Caritas Christi Urget Nos

Category: Saints

  • The Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle

    The Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle

    Today’s readings

    Brothers and sisters, if we think that we are the ones who get to determine the direction of our lives, we are dead wrong.  That’s the corollary to the proverb, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.”  God is always and forever in charge. Today’s feast is probably the clearest picture of that.

    Look at Saul: educated in all the finest Jewish schools, well-versed in the Law and the Prophets, and zealous for the faith to a fault. He was absolutely the model Jewish man and had credentials that came directly from the high priests. Everyone knew of him, and his fame – or perhaps his infamy – spread all over the Judean countryside. He had participated in the stoning of Saint Stephen, letting the cloaks of the ones stoning him be piled at his feet. He was bringing all the followers of Christ back in chains to be tried and punished for following this new way. He was even on his way to Damascus to collect “the brothers” – so, the apostles – and put them on trial. The man was greatly feared.

    Look at Ananias. He was no fool. He was well-acquainted with Saul’s evil plans and did everything he could to stay out of his path. He obviously wanted to stay out of prison, but more than that, he wanted to keep people like Saul from destroying the community of the followers of Jesus. Ananias was every bit as zealous for the faith as Saul was.

    They both knew the direction of their lives and thought they had it all planned out. But they were dead wrong.

    God can take the most zealous and stable of us and throw our whole lives into confusion. He sometimes uses great means to get our attention and move us in a new direction. Like a bright light, or a vision, as Saul experienced. But sometimes he uses quiet words in prayer or the gentle nudging of a friend. Conversion is a life-long process for all of us, and in Saint Paul’s and Annanias’s stories, we can see the danger of being too entrenched in what we think is the way for our lives. The only judge of what is really right for us is God alone, and when we forget that, we might be in for a rude awakening.  But when we remember that and are faithful to that, God’s plans for us give us freedom and joy.

    The whole purpose of all of our lives, brothers and sisters, is to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” That’s what our Lord commands the apostles, and us, in the Gospel reading today.  The way that we do that is to constantly listen for God’s voice and always be willing to go wherever he leads us, even if it’s in a direction we didn’t expect or might not have chosen.

  • Saint Agnes, Virgin Martyr

    Saint Agnes, Virgin Martyr

    Today’s readings

    There are a lot of saints in today’s Mass, but then, honestly, there always are.  Father John and I have an ongoing joke, that when one of us has the early 6:30 Mass, we say to the other, “I woke up the angels and saints for you.”  Now, obviously the angels and saints aren’t sleeping in the church, but they are in the church, and especially whenever we celebrate Mass.  We can’t see them, but they are all around the altar, praising God for the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross that we remember at Mass, and helping us to lift up our own voices in prayer.  This is the “communion of saints” that we talk about when we say the Apostles’ Creed during the Rosary or sometimes at Mass.

    Today we have two mentions of saints.  The first is the saint we celebrate today, Saint Agnes, a Virgin and Martyr of the early Church.  That’s the reason for the red vestments today.  She lived probably around the third century.  Legend tells us that Agnes was a young girl, probably twelve or thirteen years old, and very beautiful.  Many young men longed for her, lusted after her, really, and one such man, having looked at her lustfully, lost his eyesight.  But his sight was restored when Agnes herself prayed for him.

    Because of her dedication to Christ, she refused the advances of the men who lusted after her.  And one such man, having been refused, reported her to the government for being a Christian.  She was arrested and eventually put to death, although the method of her death is unclear.  She was buried near Rome in a catacomb that was then named in her honor, and Constantine’s daughter later built a basilica in her honor.  Her witness is that her dedication to Christ was most important in her life, and she had vowed to live a life of virginity in honor of that.

    The second mention of saints comes in the Gospel today, in which Jesus, at the early point of his ministry, calls those who followed him, and Appointed the Twelve Apostles.  Mr. Hueg tells me that I can ask the seventh graders to list all of the Apostles because they just had a quiz on that exact topic!  Then again, I could probably ask the eighth graders because I’m sure they’ll remember from last year!  Seriously, though, we know the importance of the apostles.  Because they risked their lives to witness to Christ – all of them except John dying a martyr’s death – because of their witness, we have the faith today.  Because of their faith, we can live and witness to our faith too.

