January 10--St. Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop

His father was a saint. His older brother was a saint. His sister was a saint. His younger brother was a bishop. His mother was the daughter of a martyr. That’s quite a family. It didn’t automatically make him a saint, though. As a matter of fact, he started his adult life looking for a secular career after studying rhetoric. But he eventually responded to the call of being a bishop. He was deposed, but then restored to his rightful place. It was only after his older brother, St. Basil the Great, died that St. Gregory of Nyssa found his voice.

He lived at the time of the Arian heresy, which claimed that Jesus was a creature of God; the first creature, but definitely not God. Arianism was condemned in A.D. 325, but even when St. Gregory was made bishop in 371 it was still a serious problem. Emperor Theodosius called for a council in 381 to address the continuing problem. St. Gregory was a great proponent for the truth of the faith, that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father, and that the Holy Spirit is also consubstantial with the Father and the Son. In other words, he defended the truth of the Trinity, the greatest mystery of our faith.

We are not called to “understand” the mystery of the Trinity. Faith calls for trust. We trust that what we have been taught about God is true, because of who taught us, Jesus Christ. Jesus said that God is his Father. God is our Father, too, but not in the same way. Jesus is God. The Father is God. The Holy Spirit is God. We don’t explain it with a scientific or mathematical proof. We believe it, like we believe in love. St. Gregory of Nyssa, pray for us.

January 6--Feast of the Epiphany

"We three kings of Orient are/Bearing gifts we traverse afar...." The feast of the Epiphany used to be celebrated on January 6, twelve days after Christmas. It is the day we celebrate the manifestation, or "epiphany" of the King of Kings to the world. It is proclaimed in Matthew's Gospel, which ties in with his theme of Jesus as being the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. The first reading, from Isaiah, tells of how gifts fit for a king are brought to Jerusalem. Psalm 72 is about how kings from far off lands will honor and serve the king of Israel. Matthew's story of the magi shows how Gentiles honor and adore Jesus as the new king of Israel, but Matthew intends more than that. He knows that Jesus is God and that all peoples will come to adore him.

How do we honor and adore Jesus in our lives? Do we give him precedence above all else? Do we acknowledge his role as savior? Do we live as his disciples? Do we spread the Good News of his love? Christmas is a time of celebrating with gifts, but the greatest gift we can offer Jesus is ourselves. We do that when we love as he loved us. We offer ourselves when we love our families, our friends, our colleagues, and those we meet, even, and especially, when they annoy and burden us. May this feast day, when we remember the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh borne by the three wise men, remind us to bear the gift of love that Jesus has given to us to all in our lives.

January 5--St. John Neumann, C.S.S.R., Bishop

                                          

You may have heard of the phrase, "Jack of all trades, master of none." However, a better phrase describing our saint could be, "Jack of all trades, master of one--love." St. John Neumann was born in what is now the Czech Republic in 1811. He studied for the priesthood in Prague and then came over to the United States and was ordained when he was 25. He eventually joined the Redemptorist Order. His ability to speak seven languages, German, Czech, Italian, English, French, Spanish, and Gaelic, was helpful in his ministry to the immigrant Catholics. He became a naturalized citizen at the age of 37 and four years later was named Bishop of Philadelphia. 

As bishop he transformed the parochial school system into a diocesan school system, increasing student enrollment from 500 to 9000 in less than three years. He added 73 churches and chapels to the diocese. He also introduced Forty Hours Devotion, wrote two catechisms, in German, a Bible history, and a handbook for priests, founded a religious order for women, and establish the first Italian Catholic parish in America. He died at the age of 48 in 1860.

St. John Neumann was blessed with many talents and skills. He used them to build up the kingdom of God by serving his people. We all have numerous talents and skills. How well do we use them? What about the one thing that St. John Neumann was master of? Love is the one gift that will always keep giving. St. John Neumann loved God and his people. We are called to love God and the people that God introduces to us. We, too, can be masters of the one talent that matters to the most. St. John Neumann, pray for us.

Sunday in the Octave of Christmas: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

The Sunday in the Octave of Christmas is when we celebrate the first family of Christianity: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The Gospel from Luke is about the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple where Simeon makes his prophecy, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted—and you yourself a sword will pierce—so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-35).

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are the perfect family and the perfect model for family life. But how can we hope to follow their example? Through the grace of God! The family—mother, father, and child—is the ecclesia domestica, or domestic church; the first place where the faith is shared with a new generation. In the marriage of man and woman, a sacrament of mercy for humanity, we are given the grace to grow in love for God and one another.

