Relics & Saints of the Day

So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

Acts 19:11-12


Beneath the altar is a golden reliquary, which simply means a container or shrine in which sacred relics are kept.  The word relic comes from the Latin relinquo, literally meaning I leave, or I abandon. A relic is a piece of the body of a saint, an item owned or used by the saint, or an object which has been touched to the tomb of a saint.  As Catholics we don’t worship the relics.  We venerate the relics of the Saints because of the way they loved; the way they lived their lives inspire us.  Clothing and personal effects of the Saints were also enshrined stemming from the widespread belief since St Paul in Acts 19:11 through the centuries of the early Middle Ages, that the wonder-working power of God through the Saint was to be found not only in the entire body but also in every part of it and in objects that had been in contact with his person.  More information on the 3 types of relics and scriptural resources are at the end of the page.

The custom of putting relics under altars goes back to the time of the catacomb when Mass was often offered over the tomb of a Saint, of martyrs, because they gave their life as a testament that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead; they wouldn’t denounce Jesus or their faith in Him and were killed for it.

Our beautiful reliquary is a memorial gift from Christine and Bill Holbrook in memory of Bill’s brother Daniel.  We are grateful to the Holbrook family for such an incredible gift.

The reliquary is similar in shape to the great reliquary at the Cathedral in Cologne holding the relics of the Wise Men.  Our reliquary is Christ surrounded by the Apostles.  Some of the relics entombed in our reliquary are:

  • “teche” Italian word for casket containing the relics of Saint Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist) and Saint Clare
  • “teche” Italian word for casket containing the relics of Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian
  • relic of Saint John Vianney
  • relic of Saint Edward the Confessor
  • relic of Saint Richard
  • relic of Saint Jerome
  • relic of Saint Maria Goretti
  • relic of Saint Lucy
  • relic of Saint Magdalene
  • relic of Saint Mary Alacoque
  • relic of Saint Nicholas
  • relic of Saint Patrick
  • relic of Saint Stanislaus
  • relic of Saint Philip Neri
  • relic of Saint Rose of Lima
  • relic of Saint John Neuman
  • relic of Saint Sebastian
  • relic of Blessed Padre Pio
  • relic of Saint Valentine
  • relic of Saint Veronica
  • relic of Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini
  • relic of Saint Pius X
  • relic of Saint Elizabeth Seton
  • relic of Saint Martha
  • relic of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, SJ
  • relic of Saint John Berchman
  • relic of Saint Martin DePores
  • relic of Saint Alphonsus Liguoori
  • relic of Saint Gerard Majellen
  • “teche” Italian word for casket containing the relics of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Elizabeth and Saint Zachary
  • relic of Saint Stephen, 1st Martyr
  • Blessed Edith Stein

3 Classes of sacred relics

  1. The first-class is a part of the saints body. It is this type which is placed in an altar stone.
  2. The second-class is a piece of the saints clothing or something used by the saint.
  3. The third-class is an object which has been touched to a first-class relic.

Scriptural passages

Isn’t the veneration of relics optional for Catholics? Must the Catholic faithful really esteem the bodies of the saints?

Once and for all, the Council of Trent (16th century) responded to the claims of the reformers that both the veneration of the saints and their relics is contrary to Sacred Scripture. The Council taught: Also the holy bodies of the holy martyrs and of the others who dwell with Christ . . . are to be honored by the faithful.  There are several scriptural passages that support the veneration of relics. For example,

  • Exodus 13:19. The Israelites took Joseph’s bones when they departed Egypt.
  • 2 Kings 13:21. The bones of Elisha came in contact with a dead person who then was raised to life.
  • 2 Kings 2:13. The same Elisha took the mantle of Elijah and fashioned a miracle with it.
  • Acts 19:12. The Christians of Ephesus, by using handkerchiefs and cloths touched to St. Paul’s skin, effected the healing of the sick.

The relics of the saints and their veneration is just another in the long line of treasures which Jesus Christ has given to His chaste bride, the Church. These relics summon us to appreciate more profoundly not only these heroes who have served the Master so selflessly and generously, but especially the love and mercy of the Almighty who called these His followers who are living a blissed out unending life in His eternal kingdom.

Let’s also pause for a moment.  Perhaps in our technological age, the whole idea of relics may seem strange.  Remember, all of us treasure things that have belonged to someone we love– a piece of clothing, another personal item, or a lock of hair.  Those “relics” remind us of the love we continue to share with that person while he was still living and even after death.  We are very proud to say, “This belongs to my mother,” for instance.  Our hearts are torn when we think about disposing of the very personal things of a deceased loved one.  Even from an historical sense, at Ford’s Theater Museum for instance, we can see things that belonged to President Lincoln, including the blood stained pillow on which he died.  With great reverence then, we treasure the relics of saints, the holy instruments of God.  In all, relics remind us of the holiness of a saint, of a hero, and his cooperation in God’s work; at the same time, relics inspire us to ask for the prayers of that hero and to beg the grace of God to live the same kind a faith-filled life.

Spend Time With the Saints Daily

How awesome is it that our faith has Saints; ordinary men, women, and children, known and unknown, who’ve become heroes of our faith.  They’ve each had their own unique journey of sinners-to-saints, rising up from the hardships of their lives.  Let us learn from these heroes how to continue to be saints-in-the-making, because, yes, each of us is a saint-in-the-making.

2-11 | Today we honor Mama Mary under her title Our Lady of Lourdes and mark the World Day of the Sick. If you or someone you know is suffering from illness, know that through our Lady’s intercession, there is comfort to be had. Pray virtually at Sanctuaire de Lourdes https://youtu.be/LgN_L0Mie9k
 
Please see also Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of the Sick at this link in both English and Spanish https://bit.ly/3qg0VNC
 
Why Our Lady of Lourdes?
He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured. — Luke 9:11
Mary, health of the sick, mirrors her Son’s healing compassion for all those who suffer illness. In the Gospels, He cured all who approached Him as a sign of the reign of God, in which there will be no sickness, sin, or suffering.
 
I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. — 2 Kings 20:5
 
The Lord Jesus Christ, by the mystery of His cross, heals us of sickness and sorrow, if not in this world, then in the world to come. His Mother, her compassion made perfect by that same cross, intercedes for all who are joined to Him by their suffering.
 
On February 11, 1858, a beautiful woman appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in a remote stone grotto outside Lourdes, France. When asked her name, she replied, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” In the spot where she requested a chapel, a spring bubbled forth. Since that time, seventy officially recognized cures and hundreds of “unofficial” healings have been reported at Lourdes. “Mary is the one who believed and, from her womb, rivers of living water have flowed forth to irrigate human history. The spring that Mary pointed out to Bernadette here in Lourdes is the humble sign of this spiritual reality. From her believing heart, from her maternal heart, flows living water which purifies and heals” (Pope Benedict XVI).
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Here is a Meditation of the Day from St. Bernadette Soubirous who was favored with a series of visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Her body remains incorrupt.
“Perfect Submission”
 
Divine love unites the child of Mary to Jesus, and their two hearts make but one, to love, suffer and obey. No longer my will, good Mother, but yours, which is always that of Jesus.
 
“Courage, my child, you have found the precious pearl with which to buy the Kingdom of Heaven. Always love what God wills. Will it always. Desire it always. Do it always. It is the greatest secret of perfection, the key of paradise, the foretaste of the peace of the saints! The more your heart is united to mine, the more you will understand the truth of these words. When your will is only the will of God, then your heart and mine will form but one and the same heart. Each day, learn to say with me the Ecce Ancilla of perfect obedience; no matter what trials God may send you, the sacrifices he may impose on you, always have the response of love and fidelity on your lips and in your heart: Behold your servant, O my God, ready to undertake all, to give all, to immolate all, as long as your holy will is done in me, and everywhere on earth.”
 

Oh! may it be done to me according to your word. O Mother, and let my heart, lost in yours, have no other movement, no other will, no other love, than the will of my divine Master. May I begin here below, the soul united to your soul, glorifying the Lord by this perpetual homage of perfect submission. Yes, my God, yes. In everything and everywhere, yes.


2-10 | Who is St. Scholastica?
She was able to do more because she loved more. (St. Gregory the Great)
Christ’s love for Saint Scholastica and her love for Him spilled over into a lively and determined love for her twin brother, Saint Benedict. Her love gave her prayer a power that startled even that holy man.
 
What we know of the life of Scholastica is drawn from ‘The Dialogues’ Gregory the Great’s biography of her brother, Benedict, the founder of Western Monasticism.
 
Born of a noble Roman family in Nursia in Umbria, Italy, Scholastica was dedicated to God at a young age. She led a community of virgins at Plombariola, not far from Monte Cassino, the monastery Benedict had founded.
 

She visited her brother once a year, meeting for prayer and conversation just outside the monastery walls. It was shortly after one of these meetings, in the year 542, that Benedict, looking out from the monastery, saw his sister’s soul ascend to heaven like a dove.


2-8 | Who is St. Josephine Bakhita?
 
Born in Darfur, southern Sudan, Bakhita was kidnapped and enslaved when she was around nine years old. She endured profound physical punishments until she was bought by an Italian and taken to Italy.
 
