June 22--St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop

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What is a friend? A companion; someone to be with and share time with. Aristotle said a friend is “a single soul in two bodies.” Holy friendship is beyond that. It is a companionship in Christ. Our saint today was a holy friend to many saints, Augustine, Ambrose, Martin of Tours, Jerome, and more.

St. Paulinus of Nola was a political man, becoming Governor of Campania in Italy in the fourth century at a young age, serving the people. However, he lost favor with the political authorities and learned the limits of earthly ambition. He went to learn from St. Ambrose and then went to his native land of Bordeaux and was baptized. He found a new friend in his wife Therasia of Barcelona, with whom he had a son. But after their son died a week after birth they saw that God had another path for them. They gave up all their possessions and moved back to Nola in Campania, where they lived as brother and sister in a community. He had been ordained in Barcelona and took up priestly duties in Nola, eventually being chosen as bishop.

He writes about holy friendship: “It is not surprising if, despite being far apart, we are present to each other and, without being acquainted, know each other, because we are members of one body, we have one head, we are steeped in one grace, we live on one loaf, we walk on one road and we dwell in the same house” (Ep. VI, 2). Jesus said to his disciples: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (Jn. 15:13-14). Paulinus invites us to remember what true friendship is, life in Jesus Christ!

*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Linz_Dom_Fenster_09_img03.jpg

Friday Following the Second Sunday After Pentecost—Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

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“The veneration of the Sacred Heart is a summary of all our religion and, moreover, a guide to a more perfect life. It more easily leads our minds to know Christ the Lord intimately and more effectively turns our hearts to love him more ardently and to imitate Him more perfectly” (Pope Pius XI, 1928). So that is all you need to know.

But wait, there’s more! The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus came from devotion to the humanity of Jesus, but it developed from the devotion to the Passion of Jesus and the Sacred Wounds. Many saints fostered this devotion, including St. Bonaventure, St. John Eudes, and the mystics St. Lutgarde, St. Mechtilde and St. Gertrude the Great. But the saint who promoted it in its modern form is St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. She had a vision of Jesus showing his heart in flames—“a sign of his burning love for the souls He had ransomed with his sacrifice on the Cross.” With the help of the Jesuit, St. Claude de la Colombière, she fostered the devotion to the point where it was liturgically celebrated in 1670, established as a feast for the whole Church in 1856, and raised to the highest rank of solemnity in 1928. Since 2002, it is also a special Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.

That’s the theology and history, but what about its place in our hearts? Jesus’ Sacred Heart is a sign of his complete love for us. Further, the entire month of June is the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This guides us away from the secular celebration of “Pride” month, pride being the worst of the seven deadly sins! Love is about humility, service, and sacrifice, all of which are shown through Jesus’ Sacred Heart.

*https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/18704992416

June 9—St. Ephrem the Syrian, Deacon and Doctor of the Church

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I bet you learned your ABCs by singing the Alphabet Song. You may also know songs that tell what the planets are. You may have difficulty with the Star-Spangle Banner but try reciting it! I imagine you will break into song within the first five lines. Why is that? Music appeals to a different part of the brain and memorization is a lot easier when put to music. Today’s saint probably knew that. St. Ephrem, also known as the “Harp of the Holy Spirit,” would write over 400 hymns to counter the heretical songs then prevalent.

St. Ephrem was born in AD 306 in Nisibis, Syria, now located in Turkey. He became a deacon but declined the priesthood. He died around AD 373 and was named Doctor of the Church in 1920. When Nisibis fell to the Persians he moved to Edessa and founded a school to teach orthodoxy against Arianism, Manicheism, Gnosticism, and other teachings and religions. He used poetry and music to bring people to Christ. For example, he wrote a hymn about Mary, which also taught about the Incarnation:

“A wonder is Your mother: the Lord entered her
And became a servant; He entered able to speak
And He became silent in her, He entered her thundering
And His voice grew silent; He entered Shepherd of all;
A lamb He became in her; He emerged bleating.” (113, L. Gambero)

The New Evangelization is a method of bring Christ’s message to those who have already heard it. We need to speak, or as St. Ephrem did, sing the Good News. We need to engage our brothers and sisters to stir their hearts in the joy and peace of Christ’s love through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. Let us follow in St. Ephrem’s “song” steps.

*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ic%C3%B4ne_Ephrem_le_Syrien.jpg

June 1—St. Justin, Martyr

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Actually, he is called St. Justin Martyr, which is odd because no other saint is surnamed Martyr. Though his holiness led to his martyrdom, his occupation as philosopher also played a role in it as well. St. Justin was born in Samaria about A.D. 100 to pagan parents but converted in about 130. He was well educated in philosophy, following Stoicism, where virtue was the highest good and based on knowledge where “the key to happiness is freedom from desire… (and) an elevated moral code.” Then he followed Platonism, where abstract ideas are timeless and belong to a world independent of the physical world. Both these philosophies have truths that reason can discover.

However, it was not enough for him. He saw the need for more than what reason could give him. He needed Revelation. St. Justin was the first Christian philosopher and used philosophy to help understand Christian concepts, such as how God “must be everlasting, ineffable (His reality cannot be adequately expressed”, nameless, changeless, impassible (He cannot be affected from outside Himself), and without origin—the Creator of all that is.” These Greek ideas matched the God of Scriptures. He wrote many apologies, or defenses, of Christianity and taught that “Jesus was the ultimate philosopher, and he believed that all truth is one, hence all truth is the truth of God,” predating St. Thomas Aquinas’s teachings about truth by a millennium.