“The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society” (CCC, #2207).

We need to pray for those who don’t understand that family is not about two people contracting with each other for their own sakes, but about a covenantal love that is lived in and through their fruitful love culminating in children in order to bring about the Kingdom of God.

December 27--St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). With that sentence, we are introduced to Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the Word, or in Greek, the Logos. John is the Apostle of Love. He is never named in the Gospel, but he is called the “beloved disciple,” or “the one whom Jesus loved,” a title that indicates his closeness with Jesus. He is the one who put his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper. He was with Mary and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross when Jesus died. He took Mary and cared for her at Jesus’ command. At the end of his Gospel, he wrote: “But these are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31). In 1 Jn. 4:8 he wrote: “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”

Love is the key to Jesus. He loves us. He calls us to love him in return. God’s grace is love, an invisible outpouring of God’s love into our hearts, so that we may love as God loves us: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another” (1 Jn. 4:11). We are commanded to love as Jesus loved us (Jn. 13:34-35). In this way, we show our unity with God and one another. Love is the taste of Heaven that we can experience here on earth. As we love, we are drawn closer into the relationship of love that God has in himself—The Father eternally loving the beloved Son, who loves the Father in return; the love between them, the Holy Spirit. Thus, the final Word of salvation is LOVE.

December 21--St. Peter Canisius, S.J., Priest and Doctor of the Church

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.” This phrase from the Hail Mary is not from Scripture. Instead, tradition has it that St. Peter Canisius added these words, which were then included in the Catechism of the Council of Trent.

St. Peter Canisius was from the Netherlands and became a Jesuit soon after the order was founded. He then spent his time in Germany doing what he could to bring the truth of Catholicism to a Lutheran population. He published a Catechism, imitating Martin Luther, which was highly successful in bringing people back to Catholicism. He founded schools and universities, visited the sick and imprisoned, attended the Council of Trent, wrote books, and more. He is considered the patron of the Catholic press because of his Catechism, which was printed in twelve languages during his lifetime and eventually in 26 languages.

He was known for his charity toward Protestants and his general opposition to debating them. He wanted to win them over with loving actions, rather than by contentious wrangling. He wrote: “Such people should be attracted and won to the simplicity of the faith as much by example as by argument.”

St. Peter Canisius also wrote, “If you have too much to do, with God’s help you will find time to do it all.” So, he helps us remember that Mary brings Jesus to us and us to Jesus through her intercession. He reminds us that love is about living truth humbly. He advised us to continue to do God’s will and God will help us. These are worthwhile admonitions as we prepare for the coming of Jesus into our hearts and homes this Christmas season.

November 21--The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Presentation of Mary is based not on Scripture, but on the Protoevangelium of James, a document that is not accepted as revealed, written about AD 145. Some may object to having a non-canonical source for a liturgical celebration, but its heritage is ancient, going all the way back to AD 543 with the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary the New under Emperor Justinian I in Jerusalem. It was introduced into the Latin Church in the 14th century. Bl. Pope Paul VI reaffirmed in his Apostolic Exhortation, Maria cultus, “For the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” that some feasts “apart from their apocryphal content, present lofty and exemplary values and carry on venerable traditions having their origin especially in the East” (para. 8).

This is true of the Presentation of Mary, which is about the tradition of how “Mary as a small child was presented to the Lord by her parents in the Temple.” This matters because it shows how Mary was dedicated to God from the very beginning of her life. This continues the chain of events in Mary’s life beginning with her Immaculate Conception, leading to the Annunciation and birth of Christ. Mary is the disciple above all others. She shows us how to live our lives by her selfless devotion to God.

We are called to be disciples. We are called to be holy. We are called to the Kingdom of God. We can best give ourselves over to Jesus by following Mary’s example. We were taught as children to love Jesus. We are the children of God and the children of Mary. Let us invoke Mary to pray for us “now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

November 15--St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Religious

It is rare when a pupil outshines the teacher, but that is the case with today’s saint. However, St. Albert the Great was the teacher and his pupil was St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Albert was a German Dominican. The Dominicans were great preachers and great scholars and St. Albert was among the greatest. He founded the University of Cologne in German, was made bishop of Regensburg, taught in universities, wrote prolifically (His collected works number thirty-eight volumes!), and had an encyclopedic knowledge on numerous topics, including the natural sciences. When he was canonized he was named the patron saint of natural scientists.