    Both Saint Agnes and Saints Peter, James, John and the others, all of them lived their lives for Christ and all of them gave their lives to witness to Christ.  That’s a good inspiration for the way we should live.  God has given us everything we have, and more than that, he has given us the opportunity to choose eternal life and come to be one with him one day.  Even if we never have the opportunity to actually die for Christ, we are called to give ourselves in love to him, and to witness to his Gospel no matter what it costs us.

    The other thing that Saint Agnes has in common with the Apostles is that they are all mentioned in the words of Eucharistic Prayer I, which I will be using today.  When I pray it, see if you can hear the names of Agnes, Peter, James, Andrew, Philip and the others.  And when you hear them, give God thanks that he allowed them to give their lives so that we might have the faith.  And thank God that he gave his only Son to show us the way to heaven.

    Saint Agnes and the Apostles, pray for us!

  • Saint Francis Xavier, Missionary Priest, Diocesan Patron

    Saint Francis Xavier, Missionary Priest, Diocesan Patron

    We celebrate the memorial of Saint Francis Xavier as a feast today, because he is the patron saint of the Diocese of Joliet.  Francis Xavier was a sixteenth century man who had a promising career in academics.  He was encouraged in the faith by his good friend, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and went to join the new community founded by Ignatius, the Society of Jesus, better known today as the Jesuits.

    Francis had a passion for preaching the Gospel and living a life of Gospel simplicity.  He would live with and among the poorest of the poor, sharing their living conditions, ministering to the sick, and preaching and teaching the faith.  In fact, we might say that he reminds us of a current Jesuit, Pope Francis!  Saint Francis Xavier lived in the East Indies for a time, before going on to minister to the Hindus, Malaysians, and Japanese.  He even learned a bit of Japanese in order to communicate well with his people and to preach to them.  He dreamed of going on to minister in China, but he died before he could get there.

    We might not have the opportunity to live as Francis Xavier did and to actually go out to distant shores to preach the Gospel.  But we certainly are still called to preach it with our lives.  We are called to witness to Christ to everyone we meet: family, friends, coworkers, neighbors: anyone the Lord puts in our path.  Our diocese chose Saint Francis Xavier for our patron because our founders took seriously the call to proclaim the Gospel to every person in this diocese.  We are called upon to do the same, according to our own life’s vocation and state of life.  May all who hear our words and see our actions come to believe and be saved.

  • Saint Andrew, Apostle

    Saint Andrew, Apostle

    Today’s readings

    As is the case for most of the apostles, we don’t know a whole lot about Saint Andrew.  And I think that’s appropriate, because what we need to know about the apostles is that they were followers of Jesus, and were devoted to him.  We too are called to that same great devotion.

    There are two presentations of Andrew’s discipleship in Scripture.  In the Gospel story we have today, Andrew is called at the same time as his brother Peter.  They are both fishermen, and are casting their nets into the sea.  Jesus, of course, has plans for them to cast nets for bigger fish, for souls for the kingdom, and so he calls them.  They immediately drop their nets and leave their father and turn to follow Jesus.

    I always wonder what would make them do something like that.  After just one call, they drop everything they have ever known, turn away from their family, and go off to pursue the admittedly greater call to follow Christ.  But why?  Yes, we know who Jesus is, but did they?  Maybe they had heard him preach, or had heard about him in some way, but I often think of my own call, which took years, and am amazed by their seemingly instantaneous decision to drop everything and follow Jesus.

    The second presentation of Andrew’s story comes in the Gospel of John.  In John’s Gospel, Andrew is a disciple of Saint John the Baptist.  One day, Jesus is passing by and John says, “Behold the Lamb of God.”  Andrew and another one of the disciples follow Jesus and he asks them what they want.  Andrew says, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  To which Jesus replies, “Come and see.”  So they do, and then it is Andrew who goes to get Peter and present him to Jesus.

