Caritas Christi Urget Nos

Category: Saints

  • Saints Philip and James, Apostles

    Saints Philip and James, Apostles

    Today’s readings

    Today we celebrate the feast of Saints Philip and James, who were in the group of Jesus’ apostles. They traveled with him and heard his words and saw his miracles and the way that he treated people. They were among the first to go out and live the Gospel, and were among the first to be filled with the Holy Spirit and preach the Word.

    There are two saints named James among the apostles. This is the man we call “Saint James the Lesser.” Saint James the Greater would be the Saint James that we know as a relative of Jesus and the traditional author of the book of James.  Unfortunately, all that we know about this Saint James is that Jesus chose him as an apostle, and that Jesus appeared to him after his resurrection, as we hear at the end of today’s first reading.  Saint Philip we know a bit more about.  We hear of him in the Gospel story of the feeding of the multitudes because he is the one who tells Jesus “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.”  In today’s Gospel we see him again as an apostle who is a little bit slow to believe. “Show us the Father,” he says, “and that will be enough for us.”

    So this, I think, is the feast for all disciples who don’t put themselves in the spotlight.  Maybe some of us have been slow to believe, or were never really sure how to accomplish the mighty deeds God requires of us. Maybe we aren’t among the “cool kids” or the holy kids.  And maybe that’s good enough for us.  Today’s feast says that’s okay.  It says that our efforts of faith, small though they may be, make us great believers in God’s time and in God’s eyes, led to the Father, as we always are, by our Savior.  It says that we might need a little convincing that we can do the work God asks us to do, but that filled with the Holy Spirit, all things can be accomplished. It says that we don’t have to be on the cover of the book to live our faith with conviction.

    So how do we live our faith, those of us who are more like Saints Philip and James the Lesser? Well, I think first of all, we live our faith by being friends with Jesus and showing our love for him by spending time with him in prayer. Then we live the faith by doing little things, small acts of kindness, things that make another person smile when they’re not having so great a day. Maybe it’s just smiling and saying hello in the hall, or sitting next to them at lunch, or even just setting the table at home without being asked. None of these are big things, but they all show that we love Jesus and we love the people he has put in our lives. If that’s the only thing we accomplish as disciples, it’s still a lot. It’s still the kind of discipleship that gets us to heaven and helps us to bring other people with us.

    Today is the feast of disciples who are called to make God’s love known despite our imperfections or what may look like a lack of ability.  It is a feast for all of us who know that we are called by God and led by the Spirit to do great things in Christ.  To Philip and James and all the rest of the Apostles, Jesus said then, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”  Jesus says that to us today, too, all of us disciples who are slow to believe and understand: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do.”

    Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

  • Saint Athanasius and the Blessed Virgin

    Saint Athanasius and the Blessed Virgin

    Mass for the Council of Catholic Women May Crowning

    Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Athanasius, a bishop of the third century and a Doctor of the Church. He was a dedicated defender of the faith against heresy, and is especially known for defending the divinity of Our Lord. We have Saint Athanasius to thank for many words in the Liturgy, most especially in the Nicene Creed:

    I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
    the Only Begotten Son of God,
    born of the Father before all ages.
    God from God, Light from Light,
    true God from true God,
    begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
    through him all things were made.

    We also use his words in a prayer you don’t usually get to hear. It’s a private prayer of the priest as prepares the cup by putting a tiny bit of water into the chalice of wine during the offertory: “Through the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”

    The Arians, led by the priest Arius in the third century, rejected that message – they did not believe in Jesus’ divinity.  They believed there was a time before Jesus existed, that he was not consubstantial with the Father, but rather was created by the Father.  This position denies the divinity of Christ, which is an unacceptable position for our faith.  If Christ is not divine, he has no power to save us, and we are still dead in our sins.  God forbid!

    Athanasius was also a great friend of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As much as he defended our Lord’s divinity, he exalted Mary for being the temple in which he resided. He wrote, “O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all. O [Ark of the New] Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides. Should I compare you to the fertile earth and its fruits? You surpass them, for it is written: “The earth is my footstool” (Isa. 66:1). But you carry within you the feet, the head, and the entire body of the perfect God.”