She embraced the faith among the Canossian sisters at the Institute of Catechumens in Venice, and, in 1893, she joined them as a sister. She longed to return to Africa, but was occupied with telling her story in missions throughout Italy. In 1993, Pope John Paul II brought her relics to Sudan, proclaiming, “Rejoice, all of Africa. Bakhita has come back to you: the daughter of the Sudan, sold into slavery as a living piece of merchandise, and yet still free: free with the freedom of the saints.”
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On FORMED (free to all parishioners, just sign up and enter our parish) you can also watch “Bakhita: From Slave to Saint” at this link https://watch.formed.org/bakhita-from-slave-to-saint
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Here is a Meditation of the day about her by his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI – Recognizing the Healer
 
To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope. The example of a saint of our time can help us understand what it means. At the age of nine, Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled…. Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy…. Here, after the terrifying masters who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name ‘paron’ for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, how­ever, she heard that there is a ‘paron’ above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme Paron, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her at the Father’s right hand. Now she had hope—no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was redeemed, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope because without God….
 

On December 8, 1896, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters, and from that time onwards…she made several journeys around Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.


2-6 | Who are St. Paul Miki & Companions?
 
Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. (Mt 10:38)
Saint Paul Miki and his companions, the Nagasaki martyrs, took refuge in the cross on which they died for Christ. These servants of the truth were raised with Christ above the heavens, while their enemies, like all those who boast of their violent power, died un­remembered.
 

The earnest faith that arose among the Japanese following Saint Francis Xavier’s mission in the 16th century was crowned by martyrdom beginning with Paul Miki, a Japanese Jesuit, and twenty-five companions on February 5, 1597. The following decades saw repeated mass executions, frequently by burning. The stalwart Japanese frequently recited prayers during their deaths. Faithful onlookers were known to chant the Magnificat or Te Deum as the martyrs succumbed. Frustrated by their inability to eradicate Catholicism through public executions, the Japanese authorities closed the country to foreign visitors in 1638. When Japan was reopened in 1865, thousands of covert Catholics came forward, still clinging to the faith of their forefathers.


2-5 | Who is St. Agatha?
 
I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more. (Luke 12:4)
In crying out to God, Saint Agatha found courage to face bodily torture and death. She went to her death as to her wedding banquet, trusting that Christ, the bridegroom with whom she kept faith in this life, would keep faith with her in the life to come.
 
According to tradition, Agatha was born into wealthy family in Sicily and made a vow of virginity at a young age. She is invoked against breast cancer and other diseases of the breast. She is also a special patron during times of earthquake and volcanic eruptions, because of a tradition that her intercession saved the people during an eruption of Mount Etna the year after her death.
 
Agatha’s feast has been celebrated on this day since ancient times. She was martyred in Catania, Sicily, most likely during the persecution of Decius in 251. While the details of her life are lost to history, the impact of her sacrifice is attested to by ancient authors. She was held in great veneration in the Church of Rome, so much so that her name is among the Saints mentioned in Eucharistic Prayer I, the Roman Canon.
 

Agatha is the Latin form of agathos, meaning “good” in Greek. Of her, Saint Methodius of Sicily wrote: “She won a good name by her noble deeds, and by her name she points to the nobility of those deeds. Agatha, her name wins all people over to her company. She teaches them by her example to hasten with her to the true good, God alone.”


2-3 | Who is St. Blaise and why the blessing of throats?
 
For centuries, it has been a tradition for Catholics to have their throats blessed on the Feast of St. Blase, the patron saint against throat ailments. It’s a lovely tradition with St. Blaise, who healed a boy with a fishbone stuck in his throat. St. Blase is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
 
The priest takes two unlit candles and crosses them. He places one on one side of the parishioner’s neck and one on the other. And, the priest says this prayer:
By the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop, and martyr, may God deliver you from every malady of the throat, and from every possible mishap; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
R. Amen. (Source: 1962 Rituale Romanum)
 
Blase, whose signal virtues made him dear to the people of Sebaste in Armenia, was chosen bishop of that city. When the emperor Diocletian waged his cruel persecution against the Christians, the saint hid in a cave on Mount Argeus, and there he remained some time concealed, but was at length discovered by some soldiers of the governor Agricolaus, while they were hunting.
 
They led him to the governor, who gave orders that he should be put into prison. During his imprisonment, many sick people, attracted by the reputation of his sanctity, came to him, and he healed them. Among these was a boy, whose life was despaired of by the physicians, on account of his having swallowed a fishbone, which could not be extracted from his throat. The saint was twice brought before the governor, but neither fair promises nor threats could induce him to offer sacrifice to the gods. Whereupon, he was first beaten with rods, and then his flesh was torn with iron hooks while he lay stretched on the rack. At length, he was beheaded and nobly gave testimony to the faith of Christ our Lord.
 

Prayer: O God, Who dost gladden us by the annual feast of blessed Blase, Thy Martyr, and Bishop: mercifully grant that we, who celebrate his heavenly birthday, may also rejoice in his protection. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ.


2-2 | Why the Presentation of the Lord?
The glory of the living God is made manifest to the eyes of faith and hope in the frail flesh of a child. In baptism we have been made the temple of the living God. Let us welcome the Lord of glory in whatever guise He comes to us, receiving Him in joyful prayer, in purity of heart, and in charity toward all.
 
As the Son of God, Jesus is already “consecrated to the Lord.” Yet Mary and Joseph present Him in the Temple in fulfillment of the Law so that Israel could encounter its long-awaited consolation and redemption. In presenting the Redeemer to the Lord, our Lady offers herself—and all of us—in union with Him in his saving mission. She will endure the sword of sorrow, and in doing so will become an intimate sharer in His merits. When we offer ourselves to the Father in the hands of our mother Mary, we can be sure it is pleasing and acceptable to the Lord.
 
My soul is longing for the Lord, more than watchman for daybreak. (Ps 130:6)
Simeon and Anna waited in patient faith for the dawning of the Sun of Justice. Let us seek the Lord with all our hearts as they did, so that we too may recognize him when He comes into our lives
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Meditation of the Day
 
The Holy Spirit was upon Him. (Luke 2:25)
One of the Church’s great mystics, St. Bridget of Sweden, once received a revelation from Mary about her Son, Jesus. “There is the same humility in my Son now,” Mary told her, “as there was when he was laid in the manger.” Jesus had humbled himself by coming as a child and giving his life for our sake. But even now, Mary told St. Bridget, he continues to humble himself toward “all who speak to him with love,” and he does it by sending his Holy Spirit to lead and guide us.
 
These beautiful insights can help us understand how Simeon came to recognize Jesus in the Temple when Joseph and Mary brought him there for his presentation. They can also give us a sense of what can happen in us when we speak to Jesus “with love.”
 
Simeon was a devout Jew who loved God and ardently awaited the Messiah of Israel. He had faith. He studied the Scriptures. And he prayed constantly to see the fulfillment of God’s promises. Here was a man who spoke to God with great love and great longing. Here was a man who yearned to see the face of God. And because of Simeon’s love and faithfulness, God gave him the privilege of being able to recognize Jesus when his parents brought him to the Temple that day.
 
Perhaps it was Simeon’s practice of conversing lovingly with God that enabled him to receive clear guidance from the Holy Spirit. All that time spent praying and meditating on the Hebrew Scriptures helped Simeon open his heart to the Spirit. It helped him recognize the Spirit’s voice. It made him open to the Spirit’s guidance, which led him directly to Jesus.
 
The same can be true for you. Every time you reflect on God’s promises in Scripture, every time you look for him in prayer, every time you join in the celebration of Mass, you have an opportunity to speak to Jesus with great love. And no matter how lowly you think you are, no matter how much sin has clouded your heart, Jesus will do what he has always done: he will humble himself and come and show himself to you.
 

“Jesus, I love you. Let me follow the Holy Spirit into your presence.”


1-13 | Who is St. Hilary of Poitiers?
 
Elected bishop in Poitiers in 353 at the height of the Arian heresy, Hilary held true in the face of tremendous opposition. He was exiled to Turkey for his defense of the orthodox faith. Upon his return, Hilary worked to guide his brother bishops who had fallen prey to pressure from the Arians. Of Hilary, Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “This was precisely his gift: to combine strength in the Faith and docility in interpersonal relations.” Hilary is known for his great work On the Trinity as well as commentaries on the Psalms and Matthew’s Gospel. He was declared a Doctor of the Divinity of Christ in 1851.
 
Here is a MEDITATION OF THE DAY from him
Christ the Healer
 
When Jesus had come into the house of Peter, he saw his mother-in-law lying down with a fever. We should understand in Peter’s mother-in-law a diseased disposition of unbelief that is associated with a freedom of the will, and links us to her in a kind of bonded fellowship. Thus, with the Lord’s entry into Peter’s house, that is, in his body, he cured the unbelief of those who are burning in the heat of their sins and who are dominated by the illness of their wickedness. Soon afterwards, now healed, she performs a servant’s role. Peter was the first to believe and has the primary apostolic place. Although faith was formerly weak in him, he grew strong by the ministry of the Word of God because the Word undertook the work of salvation for all….
 