There is much fuss and commotion now-a-days about the supposed incompatibility of science and faith. Some say that science can explain everything. Some say that faith doesn’t need science. Both statements are wrong. The natural sciences are human efforts to discover the truths of the universe, which was made by God. Faith does not tell us the details of how the universe works, it tells us that God has a plan for us and that the created universe is a part of that plan. Science is a gift from God that helps us work out the amazing wonder of the universe. Physics, chemistry, biology, geology, botany, and more are awe-inspiring disciplines both in themselves and what they can tell us of the awe-inspiring creation of God!

St. Albert the Great knew the complementarity of science and faith. He wrote, “The aim of natural philosophy (science) is not simply to accept the statements of others, but to investigate the causes that are at work in nature.” He knew that the ultimate cause of nature was God. His great student, St. Thomas developed that in his understanding of God as the “uncaused cause” of all that is.

November 13--St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Religious

Today's saint was the first American citizen to be canonized. She was born in Italy in 1850 and died in Chicago in 1917. In 1880 she and six other women founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They came to America in 1889 at the urging of Pope Leo XIII, who wanted her to serve the Italian immigrants. During her 38 years in America she lived a life of dedication to those poor immigrants from Italy who had found their way to America only to lose their faith. She bolstered their faith and founded 67 institutions "dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick." She is the patron saint of immigrants.

We all came from somewhere. Our families originated in Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Americas. Our ancestors braved tragedies, wars, famine, drought, flood, economic hardships, and more so that they could raise their families in a new land with new opportunities for a better life. A better life also needs to be a holy life. But being immigrants means being aliens in a foreign land. Our ancestors needed help. Men and women like St. Frances Xavier Cabrini came to America as missionaries, serving all the poor they encountered, living the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In turn, we who have benefited from their sacrifice need to feed the hungry, heal the ill, teach the ignorant, shelter the homeless, warn the sinner, protect the vulnerable for all those who are still looking to America as a beacon for hope and opportunity. America is still a land of immigrants. We still need to be like Mother Cabrini.

November 11--St. Martin of Tours, Bishop

The story goes like this: He was a Roman soldier on his horse when he met a nearly naked beggar. He cut his military cloak in half and gave it to the man. That night, he dreamed of Jesus wearing the cloak he cut off. He heard Jesus saying to the angels, “Martin, who is still but a catechumen, clothed me with this robe.” Thus, the saintliness of St. Martin of Tours was established.

The truth may not be far from the legend. St. Martin was a soldier in the Roman army in the 4th century when he declared his allegiance to Christ. He had become a monk and a hermit when he was going to Tours in France and was made bishop by popular acclamation. He founded a monastery near Tours as well as other monastic communities in his diocese. He is one of the first non-martyrs of the Church to have been called a saint.

Finding Jesus in the poor, and marginalized goes back to Jesus’ own words in the Parable of the Last Judgment (Mt. 25:31-46): “‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’” May we imitate St. Martin of Tours in giving to others and thus, giving to Christ.

October 24--St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Religious

                                 

St. Anthony Mary Claret was a 19th century superpriest! He served the poor as a diocesan priest; practiced medicine in an area ravaged by war; sent as an Apostolic Missionary to his home region; preached parish missions; heard confessions; gave retreats; founded a religious library in Barcelona; established the Claretian missionary order; appointed archbishop of Santiago, Cuba; erected a hospital and schools in Cuba; founded a women’s religious order; stabbed in an attempted assassination; named confessor to the Queen of Spain, exiled to France, where he finally died in 1870 at the age of 62; wrote 144 books; and more!

A priest once remarked that when he became a priest he got to wear a cape, indicating his joy at being a priest and the supernatural powers that were given to him. The cape he was referring to is a cope, which priests and deacons wear when handling the monstrance at adoration or during processions. We should think of priests as superheroes! They get to minister in persona Christi, “in the person of Christ”. When we see the priest consecrating the bread and wine into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ at the Mass, it is Jesus working through him. He is “another Christ”, alter Christus. What a privilege and grace! Priests hear confessions and forgive us through Jesus. Priests baptize, anoint, receive marriage vows, preach, console, exhort, encourage, and guide; all in the name of Jesus; all for the sake of his Body, the Church, so that we may come to know, love, and serve Jesus more fruitfully. Priests aren’t perfect, but who is? Pray for them. St. Anthony Mary Claret, pray for our priests.