    Saint Athanasius so loved the Blessed Virgin that he composed this prayer to her:

    It is becoming for you, O Mary,
    to be mindful of us,
    as you stand near Him
    who bestowed upon you all graces,
    for you are the Mother of God and our Queen.
    Come to our aid for the sake of the King,
    the Lord God and Master who was born of you.
    For this reason you are called “full of grace.”
    Be mindful of us, most holy Virgin,
    and bestow on us gifts
    from the riches of your graces,
    O Virgin full of grace.

    We are grateful to Saint Athanasius for defending the faith so that we can celebrate it today, and for loving the Blessed Virgin, whom we crown today.

    Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

  • Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

    Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

    The divinity of Jesus is an essential truth of our faith.  The words of the Liturgy proclaim that divinity very boldly, especially in the Creed. The Gospels show us time and time again that Jesus came to proclaim his divinity, his oneness with the Father, so as to be the means of salvation.  Almost all of his hearers rejected this message, except for all but one of his disciples, and the centurion who noticed that he was the Son of God as he hung dead on the Cross.

    The Arians, led by the priest Arius in the third century, also rejected that message – they did not believe in Jesus’ divinity.  They believed there was a time before Jesus existed, that he was not consubstantial with the Father, but rather was created by the Father.  This position denies the divinity of Christ, which is an unacceptable position for our faith.  If Christ is not divine, he has no power to save us, and we are still dead in our sins.  God forbid! – And he does forbid it!

    St. Athanasius was a great champion of the faith against the harmful teachings of Arius.  But it was a hard battle.  He was exiled not once but actually five times during the fight against Arius’s teachings.  His writings are almost all a great defense of the faith and are so sound that Athanasius was named a Doctor of the Church.

    We have St. Athanasius to thank for the wonderful words of our Creed.  We often say them, I think, without a whole lot of thought.  But we need to remember when we pray the Creed that each of those words was the result of dedicated work, intensive prayer, and hard fought defense against heresy.  Because of people like St. Athanasius, we may indeed come to share in the divinity of Christ.

    Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

  • Confirmation Closing Mass: Saint Catherine of Siena

    Confirmation Closing Mass: Saint Catherine of Siena

    On this last day of Confirmation classes, we celebrate the feast of Saint Catherine of Siena, a religious, a mystic, and a Doctor of the Church. I think she’s an excellent saint to reflect on today, because she teaches us how one person can change the world for the better.

    Saint Catherine was born at Siena, in the region of Tuscany in Italy. When she was six years old, Jesus appeared to Catherine and blessed her. As many parents do for their children, her mother and father wanted her to be happily married, preferably to a rich man. But Catherine wanted to be a nun. So, to make herself as unattractive as possible to the men her parents wanted her to meet, she cut off her long, beautiful hair. Her parents were very upset and became very critical of her. But Catherine did not change her mind: her goal was to become a nun and give herself entirely to Jesus. Finally, her parents allowed it, and her father even set aside a room in the house where she could stay and pray.

    When Catherine was eighteen years old, she entered the Dominican Third Order and spent the next three years in seclusion, prayer and works of penance. Gradually a group of followers gathered around her—men and women, priests and religious. They all saw that Catherine was a holy woman and they flocked to her for spiritual advice. During this time she wrote many letters, most of which gave spiritual instruction and encouragement to her followers. But more and more, she would speak out on many topics and would stand up for the truth. Because of this, many people began to oppose her and they brought false charges against her, but she was cleared of all of wrongdoing.

    Because of her great influence, she was able to help the Church navigate a rocky period of two and eventually three anti-popes, men who claimed to be the pope but were not legally elected. She even went to beg rulers to make peace with the pope and to avoid wars. At one point, Saint Catherine convinced the real pope to leave Avignon, France, where he had been staying in exile, and return to Rome to rule the Church, because she knew that this was God’s will. He took her advice, and this eventually led to peace in the Church.

    Catherine had a mystical love of God, and his goodness and beauty was revealed to her more and more each day. This is what she wrote about God: “You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are.”