When evening had come, they brought to him many who had demons, and he cast out the unclean spirits. In those evening hours we can recognize in his indiscriminate healing of that assembly [the following]: those whom he taught after his Passion, remitting all sins, expelling the infirmities of all, and casting out the provocative elements of our deep-seated, evil desires. Moreover, he assumed the weaknesses of our human helplessness…by the Passion of his body according to the words of the prophets.
 

From The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, Vol. 125, St. Hilary of Poitiers: Commentary on Matthew, D.H. Williams, Tr. © 2012, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C.


1-7 | Who is St. Raymond Penyafort?

Today is a special day for us — Our Mother Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Mercy, appeared to three men in Spain: King James of Aragon and Peter Nolasco and Raymond Penafort — who would become saints — to encourage them to begin a mission of boldly proclaiming freedom in Christ — to all people — but especially those being persecuted for their beliefs. She asked them to pay the ransom of those kidnapped or imprisoned — and to go as far as taking their place with their own lives if necessary.
Today is the feast day of one of those men — St. Raymond of Penafort (sometimes spelled Penyafort), a Dominican priest who lived in the 1200’s in Spain and is one of many patron saints of lawyers.
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St. Raymond was born in 1175 to a noble family, with ties to the royal house of Aragon, in modern-day Spain. He was a gifted student, and his philosophical nature led him to teach in Barcelona by the time he was 20. While teaching, he worked to bring the Catholic faith and teachings into his profession, especially a concern for the poor and the suffering.
 
When he was 30, Raymond went to study secular and Church law in Bologna, Italy. He earned his doctorate and taught there until 1219, when he received an official position in the diocese. In 1222, he joined the Dominican order at the age of 47, and spent the next 53 years with them.
 
As penance for the intellectual pride of his earlier years, he was asked to write a manual of moral theology to be used by confessors. Raymond’s “Summa Casuum” was the first of many contributions to the Church. At the same time, he continued to spread the faith and bring many back to the Church.
 
In Barcelona, Raymond helped St. Peter Nolasco and King James of Aragon establish the Order of Our Lady of Mercy, the order that sought to ransom captives in Muslim territory. He promoted the Crusades through his preaching, encouraging Catholics to defend their homes from foreign enemies.
 
In 1240, Pope Gregory IX called Raymond to Rome to compile the Church’s decisions and decrees into one uniform work. The five books Raymond compiled served as the basis of the Church’s legal system for centuries. During this time, Raymond served as the pope’s personal confessor and advisor.
 
Raymond was then chosen to lead the Dominicans, although he was only able to hold this position for two years due to his age. However, after he resigned, he went on to preach and spread the Gospel for another 30 years.
 

St. Raymond died on Jan. 6, 1275, at about 100 years of age. He was canonized in 1601 and is the patron saint of lawyers, especially canon lawyers.


1-6 | Who is St. André Bessette?

Saint André Bessette is the first person to be canonized in the Congregation of Holy Cross. His memorial is celebrated on January 6 in the United States. In many other countries, the memorial is often celebrated on January 7 because the Epiphany is celebrated normally on January 6. No matter the day of the memorial of Saint André, he speaks to us with love and faith in our three communities during this Christmas time and especially during the many issues of pandemic.
At Sacred Heart Church, we are honored to have a first-class relic of Saint André Bessette housed within our new altar. We received this relic in 2019 from Saint Joseph Oratory in Montreal. I am so grateful that André’s presence is here in our altar to help us understand the Real Presence of Christ Jesus. André’s gift is to help us sort through our ills, our sorrows, our isolation, and our weariness even in this year of pandemic.
Alfred (André) Bessette, born near Quebec, Ontario, Canada on August 9, 1845, grew up in poverty and faith. Orphaned by age 12, prayer guided him to Saint Joseph. Through this devotion, he desired to enter the Congregation of Holy Cross. Brother André was assigned as Porter to Notre Dame College, Montreal. As doorkeeper, his healing reputation spread, reaching 600 people a day. He spent sleepless nights praying for the sick.
I admit, it never occurred to me until this past year that André lived through the pandemic of 1918. He would have been at the height of his ministry of healing. I imagine that André dealt with people who were alone and isolated from the pandemic of his time. His healing ministry takes on an entirely new aspect for me knowing that he had gone through such a reality
His ministry grew from the pandemic, and World War I and beyond into what is now Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. He died on January 6, 1937 before its completion. He remains a paradox within our religious community since he was illiterate, joining our community known for education. He was frail bodied and strong in faith. He was orphaned and yet welcomed the sick as family. Brother André lived simply, a model of faith for people in despair. He was a sickly child and yet lived to be 91 years old.
I have a great love and devotion to Saint André. He is such an example for me that God reveals love amid the weak and needy. The strength that enabled him to listen and care for the sick and pray all night came from Jesus. André understood that there was nothing more important than the needs of the sick and suffering.
I believe we are learning a deeper and more sustaining notion of ministry among the ill given our experiences with COVID-19. We are exhausted from isolation and worry. Our healthcare workers are at the breaking point. I believe this pandemic will open us up to a new way of life and a new sense of compassion for our world. We have this common reality of vulnerability and loss. I pray we can ask Saint André to help us find the Light of Christ in the darkness that surrounds us. Hope is real for us who have faith in difficult times.
I rely on Saint André in many ways. I also see his work among those who reach out in our community to the sick and elderly. André helps us in our Food Pantry, as simple as it is right now. We must rely on André to help us as a parish to support the needs of vulnerable people even though we cannot have meetings or large in-person services at this time. I ask André to intercede for us when violence covers our streets and anger rages in our hearts.
Jesus’ heart becomes our heart. We also learn from Saint André Bessette who was canonized on Sunday, October 17, 2010. Saint André extended his heart and life to the weary. I invite you this week to seek out the life of Saint André Bessette. I invite you to surrender your pain and doubt to him in prayer. Invite him into your bodily and emotional pain. Invite him to intercede for us who face the ravages of the pandemic. Allow Saint André to welcome you in the frustrations or tragedies of your life. Allow Saint André to reveal to you the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the place of love and comfort for us all
Prayer:
Saint André,
Welcome me at the threshold,
When I am lost.
Offer me tenderness and solace,
When I am tired.
Remind me I belong
When I am orphaned.
Guide me to Saint Joseph
When I am far from home.
Bring forgiveness to my heart
When I feel most unworthy.
Reveal Jesus’ healing touch
When I hurt and am alone.
Touch my pain,
When I wait to be healed.
Saint André Bessette pray for us!

From Father Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C.


1-5 | Who is St. John Neumann?

You know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake He became poor although He was rich, so that by His poverty you might become rich. (2 Cor 8:9)
Saint John Neumann lived in poverty in order to preach the Gospel without hindrance. His concern was not for his own comfort but for the religious and educational needs of those he had left his homeland to serve, especially those who, like himself, were immigrants to the United States.
John came to the United States from Bohemia in 1836 to serve as a priest in western New York. He joined the Redemptorists and was their superior in Baltimore when he was elected Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. The stocky, unrefined prelate with a thick Bohemian accent failed to impress Philadelphia’s high society. Yet under his leadership the number of Catholic schools in Philadelphia increased from two to one hundred. He established the first system of diocesan schools in the United States. On average, John founded a new church once a month. After eight years of intense pastoral activity he collapsed on a Philadelphia street. John was canonized in 1977, the first male American saint.
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Here is a meditation of the day from him
A Heart Moved with Pity
When it was first announced to us that our Holy Father, Pius IX, had appointed us to the pastoral care and government of this important portion of the flock of Christ, we must confess that the heavy charge filled our heart with great anxiety. To leave those from whom we had experienced, for many years, the most cordial affection, to enter upon an entirely new sphere of duty, to assume the government of so vast a number of souls who would look to us to lead them on to our heavenly home, all this urged us to implore the Lord to remove this chalice from us.
We have, however, been compelled to bow in obedience to the successor of Saint Peter, knowing that whatsoever he binds on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and submitting to the will of God, we humbly hope that he who has commenced in us what the Apostle Saint Paul calls a good work, will graciously grant us that sufficiency which is required to bring it to perfection.
This, our trust in God, has been much strengthened by the kind encouragement we have received. [I have heard] of your liberality, which had called into existence and supported so many charitable institutions, and erected edifices to the glory of the living God, which will bear testimony to future generations of your lively faith, prompt generosity, and practical charity, when you will be enjoying in his presence the eternal rewards he has in store for those who love him.

From Saint John Neumann: His Writings and Spirituality


1-4 | Who is St. Elizabeth Ann Seton?

My feet kept to the level path because from earliest youth I was familiar with wisdom. (cf. Sirach 51:15)

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s path took many unexpected turnings because she followed God’s will rather than her own. What matters most is that the path God chose took her to Him. In her obedience lay the source of the wisdom with which she taught others to follow in God’s ways.

Elizabeth Ann Seton suffered the death of her husband, William, when she was twenty-nine. Having encountered the Catholic faith while on holiday in Italy, she converted, to the disappointment of her family. Her attempts to found a school in New York to support herself and her five children failed when the parents of her students discovered that she was Catholic. After responding to the invitation to open a school in Baltimore, she founded the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph to educate the poor and orphans. Elizabeth died in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1821. She is considered the patron of Catholic education in America and was the first American-born canonized saint.
_______

Here is a Meditation of the Day from her
Living for the Kingdom of Heaven

Father of all mercies, blessed be your goodness which has preserved me this day and brought me to the hour of rest. To your merciful protection I humbly commit my soul and body, for you only can give me peace and safety—I supplicate your blessing on me, my friends and relations through Jesus Christ my Savior.