October 16--St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Religious

“From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power.  Amen.” 

 So prayed today’s saint of the day, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. She entered religious life near the age of 24 in 1671. She had visions of Jesus in her youth, which she thought was normal. But after her entrance into the convent, she had visions in which Jesus wanted her to establish devotion to His Sacred Heart. She maintained a Holy Hour from eleven till midnight on Thursday before the first Friday of every month. He appointed the Friday after the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of His Sacred Heart. She died in 1690 and was canonized in 1920.

First Friday devotions, Holy Hours, Devotion to the Sacred Heart; all of these can be attributed to God’s work through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to the love of Christ. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16). All the love God has for us has been fully revealed through Jesus, who suffered, died, rose, and ascended into Heaven. God calls us to love him in return. We love him in himself through adoration, prayer, and reception of the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist. But we also love him in one another through the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. We are called to pray and work for the coming of the Kingdom of God. We would do well to follow St. Margaret Mary in her devotion to Our Lord’s Most Sacred Heart.

October 10--St. Francis Borgia, S.J., Priest and Religious

One of his great-grandfathers was a pope, another great-grandfather was a king of Spain, a grandfather was a bishop, and his father was a duke in Spain. Quite a pedigree! And yet, he wanted to become a monk. Before he joined the Jesuits, St. Francis Borgia, also became a duke and viceroy in Spain, married, had eight children, was a member of the court of Emperor Charles V, and wrote Church music. Wow! After his wife died, he joined the Jesuits and eventually became the third Superior General of the order. He was an amazing administrator and founded the Gregorian University in Rome as well as advised popes and kings.

Each of us has many gifts that God has given to us. How do we use them? Do we improve them or waste them? If we have the gift of persuasion, do we use it to help people come to God and the truth? If we have the gift of wealth, do we contribute to the Church and the community? If we have the gift of business acumen, do we sell goods and services at a fair price for the benefit of the people who buy them? If we have the gift of intellect, do we use it to think clearly? If we have the gift of healing, do we use it to bring health to others? If we have the gift of athleticism, do we use it for building our team? “All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas 1:17). St. Francis Borgia used his gifts; use yours, to the glory of God.

October 2--Memorial of the Guardian Angels

"Angel of God,

my guardian dear,

To whom God's love

commits me here,

Ever this day,

be at my side,

To light and guard,

Rule and guide.

Amen."

When we speak of the Guardian Angels, many of us may think of the simple prayer cited above. But Guardian Angels are not cute little cherubs with apple cheeks looking after children. They look after each one of us, every day, every where. God gives us so many ways to follow him. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit within us. We have the gift of conscience. We have the gift of the Church and the Communion of Saints. And we have the gift of our Guardian Angels.

How do our Guardian Angels help us? They could guide us to make good choices. They may look over us and protect us from evil. They definitely pray to God for us. Jesus said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father" (Mt. 18:10). We may not be aware of their presence, but they know us. Won't it be great to know our Guardian Angels as they know us? We will eventually. We should thank them for their guardianship. We should also thank God for his benevolence in providing us a soldier to always be at our side, "To light, to guard, to rule, to guide."

May 29: St. Paul VI, Pope

St. Pope Paul VI is a much-misunderstood pope. He was elected after the death of Pope St. John XXIII in 1963 and continued Vatican II. He then implemented the reforms until his death in 1978. The reforms of Vatican II included reforming all the sacraments so that they were better understood and celebrated by the people; the understanding of who we are as Church; what the Church’s relationship with the world is; and relations with non-Catholic Christians and non-Christians.

St. Pope Paul VI also served the Church during the times of great social upheaval and changes in social and sexual mores throughout the world. He issued his last encyclical, Humanae Vitae to help the Church and the world deal with many issues concerning sexual behavior and family life. Many in Europe and America opposed it. It condemned artificial birth control as intrinsically evil on the grounds that it is opposed to the generation of life in the act of contracepting, which is contrary to Catholic Church teaching as well as natural law. Sacramental marriage is about being in union with God as well as one’s spouse: “Love is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner's own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself” (8,9).

St. Pope Paul VI also reaffirmed other doctrines of the Church, including a male priesthood, which was declared dogma by St. John Paul the Great in 1994. He may have been misunderstood, but that is the lot of prophets, and Saint Pope Paul VI is our modern-day prophet.

