May 25--St. Gregory VII, Pope

What happens when a ruler wants to take over the Church?  Our saint today had that problem back in the  eleventh century.  Pope St. Gregory VII was pope at a time when the emperor was trying to control the Church through his investing of authority to bishops.  If Emperor Henry IV could "hire" the bishops, then he could control them and rule them, and the Church, the way he ruled the empire.  This corrupt use of power was called lay investiture, giving authority to leaders of  the Church by lay rulers.

Pope St. Gregory VII was a reforming pope.  Before he became pope he was an advisor to popes in their efforts to help the Church retain their religious rights and liberties against local rulers who wanted to make those bishops and abbots another part of the government.  Gregory excommunicated Henry at one point, but Henry repented and Gregory lifted the excommunication.  Whereupon, Henry consolidated his power, gathered his forces, arrested Gregory, and exiled him, where Gregory died.

The Church as the right to minister as she sees fit without restriction by the government.  She has the right to teach the faith.  She has the right to choose who may teach the faith and the right to require those teachers to be faithful to her teachings. She as the right to serve the poor without being required to follow the latest government dogmas on a new and unjust standard of equality.  She has the right to speak out against injustices perpetrated by the government.  Pope St. Gregory VII would recognize ours as a time of struggle between Church and State.  Pope St. Gregory VII, pray for us.

May 23--Beatification of Oscar Romero, Bishop and Martyr

Today is not a feast day, but rather a testimony to the Resurrection.  Bl. Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador was murdered while he was saying Mass on March 24, 1980.  In the 1970's El Salvador was a breeding ground of violence and oppression, which eventually erupted into civil war.  This was the situation in which Archbishop Romero found himself.  He became an ardent advocate for the poor.  He spoke as their spiritual father:  

"In less than three years, more than fifty priests have been attacked, threatened, calumniated. Six are already martyrs--they were murdered. Some have been tortured and others expelled [from the country]. Nuns have also been persecuted. The archdiocesan radio station and educational institutions that are Catholic or of a Christian inspiration have been attacked, threatened, intimidated, even bombed. Several parish communities have been raided. If all this has happened to persons who are the most evident representatives of the Church, you can guess what has happened to ordinary Christians, to the campesinos, catechists, lay ministers, and to the ecclesial base communities. There have been threats, arrests, tortures, murders, numbering in the hundreds and thousands....  But it is important to note why [the Church] has been persecuted. Not any and every priest has been persecuted, not any and every institution has been attacked. That part of the church has been attacked and persecuted that put itself on the side of the people and went to the people's defense. Here again we find the same key to understanding the persecution of the church: the poor."

Bl. Oscar Romero is a martyr due to hatred of the faith, odium fidei.  He witnessed for those most beloved of God, the poor and outcast.

May 14--St. Matthias, Apostle

"Hi. I'm the guy who replaced Judas!"  That might be the opening line for today's saint, because that was precisely who he was, the successor to Judas!  Why did the apostles choose a successor to Judas?  Because Jesus chose twelve apostles to represent the twelve tribes of Israel.  The apostles were going to be the foundation for the New Israel, the new People of God, the members of the New Covenant.  So when Judas committed suicide the apostles continued with the first example of apostolic succession.  

Peter led the apostles after Jesus' ascension and said, "For it is written in the Book of Psalms:  May another take his office.  Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which was was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection"  (Acts 1: 20-22). So they chose Matthias from among two suggested.  Thus, he became the next apostle.

Apostolic succession is crucial in our understanding of the authority of the Church. From the apostles came the Apostolic Fathers, men who were instrumental in spreading the faith, including bishops like Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, and Clement of Rome.  After them came the Fathers of  the Church for the first centuries, most of them bishops, like Irenaeus of Lyons, Ambrose of Milan, Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea, Augustine of Hippo, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, and more.  These are not just names of dead men from long ago, but rather the patriarchs of the Church who handed down the faith they received from the apostles, like Matthias.