O my Soul, there is a heaven, there is a Savior, there is a pure and perfect felicity under the shadow of his wings. There is rest from our labors, peace from our enemies, freedom from our sins. There we shall be always joyful—always beholding the presence of him, who has purchased and prepared for us this unutterable glory. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.

Where he is there shall we be also, and the happy hours we have passed together thinking of him and singing his praise, will then be remembered with the fondest delight. We will never more separate, never be weary, but day without night rejoice before his throne; and now we must keep our hearts fixed on him and try with all our souls to please our dear and blessed Lord. Then when he calls us Come up hither, we will fly with joy to our heavenly home.

From Elizabeth Bayley Seton, Collected Writings: Volume I, Correspondence and Journals 1793-1808.


1-3 | Why the Epiphany of the Lord?

Our God is for ever and always./ It is he who leads us. (cf. Psalm 48:15)

God dwells among his people in the flesh of Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem of old, present in the Eucharist in our day. Like the Magi, let us bring the gifts of our worship before him in praise, adoration, and thanksgiving.

The Magi—by tradition called Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar—reveal that our life’s greatest purpose is to worship the Savior. The gifts brought by the Magi reveal how we can do that: “To offer gold is to proclaim Christ’s Kingship, to offer incense is to adore his Godhead, and to offer myrrh is to acknowledge his mortality” (Saint Odilo of Cluny). And when we meditate on the mystery of the Epiphany, “we shall be radiant at what we see,” and “our hearts throb and overflow,” for the appearance of the Son of God means that the lives of the lowly, poor, and afflicted shall be saved. We have become “copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.”

Traditionally, Epiphany celebrates three manifestations of God in Christ: to the Magi, at the baptism in the Jordan, and at Cana. The liturgies of this season often present the Incarnation using the image of a marriage between divinity and humanity in Jesus Christ, the wise and just King, greater than Solomon. Let us praise Him with this royal wedding psalm

Psalm 45:2-3, 7-10

My heart overflows with noble words.
To the king I must speak the song I have made;
my tongue as nimble as the pen of a scribe.

You are the fairest of the children of men
and graciousness is poured upon your lips:
because God has blessed you for evermore.

Your throne, O God, shall endure for ever.
A scepter of justice is the scepter of your kingdom.
Your love is for justice; your hatred for evil.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness above other kings:
your robes are fragrant with aloes and myrrh.

From the ivory palace you are greeted with music.
The daughters of kings are among your loved ones.
On your right stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

Glory to the Father….


1-2 | Who are Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen?

I, Wisdom, dwell with experience,/ and judicious knowledge I attain. (Proverbs 8:12)

Saints Basil and Gregory dwelt with wisdom through study and prayer, first in the silence of the monastic life and later in the midst of their pastoral responsibilities as bishops. From her abundance they still feed all those who seek to know God through their teaching of Christ’s doctrine.

As a bishop, Basil the Great fed the poor, ministered to the destitute and the marginalized, and created a hospital for the sick; he was “truly one of the Fathers of the Church’s social doctrine” (Pope Benedict XVI).

Gregory Nazianzen, called “the Theologian,” loved theological contemplation and delivered majestic orations on the Trinity. Both men developed and solidified the Trinitarian formulations of the Church in the face of the Arian heresy. The Church’s theological reflection on the Trinity is unthinkable without their contributions. Basil died in 379 and Gregory in 390.

Here is a MEDITATION OF THE DAY from Saint Gregory Nazianzen
Sharing in the Worthiness of Christ

When he appeared, both earth and heaven shook,

The heavenly choir sent down hymns;

The star from the East led the Magi on their way, bearing gifts in worship of the new-born King.

This is my teaching concerning Christ’s novel birth….

Neither by man’s seed did he become man, but it was from that flesh which the Spirit had hallowed beforehand, of [a Virgin], cherished Mother….

But after he was proclaimed by the clear-shining beacon of a great light forerunning the Child, forerunning the gospel, heralding Christ my God in the midst of the desert….

[Christ] granted to mortals a double purification, that of the Spirit, ever-flowing, who has cleansed my former evl born with the flesh, and that of our blood.

For this, too, is mine, this blood which Christ my God poured out

In restitution for ancient longings, and as a ransom for the world….

As once the Hebrew children escaped destruction by an anointing of blood which cleansed doorposts… so for me, too, is this washing [in baptism] a seal of the

God who wards off evil…it is a cure and the finest seal, divinely flowing from Christ the giver of light: so that fleeing the depths of anguish and lifting up the neck lightly from under its burden, I might turn my two feet back again towards life.

From On God And Man, The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Peter Gilbert, Tr.


1-1 | Why the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God?

Mary, our Mother, leads us to Christ! During these last days of the Octave of Christmas, the Church urges us on with renewed devotion and awe by placing this Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, on January 1st. The Octave of Christmas (8 days following Christmas) places before our prayer and meditation the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the white martyrdom of St. John the Beloved, and the feasts of the Holy Innocents and the Holy Family. These saints, and even Christmas itself, teach us an important paradox that proclaims a fullness of life amidst suffering, a glory hidden within the ordinary. This is seen most profoundly in the mystery of the Incarnation – God becoming man, born of Mary, whom He Himself created.

Every Marian dogma is also a teaching about Christ. In the Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours for today we have the antiphon, “Marvelous is the mystery proclaimed today: human nature is made new as God becomes man; He remains what He was and becomes what He was not. Yet each nature stays distinct and forever undivided.” Proclaiming Mary as the Mother of God teaches us that Jesus is fully God and fully human and that Mary is the Mother of not just Jesus’ human nature, but Jesus Christ, Himself.

This is the greatest paradox, and we are part of it! The hunger for greatness stamped into our nature stems from this reality: Jesus has a human nature, and so has changed my ability to receive Divine life in my soul. We are disproportionate to our destiny; Jesus coming as a child in a manger did not change God, but rather it changed our human capacity. We at times think, “I am not able to sustain my capacity.” This is why the invitation is to surrender to Jesus Christ, as Mary does, and allow Christ to bring our hunger for greatness to fulfillment.

Let us turn to Mary as the perfect Mother and ask for her to intercede for us with her compassion and strength and bring us to the full reality of our identity as children of God.


12-31 | Who is St. Sylvestter I?

When you think of this pope, you think of the Edict of Milan, the emergence of the Church from the catacombs, the building of the great basilicas—Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter’s, and others—the Council of Nicaea, and other critical events. But for the most part, these events were planned or brought about by Emperor Constantine.

A great store of legends has grown up around the man who was pope at this most important time, but very little can be established historically. We know for sure that his papacy lasted from 314 until his death in 335. Reading between the lines of history, we are assured that only a very strong and wise man could have preserved the essential independence of the Church in the face of the overpowering figure of the Emperor Constantine. In general, the bishops remained loyal to the Holy See, and at times expressed apologies to Sylvester for undertaking important ecclesiastical projects at the urging of Constantine.


Reflection

It takes deep humility and courage in the face of criticism for a leader to stand aside and let events take their course, when asserting one’s authority would only lead to useless tension and strife. Sylvester teaches a valuable lesson for Church leaders, politicians, parents, and others in authority.


12-29 | Who is St. Thomas Becket?

Saint Thomas Becket is the Patron Saint of Roman Catholic Secular Clergy, is a strong man who wavered for a moment, but then learned one cannot come to terms with evil, and so became a strong churchman, a martyr, and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.

His career had been a stormy one. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age of 36 by his friend King Henry II. When Henry felt it advantageous to make his chancellor the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas gave him fair warning: he might not accept all of Henry’s intrusions into Church affairs. Nevertheless, in 1162 he was made archbishop, resigned his chancellorship, and reformed his whole way of life!

Troubles began. Henry insisted upon usurping Church rights. At one time, supposing some conciliatory action possible, Thomas came close to compromise. He momentarily approved the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have denied the clergy the right of trial by a Church court and prevented them from making direct appeal to Rome. But Thomas rejected the Constitutions, fled to France for safety, and remained in exile for seven years. When he returned to England he suspected it would mean certain death. Because Thomas refused to remit censures he had placed upon bishops favored by the king, Henry cried out in a rage, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest!” Four knights, taking his words as his wish, slew Thomas in the Canterbury cathedral.

Thomas Becket remains a hero-saint down to our own times.

Here is a MEDITATION OF THE DAY from him

Simeon holds the child Jesus and prophesies Mary’s intimate union with his redemptive suffering: “And you yourself a sword will pierce.” Our Lady accompanies us in our sufferings, too, and will lead us to abide in Christ and walk with Him, even to the cross. “Remember the sufferings of Christ…the crown that came from those sufferings which gave new radiance to the faith.… All saints give testimony to the truth that without real effort, no one ever wins the crown”


Dec 28 | Why the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs?