September 17: St. Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

There are 36 Doctors of the Church, men and women who have demonstrated exceptional qualities in explaining the faith for their times and ours. Today’s saint is one of them, a bishop and cardinal of the Church in the 16th and 17th centuries, helping the Church reform herself after the Protestant Reformations. St. Robert Bellarmine was a Jesuit who, as an archbishop of Capua in Italy, supported the reforms of the Council of Trent. He originally taught theology in Belgium and Rome. Later, he became theologian to Pope Clement VIII and even received votes to become pope. He wrote two catechisms for the Church, which helped the Church explain the truths of the faith in a time of great confusion and different theologies.

St. Robert Bellarmine is the patron saint of both catechists and catechumens. Catechists teach the faith to believers. Catechumens are those who are being initiated into the Church and need teaching in the faith. It is appropriate that St. Robert be patron of both groups as they are linked together, one sharing the faith, the other receiving the faith.

We are catechists when we share our faith with others. When we witness to the love of Jesus in our lives we teach most effectively. But we are also catechumens in the sense that there is so much to learn about Jesus and about his love for us and how we can live that love in our lives. Jesus commanded in Mt. 28:19-20 to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” As St. Robert Bellarmine followed these directions, so may we.

September 15: Our Lady of Sorrows

Mary has more feasts dedicated to her than any other saint. That is due to her perfection in loving and obeying the will of God in her role as Mother of God. But we must not forget that before her Assumption into Heaven, she dealt with the evils that beset her Son, and transformed them by the grace of God into gifts that she presented to God the Father. She is Our Lady of Sorrows. There are seven sorrows attributed to Mary: 1. The Prophecy of Simeon in Luke 2:34-35; 2. The Flight into Egypt in Matthew 2:13; 3. The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem in Luke 2:43-45; 4. The meeting of Mary and Jesus on the road to Calvary (not in Scripture); 5. The Crucifixion of Jesus in John 19:25; 6. The Descent from the Cross in Matthew 27:57-59; and 7. The Burial of Jesus in John 19:40-42.

Each of these events caused great suffering to Mary, but she bore it uniting it to the suffering that her Son would, and did, undergo. At the visit of the shepherds Luke comments: “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 1:19). Suffering happens to us all. But Jesus transformed suffering into joy; his Passion and Death into Resurrection and Ascension. And just as the Mother of God joined her suffering to her Son, so too may “we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears” to her and through her to her Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ. We suffer pain, turmoil, rejection, illness, abandonment, separation, misunderstanding, fear, and eventually death. But these do not have the final say! Jesus Christ is our salvation! Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

September 14--Exaltation of the Cross

Dick Gregory, a human rights activist and comedian once said, "If Jesus came back today and bugged the wrong people he would get the electric chair, and we would all be wearing electric chairs around our necks." His point ties in with today's feast. We exalt, or lift up the cross of Christ. This feast goes back to the tradition that St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, the Roman emperor who legalized Christianity in the 4th century, found three crosses in Jerusalem when the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was being built. According to legend the true cross was discovered when a dying woman was healed after laying on it.

Dick Gregory's comment should cause us to think about what we really think about the cross and what it stands for. Many men, women, and children have suffered and even died through the centuries because of what the cross represents, salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We venerate the cross on Good Friday. We make the sign of the cross before and after prayers. We cross ourselves when entering and exiting a church with the holy water to remind us of our baptismal vows. We wear crosses around our necks. We are charged to "carry our cross". We sing, "Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim...." But do we pay attention? The Gospel reading for today has one of the most famous passages from John: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him." Through his death on the cross.

September 9--St. Peter Claver, S.J., Missionary

What is the worst situation that you could imagine finding yourself? Terminal illness? Perpetual debt? Permanent separation from your family? Now imagine that situation for every one of the 10,000 Africans that survived out of the 30,000 who were enslaved and placed like sardines on slave ships transported to Cartegena, Columbia each year in the early 17th century. Destitute, shackled, near death or dying; these were the souls to whom St. Peter Claver ministered for over thirty years, baptizing over 300,000. All the while he tended to their spiritual needs, he also brought food and medicine for their physical needs. He was named "worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves" in 1888 by Pope Leo XIII.

