Caritas Christi Urget Nos

Category: Saints

  • Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr

    Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr

    St. Ignatius was a convert to Christianity who eventually became the bishop of Antioch. During his time in Antioch, the Emperor Trajan began persecuting the Church there and forced people to choose between death and denying the faith. Ignatius would have none of that, so he was placed in chains and brought to Rome for execution. During the long journey, he wrote to many of the churches. These letters famously encouraged the Christians there to remain faithful and to obey their superiors.

    Obedience was a strong theme for Ignatius, who was very concerned about Church unity. He felt that unity could best be achieved by all being obedient to the bishop and acting in harmony with one another, living the Gospel that had been proclaimed to them. Perhaps the most famous of his letters, though, was the final one in which he exhorted the Christians in Rome not to try to stop his execution. He said to them, “The only thing I ask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ.”

    Ignatius was that grain of wheat that fell to the ground and died, only to become a stalk that bore much fruit. We too must be willing to die to ourselves, letting go of hurts and the pains this life can bring us, so that we might merit the everlasting crown of heaven. Our martyrdom may not be bloody, but it is no less real, and we must be willing to suffer it in order to be with Christ. In today’s Eucharist, may we too be ready to offer the libation of pouring out our lives and being ground into the great wheat of the Body of Christ.

  • Saint Dominic, Priest

    Saint Dominic, Priest

    Today’s readings

    On a journey through France with his bishop, St. Dominic came across the Albigensian heresy. The Albigensians believed in just two principles in life: good and evil. For them, anything material was evil, and so they denied the Incarnation and the sacraments. On the same principle they abstained from procreation and took a minimum of food and drink. This seems like it would be heroically ascetical, but it denied that God’s creation was good, a fundamental principle for us Catholics.

    St. Dominic sensed the need for the Church to combat this heresy, and was commissioned to be part of the preaching crusade against it. He saw immediately why the preaching was not succeeding: the ordinary people admired and followed the ascetical heroes of the Albigensians. Understandably, they were not impressed by the Catholic preachers who traveled with horse and retinues, stayed at the best inns and had servants. Dominic therefore, with three Cistercians, began itinerant preaching according to the gospel ideal.

    One of the ancient histories of the Dominican order says of him, “Two or three times he was chosen bishop, but he always refused, preferring to live with his brothers in poverty. Throughout his life, he preserved the honour of his virginity. He desired to be scourged and cut to pieces, and so die for the faith of Christ. Of him Pope Gregory IX declared: ‘I knew him as a steadfast follower of the apostolic way of life. There is no doubt that he is in heaven, sharing in the glory of the apostles themselves.’” (Office of Readings)

    Dominic continued his preaching work for 10 years, being successful with the ordinary people but not with the leaders. Eventually, he founded his own religious order, the Order of Preachers, or Dominicans, that was dedicated to preaching the Gospel to ordinary people.

    We too are called to preach to every person. We do that not just in words, but mainly by the way we live. When people see our faith at work in our actions, they may well be moved by our example to draw near to God who longs to draw near to them. As we approach the Eucharist today, may we all turn to God for the words to speak and the actions to do, that all the world may come to know that our God is merciful and the source of all grace.

  • Saint Alphonsus Liguori, priest and doctor of the Church

    Saint Alphonsus Liguori, priest and doctor of the Church

    Today’s readings

    Interestingly enough, and rather coincidentally, we have readings today that show two very different leaders.  Moses has had just about enough, thank you very much.  He is discouraged and cannot bear the leadership of the people.  Certainly God will come to his aid, but he seems to have despaired of that, and it’s a trap that tempts all leaders at some time or another, I think.  Peter, on the other hand, is fearless, even if impetuous.  He’s ready to get out of the boat and walk on the water, because he wants to be where Jesus is.  It might seem foolish, but it is the right attitude for a disciple.  Even though he falters, he still had the faith to give it a try, which is more than the rest of them can say.

    So today we celebrate leaders of our faith, and today’s feast is no exception to that.  Today is the he feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori, the patron saint of moral theology.  At the age of just sixteen, Alphonsus Liguori received degrees in both canon and civil law by acclamation.  He later gave up the practice of law to concentrate on pastoral ministry, particularly giving parish missions and hearing confessions.  He was noted for his writings on moral theology, particularly against the rigorism of the Jansenists.  The Jansenists were a rigorist movement that developed after the protestant reformation and the Council of Trent and emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination.  Alphonsus’s moral theology was much more accessible to the average person.

