July 9—St. Veronica Giuliani, Abbess

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote one way we can combat scandal is through a greater reverence for the Eucharist: “The way people often simply receive the Holy Sacrament in communion as a matter of course shows that many see communion as a purely ceremonial gesture. Therefore, when thinking about what action is required first and foremost, it is rather obvious that we do not need another Church of our own design. Rather, what is required first and foremost is the renewal of the Faith in the Reality of Jesus Christ given to us in the Blessed Sacrament.” 

Today’s saint spoke of the joy of communion about 300 years ago! St. Veronica Giuliani was a holy woman who became novice mistress and abbess of her convent. She also received the stigmata of Christ, which caused her humiliation. However, she experienced a profound communion with God and shared that in her diary: “While I was about to go to Holy Communion, I seemed to be thrown wide open like a door flung open to welcome a close friend and then shut tight after his entry. So my heart was alone with him—alone with God. … Love makes the heart leap and dance. Love makes it exult and be festive. … Love possesses it and gives it everything. Love takes it over completely and dwells in it. But I am unable to say more because if I wished to relate all the effects that my heart experiences in the act of going to Holy Communion and also at other times, I would never finish saying everything. It is sufficient to say that communion is a … mansion of love itself.”

Jesus blesses us with his presence and brings us to holiness by giving us himself! Would that we remember what that really means! We would be focused on Jesus, joy, and holiness, rather than scandal.

July 5—St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest

In an age and society where an unborn child is accepted if it is a choice and not a gift, where gender is considered an autonomous decision rather than an accepted fact, and marriage is considered a lifestyle choice no matter who it may be with, the Catholic Church is opposed for loving and teaching according to Jesus and human nature. But today’s saint considered the opposition of others as a badge to be worn proudly, much as his favorite saint, St. Paul, did.

St. Anthony Zaccaria lived in the 16th century, during the Protestant Reformation. He studied medicine and became a doctor, but he wanted to serve the spiritual needs of others and so, became a priest. He started a religious order called the Clerks Regular of St. Paul, also called the Barnabites, a community of priests who took vows and lived by a rule, but lived and served in the world. St. Anthony trained his priests to follow the spirit of St. Paul:

“We should love and feel compassion for those who oppose us, rather than abhor and despise them, since they harm themselves and do us good, and adorn us with crowns of everlasting glory while they incite God’s anger against themselves. And even more than this, we should pray for them and not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by goodness. We should heap good works like hot coals of burning love upon their heads, as our Apostle urges us to do (See Rom. 12:20). So that, when they become aware of our tolerance and gentleness they may undergo a change of heart and be prompted to turn in love to God….

When you are opposed for the truths of the faith, offer it up for the salvation of the other, much as St. Anthony did.

Sunday after Trinity Sunday--Solemnity of Corpus Christi

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ celebrates the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This is the faith of the Church and it always has been. Jesus states in the Gospel of John: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” Jn 6:53.

Early Christians were accused of cannibalism, which can “potentially be linked to [a]… principal Christian ritual, the celebration of the Eucharist. During this part of the service, the ‘body of Christ’ is consumed and his ‘blood’ drunk.” However, the Church Fathers confirmed the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. For example, St. Justin Martyr wrote: “For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food that has been made into the Eucharist by the eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and blood of that incarnated Jesus.”

The Church eventually called the change of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus transubstantiation. This means that the appearance, taste, texture, smell still remains that of bread and wine, but the reality, or substance, changes into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. It is no longer bread and wine, but Jesus! The Solemnity of Corpus Christi reaffirms our belief in what Jesus taught and celebrated and passed on to us.

June 19--St. Romuald, Abbot

How do we deal with the sins of our family? Do we condemn our family member, or do we condemn the sin? Do we pray for their repentance and conversion? Do we offer reparation for their sins? St. Romuald was 20 when his father killed a relative in a duel over property. St. Romuald was so upset that he fled to a nearby monastery in Ravenna, Italy and prayed and did penance for his father. He joined the monastery, but found that his rigor was more than what they wanted. He left and lived under the direction of a hermit. After about five years with him, he spent 30 years traveling around Italy founding and reforming monasteries. 

He eventually founded the Camaldolese order, which combined elements of being a hermit with elements of being a monk. The Camoldolese monks lived in individual cells, but also observed a common life with daily worship and community meals. They emphasized a life of contemplative prayer. The Camoldolese have established communities in Brazil, Africa, India, and the United States in Big Sur, California.

So how does that impact our lives? Do we admire St. Romuald and think, “Better him than me” or “That’s nice”? We need holy men and women to challenge us. Sometimes we get complacent, even in our faith lives and our prayer. Do we pray for the reparations of the sins of others? We have much to pray for regarding the sins in our families, our communities, and in our society. Do we set aside time for God? Do we pray in adoration? Do we sit and “be” in the presence of God? God’s friendship means that we need to share time with him. St. Romuald died in 1027, but his example is worth following.

Monday after Pentecost--Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

Last spring, Pope Francis decreed that “the ancient devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Mother of the Church, be inserted into the Roman Calendar” on the Monday after Pentecost. Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, said “the Pope’s decision took account of the tradition surrounding the devotion to Mary as Mother of the Church.” The Holy Father “wishes to promote this devotion in order to ‘encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety.’”

The Scriptures for the day include either Gn. 3:9-15, 20, which is the promise to Adam and Eve that God will save them through the New Adam, son of the New Eve, Mary, or Acts 1:12-14, which mentions Mary as the mother of Jesus after the Ascension and before the Pentecost. The Gospel is from Jn 19:25-34, where Jesus gives his mother to the beloved disciple: “‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’”

The Tradition that Mary is the Mother of the Church goes all the way back to Jesus and has been developed more fully through the ages. In 1964, “Pope Paul VI ‘declared the Blessed Virgin Mary as “Mother of the Church, that is to say of all Christian people, the faithful as well as the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother” and established that “the Mother of God should be further honoured and invoked by the entire Christian people by this tenderest of titles”’”. As our mother, Mary intercedes on our behalf to her Son, Jesus Christ. We are blessed with such a gracious, loving mother! Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.