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!