    In 1732, Alphonsus formed the congregation of the Redemptorists, who had as their special charism the preaching of parish missions.  They lived a common life dedicated to imitating Christ and reaching out to the poor and unlearned.  Although they went through their own struggles as a congregation, they were reunited after Alphonsus’s death and are of course active today.

    Although Alphonsus was best known for his moral theology, he also wrote many other works on topics of systematic and dogmatic theology, and the spiritual life.  Alphonsus, Moses and Peter are leaders that encourage us to return to the Lord, the source of our faith.  As all three of them found out, the call is not an easy one, but one where the strength to do it comes directly from our Lord and God.  The call is extended to all of us disciples.  Just as Jesus said to Peter, so he says to us: “Come.”  How will we respond this day?

  • Saint James, apostle

    Saint James, apostle

    Today’s readings

    “Can you drink the chalice of which I am going to drink?”

    What does that even mean for us?  We know what Jesus’ chalice was like: it led him through sorrow, and abandonment, and ultimately to the cross.  If we have ever been in a situation in which we have felt intense grief, or felt abandoned, or had to stand by and watch the death of one that we loved, well then, we know a little bit of what that chalice is going to taste like.

    Being a disciple is messy business.  It means that it’s not all the glory, pomp and circumstance.  It means that our faith sometimes has to move from the mountaintop experiences down into the valleys of despair.  It means that there are times when we will be in situations that are frustrating, infuriating, debilitating, grievous and horrible.  We will have to drink a very bitter chalice indeed.  And Jesus wasn’t just talking to John and James when he said “My chalice you will indeed drink.”  That’s the cup reserved for all of us who would be his disciples.

    Very clearly those words of St. Paul ring true for us:

    We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained;
    perplexed, but not driven to despair;
    persecuted, but not abandoned;
    struck down, but not destroyed;
    always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,
    so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
    For we who live are constantly being given up to death
    for the sake of Jesus,
    so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

    What is unspoken here but clearly implied is the grace.  Those who abandon their lives to take up the cross, wherever that leads them, will always have at their disposal the grace to live a life that is joyful in the face of affliction, confident in the midst of uncertainty, whole in the midst of destruction.  There is nothing that the world or its evils can throw at us that cannot be ultimately overcome by the grace of God.  We will still have to live through sadness at times, but that sadness can never and must never overtake the joy we have in Christ.

    Like St. James and his brother John, we are all called to drink from the chalice that Jesus drank. That means that we will always bear the dying of Jesus in our own bodies. We can’t explain why bad things happen to good people, but we can explain how good people handle bad situations well: they handle it well because they know Christ and live in Christ every day of their lives. Sometimes the chalice we will have to drink will be unpleasant, distasteful and full of sorrow. But with God’s grace, our drinking of those cups can be a sacrament of the presence of God in the world.

    Everyone who is great among us must be a servant, and whoever wishes to be first among us must be our slave. St. James learned how to do that and still thrive in his mission. May we all be that same kind of sacrament for the world.

  • St. Aloysius Gonzaga

    St. Aloysius Gonzaga

    Today’s readings

    St. Aloysius Gonzaga was a well-connected young man who lived during the Renaissance. His father longed for him to become a military hero, and brought him up in the court society. But Aloysius was affected from an early age by a desire to become one with God, and often practiced great penance and asceticism. By age eleven, he was teaching catechism to poor children, and fasting three times a week. I don’t really remember what I was doing at age eleven, but I know my piety was not nearly as advanced as Aloysius! He eventually decided he would like to join the Jesuits, but had to wage a four-year battle with his father, who eventually relented and let him forsake his right to succession and join the novitiate.

    Sometimes our plans, for ourselves or for others, are far different than the plans God has for us.  Today’s Gospel urges us to enter through the narrow gate.  It might be far easier to do what we want with our lives, but only when we find that narrow gate of God’s will for us, will we be truly happy.  Just like St. Aloysius, we have to ask what God wants of us, and follow it with all our hearts.

     

  • Saint Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church

    Saint Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church

    Today’s readings

    St. Anthony is probably one of the best-known Catholic saints. As the patron for finding lost objects, I’m sure so many of us have prayed, “Tony, Tony, look around, something’s lost and can’t be found.” We all lose track of things from time to time, and it’s nice to have someone to help us find them.

    But the real story of St. Anthony centers around finding the way to Christ.

