February 27--St. Gregory of Narek, Monk, Priest, and Doctor of the Church

St. Gregory of Narek Statue, Vatican City

“Lex orandi, lex credendi.” “The law of what is prayed is the law of what is believed.” This Latin phrase summarizes the impact and relationship of prayer and faith. As the Catechism states: “The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church believes as she prays.” (1124).

Thus: Saint Gregory of Narek was a mystic, monk, priest, and, as declared by Pope Francis, Doctor of the Church. Living in the Kingdom of Armenia, modern Turkey (born about 951, died about 1003), Gregory and his brother were raised by their uncle in a monastery, which he eventually entered. He then taught there and wrote commentaries and prayers. His most famous work is The Book of Lamentations, a collection of ninety-five prayers, each beginning: “Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart.” The prayers were expressions of love and dependency on God’s mercy. “He believed his book was written not only for himself, his monks, or the Armenian people, but for all people, for the entire world.” In other words, St. Gregory proclaimed the Gospel in the prayers he composed.

Here is the conclusion of his final prayer: Prepare the earth for the day of light and let the soil bloom and bring forth fruit, heavenly cup of life-giving blood, ever sacrificed, never running dry, all for the salvation and life of the souls in eternal rest. And though my body die in sin, with Your grace and compassion, may I be strengthened in You, cleansed of sin through You, and renewed by You with life everlasting, and at the resurrection of the righteous be deemed worthy of Your Father’s blessing. To Him together with You, all glory, and with the Holy Spirit, praise and resounding thanks, now, always and forever, Amen. St. Gregory of Narek, pray for us!

December 24--Saints Adam and Eve, First Parents

Adam and Eve with Promise of Mary

Are the two people who brought evil to humanity considered saints of the Church? Even though they are not in the official Catholic Martyrology, they are accepted as being in Heaven. But let’s first consider their place in salvation history. First, they disobeyed God and brought about Original Sin and its consequences of concupiscence, sin, suffering, and death! Second, they lost original justice and original holiness, keeping us from benefiting from these graces. However, they also are the progenitors of humanity, from whom the Son of God is descended in his human nature. And, finally, they are the first holders of the covenant that God made with humanity in order to bring about our salvation!

Genesis 3:15 states the curse of God upon the serpent who tempted our parents:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel.

This is the protoevangelium, the first proclamation of the Good News of God’s gift of salvation! Here God states that Original Sin is not the final word. The final Word is Jesus Christ! Thus we can proclaim, “O happy fault! O truly necessary sin of Adam, that won for us so great a Redeemer!” We have Adam and Eve in the Old Testament and the New Adam and the New Eve, Jesus and Mary, in the New Testament. Even so, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception includes this passage from Genesis as the first reading!

Even though Adam and Eve are not thought of as official saints of the Catholic Church, there has been honor given to them throughout history. As well, the Eastern Orthodox Churches honor them. We can pray to them for their intercession. Saints Adam and Eve, pray for us!

December 20–Sts. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Patriarchs

Icon of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by Legacy Icons.

We don’t normally think of Old Testament figures as saints, but they are! When Jesus was crucified and died he descended into “hell” but not the hell of the damned, rather, the abode of the dead, also known as Hades in Greek and Sheol in Hebrew. There those who awaited the Resurrection were in, what is called, the bosom of Abraham. If we remember the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31), Jesus tells of Lazarus resting with Abraham, who is clearly seen as being in a place of comfort and rest. “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell” (CCC, 633).

Thus, Abraham, our father in faith, Isaac, the son of promise, and Jacob, who is called Israel, “one who contended with God,” were delivered from the abode of the dead and are now living in Heaven. These patriarchs, along with their wives, the matriarchs Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel, brought forth a new people, the nation of Israel, who became the people of the covenant under Moses. Then a new covenant was established with David, which promised a Messiah with an everlasting kingship from his house. Further, a final covenant was promised through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which would bring about everlasting peace and salvation through Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In this season of Advent it’s worthwhile to remember our spiritual ancestors who prepared the way of the Lord. Let us learn from their faith, hope, and love. Let us imitate their perseverance, resilience, and fortitude. Let us go forth sharing the joy of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Saints Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel, pray for us!

December 12--Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn

With Dobbs v. Jackson in 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned. We rejoice that such a terrible decision has been overruled. However, many see the Dobbs decision as an attack on women and their “rights”. To that end there have been attempts to replace Roe with greater opportunities for abortion throughout the country. South Dakota, Florida, and Nebraska have rejected those attempts, thank God. But others have not.