    Either way, the call is a great one, and the response of Andrew is one of wonder and openness.  We are called often in our lives to follow Jesus in some new way.  May Saint Andrew be our patron in those calls, and may his example lead us to drop what we are doing and follow our Lord.

  • Saint Cecilia, Virgin Martyr

    Saint Cecilia, Virgin Martyr

    Today’s readings

    For those of you who are musicians, whether you play an instrument or sing, this is your feast day.  Today we celebrate Saint Cecilia, a virgin and martyr  of the early church who is the patron saint of musicians. 

    Saint Cecilia was a force for good among those who knew her.  She worked hard to convert as many as she could to the faith, and before her death, is said to have converted at least four hundred people.  She was born to a rich family, and promised in marriage to a youth named Valerian.  She prayed, fasted, and wore sackcloth, beseeching the saints and angels to guard her virginity.

    During her wedding ceremony, she was said to have sung in her heart to God, which is why she is the patroness of musicians.  Before the consummation of the marriage, she informed Valerian of her vow of virginity and that she had an angel protecting her.  He wanted to see the angel as proof.  She said he would see the angel after he was baptized, which he was by Pope Urbanus.  Returning, he found the angel at her side.  Valerian’s brother Tibertius heard of the angel and his brother’s baptism, and he asked to be baptized too. 

    After their baptisms, Cecila went about preaching and calling people to baptism, and Valerian and Tibertius would each day bury the saints who were murdered by the prefect of the city.  Eventually Valerian and Tibertius were arrested and executed by the prefect after they refused to make sacrifice to pagan gods.  Eventually Cecilia was arrested and condemned, although it took three attempts to put her to death.

    In today’s Gospel, the widow gives everything she has in worship of God.  Saint Cecilia, her husband, and brother-in-law also gave everything in worship of God.  Today we literally sing their praises, and ask for the intercession of Saint Cecilia that we might be willing to give everything we have to God who has given everything to us.

    Saint Cecilia, pray for us.

  • Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr

    Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr

    Mass for the school children.

    So today, you notice, I’m sure, that I am wearing red vestments.  I’m wearing red vestments because today’s saint, Saint Josaphat, was a martyr.  Do you know what a martyr is?  That’s right, it’s a saint that gave his or her life for Jesus, for the faith.  So the red remembers the blood of the martyrs that was shed for the faith, very much like on Good Friday we wear red to remember the blood of Jesus that wiped away our sins.

    It might sound sad or even terrible that we celebrate when someone died.  And in a sense, it is sad that people are martyred.  We would love to live in a world where everyone just accepted the faith and loved Jesus, and as he taught us, loved one another.  But we know that’s not true.  Martyrs remind us that there is something worth fighting for, something worth giving your life for.  And there can be no more noble cause than giving your life for Jesus or for the faith.

    Now, there has long been a divide between the Roman Catholic Church, our Church, and the Orthodox Church.  The disagreements were many, and centered on the way the liturgy was celebrated and specific beliefs about the Pope and other issues.  Saint Josaphat was born in Poland and his parents were Orthodox.  He became a monk in the Eastern Church, which is in full communion with us (so he was not Orthodox, as his parents were).  Soon he was made the bishop of the diocese of Vitebsk in Russia.  As bishop, his task was to bridge the divide between the Roman and Orthodox Church, but this was not easy, because the Orthodox monks did not want union with Rome; they feared interference in liturgy and customs.  But over time, he was able to win many of the Orthodox in that area to the union.

    But as these things sometimes go, the fight was far from over.  Some people refired the disagreements and split off from the union, and began to oppose Josaphat and all that he was teaching and doing.  Eventually a mob murdered him and threw his body into a river.  His body was recovered and is now buried in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Josaphat is the first saint of the Eastern Church to be canonized by Rome.