 They have been ransomed as the firstfruits of the human race for God and the Lamb. (Rv 14:4)
 
In the Christ Child, we see foreshadowed the suffering Savior. In the murdered children of Bethlehem, the first of many martyrs, we see foreshadowed the futile effort of the power of sin and death to destroy the true power that will bring it to destruction, though that power lies hidden in a child.
 
The Prophet Jeremiah poetically described the agony of the Jews as they were taken into Babylon: “Rachel mourns for her children, she refuses to be consoled because her children are no more!” (31:15). Rachel, wife of the patriarch Jacob, is shown to be lamenting the exile of the people formed from her. When Christ entered the world, Jeremiah’s words gained a new depth.
 

King Herod learned of the birth of the newborn “King of the Jews” and intended to murder him. Jesus escaped into exile with Mary and Joseph. In a rage, Herod slew all Jewish males under the age of two in Bethlehem. The Jewish mothers lamented their children, killed in Christ’s stead. But eternal life triumphs over evil. The Holy Innocents live victorious in heaven.


Dec 27 | Why the Feast of the Holy Family?

The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him. (Lk 2:33)

This feast reminds us that Jesus lived a real human life among real people of flesh and blood. The Son of God became the obedient son of a foster father and a Mother who, together, accepted him and walked obediently in God’s mysterious ways, as a faith-filled family.  But their Child’s children, destined for the heavenly Jerusalem, fill the whole world.

The family is the household manifestation of the Church born in Christ and brought to maturity in his living Body. Mary and Joseph lived in the fear of the Lord, that is, in honoring God and one another and in doing right. From their righteousness grew the One who would bring honor beyond imagining to his family, both the family into which he was born and the family of those born anew in him.

“The family is the privileged setting where every person learns to give and receive love…. The family is an intermediate institution between individuals and society, and nothing can completely take its place…. The family is a necessary good for peoples, an indispensable foundation for society, and a great and lifelong treasure for couples. It is a unique good for children, who are meant to be the fruit of the love, of the total and generous self-giving of their parents…. The family is also a school that enables men and women to grow to the full measure of their humanity…. O God, who in the Holy Family left us a perfect model of family life lived in faith and obedience to your will, help us to be examples of faith and love for your commandments” (Pope Benedict XVI).

MEDITATION OF THE DAY
Pondering the Holy Family

There is a certain flavor to the days after a child is born into a home. Gratefulness that all went well, a deep relief from anxiety, a new happiness, and a more tender love hover over the household. All this must have been true of the very first Christian family who ever lived, only much more so. Of the young girl and Mother it is told that she didn’t need any help, neither for herself nor for her little child. She was able to take care of him alone right away. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.

We can imagine Joseph going into Bethlehem every day, partly to buy fresh food, and partly to watch how the census was going. In forty days he would have to present Mother and Child in the Temple…. He told Mary that the shepherds couldn’t get over the things they had heard and seen in that unforgettable night, and had told their friends and neighbors. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. What did Mary do about this? She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.… “To ponder” is just another word for “to meditate on” or simply “to think about.” With a special effort, some of us might set aside fifteen minutes a day out of a sense of duty to ponder upon divine things. This time of meditation can turn into a real bother, and we may spend it looking at the watch. At the slightest provocation we gladly omit it…. But with Mary it seems to be second nature. Already, as a child in the Temple, she must have been meditating on the law of the Lord all the days of her life, as it says in Psalm 118. The splendor of the house of God, the starry sky at night, the countryside of Judea, the Word of God as it was read to her from ancient scrolls by her teachers—everything was one big meditation book for her, telling of the grandeur and also of the mercy of God. She never grew tired of pondering on all those things in her heart….

When God in his eternal wisdom resolved to redeem mankind, he had infinite ways in which to do it. There were shapes and forms we can think of, such as sending the Messiah as an angel in great power and glory, or as a mighty king on horseback, then there are many more possibilities which we in our limited mind can’t even conceive. But no, Almighty God chose none of those ways, but instead, sent his only Son as a little child into a family.

By Maria von Trapp († 1987), with her children and stepchildren, the Trapp Family Singers, inspired the musical and film The Sound of Music. / From Let Me Tell You About My Savior: Yesterday, Today, and Forever, When the King Was Carpenter.


Dec 26 | Who is St. Stephen, the First Martyr?

You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:22)

Lest we be tempted to sentimentalize the mystery of Christ’s birth, the Church today sets before us the example of Stephen, first of martyrs, icon of the Crucified. Bethlehem is the prelude to Calvary. We may not merely stand adoring at the crib; we must also follow to the cross.

Stephen, whose name means “crown” or “garland,” was the first to gain the crown of martyrdom in the Church. The account of Stephen’s death is a short course in the martyrdom that would define Christian life in its first four centuries.

After engaging in a debate with Hellenistic Jews, Stephen recounts for them their own history as fulfilled in Christ. To the ears of his accusers, Stephen’s words are blasphemy. Stephen’s marvelous countenance—“like an angel”—is a further irritant. They drag him outside the city to stone him. Stephen, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” has a vision of Christ. Before he dies, he forgives his tormentors.


Here is a MEDITATION OF THE DAY on martyrdom
The First Martyr

In the New Covenant as in the Old, martyrdom is a way of fulfilling the greatest commandment, the Shema Israel that every pious Jew recites twice daily, morning and night: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. This participation in Christ’s suffering brings to fulfillment the most ardent faith, hope, and charity. To accept martyrdom witnesses to complete faith in God’s faithfulness; it forcefully manifests hope in the resurrection of the body and eternal life; and it is the highest expression of love for someone to love God more than his or her own life. Indeed, this is the greatest act of love of God and neighbor that anyone can make: Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Here is the ultimate expression of love that we see in Jesus: Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The Incarnation and Passion of Christ show how much God loves us; and the acceptance of martyrdom shows how humankind, through the grace of Christ, are capable of loving God. During the Christmas season there is a striking change in the color of the vestments, from the white of the Nativity to the red of the feast of Saint Stephen. Just a day after the joyful feast of the birth of the Lord, celebrating God’s becoming one of us out of love for us, we celebrate the feast of the first martyr. God gave himself entirely to us so that we can completely give ourselves to him. He loves us without measure so that we can love him without measure, even more than our own lives.

Martyrdom is also a supreme act of love of neighbor. The Christian martyr forgives, prays for those who make him or her suffer, and offers his or her life for their salvation. The martyr carries love of enemies as far as it can go, as the Gospel urges be done.

Father Philippe is a French priest, a member of the Community of the Beatitudes, and a renowned spiritual director. / From The Eight Doors of the Kingdom: Meditation on the Beatitudes.


Dec 25 | The Nativity of the Lord

“In the Sacraments, we encounter Christ the Savior.”-Pope Francis

Born to Be With Us by Father Richard Veras

In his desire for God to come to his people, Isaiah cries, Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you (Is 63:19b).

At Christmas, we celebrate that God has come to his people in a greater way than Isaiah asked for—by coming in a seemingly lesser way. He did not shake mountains; he became flesh to dwell among us, born in Bethlehem to become present to all of us in our own particular places, in our daily lives.

In looking back on this year and the pandemic, when so many could not receive sacraments and members of Christ’s body suffered distance from one another, we understand well Isaiah’s desire that God come close. A desire expressed in countless spiritual communions, in so much use of technology to behold each other’s faces.

One pastor was astounded by the response to his offer to bless houses from the curb while the family stayed at the door. Another was amazed at how many cars showed up to drive slowly past the parish church to receive a blessing, as the family remained in the car.

We have encountered a God who is greater even than Isaiah imagined. Through the Incarnation, he has educated our hearts to long for his presence, not through spectacles of quaking mountains or columns of fire, but through his closeness to us in our daily lives and struggles.

He has, indeed, come to his people; and every day and in so many ways, he offers his presence to set us free.

_________
Father Richard Veras is director of pastoral formation at Saint Joseph’s Seminary in New York. He is the author of three books, his ­latest being The Word Made Flesh: Foreshadowed, Fulfilled, Forever (Magnificat).


Dec 23 | Who is St. John of Kanty aka St. John Cantius?

St. John Cantius is the patron Saint of Teachers, Students, Priests and Pilgrims.  To most Catholics in this country, St. John from Kenty—otherwise known as John Kanty or John Cantius—is an obscure saint, and, even in Europe, few people probably know of Pope John Paul II’s deep and lifelong devotion to this professor saint.

Only thirteen miles from the Holy Father’s own birthplace, John was born in the small southern Polish town of Kenty on June 24, 1390. At the age of 23, he registered for studies at the Jagiellonian University, located in the not too distant city of Krakow—then, the capital of the Polish Kingdom. Founded in 1364 by royal decree, it was the same university at which astronomer, Nicolas Copernicus, would study almost 80 years later.​

Enrolled in the Department of Liberal Arts, John became a doctor of philosophy in 1418. During the following three years, he undertook further studies in preparation for the priesthood, while supporting himself by conducting philosophy classes at the university.​

Immediately following ordination, he accepted a position as rector at the prestigious school of the Canons Regular of the Most Holy Sepulcher in Miechow. That such a school would offer him this position at his relatively young age was evidence of John’s exceptional intellect and talents. It was there in conducting formation classes for the young novices that he became firmly grounded in the writings and spirituality of St. Augustine.