This is where our Saint is so needed! Mary, the Virgin of Guadalupe, is the Patroness of the Unborn. She spoke to St. Juan Diego Cuahtlatoatzin as the Mother of the unborn Son of God in 1531. We pray for her intercession so that we can foster love and acceptance for the unborn, who are not burdens or problems to be fixed, but children of God! Mary is our mother. We pray for everyone: the unborn, for life and love; the mother of the unborn, for hope and courage; for the abortionist, for repentance and conversion; for our society, for perseverance and justice.


Virgin of Guadalupe,
Patroness of unborn children,
we implore your intercession
for every child at risk of abortion.
Help expectant parents to welcome from God
the priceless gift of their child’s life.

Console parents who have lost that gift
through abortion,
and lead them to forgiveness and healing
through the Divine Mercy of your Son.

Teach us to cherish
and to care for family and friends
until God calls them home.
Help us never to see others as burdens.

Guide our public officials
to defend each and every human life
through just laws.
Inspire us all to bring our faith into public life,
to speak for those who have no voice.

We ask this in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ, who is Love and Mercy itself.
Amen. (USCCB)

December 4--St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor

St. John Damascene, Wikimedia Commons

Is it lawful to make images of God? It would seem that it isn’t. The second commandment in Exodus says: “You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4-5a). That is it! Or is it? The making of images of God, Mary, and the saints was condemned in the 8th century by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III.

This is where our saint comes into the story. St. John Damascene (born about AD 675, died AD 749) was a Catholic priest and monk in a monastery near Jerusalem, which had been conquered by the Muslims. Upon hearing of the prohibition of venerating images, or iconoclasm, he denounced the heresy: “Some criticize us for honoring images of our Saviour, our Lady, and other saints, let them remember that in the beginning God created us after his own image. On what grounds then do we show reverence to each other unless because we are made after God’s image?... But when God became man for our salvation, many people saw the things that he did. He lived among us, worked miracles, suffered, was crucified, roe again and was taken back to heaven. … But for the sake of those who were illiterate, the Fathers permitted the depiction of these events in images as concise memorials. Thus when we see the crucifix, we remember Christ’s saving passion. We fall down to worship not the piece of wood, but the One who is imaged, Christ crucified.”

We do not worship idols, we venerate images because they bring us to God! We, the created, adore God, the uncreated! St. John Damascene, pray for us!

Last Sunday in Ordinary Time--Christ the King

Our Lord, Christ the King Church, Cincinnati, Ohio

Why a feast for Christ the King? Because only in the Kingdom of God, with Christ as King, will we find the peace we are looking for. Pope Pius XI instituted this feast in 1925. The world had just gone through World War I. He wrote in the encyclical Quas primas: “Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ…” (1). “That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Savior should be as widely as possible recognized and understood, and to the end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honor of the Kingship of Christ” (21).

Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:21). “If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. He must reign in our minds…. He must reign in our wills…. He must reign in our hearts…. He must reign in our bodies and in our members…. If all these truths are presented to the faithful for their consideration, they will prove a powerful incentive to perfection” (33).

Pope Pius XI fervently desired that we turn ourselves to Christ as King so that we may receive the blessings of love, holiness, and peace in our lives. We celebrate the Feast of Christ the King every year at the end of the liturgical calendar to look to the end of time when Christ will return in glory as King to judge all of humanity. “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”

November 19–“Saint” Mechtild of Magdeburg, Beguine, Third Order Dominican, and Mystic

Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The language of love is one of complete self-gift of one to the other: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). Pope Benedict XVI wrote the encyclical Deus caritas est, wherein he wrote about love as eros in a way that transcends sexuality: “True, eros tends to rise ‘in ecstasy’ towards the Divine, to lead us beyond ourselves; yet for this very reason it calls for a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing” (5). It is this sense of ecstasy and transcendence that the mystics touch in their writings, as well as in their prayer lives with God.

Today’s “saint”, Mechtild of Magdeburg (born about 1210, died about 1282/1297), has not been officially canonized by the Catholic Church, although some have called her saint and blessed. Yet she experienced mystical revelations from the Holy Spirit from the age of twelve and continued to write about these throughout her life, published as The Flowing Light of the Godhead. There, she describes the union of her soul with God: “O Lord, love me excessively and love often and long; the oftener you love me, so much the purer do I become; the more excessively you love me, the more beautiful I become; the longer you love me, the more holy will I become upon earth.” And elsewhere: “And he, with great desire, shows her his divine heart. It glows like red gold in a great fire. And God lays the soul in his glowing heart so that he, the great God, and she, the humble maid, embrace and are one as water with wine. … Then she says, ‘Lord! You art my beloved! My desire! My flowing stream! My sun! and I am your reflection!’” This is the language of love beyond love!