April 13–St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr

 

Pope St. Martin I by Carlo Laurentis, CC-4.0.

What happens when one does the right thing for the right reason in the right way but then is arrested, convicted, and exiled? He, St. Martin I, becomes the last pope to be martyred. Pope St. Martin I became pope in AD 649. What he did that got him arrested and martyred in 653 by the emperor was to condemn the heresy of Monothelitism, which the emperor supported.

Monothelitism stated that Jesus had only one will, a divine will, but not a human will. This was over 200 years after the Council of Chalcedon adopted the Tome of Pope St. Leo the Great, which had declared that Jesus Christ was one divine person with two natures, one divine and one human. To say that Jesus had one divine will is to deny him a human will and thus any human freedom in what he did or said. To say that he had only a divine will means that he was not really human because humans have a human will. Another problem with Monothelitism is that if Jesus only had a divine will then our human will is not saved. “What is not assumed is not saved,” according to St. Athanasius. God not only became incarnate by assuming human nature, but also by assuming all that it means to be human, and that means having a human will!

St. Martin I taught the truth and suffered: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me’” (Mt. 16:24). We are all called to love, to take up our crosses, and follow Jesus. This will lead to suffering, but we offer it up in turn to Jesus, who loves and strengthens us. Pope St. Martin I, pray for us.

December 4--St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor

St. John Damascene, Wikimedia Commons

Is it lawful to make images of God? It would seem that it isn’t. The second commandment in Exodus says: “You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4-5a). That is it! Or is it? The making of images of God, Mary, and the saints was condemned in the 8th century by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III.

This is where our saint comes into the story. St. John Damascene (born about AD 675, died AD 749) was a Catholic priest and monk in a monastery near Jerusalem, which had been conquered by the Muslims. Upon hearing of the prohibition of venerating images, or iconoclasm, he denounced the heresy: “Some criticize us for honoring images of our Saviour, our Lady, and other saints, let them remember that in the beginning God created us after his own image. On what grounds then do we show reverence to each other unless because we are made after God’s image?... But when God became man for our salvation, many people saw the things that he did. He lived among us, worked miracles, suffered, was crucified, roe again and was taken back to heaven. … But for the sake of those who were illiterate, the Fathers permitted the depiction of these events in images as concise memorials. Thus when we see the crucifix, we remember Christ’s saving passion. We fall down to worship not the piece of wood, but the One who is imaged, Christ crucified.”

We do not worship idols, we venerate images because they bring us to God! We, the created, adore God, the uncreated! St. John Damascene, pray for us!

February 14: Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Monk and Bishop, Missionaries

February 14 is thought of only as St. Valentine’s Day. However, the Church’s official feast day on the 14th is that of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, two brothers who brought Christianity to the Slavic countries. Cyril and Methodius grew up in Greece, which was then a part of the Byzantine Empire, in the ninth century. They were chosen by the emperor to go to Moravia to spread Christianity when a Moravian prince requested missionaries. They spoke Slavonic, the language of the people, and subsequently translated the Mass and the Scripture into Slavonic for the people. Cyril even developed a written form for the language, which was the forerunner of the Cyrillic alphabet, used in Russia today. This was an unusual step, since the dominant languages of the Church were Latin and Greek. But the pope gave his approval.

Some may think that when missionaries go to different lands they bring Western culture and customs to the people. Missionaries spend much time learning about the culture and the language and customs of the people they minister to in order to fully bring the Good News to them in a way that matches their culture. The Good News is universal—catholic—in that it is for everyone, everywhere. Missionaries like the Columban fathers of Bellevue, or the Maryknoll missionaries, spread the Gospel by living with and teaching the people, meeting their corporal and spiritual needs as best they can. We can join in the missionary apostolate by praying on behalf of missionaries and by adapting the Gospel to meet the needs of the people we know and love. So let us go forth and be disciples by spreading the Good News of the Lord.