In 1429, a position became vacant in the Philosophy Department at the Jagiellonian University. John quickly returned to Krakow for the opportunity, taking up residence at the university where he remained until his death. He also began studies in theology and, after 13 long years of study intertwined with teaching and administrative duties as head of the Philosophy Department, he finally received his doctorate. Later, after the death of his mentor, the eminent theologian Benedykt Hesse, John assumed directorship of the university’s Theology Department.

As most learned men of his day, John spent many of his free hours hand-copying manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, theological tracts, and other scholarly works. Although only 26 volumes have survived to our time, their total of over 18,000 pages is a testament to his exceptional industriousness.

During the course of his life in Krakow, John became well known among the city’s residents for his generosity and compassion toward the poor, always sacrificing his own needs in order to help those less fortunate. He felt a special affinity toward needy students at the university, helping to care for their spiritual, physical, and academic needs, whether it was in the classroom or from the pulpit, everyone knew him as a staunch defender of the faith and enemy of heretics.

By the time the Master from Kenty died on December 24, 1473, the people of Krakow already considered him a very holy man. That this opinion was wholly justified can be evidenced by the numerous favors and miracles attributed to John’s intercession, beginning immediately following his death. Before long, John from Kenty became known widely throughout Europe, drawing pilgrims from many countries to his tomb in the university’s Collegiate Church of St. Anne.

Despite this, the process for his beatification did not begin until 150 years later. Finally, in 1676, Pope Clement XIII declared him a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, proclaiming October 20 as his feast day.

Throughout his many years in Krakow, our philosopher Pontiff, St. John Paul II drew much inspiration at the grave of his patron saint of learning. It was no surprise, therefore, that during his 1997 pilgrimage to Poland, he once more prayed at the saint’s tomb. There, during a special gathering with professors from the Jagiellonian University (both his and St. John’s alma mater), he alluded to the Master from Kenty when he stated the saint’s life exemplified what emerges when “knowledge and wisdom seek a covenant with holiness.”


Dec 21 | Who is St. Peter Canisius?

The energetic life of Peter Canisius should demolish any stereotypes we may have of the life of a saint as dull or routine. Peter lived his 76 years at a pace which must be considered heroic, even in our time of rapid change. A man blessed with many talents, Peter is an excellent example of the scriptural man who develops his talents for the sake of the Lord’s work.

Peter was one of the most important figures in the Catholic Reformation in Germany. He played such a key role that he has often been called the “second apostle of Germany,” in that his life parallels the earlier work of Boniface.

Although Peter once accused himself of idleness in his youth, he could not have been idle too long, for at the age of 19 he received a master’s degree from the university at Cologne. Soon afterwards he met Peter Faber, the first disciple of Ignatius of Loyola, who influenced Peter so much that he joined the recently formed Society of Jesus.

At this early age Peter had already taken up a practice he continued throughout his life—a process of study, reflection, prayer, and writing. After his ordination in 1546, he became widely known for his editions of the writings of Saint Cyril of Alexandria and St. Leo the Great. Besides this reflective literary bent, Peter had a zeal for the apostolate. He could often be found visiting the sick or imprisoned, even when his assigned duties in other areas were more than enough to keep most people fully occupied.

In 1547, Peter attended several sessions of the Council of Trent, whose decrees he was later assigned to implement. After a brief teaching assignment at the Jesuit college at Messina, Peter was entrusted with the mission to Germany—from that point on his life’s work. He taught in several universities and was instrumental in establishing many colleges and seminaries. He wrote a catechism that explained the Catholic faith in a way that common people could understand—a great need of that age.

Renowned as a popular preacher, Peter packed churches with those eager to hear his eloquent proclamation of the gospel. He had great diplomatic ability, often serving as a reconciler between disputing factions. In his letters—filling eight volumes—one finds words of wisdom and counsel to people in all walks of life. At times he wrote unprecedented letters of criticism to leaders of the Church—yet always in the context of a loving, sympathetic concern.

At 70, Peter suffered a paralytic seizure, but he continued to preach and write with the aid of a secretary, until his death in his hometown of Nijmegen, Netherlands, on December 21, 1597.


Reflection

Peter’s untiring efforts are an apt example for those involved in the renewal of the Church or the growth of moral consciousness in business or government. He is regarded as one of the creators of the Catholic press, and can easily be a model for the Christian author or journalist. Teachers can see in his life a passion for the transmission of truth. Whether we have much to give, as Peter Canisius did, or whether we have only a little to give, as did the poor widow in the Gospel of Luke (see Luke 21:1–4), the important thing is to give our all. It is in this way that Peter is so exemplary for Christians in an age of rapid change when we are called to be in the world but not of the world.


Here is a MEDITATION OF THE DAY from him
Blessed to Believe

What is faith? A gift of God, and light, by which man is firmly enlightened; he assents to all things which God has revealed, and are proposed for our belief by the Church, whether they might be written or unwritten….

What does the first article of the Creed mean, “I believe in God the Father”? It shows first in the Godhead a person, namely the heavenly and eternal Father, for whom nothing is impossible or difficult to do, who produced heaven and earth, visible things together with all invisible things from nothing and even conserves and governs everything he has produced, with supreme goodness and wisdom.

What does the second article of the Creed mean, “And in Jesus Christ his Son”? It reveals the second person in the Godhead, Jesus Christ, obviously his only begotten from eternity and consubstantial with the Father, our Lord and Redeemer, as the one who has freed us from perdition.

What is the third article, “Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit”? The third article proposes the mystery of the Lord’s Incarnation: because the same Son of God, descending from heaven, assumed a human nature, but in an absolutely unique way, as he was conceived without a father, from the power of the Holy Spirit, born from the Virgin Mary who remained a virgin afterwards.

From the “Small Catechism for Catholics” by Saint Peter Canisius


Dec 14 | Who is St. John of the Cross?
 
They found abundant and good pastures, and the land was spacious, quiet, and peaceful. (1 Chronicles 4:40)
 
In his exploration of the movement through the dark night of the soul to union with God, Saint John used the imagery of a house grown still and silent to describe the soul so centered in God by prayer that it is free to leave the self behind and become absorbed in the presence of the promised Prince of Peace. From this inward stillness flows the outward peace for which the world longs.
 
When John of the Cross was a boy, his father died and his destitute mother sent him to a school for the poor. After joining the Carmelites in 1563, he joined forces with Teresa of Ávila to carry out a reform of the order. His first house as leader of the friars was so spare that even Teresa doubted he could live there. But John embraced austerities. His mystical theology teaches the renunciation of all creaturely comforts for the sake of union with God. “Feed not your spirit on anything but God. Cast off concern about things, and bear peace and recollection in your heart.” John died in 1591 and is hailed as the Mystical Doctor.
 
MEDITATION OF THE DAY from him
Seeking the One of Heavenly Origin
 
“Where have you hidden, Beloved, and left me moaning? You fled like the stag after wounding me; I went out calling you, but you were gone.”
In this first stanza the soul, enamored of the Word, her Bridegroom, the Son of God, longs for union with Him through clear and essential vision. She records her longings of love and complains to Him of his absence, especially since His love wounds her. Through this love she went out from all creatures and from herself, and yet she must suffer her Beloved’s absence, for she is not freed from mortal flesh as the enjoyment of Him in the glory of eternity requires. Accordingly, she says: Where have You hidden? This is like saying: O Word, my Spouse, show me where You are hidden. In her petition she seeks the manifestation of His divine essence, because the hiding place of the Word of God is, as Saint John asserts, the bosom of the Father, that is, the divine essence, which is alien to every mortal eye and hidden from every human intellect. Isaiah proclaimed in speaking to God: Indeed, you are a hidden God (Isaiah 45:15)….
 
It must be understood that if a person experiences some elevated spiritual communication or feeling…it should not be thought that the experiences are similar to the clear and essential vision or possession of God, or that the communication, no matter how remarkable it is, signifies a more notable possession of God or union with Him. It should be known too that if all these sensible and spiritual communications are wanting and individuals live in dryness, darkness, and dereliction, they must not thereby think that God is any more absent than in the former case…. The soul’s chief aim in this verse is not to ask for sensible devotion, in which there is neither certain nor clear possession of the Bridegroom in this life, but for the manifest presence and vision of His divine essence, in which she desires to be secure and satisfied in the next life.
 
Saint John of the Cross († 1591) is called the Mystical Doctor. © 2017, Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc., ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington, DC. www.icspublications.org.
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O God of peace, you sent Saint John to teach the way to inner silence and outward peace. Through his intercession, renew in your Church a deep spirit of prayer as we prepare to welcome Your Word, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Dec 12 | Why the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe?
 
Like cinnamon, or fragrant balm, or precious myrrh, I give forth perfume; like galbanum and onycha and sweet spices, like the odor of incense in the holy place. (Sirach 24:15)
 
Bearing roses in December as a sign, Our Lady of Guadalupe “carries out God’s wondrous plan.” She brings to all the humble of the world the Advent message of hope: arise, winter is over and gone; the spring of new life comes to your land.
 