May 3--Sts. Philip and James, Apostles

So you know the names of all the apostles.  Okay, who was St. Philip and what did he do?  How about St. James the Less?  We know about these two only because they are mentioned in the Gospels as two of the twelve apostles.  We know that Philip was from the same town as Peter and Andrew and that he brought Nathanael to Jesus, but other than that we have only a few stories about Philip; one when Jesus asked him where they should buy enough food to feed the 5000.  Philip responded, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little [bit]" (Jn 6:7).  This would seem to indicate that Philip had some knowledge of logistics and supplies.  Beyond those few stories, we have from legend that he was stoned to death after preaching the Gospel.  

Of St. James, son of Alphaeus, also known as James the Less to distinguish him from James, the brother of John, we only know his name and the fact that he was an apostle.  That's it!  However as an apostle, he was chosen by Jesus to go forth and spread the Good News.  His anonymity did not prevent him from doing God's will once he was filled with the Holy Spirit.  According to legend, he also died a martyr's death.

What can we learn from these two apostles?  Don't worry about fame.  Don't worry about prestige.  Don't worry about worldly success.  Be faithful to the mission that we have been given.  Be faithful to our calling as disciples.  Be faithful to our faith.  Sts. Philip and James, pray for us.

April 29--St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

Mystic, mediator, counselor to popes, Doctor of the Church, third order Dominican, virgin, stigmatist, saint--St. Catherine of Siena had quite a resume!  She dedicated herself to God through the Dominican order as a lay member.  She was not a cloistered nun and could travel.  That was helpful, because as she became known as a holy woman, she gathered disciples and went around Italy to help resolve conflicts.  She was also sent to Avignon, France to convince the pope to return to Rome after the papacy was away for almost 70 years.  She received the stigmata, which are the wounds similar to Christ's wounds from the cross, but they were hidden from view.  

As a Doctor of the Church, St. Catherine is known for her book, The Dialogues, which came to her in a vision. In that vision God spoke to her about prayer and the importance of love and the necessity of charity and the joy of the Eucharist and how we can resist temptation.  She is one of 36 Doctors of the Church, four of whom are women.

St. Catherine's way of dealing with people was both blunt and sophisticated.  She would let popes know what she believed to be God's way and would challenge them to follow it.  But she also prayed extensively and advised people on how they could lead holy lives.  We need to adapt Jesus' message of love to those whom we are witnessing.  We may need to be forthright in some situations and subtle in others.  Prudential judgment needs to guide us to be the best fishers of men.  St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us.

April 25--St. Mark, Evangelist

Even though Mark's Gospel is second in Scripture, it was actually the first one written.  It is also the shortest Gospel and the one that is jam-packed with excitement and miracles.  Mark wrote for the Christians in Rome who were being persecuted about the time of Peter and Paul's martyrdom, so the emphasis in Mark's Gospel is one of Jesus suffering.

What we know about Mark comes to us mainly from Scripture.  He went on the first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas, but had a falling out with Paul because Paul did not accept him on the second journey.  However, they did reconcile.  We also know that Mark's family was important in the early Church.  When Peter miraculously escaped from prison he went to the home of Mark's mother.  Some speculate that he was the young boy who escaped when Jesus was arrested.  According to legend he became the companion of Peter, from whom he received the Gospel.  He also became the bishop of Alexandria.  His relics were eventually taken to Venice and interred within the Basilica of St. Mark.

St. Mark shares with us the message of Jesus:  “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mk. 1:15).  We are called to constant repentance, to turn our lives over every day to God and believe in the message of God's love for us.  Every day is a new opportunity to bring about the kingdom of God by being a true disciple of Jesus:  We hear the Word of God; we accept the Word of God; we spread the Word of God.  Go forth and share God's love with all you meet.  Mark did through his Gospel.