Do we recognize the innate worth and dignity of those on the edges of society? They are children of God as much as you or I. Do we turn away from the person who is begging for money for food or transportation? Ah, but what if the "beggars" only want money for alcohol or drugs? We cannot contribute to what may have made them homeless. Of course not! But there are solutions to that; buy gift cards for local restaurants or prepaid gas cards. "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me" (Mt. 25:45). We need to follow St. Peter Claver and care for the bodies and souls of our brothers and sisters.

September 8: Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

There are only three births that are celebrated in the liturgical year: Jesus’ on December 25, John the Baptist on June 24, and Mary’s on September 8, which is nine months after the celebration of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. Joy is the immediate expression we have upon the birth of any baby, but the joy of the birth of the Blessed Virgin is even more delightful. We can’t honor Mary enough for her life, her “yes” to the angel Gabriel, her faithfulness to her Son, her discipleship as the first follower of Jesus. She is the Mother of God and it is fitting that we celebrate her birthday.

Every day is somebody’s birthday! The miracle of birth is truly God’s way of giving us hope for the future. Everyone is a child of God, even those who don’t get to celebrate a birthday. According to numberofabortions.com there have been over 59 million surgical abortions in America since Roe v. Wade in 1973. According to Pharmacists for Life (pfli.org)there have been approximately 250 million babies aborted chemically since 1973 in the U.S. Plus, every embryo, that is, every human being, that has been experimented upon in the name of science and future cures for current ills has been aborted.

Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the unborn. The image left on the tilma of St. Juan Diego shows her as a pregnant woman, pregnant with the unborn Son of God. We pray that all unborn human beings be allowed to be born; that they may be accepted lovingly as gifts from God no matter the circumstances of their conceptions. That may be an appropriate birthday wish for our mother Mary. Happy birthday Mom.

August 27: St. Monica, Holy Woman

What do you do when your child rejects the faith of the Church? Perhaps you cry. Perhaps you pray. Perhaps you appeal to your child of the goodness of the faith. Perhaps you remain faithful and continue to love your child no matter what. Perhaps you do all of these. You would be in good company. 

St. Monica’s son rejected the faith that he was raised in. He wasn’t baptized as an infant and so did not have the sacramental grace that goes with baptism. Nonetheless, St. Monica persevered through tears, prayer, appeals, and love. “She implored the local bishop for help in winning him over, and he counseled her to be patient, saying, ‘God's time will come.’ Monica persisted in importuning him, and the bishop uttered the words which have often been quoted: ‘Go now, I beg you; it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish.’” When her son left home for his career, she followed him, even though he tricked her as to when he was leaving so she couldn’t go with him. Eventually she found him in his new city where she spoke to the bishop. Her son? St. Augustine. The bishop? St. Ambrose.

In America today, the largest religious group are Catholics. If organized as a group, former Catholics would be the second largest. The Catholic Church is losing her youth. We need to remember that raising our children Catholic is a responsibility we agreed to at their baptism. We also need to remember that our society is against our teachings in many ways. Our children are being seduced by a false understanding of autonomy, truth, and rights. We must follow in St. Monica’s footsteps by praying and living our faith.

August 24: St. Bartholomew, Apostle

The only way we know St. Bartholomew from the New Testament is because his name is in the list of apostles.  That's it!  He is identified with the apostle Nathanael who, when told that the Messiah was from Nazareth, asked, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (Jn. 1:46)  Jesus paid him the compliment of saying that he was a true Israelite, without duplicity (Jn. 1:47).  So, we know that Bartholomew was an honest man.  We also know from legend that he died a martyr, undergoing the torture of having his skin cut off his body while still alive.  As an apostle, he was a missionary to distant lands; some accounts have him preaching in Ethiopia and Mesopotamia, as well as India and Armenia.

Nevertheless, he was an apostle; one sent to preach the Good News.  As an apostle, he had a special authority.  It is on the apostles that Jesus built his Church.  They are the ones who were trained by him, who were his closest friends and followers, who were called to witness to his mission.  We are Christians because they spread the Good News to our ancestors.

However, Jesus gave ALL his disciples a commission:  "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."  We are not apostles, but we are disciples.  We go forth, in union with the successors of the apostles, the bishops and pope, to bring Christ to all the world, and even to our own neighborhood and workplace.

August 8--St. Dominic, Religious

We may meet people on the street begging for food or money or anything that can be given. They may be veterans, homeless, families, or just passing through. Nonetheless, their situation is not enviable. Our present saint chose to be a beggar, but through the desire to offer good example to others.

