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.