April 15, Blessed Cesar de Bus, Priest

How do we raise our children?  Do we teach them right from wrong?  Do we teach them the sacraments and the faith?  Do we help them to grow into productive citizens of our country as well as responsible members of the local community and faithful members of the Church?  Well of course we do!  That is what today’s saint, Bl. Cesar de Bus, dedicated his life to, the teaching of the faith in the family setting.  Bl. Cesar was a young man dedicated originally to the court and the army in France in the late 16^th century.  After he saw the realities of battle he decided to become a priest.  As a priest he spent his life teaching the faith to families in rural areas.  He developed a program to help families share the faith with their children.  He gathered others to help him and founded the Fathers of Christian Doctrine.

Parents are the first teachers of their children.  It is one of their foremost responsibilities.  The Church helps parents with schools and parish religious education programs, but nothing can take away the special witness that parents provide.  We can teach our children in small ways and great.  We can pray before and after meals and at bedtime.  We can pray the rosary.  We can take our children to Mass.  We can address issues raised in the news by providing a faith note.  We can also live our faith.  We can love our spouses.  We can do our daily chores without grumbling.  We can live as Jesus did in the Holy Family with love, respect, and care for one another.  Bl. Cesar de Bus is guiding us in our efforts.

April 11--St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr

 

"Religious freedom is the first freedom."  The first amendment to the constitution affirms freedom of religion, not just freedom of "worship", by stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."  Our saint would surely understand that!  St. Stanislaus became bishop of Kraków in 1072, a time when the Church was reforming itself, especially against the interference of the state.  It is always the Church's duty to speak out against evil and immorality.  St. Stanislas spoke out against the unjust wars and immorality of the Polish king, Boleslaus II.  King Boleslaus repented, but reversed himself and eventually St. Stanislas excommunicated him.  Boleslaus was infuriated enough to kill St. Stanislaus with his bare hands!

We are not in danger of martyrdom for following Church teaching today in America.  But there have been efforts at curtailing our freedoms little by little.  The current administration tried to define who was a minister in a religious school, but was defeated in a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court.  The administration also tried to force companies to go against their religious beliefs by requiring them to provide certain contraceptives in their health plans.  This attempt was also defeated in a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 2014.  There are other situations that threaten our freedom.  As Catholics, we need to stand up against immorality and injustice wherever we see it.  Freedom is not free.  We must remain vigilant.  Freedom of religion is more than the right to worship.  It means the right to practice our faith in the public arena.  St. Stanislaus would approve.

April 1--St. Hugh of Grenoble, Bishop

 



Our saint today was the worst man for the job, or so he thought.  He was overwhelmed by the problems that beset him and the Church at the time:  priests violating their vows of celibacy, the state telling the Church what to do, people buying influence and positions in the Church, people not caring about their faith or ignorant of what their faith mean, corruption all over!  Sound familiar?  St. Hugh was so upset at these difficulties that he left his position as bishop and tried to become a monk.  However, he was found and the pope exhorted him to return to the vocation that God had called him.  St. Hugh then came back and redoubled his efforts.  He was a good reformer and he stood up for the faith of the Church against civil authorities, supporting the pope and encouraging people through his preaching.  He died in 1132 and was canonized two years later.  Not bad for a man who thought he couldn't handle the job.

Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the difficulties of the world around us.  We see Christians not living their faith, the state interfering in the duties of the Church, sin in our priests, and complacency.  What do we do?  Do we try to hide in a monastery as St. Hugh did?  Do we hide in other ways:  in our jobs, in ourselves, in addictions?  God has not called us to be successful; he has called us to be faithful, as Mother Teresa reminds us.  We need to witness to our faith and have faith in divine providence.  As we prepare for the Easter Triduum we need to keep in mind that the war against evil has already been won by the cross of Christ.

March 24--St. Catherine of Genoa, Holy Woman

Confession is good for the soul!  This is absolutely true and today's saint demonstrates even more the benefits and power of the confessional.  St. Catherine of Genoa married at the age of 16 and spent ten years in a difficult marriage.  One day she went to confession and experience God's love for her.  This led her to receiving communion daily, which was extremely rare in those days, and service in a hospital.  Her husband, being changed from his ways, joined her in serving in the hospital.  Because his spending had left them without money, they lived and served together in the hospital for another 24 years until he died.  He had become a third order Franciscan.  She continued to serve there until her death in 1510.

