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.
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