St. Dominic de Guzman was from Spain in the 12th century, but on a trip through southern France encountered a dangerous heresy located in and near the town of Albi, thus the name Albigensianism. This group of "the pure" believed that there were two basic principles of the world, good and evil. But good was only spiritual, and anything material was thus evil, including the human body. This led to the denial of the Incarnation, as well as the sacraments and the preference of living together without Marriage to Marriage. They also preferred suicide as a way to "release" the soul from its confinement in the body. They were also anti-clerical due to the wealth and preferential benefits given to priests.

St. Dominic founded a religious order to preach to these people, but they would live lives of self-sacrifice rather than luxury. To that end, the Dominicans were a mendicant, or begging order, just like the Franciscans, their contemporaries. They preached by word and example. We are called to share our faith by word and example. Do we defend Church teachings when the rest of society attacks it in the name of autonomy or equality? Do we respect the dignity of all people, even when they support living contrary to natural law? Word and example--truth and love--are what are needed today to share Jesus' message.

July 22--St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles

St. Mary Magdalene--Wasn't she the prostitute who washed Jesus' feet with her hair? No, that woman was unnamed. Oh, then she was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, right? No, that Mary was always mentioned with her sister and brother. Okay, then she was the wife of Clopas, okay? Nope, wrong again. Alright, was she the wife of Jesus? WRONG!

No, Mary of Magdala, or Mary Magdalene, was the woman from whom Jesus cast out the seven demons. She also was at the foot of the cross with the Blessed Virgin Mary and John. Finally, and most importantly, she was the first witness to the risen Jesus. In all four Gospels, she is mentioned by name, the only person to have that honor, thus showing her importance as witness. In John's Gospel, she is even commissioned by Jesus to go to the Apostles and let them know of his resurrection. That is why she is called Apostle to the Apostles.

What is our legacy? How will we be remembered; as Catholics dedicated to truth and love, commissioned by Jesus to live our lives as disciples even when we are opposed and called bigots; or as cafeteria Catholics, those dedicated to the truths and loves with which we agree, living as though what we believed should not influence our actions so that we can practice "tolerance" of one another? We are not called to tolerance, but to love! Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commands," not suggestions, not guidelines, not political platforms that can be disregarded or waived. Mary Magdalene has one legacy that is essential: She loved and obeyed Jesus.

July 16--Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Besides being saints and blesseds, what do St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, St. Simon Stock, and St. Elizabeth of the Trinity have in common? They are all Carmelites, or members of the Order of Mt. Carmel. When hermits lived in a cave on Mt. Carmel in northern Israel in the 12th century, they dedicated a chapel to Our Lady. By the next century they became known as the Brothers of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel.

The order spread to Spain where St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross reformed the order in the 16th century. Both are Doctors of the Church. St. Therese of Lisieux is also a Doctor of the Church and was a member in 19th century France. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was a member in 20th century Germany and an esteemed philosopher before she was martyred by the Nazis. St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi was a 16th century Italian mystic; St. Simon Stock was a 13th century Englishman who was an early leader of the order; and St. Elizabeth of the Trinity was a 20th century French mystic.

Although we do not necessarily belong to the Order of Mt. Carmel, we still have the same powerful patroness as they do, the Blessed Virgin Mary. We can follow the Carmelites, who honor Mary, who worships Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior. We share with them the joy that the Holy Spirit gives us when we profess our faith, witness to our hope, and live our love of God.

June 28--St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Bishop and Martyr

What if there was a "secret" knowledge of Jesus that only a few "real" believers knew about? It would be like being a member of a secret society, with certain code words and beliefs that no one else would understand without being privy to that "knowledge". This describes the Gnostic heresy that today's saint had to combat.

St. Irenaeus was a disciple of St. Polycarp, who was a disciple of St. John the Evangelist, thus emphasizing Apostolic Succession. He lived in the second and third centuries and was a great theologian. The heresy he faced was Gnosticism which consisted of various groups and teachings. However, the main teaching was that the Gnostics had access to a secret oral tradition of Jesus that only they knew about and was superior to the teachings of the Church. St. Irenaeus researched all the variations of the time and wrote the book Against Heresies to both accurately explain the false teachings of the heretics and the correct teachings of the Church.