    The gospel call to leave everything and follow Christ was the rule of Anthony’s life. Over and over again God called him to something new in his plan. Every time Anthony responded with renewed zeal and self-sacrifice to serve his Lord Jesus more completely. His journey as the servant of God began as a very young man when he decided to join the Augustinians, giving up a future of wealth and power to follow God’s plan for his life. But later, when the bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where he was stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of those closest to Jesus himself: those who die for the Good News.

    So Anthony entered the Franciscan Order and set out to preach to the Moors – a pretty dangerous thing to do. But an illness prevented him from achieving that goal. He went to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage where he spent most of his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing menial tasks.

    But that was not the end for Anthony’s dream of following God’s call. Recognized as a great man of prayer and a great Scripture scholar and theologian, Anthony became the first friar to teach theology to the other friars. Soon he was called from that post to preach to heretics, to use his profound knowledge of Scripture and theology to convert and reassure those who had been misled.

    So yes, St. Anthony is the patron of finding lost objects, but what I really think he wants to help us find, is our way to Christ. As a teacher, a scholar and a man of faith, he was devoted to his relationship with God. And so his intercession for us might go a little deeper than where we left our keys. Maybe we find ourselves today having lost track of our relationship with God in some way. Maybe our prayer isn’t as fervent as it once was. Or maybe we have found ourselves wrapped up in our own problems and unable to see God at work in us. Maybe our life is in disarray and we’re not sure how God is leading us. If we find ourselves in those kinds of situations today, we might do well to call on the intercession of St. Anthony. Finder of lost objects, maybe. But finder of the way to Christ for sure.

     

  • Feast of Saint Patrick

    Feast of Saint Patrick

    What always amazes me about our Gospel story is the response of the fishermen to our Lord’s command.  I wonder if they knew him or knew of him before this incident, because it’s amazing that these exhausted fishermen, who were calling it a day, let Jesus get on board their boat, and then proceeded to take him fishing when they had already done that – to no avail – all night long.  Yet they do it, and they catch this amazing amount of fish, which, Jesus tells them, is just a foreshadowing of the number of men and women they will be catching for the kingdom of God.

     

    This is a great reading for us as we celebrate Saint Patrick today, because I think it’s kind of an icon of his life.  Here was a man who had been abducted from his home and dragged off to Ireland to work as a slave.  He labored for many years before he was able to escape and return to his home and family.  Yet as exhausted and traumatized as he must have been, he heard our Lord’s call to go back to Ireland and be a fisher of men and women.  It’s almost too much to ask, but one never says “no” to our Lord!

     

    Saint Patrick didn’t even harbor any bitterness against his first, indentured stay in Ireland.  He writes:  “Believe me, I didn’t go to Ireland willingly that first time – I almost died here.  But it turned out to be good for me in the end, because God used the time to shape and mold me into something better.  He made me into what I am now – someone very different from what I once way, someone who can care about others and work to help them.  Before I was a slave, I didn’t even care about myself.”

     

    I think what is compelling for me – maybe for most of us – in the story of St. Patrick is that it is a story of conversion.  He writes of an unmentioned sin of his youth, dating from before he was ordained, even before he was living a Christian life.  The sin is known to a friend of his – a friend who once lobbied for him to become a bishop, and later betrayed him to his superiors.  Patrick has long since moved on from where he was at the time this sin was committed, he is an older man now, looking back on youthful indiscretions, and not bearing any ill-will toward those who would rub his nose in it, he thanks God for the strength he has since gained: “So I give thanks to the one who cared for me in all my difficulties, because he allowed me to continue in my chosen mission and the work that Christ my master taught me.  More and more I have felt inside myself a great strength because my faith was proven right before God and the whole world.”

     

    So many of us can look back on the sins and indiscretions of our youth too.  That Patrick could do it with gratitude in his heart for the strength God had given him is an example for all of us, a grace that we could all long for especially in these Lenten days of repentance.

     

    Saint Patrick’s “Lorica” prayer, known often as Saint Patrick’s Breastplate, is a wonderful prayer for these Lenten days.  As we pray his words, we can reflect on the wonderful things God has done for us, and on examine our consciences to become the people God has created us to be.  What follows now, is my reflection on this beautiful prayer.

     

    Saint Patrick prays:

    I arise today
    Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
    Through the belief in the threeness,
    Through the confession of the oneness
    Of the Creator of Creation.

    These words remind us that we are part of a community.  Our sense of community comes directly from the Triune community that is God himself.  In all of our dawning days, we are called to be caught up in the life of God so that we can give life to the world.

     

    Saint Patrick prays:

    I arise today
    Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
    Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
    Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
    Through the strength of his descent for the Judgment Day.