It was confession that turned St. Catherine's life around.  During Lent it is good for us to remember that Jesus is calling us to repentance.  We may not need to turn 180 degrees to come back to Jesus, but we are always in need of metanoia, which means to change one's life.  Priests love to help penitents to amend their lives so that they may experience God's mercy.  Sometimes people are afraid of confession because it has been a long time.  Sometimes they are afraid because of what the "priest might think."  Confessors want us to be reconciled to God, others, and even ourselves.  We hear in the song "Hosea" that God is calling to us:  "Come back to me, with all your heart.  Don't let fear keep us apart.  Long have I waited for your coming home to me and living deeply our new life."  Have a soul-changing experience as St. Catherine did.

March 18--St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

"Is Jesus God or man?  Is he more God than man or more man than God?  Is he something else, and if so, what?"  These may seem to be odd questions for us today, but they were matters of extreme importance in the fourth and fifth centuries when our saint was alive.  St. Cyril of Jerusalem was the bishop of Jerusalem during the time of the Arian heresy.  A heresy is a false teaching that goes against the orthodox teaching of the Church.  The problem was that this heresy was supported by some bishops!  It taught that since there is only one God (true) then Jesus can't be God (false) since that would mean that there would be two gods (also false).  It was an enticing belief but it went against the Scriptures, Tradition, and the consistent teaching of the Magisterium.

So what was St. Cyril's role?  Since one of the bishops who consecrated him was Arian, it may have been "supposed" that he would support the Arians.  But it was not true!  He had a conflict with that same bishop and was exiled from Jerusalem.  He persevered and was later cleared.  He went to a council in 381and supported the use of the word "consubstantial" as applying to the Father and the Son reaffirming that there is only ONE God.

Sometimes we have difficulty with the Church, her teachings, and/or her leaders, priests, bishops, sisters, religion teachers, etc.  The Church is a divine institution, but it is also a human one as well.  Her members do sin and bring scandal to her.  The Holy Spirit has guaranteed us that the Church will never err in matters of faith and doctrine, but not necessarily about "policy" or the proper implementation of that policy or on the holiness or politeness or manners of her leaders.  We need to recognize our fallen human nature even as we strive to do God's will.  As St. Cyril persevered, we need to persevere in prayer for our leaders that they may do God's will in the best way possible.

March 9--St. Dominic Savio, Holy Man

To call St. Dominic Savio a holy man is a bit of a stretch.  He was only 14, or about the age of a freshman in high school, when he died from a lung problem in 1857.  Fourteen and yet he was a saint of God, living a holy life among boys his own age.  He started following St. John Bosco at the age of twelve.  He was known as a peacemaker and he impressed St. John Bosco with his desire to become a priest.  He even founded a group called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which was dedicated to prayer and work.  He did not accomplish great feats, but he knew how to pray and love.

Can a junior high or high school student be a saint?  Why not?  We are all called to holiness at every age of our lives.  Children and youths have a natural turn to idealism.  They are looking for something and someone to which they can dedicate themselves.  That something is love and that someone is Jesus!  Adults need to foster the innate desires of holiness and restrain the concupiscence of pre-teens and teens.  They need role models of goodness, holiness, kindness, self-discipline, firmness of purpose, loyalty, friendship, generosity, forgiveness, and love to help them to grow to become the saints that God has called them to be.  We also need to let them be role models to adults, as St. Dominic Savio is.