St. Justin Martyr was martyred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a philosopher as well as emperor, around the year 165 because he would not deny “Truth”. St. Justin used reason and Revelation together, using reason to lead to Revelation and then to help explain Revelation. Many people today think of Christianity as mindless and antagonistic to reason. Nothing could be further from the “Truth,” who is Jesus Christ.

*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Justin_Martyr_by_Theophanes_the_Cretan.jpg

May 26—St. Philip Neri, Priest

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Who doesn’t love a joyful person? We tend to gravitate toward people who are filled with a sense of love and peace and joy even in times of serious difficulty. The same is true of today’s saint, St. Philip Neri. He was born in Florence in 1515, but moved to Rome, where, as a layman, he would talk to people on street corners in an effort to re-evangelize and promote morality amidst the corruption he found there. He became a priest in 1551 and gathered men around him, founding the Congregation of the Oratory in 1575, a society of apostolic life whereby the men lived together and ministered to others but without taking vows.

St. Philip Neri has been called the “prophet of Christian joy.” Even Pope St. John Paul II called him the “saint of joy.” He was generous and patient and taught by means of short and wise maxims: “Be good, if you can”; “Scruples and melancholy, stay away from my house”; Be simple and humble”; “He who does not pray is a speechless animal”; “A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one”.

St. Philip Neri lived in a time of spiritual turmoil and was trying to convert “the culture of his time, which in many respects is particularly close to that of today.” He lived in the world among the people of Rome, bringing them the Good News through promotion of perseverant “prayer, frequent Communion, rediscovery and use of the sacrament of Reconciliation, daily and familiar contact with the word of God, the fruitful exercise of fraternal charity and service; and then devotion to Our lady, the model and true cause of our joy” (John Paul II). St. Philip Neri, guide us so that we may be joyful through our difficulties and calamities!

*[[File:Guido Reni - St Filippo Neri in Ecstasy - WGA19295.jpg|thumb|Guido Reni - St Filippo Neri in Ecstasy - WGA19295]]

May 21—St. Cristóbal Magallanes, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs

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Would the state ever decide to make the celebration of Mass or the reception of Baptism a crime? It happened in North America just about one hundred years ago, in Mexico. Today’s saint, Cristóbal Magallanes and his 24 companion martyrs, were victims of the anti-Catholic government of Mexico between 1915 and 1937. Mexico was afraid of the power and influence of the Catholic Church and outlawed seminaries, Masses, and the sacraments. St. Cristóbal responded to the closure of the seminary he was trained at by opening his own. He preached and ministered to the faithful in secret. He was also a member of the Cristero movement, which was tied to a violent rebellion against the state for persecuting Catholics. He was accused of trying to start a rebellion, even though he preached against any violence. He was arrested on his way to celebrate Mass, convicted without a trial, and executed on May 21, 1927. His last words were, “I die innocent, and ask God that my blood may serve to unite my Mexican brethren.”

Governments are instituted by God for the benefit of the common good of the people in order to protect divinely instituted human rights and the dignity of every person, to bring about the well-being of society, and serve the needs of the people, especially the poor and needy. Governments are NOT about the manipulation of people, the maintenance of power, or the imposition of discovered and dictated supposed “freedoms”. Serving God and bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth is for the good of the world. We do that by sharing our faith, whether it be freely or under the duress of persecution. It is up to the state to determine how believers will proceed.
*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cristobal.jpg

February 25--St. Walburga, Abbess

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Not many know that some women in the Catholic Church were in charge of double monasteries, which is an institution of both men and women religious in separate facilities. They were founded so that the spiritual needs of the nuns could be attended to by the priests of the male community. St. Bridget of Ireland established one in Kildare and Sts. Cuthberga and Quimburga established one at Wimbourne in England where today’s saint was educated. St. Walburga became abbess over the double monastery at Heidenheim, Germany her brother, St. Winibald, founded after he died.

St. Walburga had sainthood in her genes. Her father was St. Richard, an under-king of the West Saxons of Britain; her uncle was St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany; and her two brothers, St. Willibald, who became a bishop, and St. Winibald, both missionaries to Germany. She was known for miraculous events, including being able to walk through fierce guard dogs, calming seas, and healing. She wrote a biography of St. Winibald and an account of St. Willibald’s travels in the Holy Land, thus earning her the honor as the first female author of England and Germany. She spent much of her life at Wimborne but was called to Germany by St. Boniface to continue their missionary work by her prayers. Even after her death in AD 779 her bones exuded an oil that has miraculous powers, which continues to today.

“According to the nuns at her shrine, Walburga’s genius was in being ‘open to God, to his calling, to his guidance, to his demands so as to be ready in every situation to accept his plan.’” Humility and obedience to God’s will requires prayer and acceptance of God’s will. We can follow St. Walburga by giving ourselves over to God, especially by receiving the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist.

*https://live.staticflickr.com/5763/21387598916_1d8a1dcb9e_b.jpg