Fifty-five-year-old Juan Diego met the Blessed Virgin Mary on the morning of December 9, 1531, as he hurried to Mass near Mexico City. She wished to have a church built and to be acknowledged as the Mother of the True God.
 
After the local bishop deflected the Virgin’s request, Juan brought roses in his rough cloak as a sign. Unfurling his cloak, Juan revealed a miraculous image of the Virgin wearing a black maternity belt and bearing the jasmine flower over her womb. The Aztec symbolism clearly showed Mary’s unborn child to be the divine center of the cosmos. In 1999 Pope John Paul II declared Our Lady of Guadalupe the Patroness of the Unborn.
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MEDITATION OF THE DAY
Our Lady of Guadalupe
 
Who is Mary? Our common Catechism says she is a Lady, full of grace and of Virtues, Mother of God and Advocate of humanity, in whom all is mercy, meekness, tenderness, and piety, without any admixture of error, says Saint Bernard. So quick to do good to mortals that so far no one has ever come before her who was not been heard, helped, and remedied, Saint Augustine said in his time. So powerful that whatever she says happens…. Saint Paul says that the delinquent lineage of Adam owes its Redemption, its life, and its freedom to the infinite love of our Father God; and this America owes its own Redemption, life, and freedom in a unique way to the infinite love of our Mother Mary Most Holy of Guadalupe….
 
This loving Mother took charge of your relief with more energy and confidence than did the most beautiful Esther when she knew that her whole people were sentenced to the ultimate ruin. Mary would say then to Jesus, “the occasion for your Redemption to reach these unfortunate lowly ones has now arrived. Ever since you made me the Mother of the human race at the cross, I am the Mother of these Americans as much as I am of the rest of humanity. By nature I am the one who helps orphans and consoles the afflicted. I myself want to convey to them and apply to them their Redemption (your honor and mine demand it that it be thus), lest it be said that I want nothing to do with their needs, after being the one who filled the other parts of the world with good things! O Son of my Womb! Remember that you could have accomplished the Redemption of all people by means of an angel or some other creature…but you did not want to, in order not to give that glory to anyone else. Yield to me, then, the glory of being the one who applies your Redemption to these children of mine: I am going to convey your Redemption to them, and I am going to visit them.”
 
From a sermon preached by
Father Ramón Péres de Anastaris in 1796
From Mexican Spirituality: Its Sources and Mission in the Earliest Guadalupan Sermons, Francisco Raymond Schulte, o.s.b. © 2002
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On 12/12/2020, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Francis grants the faithful the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence.
 
Conditions to receive the indulgence:
* Arrange a place of prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe at home.
* Actively participate in a Livestream or televised Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on 12th December. https://youtu.be/2QJHxgxAT3s
* Complete the usual conditions to receive an indulgence:
1) praying for the Pope’s intentions
2) being in a state of grace after confession
3) attending a full Mass and receiving communion.

(the last two can be fulfilled when it becomes accessible in places where there are Covid-19 restrictions)


Dec 10 | Why the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto?

I am going to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)

“Since the Middle Ages veneration for the Holy House of Loreto has been the origin of that particular shrine which still today is visited by many faithful pilgrims in order to nourish their faith in the Word of God made flesh for us. This shrine recalls the mystery of the Incarnation, leading all those who visit it to consider ‘the fullness of time,’ when God sent his Son, born of a woman.” (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments)

Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? (Matthew 2:49)

In the Holy House of Loreto, the Word took on flesh and dwelt among us. He came so that we might come to live with Him forever in the New Jerusalem. We rejoice in His presence among us on earth even as we hope to enjoy it in the splendor of heaven forever.

In Loreto, a small hillside town near the city of Ancona in the Marche, Italy, a grand basilica houses a tiny, three-walled cottage, thirty-one feet by eleven. According to tradition, this hut was transported to Loreto from the Holy Land in the year 1294, having made a three-year stop in Croatia. Called the “Holy House,” the cottage is believed to be the house where Mary was born and raised, the very place where she was visited by the Angel Gabriel, and where she and Joseph settled and raised the child Jesus.

Many popes have visited the Holy House, including Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. “It is precisely here at Loreto that we have the opportunity to attend the school of Mary who was called blessed because she believed (Lk 1:45),” he said. “This humble home is a physical, tangible witness to the greatest event in our history, the Incarnation; the Word became flesh and Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, is the privileged channel through which God came to dwell among us.”

According to the traditional account, the Holy House was transported to its current spot on the backs of angels (the source of Our Lady of Loreto’s patronage of air travel). Documents discovered in modern times suggest rather that the house was moved from the Holy Land by the Italian Angeli family to prevent its destruction by invading Turks.

Merciful Father, through the intercession of Our Lady of Loreto, make my home a place where Christ comes to dwell.


Dec 9 | Who is St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin?

Saint Juan Diego is known for receiving the vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On December 9, 1531, Mary appeared to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill while he was on his way to Mass. She asked him to approach the bishop and request that a shrine be built to her there, where she would bless those who called upon her.
 
The life of Juan Diego demonstrates that prayer is essential to a life of humility and sanctity. Luis Becerra Tanco, a 17th-century priest who compiled documentation on the Guadalupan event, described Saint Juan Diego’s prayerfulness in this way: “He had time for prayer in that way in which God knows how to make those who love him understand, according to each person’s capacity, when to exercise deeds of virtue and sacrifice.” Likewise, in the important Guadalupan document known as Nican Motecpana, we read how Saint Juan Diego strived to deepen his spiritual life: “He would prostrate himself before the Lady from heaven and invoke her fervently; frequently he would go to confession, receive Communion, fast, do penance…and hide in the shadows in order to give himself up in prayer alone.”
 
In the important mission entrusted to Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe confirms his dignity and casts away his fear. She is his mother, just as she is the mother of all who place themselves under her protection. In choosing Juan Diego, God again chose the humble and the unpretentious to manifest his omnipotence, his eternal wisdom, his constant love. Jesus praises the Father with these words: I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Through her message to Saint Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe makes us aware of our own mission, our own participation in God’s great love. As with Juan Diego, she has placed us, her many children, in the cradle of her arms. She is our protector and reveals our dignity, for she comes to place deep within our hearts her own son, Jesus Christ, who is the very reason of our existence. In this way, we can see that we are all brothers and sisters, called to conversion and participating in the construction of that divine church, the civilization of love.
 
By Monsignor Eduardo Chávez Sánchez who was the postulator for the cause for canonization of Saint Juan Diego. From Columbia magazine, June 2009 issue. © Knights of Columbus, New Haven, CT.

Dec 8 | Why the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

You are all-beautiful, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you. (Song of Songs 4:7)

The Virgin Mary, chosen Mother of the Redeemer, is robed in the splendor of her stainless innocence, clothed with the beauty of Christ, and prepared to receive him in her womb.

Through her Immaculate Conception, God preserved Mary from the stain of original sin, making her all-pure and all-holy—prepared, therefore, to be the Mother of the Savior. But this feast also reveals what God makes possible for all of us by grace: a healed humanity, “holy and without blemish.” We look to Immaculate Mary, awed by her singular privilege, confident that she intercedes for us so that we can share in her holiness, destined “for the praise of his glory.”

Here is a Meditation of the Day from St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe (whose devotion to her is the foundation for the movement he launched in 1917 called the Militia Immaculata).

Human words cannot describe who the one is, who became the true Mother of God. Of course, taken by herself, she is merely a creature. Yet, she was raised up so high by God that one would need to understand who God is to comprehend who the Mother of God is.

Also, she is the true Mother of God. It is a dogma of faith. Although the dignity of divine motherhood accounts for most of her priv­ileges, the first grace she received from God was her Immaculate Conception, her exemption from any blemish, even from original sin, since the first moment of her existence. Such privilege, moreover, must be very dear to her, for in Lourdes she named herself: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”  On that occasion, she did not say, “I was conceived without sin,” but “I am the Immaculate Conception;” it follows of necessity that she is immaculateness itself. In fact, she is a conception, since she came into existence in time. However, she is the Immaculate Conception.

God said to Moses: “I am Who I am” [Ex 3:14]: I am existence itself, so I am without beginning. Instead, the Immaculata says of herself, “I am Conception,” but, unlike all other human beings, the “Immaculate Conception.” (From Kolbe Writings 1292)

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Let us pray

You are all beautiful, Mary,
and the original stain is not in you.
You are the glory of Jerusalem,
you are the joy of Israel,
you give honor to our people.
You are the advocate of sinners.
O Mary,
Virgin most prudent,
Mother most merciful,
pray for us, intercede for us,
with the Lord Jesus Christ.

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin prepared a worthy dwelling for your Son, grant, we pray, that, as you preserved her from every stain by virtue of the death of your Son, which you foresaw, so, through her intercession, we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.


Dec 7 | Who is St. Ambrose?

I will proclaim You, O Lord, among the nations, and I will sing praise to Your name. (cf. 2 Sm 22:50)

Saint Ambrose proclaimed the coming of Christ, the long-awaited Savior, in troubled times not so different from our own. When others were abandoning the true faith for falsified concepts of Christ, he remained steadfast and taught his people fidelity by preaching, writing, and creating inspiring hymns still sung today. Known as the Pastoral Doctor, was a model bishop and an eloquent preacher. He was instrumental in the conversion of Saint Augustine.