March 2--St. Agnes of Bohemia, Religious

                                 

                               

                                

What is it like to be desired by many people?  Movie stars, models, and celebrities get a lot of fan mail and even some marriage offers!  Our saint was greatly desired as a marriage partner by kings and an emperor in Europe.  She was the daughter of the King and Queen of Bohemia, which made her desirable for political alliances.  She was betrothed to the Duke of Silesia at the age of three, but he died soon after.  Then King Henry VII of Germany, King Henry III of England, and Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire all wanted to marry her.  Such choices!  She only wanted to serve God in the religious life and the pope sided with her.  She eventually became a Poor Clare nun and devoted 45 years of her life in seclusion in the monastery where she lived in prayer and obedience until  her death in 1282.  

Where is God calling us to serve him?  Marriage?  We need happy and holy husbands/fathers and wives/mothers to be signs of God's love for the Church and to bring new life into the Church.  The single life? We need people to dedicate themselves to service of others.  The religious life? We need men and women to take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience living out their special charism, or gift.  It may be like St. Agnes in joining the Poor Clares who pray constantly, or to the Notre Dame Sisters who serve through education and social justice, or to the Jesuits who teach and do missionary work.  God desires us to be in every nook and cranny of society.  Pray to know your vocation as did St. Agnes of Bohemia.

February 17--Seven Founders of the Servite Order

"News Flash:  Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have just converted to Catholicism, left all their money to charity, and have moved to Montana to live a life of prayer and service to God.  Film at eleven."  That would be quite a story!  It was quite a story when seven wealthy nobleman of the city of Florence, Italy did just that in 1240.  They were already Catholic, but there was a major heresy in Florence that led people away from the faith.  These seven men wanted to live in penance and prayer.

The Servite Order is a combination of monastic life, which is one of prayer and work and silence, and the active ministry, which is one of going out into the community to serve and teach and minister to the needs of the people.  We need both prayer and silence in our lives along with service and ministry.  There is a balance we can achieve by focusing on God and what he calls us to do.  We need to take time to build our relationship with God through prayer.  That may be five minutes or an hour a day depending on our schedule, but also depending on the need to be closer to God.  We need to serve others, whether it be in our church or community or workplace.  This service needs to be an "extra", more than what we are used to.

The seven founders of the Servite Order made a radical choice to pray and serve.  We are called to make a radical choice to pray and serve.  We need to move further out of our comfort zone to follow God.

February 10--St. Scholastica, Virgin

                      

Saints have families; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers.  Many times saints come from holy families.  The same is true for today's saint, Saint Scholastica.  Her twin brother was St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the Benedictine religious order.  To have such a famous brother might be a burden for some, but St. Scholastica was famous in her own right as a founder of a religious order of women and thus she is the patron saint of nuns.

St. Scholastica's community was five milesa away from Monte Cassino, the famous first monastery of the Benedictines that St. Benedict founded.  They would meet once a year to pray and talk with one another about spiritual matters.  The last time that they met, St. Scholastica requested her brother to stay longer, but he wanted to get back to his monastery.  She then prayed for a miracle to allow her to be with her brother and a thunderstorm broke out, keeping him there.  He was troubled and said to her, "'God forgive you, what have you done?'  She answered him, 'I desired you to stay, and you would not hear me; I have desired it of our good Lord, and he has granted my petition.'"  Three days later she died and St. Benedict saw her soul ascend to heaven in the form of a dove.

Our families are where we first learn of God and his love for us.  We help each other to grow closer to God by being loving fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and so forth.  May all that we do for our families be done according to God's will with God's love, as St. Scholastica did and would have us do.

February 2--The Presentation of the Lord

             

February 2 is the feast of the sacred groundhog, whose sacred home is in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  Every year on this day we celebrate the possibility of the coming of glorious spring or the continuation of the gloomy winter for six more weeks.  NOT LIKELY!  Catholics do not celebrate the winter musings of a large rodent.  We celebrate the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.  Mary and Joseph came to Jerusalem for the ritual purification of Mary and for the presentation of Jesus, both in accordance with the Jewish Law.