    Saint Catherine is one of just four female Doctors of the Church, being named that by Pope Paul VI in 1970. Doctors of the Church are men and women saints who have written great works of theology and spirituality.  There are just four women who are Doctors of the Church: Saint Catherine, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Therese of Liseaux, and Saint Hildegard of Bingen. Saint Catherine is also the co-patron saint of Italy, along with Saint Francis of Assisi.

    I think the story of Saint Catherine is amazing for a couple of important reasons.  First, it shows that God wants to be friends with us.  God reached out and called Saint Catherine in a special way and blessed her, but he also calls each of us in our own special way to be his friends.  Second, Saint Catherine’s story shows the important contribution of women to the Church.  Many people think the Church does not value the contribution women, but nothing is further from the truth.  Over time, countless women have contributed so much to what the Church knows about God and the spiritual life and living the Gospel.  On Easter Sunday, we heard about the witness of the women who came to the tomb after Jesus was buried, and without them, we would not have known the Good News that he rose from the dead.  Without the contribution of Saint Catherine, our understanding of God’s fierce love for people would be much poorer.

    So we have much for which to be grateful on this feast of Saint Catherine.  Through her intercession may we all have a deep appreciation and love for the depths of the mysteries of God.

    Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!
    Alleluia!

  • Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious

    Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious

    Today’s readings

    Mother Seton is a major figure of the Catholic Church in the United States.  Her accomplishments contributed greatly to the growth of Catholicism in this country.  She founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity.  She opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage.  All this she did in the span of 46 years while raising her five children.

    Elizabeth was actually born to an Episcopalian family and married an Episcopalian, William Seton, bearing five children with him before his untimely death.  At 30, Elizabeth was widowed, penniless, with five small children to support.

    While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth witnessed Catholicity in action through family friends.  She was drawn to Catholicism because of the Real Presence, devotion to Mary, and the apostolic succession which led back to the original Apostles and to Christ.  She converted to Catholicism in 1805, and because of that, many of her family rejected her.

    But perseverance was a special aspect of her spirituality.  She wrote to her sisters: “Perseverance is a great grace.  To go on gaining and advancing every day, we must be resolute, and bear and suffer as our blessed forerunners did.  Which of them gained heaven without a struggle?”

    It is especially appropriate that we celebrate St. Elizabeth’s feast day during this Christmas season.  Just in the Gospel reading today, Saint Andrew brought his brother Saint Peter to Christ, so Saint Elizabeth radiated Christ in her works of charity and in living the spiritual life.  Praise God that the light of Christ’s most merciful coming has continued to shine in our Church, through the hard work and intercession of holy people like Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

  • Holy Innocents, Martyrs

    Holy Innocents, Martyrs

    Today’s readings

    On the face of it, this is just a horrible feast. The slaughter of many innocent children is a stark and frightening juxtaposition to the joy and glory of the Christmas Octave. The numbers of children actually murdered is variously estimated. Early estimates were in the thousands, but more modern estimates limit the victims to twenty or less, due to the relatively small size of the community of Bethlehem and the surrounding vicinity. But let’s think about that proportionally: Plainfield’s population is about 15 times the population of Bethlehem at that time. So if 300 children were murdered here, the loss and horror would be devastating. That’s what was going on in Bethlehem at that time.

    As I said, in some ways, this is a horrible feast. But the Church, in recognizing the contribution of the Holy Innocents to the kingdom, asserts that this is just the beginning of the world’s seeing the glory of Jesus Christ. Even in the horror of this event, innocent children bear witness to the Child Jesus.  St. Quodvoltdeus, an African bishop of the fifth century writes of them:

    The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The Christ child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.

    To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory.

    Maybe the key is in the first reading. The line that really caught me is “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” We can see all kinds of darkness in an event like the murder of even twenty innocent children. Yet only God could turn something that horrible around to his glory. They may have lived extremely short lives on earth, yet their lives in eternity were secured forever. They become some of the first to participate in the kingdom that Christ would bring about through his Paschal Mystery.

  • Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious

    Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious

    Today’s readings

    Today we celebrate the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Elizabeth was the daughter of the king of Hungary, and she married Louis IV of Thuringia when she was fourteen years old. They were happily married and had three children together. Together, they tried to live the ideals of St. Francis who was all about living simply and helping the poor. So they sold their possessions and gave the money to the poor. This upset Elizabeth’s in-laws, who probably were hoping to inherit the things Louis and Elizabeth owned. When Louis was on the way to fight in a war, he was killed. Elizabeth’s in-laws forced her out of the palace, and she and her children went to live with her uncle who was a bishop. After Louis’s friends returned from the war, they restored Elizabeth to the palace and her rightful place. Saint Elizabeth is a woman who lived a simple life and dedicated her life to loving others and helping the poor. She is the patron of Catholic Charities.

    The story of Saint Elizabeth reminds us about two things. First of all, it reminds us that living a simple life brings us closer to God. Elizabeth didn’t care about all the possessions and luxury she could have in the palace; she only wanted to live the Gospel and help the poor. By not surrounding herself with money and luxury, she could see and appreciate all the things that really matter.

    Second, the story reminds us that sometimes loving people is hard. Elizabeth loved the poor. So when her in-laws threw her out of the palace, it would have been easier for her to stop helping the poor. But she didn’t. By choosing to love people even when it was hard to do that, Saint Elizabeth was a model of God’s love for all of us.

    Today’s Gospel calls us to do something that is hard for us to do: love our enemies and be good to them. Who wants to do that? It’s so much easier for us to love, and be kind to, people who love us back and who are also kind to us. But anyone can do that, Jesus tells us. All of us who want to follow Jesus have to go a little further and to love everyone, whether they love us or not. Yes, that’s hard to do. But if we could just trust Jesus enough to love and be kind to someone who isn’t kind to us, we could really change things. We could really see how God’s love changes everything if we would love everyone, no matter how hard that is to do. We have to treat others just as we want to be treated. We have to treat others with the same kind of love and mercy that God gives to us.

  • The Solemnity of All Saints

    The Solemnity of All Saints

    Today’s readings

    One of my relatives told me that the nun who once taught him had a rather curious line to compliment a student when they had done a good deed: “May you die a martyr’s death!”  Well, knowing how some of those saints died would make anyone cringe a little and say “yeah, thanks Sister, you first.”  But we know the sentiment of Sister’s comment: the martyrs are saints and definitely in heaven.

    So many of us would bristle at the thought of becoming a saint.  Saints are those people in elaborate paintings or statues, who lived lives that we find very remote.  Saints just seem out of touch and sainthood out of our grasp.

    But that’s all wrong.  We were all made by God to come back to him one day: we were, in fact, made for heaven.  Becoming a saint is the vocation of all of us.  Because the most important thing we know about saints is that they are definitely in heaven, which is our true home, which is where we were meant to return some day.

    And so this feast in honor of all the saints is an important one.  We celebrate those saints we know of like Mary and Joseph, Peter and Paul, Patrick and Dominic and so many others.  But we also celebrate the ones we don’t know of; people whose faith and goodness only God knows.  And most importantly, in celebrating them, we vow to become like them: close to Jesus who leads those who believe in him past the gates of death to the glory of heaven, where our reward will be great, as Jesus says in the Gospel today.  On that day, we will indeed rejoice and be glad!

  • Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels

    Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels

    Mass for the school children.

    The world can be a confusing and scary place some times. Sometimes when we go on a journey, we lose our way and get loSaint Sometimes people get sick, or maybe they get hurt, or maybe they are blind or deaf. The world can be a lonely place for those who are sick. Then too, there is danger in lots of places, and sometimes we don’t feel very safe. And sometimes we don’t know the truth, or hear any good news. The truth is, lots of times, we need someone to help us. Sometimes we need to hear from an angel.

    Today is the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, all of them angels.  Archangels, actually. Angels are messengers: that’s the meaning of the Greek word angelos, from which we get our word “angel.”  Angels are beings that bring God’s message to us on earth, and who intercede for us in heaven.