    Unity is an important thing.  It’s important in families, in places of business, in our school, and in the Church.  In Saint John’s gospel, on the night before Jesus died, Jesus prays for the unity of the Church: “that they may all be one.”  Jesus knew that if we didn’t have unity, we would be a fractured mess in the world, and, sadly, that is what happened.  But we know that Jesus’ prayer will definitely be answered when the time is right, and in the way God wants it.  So we have to be people who promote peace and unity in every way that we can.  We can do that on the playground, in our classrooms, and we can pray for the unity of the Church.  Unity will bring peace.  So, through the intercession of Saint Josaphat, let us bring the Prince of Peace to the world.

  • Saint Martin of Tours/Veterans Day

    Saint Martin of Tours/Veterans Day

    Today we have the opportunity to celebrate some heroes.  One hero is today’s saint, Saint Martin of Tours, who was actually a veteran and a fierce defender of our faith.  The other heroes are our nation’s veterans, who have fought in wars to protect us and to protect our freedoms.

    St. Martin of Tours is a fitting saint to pray for veterans today. His father was a veteran and he himself became a soldier and served his country faithfully, even though that was not what he most wanted to do.  But, at fifteen he entered the army and served under the Emperors Constantius and Julian. While in the service he met a poor, naked beggar at the gates of the city who asked for alms in Christ’s Name. Martin had nothing with him except his weapons and soldier’s mantle; but he took his sword, cut the mantle in two, and gave half to the poor man. During the following night Christ appeared to him clothed with half a mantle and said, “Martin, the catechumen, has clothed me with this mantle!”

    During this time, Martin indeed became a catechumen, someone preparing to become a Catholic, and he wanted to focus on doing that. He asked his superiors in the army, “I have served you as a soldier; now let me serve Christ. Give the bounty to those who are going to fight. But I am a soldier of Christ and it is not lawful for me to fight.” After a time, he asked for and received release from military service. Having received his release, he became a monk and served God faithfully. As a soldier of Christianity now, he fought valiantly against paganism and appealed for mercy to those accused of heresy. He was made a bishop, also not his first choice of things to become, and served faithfully in that post.

    On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month of the year 1918, an armistice was signed, ending the “war to end all wars” – World War I.  November 11 was set aside as Armistice Day in the United States to remember the sacrifices that men and women made during the war in order to ensure a lasting peace. In 1938 Congress voted Armistice Day as a legal holiday, but World War II began the following year. Armistice Day was still observed after the end of the Second World War. In 1953 townspeople in Emporia, Kansas called the holiday Veterans Day in gratitude to the veterans in their town. Soon after, Congress passed a bill renaming the national holiday to Veterans Day. Today, we remember those who have served for our country in the armed forces in our prayers.

    On this Veterans Day, we honor and pray for veterans of our armed forces who have given of themselves in order to protect our country and its freedoms. We pray especially for those who have died in battle, as well as for those who have been injured physically or mentally during their military service. We pray in thanksgiving for all of our freedoms, gained at a price, and pray that those freedoms will always be part of our way of life.  St. Martin of Tours, pray for our veterans!

  • Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

    Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

    Today’s readings

    There’s a great scene in one of my favorite movies, “The Princess Bride,” when Vizzini and Inigo Montoya are sword fighting, and Vizzini keeps using the word “inconceivable.”  After a while, Inigo says, “You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means.”  Well, today we celebrate the feast of two apostles whose names do not mean who we think they mean!

    Jude is called Judas in Luke and in the Acts of the Apostles, but he’s not that Judas.  Matthew and Mark call him Thaddeus.  We have in the New Testament the letter of Jude, but scholars say it is not written by the man whose feast we celebrate today.  Saint Jude is perhaps best known as the patron saint of the seemingly-impossible, reminding us that in God, all things are possible.

    Simon – and this is not the Simon who Jesus later named Peter –  was a Zealot, a member of a radical party that disavowed all ties with the government, holding that Israel should be re-elevated to political greatness under the leadership of God alone.  They also held that any payment of taxes to the Romans was a blasphemy against God.

    Neither of these men held any claim to greatness here on earth; they found their glory in following Christ.  Their joy was, as St. Paul instructs us in his letter to the Ephesians, in that their citizenship was in heaven, as it is for all of us.  We are merely passing through this place, and our task while we are here, as was the task for Simon and Jude and all the apostles, is to live for Christ and to live the Gospel.  The reward for them, then, as is for all of us, is in heaven, their and our true home.

