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.