    These words remind us that Christ is our life.  We who have died and rose with Christ in baptism are now caught up in the life of Jesus our Savior.  His death and resurrection have paid the price for our sins, and there is nowhere that we can go that we are beyond his reach, beyond his grace.

     

    Saint Patrick prays:

    I arise today
    Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
    In obedience of angels,
    In the service of archangels,
    In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
    In prayers of patriarchs,
    In predictions of prophets,
    In preaching of apostles,
    In faith of confessors,
    In innocence of holy virgins,
    In deeds of righteous men.

    These words remind us that we are never alone.  God surrounds us with angels, saints and people of faith that lead us through the storms of life and keep us connected to God himself.  There is no way we would have the strength to navigate life as righteous people without the example of holy men and women and the intercession of the heavenly hosts.  And the good news is, we never have to.  We are not alone on the journey.

     

    Saint Patrick prays:

    I arise today
    Through the strength of heaven:
    Light of sun,
    Radiance of moon,
    Splendor of fire,
    Speed of lightning,
    Swiftness of wind,
    Depth of sea,
    Stability of earth,
    Firmness of rock.

    These words remind us that the very earth we inhabit is a gift from God.  The sun gives its light, the moon radiates its force on our world, the winds and the sea tend to our needs, the earth provides its rock solid foundation for our lives and our homes.  All of these hold us in God’s firm and gentle hands.

     

    Saint Patrick prays:

    I arise today
    Through God’s strength to pilot me:
    God’s might to uphold me,
    God’s wisdom to guide me,
    God’s eye to look before me,
    God’s ear to hear me,
    God’s word to speak for me,
    God’s hand to guard me,
    God’s way to lie before me,
    God’s shield to protect me,
    God’s host to save me
    From snares of demons,
    From temptations of vices,
    From everyone who shall wish me ill,
    Afar and anear,
    Alone and in multitude.

    I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
    Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
    Against incantations of false prophets,
    Against black laws of pagandom
    Against false laws of heretics,
    Against craft of idolatry,
    Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
    Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

    These words remind us that there is a battle going on out there.  Just as in Saint Patrick’s day, so too today we have false prophets, heresies, idolatries and corrupt knowledge.  Though we are powerless to fight that battle, God gives us the words to speak, the ears to hear, and the power of his might to deliver us from all who wish us ill.

     

    Saint Patrick prays:

    Christ to shield me today
    Against poison, against burning,
    Against drowning, against wounding,
    So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
    Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
    Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
    Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
    Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
    Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
    Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
    Christ in every eye that sees me,
    Christ in every ear that hears me.

    These words are the essential Lenten discipline.  God is God and we are not.  We need God in very real ways, not just when we are at the end of our ropes, but primarily in the every-dayness of our lives.  We need Christ because every day there is a battle for our souls, and we can’t save them of our own power.  And so Lent calls us to see Christ as Saint Patrick did: before and behind us; above and beneath us; on our right and on our left; in our resting as in our activity; in every person we encounter and most especially in the depths of our own hearts.  Christ is everywhere, filling our lives, beckoning us to repentance, urging us to follow him.  Christ wants us to be fishers of men and women.

     

    Saint Patrick’s prayer ends as it began, with words that catch us up into the Trinitarian community that is our God, so that we can reach out and be community to others:

    I arise today
    Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
    Through belief in the threeness,
    Through confession of the oneness,
    Of the Creator of Creation.

    Amen.

     

  • Saints Perpetua and Felicity, virgin martyrs

    Saints Perpetua and Felicity, virgin martyrs

    Today’s readings

    Saints Perpetua and Felicity and their companions lived in the late second and early third century, during a time of intense persecution of Christians by Emperor Septimius Severus.  Perpetua was a young, beautiful, well-educated, noblewoman of Carthage and mother of an infant son.  Her father was a pagan and her mother a Christian.  Her father pleaded with her to deny the faith and save her life, but she refused and was imprisoned with her baby at age 22.  She wrote “When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I said to him, ‘Do you see this vessel—waterpot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.’”  Perpetua wrote the beginning of a chronicle of their executions, which was finished by eyewitnesses.

     

    Despite threats of persecution and death, Perpetua, Felicity (a slavewoman and expectant mother) and three companions refused to renounce their Christian faith. For their unwillingness, all were sent to the public games in the amphitheater. Felicity gave birth to her baby just three days before the games.  Perpetua and Felicity were beheaded, and the others killed by beasts.

