August 17--St. Joan of the Cross, Religious and Foundress

St. Joan of the Cross

 
“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt. 19:24). The U.S. has the world’s largest economy by measurement of the nominal GDP. What does that say to us? Well, let’s see what possession of wealth said to today’s saint!

St. Jeanne Delanoue, aka St. Joan of the Cross, was born in France in 1666 (died 1736) as the youngest of twelve to parents who owned a business. After her parents died she took over the business and became successful, due in part to her shrewdness, but also due in part to greed, to the point of keeping the store open on Sundays, which was against the traditions of the time. However, a poor widowed pilgrim “converted” her during the days of Pentecost. In his canonization homily, St. John Paul II stated: “Known as a prudent and self-interested merchant, she suddenly became ‘very generous in charity,’ when the Holy Spirit, extinguishing ‘the fire of her avarice,’ made her understand that her ardent faith also required ‘the fire of charity,’ showing her the extent of poverty.” And so she changed her ways, founded a religious order, and started to serve “all those who on the Day of Judgment might say to her: I was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, homeless.”

So what does her life say to us? Again St. John Paul II guides us: “Her example will certainly challenge our modern world.” Too true! We need to root out and address the causes of poverty. “But attention to the poor, and immediate and effective aid, remain essential to remedying the harshness of our world.” We can be benefactors! St. Joan of the Cross, pray for us.

August 25--St. Joseph Calasanz, Priest and Religious

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Jesus taught, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours” (Lk. 6:20). He also taught, “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” (Mt. 25:34-36). So, what happens when someone tries to live Jesus’ teaching? Sometimes they are praised, sometimes persecuted, sometimes both.

Today’s saint is one who experienced both praise and persecution for serving the poor. St. Joseph Calasanz was born to a minor Spanish noble family in 1557. He received the benefits of wealth, but rather than enjoying those benefits for himself, he became a priest and in Rome started the “first popular and free school in Europe” for the poor and abandoned children. He founded a school system he called the “Pious Schools” in 1616. He founded an order to run the schools called the Piarists, Latin for pious, in 1617. His order took the three standard vows, plus a fourth vow “to dedicate their lives to the education of youth.” 

 However, his work caused opposition. “Many rich were threatened by the thought of underprivileged people learning new ideas.” He was a friend of Galileo and helped him when it was unpopular. His own order suffered internal strife due to the sins and power of some of its members to the point St. Joseph was pushed out as superior general. The order was suppressed in 1646. He died in 1648, “convinced that his Order and his dream would not die.” The Order was restored twenty years later, and he was canonized in 1767 and declared the “Heavenly Patron of all Christian popular schools” by Pope Pius XII in 1948.

* The Last Communion of St Joseph of Calasanz by Francisco Goya 1819 Oil on canvas, 250 x 180 cm Escuelas Pías de San Antón, Madrid

September 27--St. Vincent de Paul, Priest

Today’s saint was actually something of a slacker when he first became a priest. He was in it for a Church office in order to earn money for his family, who were peasants. He could then retire early and return home. But it wasn’t to happen. St. Vincent de Paul became a good priest. With his desire to help the poor and guide them with good priests he founded the Congregation of the Mission, or Vincentians. Further he guided some women to help the poor. He cofounded the Daughters of Charity with St. Louise de Marillac. Instead of living in a convent, they lived in houses and “gave their lives to visiting the sick in the homes, ministering in hospitals, caring for prisoners, orphans, the mentally ill, and the homeless of Paris.” They were the first missionary order of sisters. St. Vincent de Paul also collected money to provide relief in time of war. He was named the patron saint of charitable societies by Pope Leo XIII.

St. Vincent de Paul gives his name to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul founded by Bl. Frédéric Ozanam. “The Society numbers about 800,000 members in some 140 countries worldwide.” The number in the United States is over 97,000. They run thrift shops, housing assistance, disaster relief, visits to homes, prisons, and hospitals, food pantries, and more.

“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.” These are the corporal works of mercy, which Jesus defined as the key to salvation in Mt. 25:31-46. We are grateful for the work of the Societies of St. Vincent de Paul for their ministry. God bless you.

September 5--St. Teresa of Kolkatta (Calcutta), Religious

               

Just about everyone loves Mother Teresa.  She gave her life to serving the poorest of the poor of God in India.  She would go into the streets and find people who were dying, bring them to her a home for the dying, care for them, bathe them, and bury them.  She would beg people for food, clothing, buildings, whatever it took to help the poor.  She began the Missionaries of Charity religious order, which includes sisters, brothers, and priests.  She went all over the world speaking on behalf of the poor and speaking out against the evil of our age, abortion:  “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” 

Blessed Teresa had difficulties as well.  She lived a "dark night of the soul."  God allowed her to be deprived of the consolation of the sense of God's presence in her life.  She was happy, not because she "felt" happy, but because she knew that God loved her, regardless of her feelings.  She knew real joy in service to God through her dedication to those who were loved by no one else except God and her.

We have difficulties in our lives when we don't "feel" happy.  Suffering is a part of life.  God did not promise to remove suffering from our lives once we committed ourselves to him.  Rather God promises us the joy of everlasting love.  Feelings are fleeting and they change.  Joy is an understanding and acceptance of the presence of God in our lives.  That is the true happiness that Mother Teresa knew, even though she did not feel it.  This can be our true happiness as well.

August 10--St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

“Bring me the treasure of the Church!”  This was the charge made by the prefect of Rome to St. Lawrence in A.D. 258.  As first among the seven deacons of Rome, St. Lawrence was responsible for the goods of the Church, its treasury and monies, as well as distributing alms to the poor.  Thus it was most likely that he be the one to hand over (traditore—from which we get the word “traitor”) the wealth of the Church.  He requested three days to gather the wealth.  In that time he distributed all that he could to the poor of the Church and on the third day presented the true wealth of the Church to the prefect:  the poor, the suffering, the blind and crippled, saying that these were the treasures of the Church.  It is said that he declared to the prefect:  “The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor.…  This is the Church’s treasure.”  With that, according to legend, he was sentenced to death by being grilled alive on a gridiron.

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be (Mt. 6:21).  The Church’s treasure is Jesus, himself.  And where do we find Jesus?  In our families, in our neighbors, but especially in the poor and downtrodden.  “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours“(Lk 6:20). 

Moreover, Pope Francis reminds us about poverty and the connection to Jesus when he spoke on June 7, 2013 to students from Jesuit schools in Italy and Albania:  “You can't speak of poverty in the abstract: that doesn't exist. Poverty is the flesh of the poor Jesus, in that child who is hungry, in the one who is sick, in those unjust social structures. Go forward; look there upon the flesh of Jesus. But don't let well being rob you of hope, that spirit of well being that, in the end, leads you to becoming a nothing in life. Young persons should bet on their high ideals, that's my advice. But where do I find hope? In the flesh of Jesus who suffers and in true poverty. There is a connection between the two.”

Jesus is our treasure.  We are the Body of Christ.  The poor and the suffering are our special members for through them Jesus calls us to put our hearts where our treasure is, in Him.