully expressed in marital intercourse.  It is against the divine law and against the natural law that God has written upon our hearts.  Homosexuality is intrinsically disordered and needs to be understood as such.

We live in a time when that love and that law is denied and made subject to the imperial autonomy of the self and its desires, however they may be supported by popularity and unjust civil law.  It is our duty as children of God and children of the Church to speak up and witness to God’s law of love, not the state’s law of supposed equality.  To be a martyr means to witness to truth, that which is of God.  We may be called to be new martyrs, not in that we will be killed, but that we will be snubbed, ridiculed, and persecuted.  St. Charles Lwanga and his companions knew what they were getting into when they stood up for their faith.  We need to know that and joyfully proclaim our willingness to love those who persecute us.