     

    During the so-called games, the saints went peacefully to their fate.  As with so many martyr’s accounts, it is written that they hardly felt the pain of their torments.  The eyewitness writes: “Without being asked they went where the people wanted them to go; but first they kissed one another, to complete their witness with the customary kiss of peace.  The others stood motionless and received the deathblow in silence, especially Saturus, who had gone up first and was first to die; he was helping Perpetua. But Perpetua, that she might experience the pain more deeply, rejoiced over her broken body and guided the shaking hand of the inexperienced gladiator to her throat. Such a woman – one before whom the unclean spirit trembled – could not perhaps have been killed, had she herself not willed it.”

     

    Today’s Gospel parable, of course, foretells the death of Jesus symbolized by the son of the landowner.  Just as the tenants did not respect the landowner’s son, many did not respect Jesus and he went to his death.  Those martyrs, like Perpetua and Felicity and their companions, join in the sufferings of Jesus in a very real way.  They call us to give of ourselves as deeply as we are able so that we might join in Christ’s suffering and death – and thus his glory – also.  As the eyewitness said of the martyrs, “Bravest and happiest martyrs! You were called and chosen for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  May we find ourselves caught up in that glory too.

     

  • Saints Cyril and Methodius

    Saints Cyril and Methodius

    Today’s readings

    You might have been expecting to celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day today, but we don’t have Saint Valentine’s day on the calendar, unless, of course, it’s a Hallmark calendar!  Instead today we have the feast of two brothers: Saints Cyril and Methodius.  They lived in the ninth century in an area of Greece inhabited by many Slavs, and eventually they became missionaries to the Slavic people.

    Cyril was known as Constantine until he became a monk very late in life, and at that time took the name Cyril.  Cyril and his followers invented an alphabet, known as the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in some form in modern Russian language.  Together with his followers, he translated the Gospels, the psalter, Paul’s letters and the liturgical books into Slavonic, and composed a Slavonic liturgy.

    Cyril’s work was not universally accepted.  He faced opposition from German clergy in the area who denounced the Slavonic liturgy and their use of the vernacular language in preaching.  More than once, they went to Rome to answer charges of heresy and were exonerated every time.  While in Rome, Cyril became a monk, and fifty days later, he passed away.

    His brother Methodius, however, kept the mission work going for another sixteen years.  He became the papal legate for all the Slavic peoples, was consecrated as a bishop and given an see in what is now the Czech Republic.  When much of their former territory was removed from their jurisdiction, the Bavarian bishops retaliated with a violent storm of accusation against Methodius.  As a result, Emperor Louis the German exiled Methodius for three years, at which time he was freed by Pope John VIII.

    Legend has it that Methodius translated the whole Bible into Slavonic in eight months.  He died on Tuesday of Holy Week, surrounded by his disciples, in his cathedral church.

    Cyril and Methodius worked long and hard, and in the face of much opposition, to make the faith known.  They made the faith accessible by inventing an alphabet and preaching in the language of the people.  We too are called to make the faith known, meeting people where they are, and explaining it in a way that makes it accessible.  The most honest way to do this is by living the Gospel so that we can be a witness for all to see – being people of integrity in our work, in our families, and in our communities.

  • Saint John Bosco, priest

    Saint John Bosco, priest

    Today’s readings

    Saint John Bosco was a master catechist who knew the importance of living and teaching and handing on the faith; he was a man who lived his faith with conviction.  He was a priest who was concerned with the whole person of the young people he taught: he wanted them to fill both their minds and their souls.

    John Bosco was encouraged to enter the priesthood for the specific purpose of teaching young boys and forming them in the faith. He was ordained in 1841. His ministry began with a poor orphan, who John prepared for First Holy Communion. Then he was able to gather a small community and teach them the Catechism. He worked for a time as a chaplain of a hospice for working girls, and later opened an oratory – a kind of school – for boys, which had over 150 students. The needs of teaching them also encouraged John to open a publishing house to print the catechetical and educational materials used in the classrooms.

    He was known for his preaching, and that helped him to extend his ministry by forming a religious community – the Salesians – to concentrate on education and mission work in 1859. He later formed a group of Salesian Sisters to teach girls. By teaching children self worth through education and job training, John was able to also teach the children of their own worth in the eyes of God.

    Jesus tells the healed demoniac in today’s Gospel, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”  We need to hear this command as well; it is up to all of us to help people come to faith in Jesus by our witness of words and actions.  Saint John Bosco was tireless in his devotion to teaching and forming young people. In today’s Eucharist, may we give thanks for the teachers in our lives, and may we also commend the teachers and catechists of today’s young people to the patronage of Saint John Bosco.