St. Irenaeus emphasized the role of the Church and Apostolic Succession in his teachings, pointing out the novelty of the new teachings and the truth of Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. We run across the same situations today, with people sharing false new versions of who Jesus is, such as being the husband of Mary Magdalene or just being a good teacher of morality or one who would accept everyone no matter who they "loved" as long as they "loved" them. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching" (Heb. 13:8). St. Irenaeus, pray for us.

June 27--St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Are saints always well-mannered, polite, tactful, correct in their practices and policies? Do they ever behave rashly or rudely or even sinfully? Today's saint was not always "saintly”. St. Cyril was a Church Father and Doctor of the Church due to his correct teaching about Jesus as being both God and man.

In the fifth century the Church was trying to figure out the true understanding of Jesus. The Council of Ephesus was convoked in 431 because there was some false teaching about Jesus that indicated that he was not both fully God and fully man. Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, had declared that Mary could be called the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of Christ, but NOT the Mother of God. This was an attack on Jesus as God and man! St. Cyril led the way in affirming that Mary was Theotokos, which means God-bearer, at the council. This helped in understanding of Christ as having two natures.

However, early in his career he had participated in the removal of a saint from the patriarchate of Constantinople, he expelled the Jews from Alexandria for their attacks on Christians, and he confiscated church buildings from a heretical group of Christians. In other words, he was intemperate and unwise. One could even say sinful.

No saint claims to not be a sinner. One does not become a saint at conception (except for the Virgin Mary, of course), but rather it takes a lifetime of conversion. Our call to holiness, our call to sainthood, is a lifelong journey and struggle. But with the grace of God, we can overcome our intemperance, folly, and even sinfulness, as did St. Cyril.

June 19—Venerable Matt Talbot, Holy Man and Third Order Franciscan

“Hi, my name is Matt and I am an alcoholic.” That may be the greeting today’s saint would give if he were to go to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. Ven. Matt Talbot was an Irishman born in 1856 and died in 1925. He was a laborer and a man of modest means. He started drinking at about the age of 15 when he was a messenger for liquor merchants and, for almost 15 years he was an active alcoholic. Finally, he decided to “take the pledge” to give up drinking for three months, and then six months, and then for his whole life, which he did, albeit with great difficulty at times. He went to daily Mass, read religious books, and repaid debts incurred when he was drinking. He became a Third Order Franciscan, which means that he followed the example of St. Francis of Assisi as a layman, and modeled himself on the sixth century Irish monks. He died of heart failure on his way to Mass on Trinity Sunday.

Venerable Matt Talbot is the patron of alcoholics and those seeking sobriety. Alcoholism can ensnare anyone and render life miserable to the point of poverty, homelessness, abandonment by family, and despair of God. Talbot received God’s grace to overcome his alcoholism. We all need God’s grace to overcome our own “addictions”, those habits that pull us away from God and into our own selfishness. Sin itself is the ultimate addiction, whereby we turn in on ourselves in self-hatred and reject God’s love and mercy. Mercy requires repentance so we may turn back to God, who receives us as a forgiving prodigal father.

June 11--St. Barnabas, Apostle

He was known as the "son of encouragement", the generous benefactor of the Jerusalem community, the man who pulled St. Paul from obscurity in Tarsus, a representative of the Antioch community, a member of the Council of Jerusalem, a missionary, and even Zeusl! He may be the most obscure saint in the New Testament, but he was the saint who got things done.

St. Barnabas sold some of his property and gave the proceeds to the Jerusalem community. He introduced Paul to the apostles, vouching for Paul's change from persecutor to proponent of Christianity. When Paul escaped from Damascus back to his hometown of Tarsus, it was Barnabas who brought him to the Christian community of Antioch. Barnabas and Paul were also chosen to go forth and spread the Good News to the Jewish communities in Asia Minor. When the Jews did not believe, the Gentiles did. Some even called Barnabas the god Zeus and Paul the god Hermes. They were chosen to represent Antioch at the Council of Jerusalem in order to explain their success in converting Gentiles to Christianity. However, Barnabas and Paul had a falling out over whether or not to take Barnabas's cousin John Mark on a second missionary trip. They did eventually reconcile.

So, have you ever felt like the person who got things done, but didn’t necessarily get the recognition? Are you the behind-the-scenes person who does the planning, the organizing, the phone-calling, the recruiting, the writing, the cleaning, the donating? Have you had difficulties because your vision didn’t match your colleagues? Have you still worked cooperatively, because the goal was more important than you? You are valuable! You are a modern St. Barnabas!