    Their message, as the Psalmist says, goes out to all the earth.  Blessed are all of us when we catch that message and live that message, following the way to Christ Jesus.

  • Saint Teresa of Avila (Teresa of Jesus), Virgin, Mystic, and Doctor of the Church

    Saint Teresa of Avila (Teresa of Jesus), Virgin, Mystic, and Doctor of the Church

    Mass for the school children.

    Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Teresa of Avila, also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus.  Saint Teresa was a mystic, one who had deep experiences of prayer that enabled her to have visions.  She was known to have a very deep relationship with Jesus.  She once wrote, “We need no wings to go in search of Him, but have only to look upon Him present within us.”

    Teresa was born in Avila, Spain, and was the third of nine children.  When she was just thirteen years old, her mother died.  So her father sent her to an Augustinian convent to be educated by the nuns there.  After about two years, she became very ill, and had to return home to her family.  During that time, she began to think about what she wanted to do with her life, and decided to become a nun.  She wanted to join a Carmelite convent, but her father would not give her permission to go.  So she snuck out one night to join the convent, and her father gave his permission.

    The convent was huge.  It had 140 nuns, each of whom had a large space to live including a bedroom, kitchen, and a guest room.  Some of the nuns even had maids!  Eventually during this time, she found the busy convent a hard place to have a life of prayer.  One day, she was praying before a statue of the wounded Christ and was meditating on his sufferings, and had a deep experience of Jesus’ love.  That was when she decided the convent was keeping her from the real work of prayer that she was called to, and began to dream of a small convent where the nuns lived simple lives.

    Along with Saint John of the Cross, and some others, she set out to reform the Carmelite order, founding the order known as the Discalced Carmelites.  “Discalced” means “shoeless” because the nuns wore no shoes in the chapel, recognizing the holiness of the ground there.  She traveled extensively to promote the reform, and eventually founded sixteen monasteries of women who were drawn to her love of Jesus and love of people.  She wrote extensively and is known as a Doctor of the Church.  A Doctor of the Church is a saint whose writings and teachings have had a profound impact on the Church.  There are four women who are known as Doctors of the Church.  The others are Saint Therese of Liseaux, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint Hildegard of Bingen.

    Saint Teresa’s life was heavily influenced by her reflection on all that Jesus suffered for us.  Whenever we see the Cross, we too should remember Jesus’ love for us, because it never ends and that love can change our lives.  As Saint Teresa wrote, “If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend.”

  • Pope Saint John XXIII

    Pope Saint John XXIII

    The firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots.  After his ordination in 1904, Fr. Roncalli returned to Rome for canon law studies.  He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary, and as publisher of the diocesan paper.

    His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a firsthand knowledge of war.  In 1921, Fr. Roncalli was made national director in Italy of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.  In 1925, he became a papal diplomat, serving first in Bulgaria, then in Turkey, and finally in France.  With the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people.

    Named a cardinal and appointed patriarch of Venice in 1953, he was finally a residential bishop.  A month short of entering his 78th year, Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope, taking the name John after his father and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral, St. John Lateran.  Pope John took his work very seriously but not himself.  His wit soon became proverbial, and he began meeting with political and religious leaders from around the world.  In 1962, he was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis.

    His most famous encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963).  Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and made it more international.  At his address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council, he criticized the “prophets of doom” who “in these modern times see nothing but prevarication and ruin.”  Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Vatican II when he said, “The Church has always opposed… errors.  Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.”

    On his deathbed, Pope John said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better.  Those who have lived as long as I have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.”  “Good Pope John” died on June 3, 1963. Saint John Paul II beatified him in 2000, and Pope Francis canonized him in 2014. Five years ago, I had the opportunity to celebrate Mass at the tomb of Saint John XXIII in Saint Peter’s Basilica.  What a privilege to be in the presence of a pastor-saint who loved the Church enough to set her on a course of renewal in what many of us would consider to be our retirement years!  It’s a great reminder that we’re always called to be productive disciples no matter what our age.