But more than that, it is at this event that we have two testimonies to Jesus' future sacrifice.  Simeon and Anna were witnesses to the promise of God's salvation and rejoiced:  Simeon, who was promised that he would not see death until he saw the Lord, through his song, "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel" (Lk. 2:29-32); and the prophetess Anna, who "gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem" (Lk. 2:38).

The "glorious spring" that we await is the celebration of Easter; the "gloomy winter" we joyfully endure is the season of Lent, which prepares us for Easter.  There is no downside to either event.  It is not about the vision of the groundhog which guides us, but the vision of Simeon and Anna, who, in their joy, prepares us for the joy of the redemption of all humanity.  Groundhog--no, Jesus--Yes.

January 26--Sts. Timothy and Titus, Bishops

         

We know of Sts. Timothy and Titus from Paul's letters of the same name.  We know that they were companions of Paul on his missionary journeys.  We call them bishops because Paul appointed them to be in charge of communities of believers in Ephesus and Crete respectively as overseers, to maintain and teach the faith, to worship and celebrate the sacraments, and to guide the people in the right way of living.  Because Paul appointed them, they were able to continue to spread the faith.  As bishops they were successors to the first apostles.

One reason we believe what we believe is because of apostolic succession, bishops succeeding each other all the way back to the first twelve apostles.  Our bishops maintain the same role in the Church as did those first twelve.  They are called to witness to the truth of the love of Jesus for us, to spread the Good News of salvation to all the world, to serve the people under their care.

Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy:  "I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have...."  In his letter to Titus, Paul writes:  "I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done ...."  Timothy and Titus had the privilege of knowing Paul, who knew Jesus.  Our bishops knew the bishops who ordained them and so on.  We have the surety, through the apostolic succession, that our bishops are guiding us to God.

January 24--St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

The Reformation was 50 years old when St. Francis de Sales was born in 1567.  He was the son of an aristocratic family in the duchy of Savoy, which bordered France, Italy, and Switzerland.  He was educated as a lawyer and was set to become a senator and married to an heiress of Savoy when he declared his intentions to become a priest.  Although initially opposed by his father, the bishop of Geneva obtained for him a high position in the diocese, which satisfied his father.  At the age of 35 he became bishop of the Diocese of Geneva, which had become Calvinist during the Reformation.

Calvinism taught that God predestined those who were going to heaven and those who were going to hell before the universe was created.  According to John Calvin, God's sovereign will could not be stopped and no one could oppose what God had chosen for us.  This heresy against the gift of free will is what Francis faced, but he did so with kindness, learning, zeal, and holiness, so much so that he has been titled Doctor of Charity.  He also wrote extensively making him the patron saint of writers and journalists.

God gives all of us the gift of heaven through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus' death and resurrection.  But God does not force us to love him.  Nor does he force us to sin against him.  We have free will that allows us to respond to his love with love, or hate.  It is a great gift to be free, to be able to love, to be able to do God's will. With this gift we may win others to Christ by our love of him and of them as St. Francis de Sales demonstrated.

January 17--St. Anthony of Egypt, Hermit

Why would anyone want to live a life separated from the rest of society, from family, friends, and colleagues?  That is what St. Anthony of Egypt chose in the third century, but not because he was anti-social or misanthropic.  He chose a solitary life as his form of discipleship.  He spent his life in prayer.

Do you believe in the power of prayer?  Do you really believe that God answers our prayers?  Really?  God answers our prayers in many ways, sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes later.  Sometimes he answers our prayers through others or through our experiences or difficulties.  God may require us to be persistent and perseverant in our prayer, praying that his will, not ours be done.  

Is it worth dedicating your life to?  St. Anthony did, as do many men and women who have become monks and nuns.  There have dedicated themselves to praying, in praise of God, in intercession for others, in thanksgiving for the gifts we have received.  We too are called to pray so that we may know God's will, that we may praise him, that we may intercede for others, and that we may express our love and devotion.  To live a life of prayer is to live a life in constant conversation with God.  That is what St. Anthony chose.  Not a bad choice, if you think about it.