January 4--St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious

                              

"All those who have gone to Catholic grade school raise your hands.  One, two, three, ... four hundred, ... five thousand....  Okay, so a lot of you went to Catholic grade school.  Your parents sacrificed much to send you to a Catholic grade school so that you could have a quality Catholic education.  But why is it that there are so many Catholic grade schools?"  We have today's saint and the American bishops to thank for the blessings that are Catholic parochial schools.

The third Council of Baltimore in 1886 decreed that parochial schools were absolutely necessary and that parents must send their children to those schools unless there was sufficient reason.  This was not about bishops dictating to parents how to raise their children, but rather, a means of helping insure the faith in a country that was hostile to Catholicism and was teaching Protestantism in the public schools.

But where does St. Elizabeth Ann Seton fit in?  She founded the first American women's religious order and established the first American parish (parochial) school.  She was raised Episcopalian and was married with five children when her husband died, leaving her family destitute.  While in Italy with her dying husband, she became attracted to Catholicism.  In 1805, a year after her husband died, she converted to Catholicism and started a school in Baltimore to support her family.  This became the foundation of parish schools throughout the country.  She once told her sisters, "The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it, and thirdly, to do it because it is his will."

December 14--St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"  That line from Monty Python's Flying Circus sets off comedy sketches about the ineptitude of the inquisitors.  However, our saint of the day was not beset by British comics pretending to be ruthless interrogators; St. John of the Cross actually spent nine months in a jail cell being investigated by the Spanish Inquisition.

How is it that a saint who was the co-founder, along with St. Teresa of Avila, of the Discalced Carmelites, a mystic who wrote amazing poetry and described the dark night of the soul in which it seemed that God abandoned him, was arrested and thrown into prison?  It was because of his association with St. Teresa that he helped start the reform of his religious order in Spain.  Due to his efforts and misunderstandings by his superiors he was imprisoned and eventually released.  Through his sufferings he came to realize that "the soul must empty itself of self in order to be filled with God."

What is in our souls?  Is it desire pleasure, power, or prestige?  There is nothing wrong with the good things of this earth that bring us closer to God, but we must remember Jesus' admonition:  "No one can serve two masters.  He will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon" (Mt. 6:24).  Is God at the center of our lives?  "For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be" (Mt. 6:21).  Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, but the difficulties and sufferings we face may help us to realize that we are utterly dependent upon God, who is our only treasure.

November 10--St. Leo the Great, Pope

                                   

What does it take to be "Great"?  All the saints are great in holiness.  Some are greater than others with respect to their charisms, or gifts, from God.  But for a pope to be called "Great", what must he do?  Our saint of the day, Leo the Great, was called great because of his abilities to strengthen the papacy.  Leo was elected in 440, during the decline of the Roman Empire in the West.  The capital had been moved to Constantinople; the Western Roman Emperor was weak; the army couldn't defend the people from the invading barbarians; heresies were ravaging the Church.  Life was rough, to say the least.

In steps Leo, who was an amazing administrator.  He helped control the heresies of Pelagianism, which says that we don't need God's grace to choose good; Manicheism, which says that the body is evil; and Monophysitism, which says that Jesus was more God than man.  Each of these is dangerous to the faith and our understanding of the relationship we have with God.  He also stopped Attila the Hun from invading Rome and kept the barbarian Vandals from burning Rome when they invaded.

So what can we learn from this great pope?  We each have charisms that allow us to spread the Good News in our special way.  We each have our occupations, our avocations, and our relationships.  Each person develops the skills to become good at those jobs, hobbies, and relationships.  We can turn those skills into opportunities to share God's love, to serve God's people, to teach our faith in God.  Each of us is called to greatness in holiness.  We can also be "Great".

November 2--All Souls' Day

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V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
R. And let the perpetual light shine upon them.

And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.

November 2 is All Souls' Day, when we offer our prayers for the souls in Purgatory.  These are the members of the Church Suffering, those who need to be purified of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.  They are headed for heaven!  They are among the saved!  They are ancestors, friends, relatives, and acquaintances.  They have a relationship with Jesus and us.  We pray for their eventual entrance into heaven.

Why is there a Purgatory?  If we love God and we are sorry for our sins, isn't that enough?  Well, if I break someone's computer and I apologize, isn't that enough?  The answer to both questions is, "No!"  I need to make reparation or restitution.  Sacramentally, that means penance.  Thus when we go to Confession, we are given a penance to help heal the harm we have done to the Church and strengthen ourselves to resist future sin.  Confession is good for the soul and for the Church.  Purgatory is also good for the soul and the Church!

If we are not ready to see God, we need to be made ready.  If we are not purified of the punishment we deserve for our sins while we are on Earth, we need to be purified in Purgatory.  However, the Church also offers consolation for those in Purgatory, namely our efforts.  We, as members of the Church Militant, those battling against evil, can offer our prayers, works, joys, and sufferings on their behalf.  So let us pray for all the souls in Purgatory that they may be united forever with God in heaven.

*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Candles_placed_at_the_graves_during_the_All_Souls%27_Day_ceremony_of_Homage_and_Remembrance_at_Newark_Cemetery._Picture,_Laurence_Goff_http-www.panoramio.com-photo-113342510_-_panoramio.jpg

October 19--Sts. Isaac Jogues, John de Brébeuf, and Companions, Priests, Religious, Martyrs

                                                                                                                              

Every missionary land has what are called "proto-martyrs", the first martyrs in that land.  Today we celebrate North America's proto-martyrs.  These French Jesuits went to the Native Americans of Canada and the northern United States area in the mid-17th century.  They were missionaries to the Hurons, who were constantly being warred upon by the Iroquois.

St. Isaac Jogues was captured by the Iroquois, tortured, and forced to watch his Huron converts beaten and killed  He escaped and went back to France.  He desired to return to the missions and did so, but again was captured by a band of Mohawks, tomahawked and beheaded.

St. John de Brebeuf was the leader of the missionary group, due to his 20+ years experience in North America.  He wrote catecheisms and a dictionary in the Huron language.  He oversaw the conversion of 7,000 Hurons to Catholicism.  Eventually, he was captured by the Iroquois, tortured for four hours, and died.  The other six Jesuits suffered similar martyrdoms.  They were canonized in 1930.

Many of these men knew that their lives would end in martyrdom.  Some had vowed to stay in North America until their deaths as a sacrifice for the Native Americans.  Death as a sacrifice comes to us directly from Jesus.  He offered his life for our salvation.  The North American martyrs knew the likelihood of their deaths as martyrs and they rejoiced at participating in the sufferings of Jesus.  We can suffer a "white" martyrdom in that we offer our daily difficulties for the sake of the salvation of souls.  We can be like the North American martyrs.