    Some angels are guides.  We read about Saint Raphael in the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament. Saint Raphael appeared as a young man and accompanied Tobiah as he journeyed a long distance to get his father’s property and bring it back. Tobit, his father, was very worried about Tobiah making the journey, so he was looking for someone to help him. Raphael, posing as the young man, went with Tobiah and brought him home safely, along with his father’s property. Saint Raphael is the patron saint of travelers.

    Some angels bring healing. The name Raphael actually means, “God heals.” Tobit, Tobiah’s father, was blind for a long time. So, along with bringing back Tobit’s property, Raphael and Tobiah brought back an ointment made of fish gall. Tobiah blew into his father’s eyes and smeared the medicine on them, and Tobit was able to see his son again! Raphael also healed a woman named Sarah. She was married seven times, but each of her husbands died on their wedding night, and Sarah thought she would be alone for the rest of her life. Raphael arranged for Tobiah and Sarah to be married, and they both lived very happily. Saint Raphael is also the patron saint of healing, especially of the blind.

    Some angels are defenders. In the book of Revelation, Satan was trying to take over heaven and accused all of God’s followers, good people, of all kinds of crimes. Saint Michael fought against Satan and had him thrown out of heaven. He brought victory to God by being strong in the battle against Satan and all evil powers, and he still defends people against evil to this day by his prayers. Because he defends people, Saint Michael is the patron saint of police officers, and because he is powerful against evil, he is the special patron of the Pope.

    Some angels are messengers. Saint Gabriel was the angel who came to tell Mary that she was going to be the Mother of Jesus. In Saint Luke’s Gospel, Saint Gabriel also comes to Saint Joseph, who was engaged to Mary, and reassured him. Joseph knew that he wasn’t the father of Jesus, so he was going to quietly call off the wedding. But Gabriel came and assured him that the baby Mary was going to have was from God, and because of what Gabriel told him, Saint Joseph stayed with Mary and became to earthly father of Jesus. Gabriel is known for the news that he brings, and is the patron saint of messengers, postal workers, communications workers and broadcasters.

    Angels still work among us, because we need to hear God’s message too. Saint Raphael is still here, keeping us safe when we go on long journeys and, more importantly, helping us to stay on the path to God. He might be here, too, working through the hands of doctors and nurses and physical therapists, and all kinds of healers, to bring sick people back to health. Saint Michael is still here, working through police officers and fire fighters and all kinds of public safety people, in order to keep our communities safe, and Saint Michael also works through those who defend the Church against all kinds of evil. Saint Gabriel is still here among us, telling us how to follow Jesus; and he’s working through our parents and teachers and priests and ministers when they bring us news about God.

    We know a little bit about all these angels because of the stories we read about them in the Bible. But I think the angels are still working among us, guiding us, healing us, defending us, and bringing us good news. The angels are probably working through people you know. Maybe they’re even working through you whenever you help someone else. The truth is, I don’t think we would live very safe and happy lives if it wasn’t for the angels among us. Today we should thank God for Saints Raphael, Michael and Gabriel, and for all the people who cooperate with those angels in all their work.

  • Saint John Vianney, Priest

    Saint John Vianney, Priest

    Saint John Vianney’s seminary education got off to a rather rocky start. In fact, his poor previous education nearly kept him out of the seminary. Then he had trouble understanding lectures in Latin. He was only able to overcome this with some private tutoring and amazing dedication to his calling to become a priest. He was eventually ordained, and in sainthood, he is the patron saint of parish priests.

    Saint John Vianney is the image of the good shepherd who guarded the flock zealously. He considered it his mission to heal the broken and drive out the demons of sin. He was known to spend 11 or 12 hours in the confessional every day in the winter, 16 hours in the summer! He said that he drew his strength for this ministry from the Eucharist.

    In fact, he tried to bring everyone together for the public worship that was the Eucharist. About public and private prayer, he said: “Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there: If you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them, and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky; public prayer is like that.” 

    As we are gathered here for our public prayer today, we pray for that mighty fire to well up in all of us so that our dark world can be set ablaze with the fire of God’s love.