Having begun his career as a lawyer and Roman administrator, Ambrose was elected Bishop of Milan. He won the hearts of his people with his direct, compassionate pastoral style, drawing them from Arian influence and to the true Faith. A great defender of the Church, he skillfully deflected attempts by the Arian empress Justina to take over two of his churches. “If you demand my person, I am ready to submit: carry me to prison or to death, I will not resist; but I will never betray the Church of Christ,” he declared. Ambrose died in 397, and was named among the first four Doctors of the Church.

Here is a Meditation of the Day from him

“Your sins are forgiven”

May our minds ponder nothing unseemly but incline to sentiments of prayer. Whoever receives Christ into his heart has a disposition free from blame, and by his earnest prayers he strives to merit the Holy Spirit. This is the hour when Christ checked the ancient, dreadful crime, overthrew death’s reign and took the age-old sin upon himself. Henceforth, now by the grace of Christ, days of blessedness have begun: the true faith has filled the churches throughout the earth.

From the lofty summit of his triumph he spoke to his mother: Mother, behold your son; apostle, behold your mother…. [Many] to whom Jesus offered faith through heavenly miracles did not believe; the one who has believed will be saved. We believe the God who was born, the offspring of the holy Virgin, who, seated at the Father’s right, has taken away the sins of the world.

From Ambrose. © 1997, Boniface Ramsey, o.p. Published by Routledge, New York, NY.


Dec 4 | Who is St. John Damascene?

Saint John Damascene has the double honor of being the last but one of the fathers of the Eastern Church, and the greatest of her poets.

He was born in Damascus, received a classical and theological education, and followed his father in a government position under the Arabs. After a few years, he resigned and went to the Monastery of Saint Sabas. He spent all of his life under Muslim rule, indeed protected by it.

He is famous in three areas:

First, he is known for his writings against the iconoclasts, who opposed the veneration of images. Paradoxically, it was the Eastern Christian emperor Leo who forbade the practice, and it was because John lived in Muslim territory that his enemies could not silence him.

Second, he is famous for his treatise, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the Greek Fathers, of which he became the last. It is said that this book is for Eastern schools what the Summa of Aquinas became for the West.

Third, he is known as a poet, one of the two greatest of the Eastern Church, the other being Romanus the Melodist. His devotion to the Blessed Mother and his sermons on her feasts are well known.

Saint John Damascene defended the Church’s understanding of the veneration of images and explained the faith of the Church in several other controversies. For over 30 years, he combined a life of prayer with these defenses and his other writings. His holiness expressed itself in putting his literary and preaching talents at the service of the Lord.
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Here is a Meditation of the Day by him

Faith in Christ’s Pity

Faith, indeed, is of two kinds. Thus, faith comes by hearing, for, when we hear the sacred Scriptures, we believe in the teaching of the Holy Spirit. And this faith is made perfect by all those things which Christ has ordained; it believes truly, it is devout, and it keeps the commandments of him who has renewed us…. Then again, there is a faith which is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not. This is an undoubting and unquestioning hope both for the things promised us by God and for the success of our petitions….

Every action of Christ and all his working of miracles were truly very great and divine and wonderful, but of all things the most wonderful is his honorable cross. For by nothing else except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has death been brought low, the sin of our first parent destroyed, hell plundered, resurrection bestowed, the power given us to despise the things of this world and even death itself, the road back to the former blessedness made smooth, the gates of paradise opened, our nature seated at the right hand of God, and we made children and heirs of God. By the cross all things have been set aright. For all we who are baptized in Christ, says the Apostle, are baptized in his death and as many of us as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ; moreover, Christ is the power and wisdom of God. See how the death of Christ, the cross, that is to say, has clothed us with the subsistent wisdom and power of God!

Saint John Damascene († c. 749) was the last of the Greek Fathers of the Church. / From The Fathers of the Church: Saint John of Damascus: Writings, Vol. 37, Frederic H. Chase, Jr., Tr. © 1958, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C. Used with permission.


Dec 3 | Who is St. Francis Xavier?

The recesses of the darkness He discloses and brings the gloom forth to the light. (Job 12:22)

Saint Francis Xavier is an Advent saint: he announced the dawn of the reign of God in the coming of Christ to peoples in the Far East. Like Saint John the Baptist, the Advent prophet, he sacrificed his life for the Word he preached.

Commissioned by Ignatius of Loyola as the first Jesuit missionary, Francis Xavier gave of himself completely in his ten-year mission to the East. During the arduous journey to India he offered his cabin as an infirmary for the sailors. At Goa, he gathered the little children for catechism by ringing a bell in the streets. Among the native Paravas, he spent long days baptizing and teaching the creed. Later, making his way into Japan, he spent a year learning the language, and then produced a catechism for the Japanese. Francis was taken with fever while off the coast of China. He died in 1552 “with the name of Jesus on his lips” at the age of forty-six.

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O Lord, You sent Saint Francis Xavier to the lands of the Rising Sun to preach there the end of the world’s long night of sin and death. Enlighten all who do not yet believe, and strengthen those who do, that Your kingdom may dawn on all people through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


Nov 30 | Who is St. Andrew?

Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt 16:24)

Saint Andrew showed his courage not by feats of physical prowess but by his unrelenting commitment to the Gospel of the cross written in the blood of Jesus Christ. Andrew died as he had lived, the true servant of his beloved Master, whose message of love and mercy shaped Andrew’s life and death.

Like his brother Simon Peter, Andrew shared a special intimacy with Christ; his name always ranks high on the lists of the Apostles. From the first, Andrew is an evangelist: he sees Christ, and runs to tell his brother (cf. Jn 1:35-42).

After the Resurrection Andrew is said to have witnessed to the Gospel in Greece, where he suffered martyrdom at Patras. According to various traditions, Andrew was an evangelist to the end. Bound by ropes to a cross, he addressed the gathered crowds for two days until death took him. Thousands hearkened to his words. Andrew is the patron of Greece, Scotland, and Russia.

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Lord Jesus Christ, Saint Andrew left home and livelihood and even life itself to follow You. May we love You more than life itself and love all of life’s gifts as treasures to be shared with all who are in need. We ask this in Your name, who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Nov 25 | Who is St. Catherine of Alexandria?

According to tradition, Catherine was a young noblewoman schooled in Alexandria in Egypt, one of the great centers of learning in the ancient world.

After successfully arguing the case for Christianity with pagan philosophers before the Emperor Maxentius, she was threatened with torture on a spiked wheel. The wheel miraculously exploded, and the emperor had Catherine beheaded.

Before her death Catherine declared her intent to grant the requests of those who prayed to her. She was counted among the Fourteen Holy Helpers, the saints invoked in times of pestilence and plague by the faithful of medieval Germany. Saint John Paul II restored Catherine’s feast to the universal calendar in 2002.


Nov 24 | Who is St. Andrew Andrew Dũng-Lac and Companions?

In God’s hand is the soul of every living thing, and the life-breath of all mankind. (cf. Job 12:10)

The martyrs bear witness to the core of Christ’s sacrifice: they ­surrender their lives into God’s hands to do with as He wills. To them, the present cost of their offering counts as nothing in comparison to life with the Lord who awaits them.

On this day we remember 117 martyrs of Vietnam who lost their lives in various persecutions from 1740 to 1883. This group of ninety-six native Vietnamese and twenty-one Spanish and French missionaries suffered some of the most brutal tortures known to Christendom.

Father Paul Le-Bao Tinh testified, “The prison here is a true image of everlasting hell: to cruel tortures of every kind—shackles, iron chains, manacles—are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief…. In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone—Christ is with me.”


Nov 23 | Who is St. Columban?

Columban was born around 543, in Leinster, Ireland. Handsome and strong, he fended off the advances of young women until an elderly hermitess counseled him to go to the monastery. He was at Bangor for many years before he heard the call to go to France. There Columban founded several European monasteries one of which is the great monastery of Luxeuil and two other abbeys, although he continued to seek the solitude of a cave for prayer. Stories abound concerning his authority over wild beasts. After Columban rebuked the Burgundian king for keeping concubines, he was exiled. He found his way to Italy, where he ended his days at Bobbio in 615.
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Here is a meditation of the day from him
The True Meaning of Our Whole Livelihood
Pilgrims continuously sigh for and long for our homeland, for travelers are always filled with hope and desire for the road’s end. And so, since we are travelers and pilgrims in this world, let us think upon the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our way is our home…. Many lose their true home because they have greater love for the road that leads them there.
Let us not love the road rather than our home, in case we should lose our eternal home, for our home is such that we should love it. Let us keep to this principle, therefore, that we should live as travelers and pilgrims on the road, as guests of the world, free of lusts and earthly desires, but let us fill our mind with heavenly and spiritual forms, singing with grace and power: For my soul thirsts for the mighty and living God. When shall I come and appear before the face of my God? (Ps 42:2-3), and My soul is like a parched land before you (Ps 143:6), and saying with Paul: I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ (Phil 1:23).
Let us know that although we are strangers to the Lord while in the body, we are present to the eyes of God. And so, turning our back on all evil and laying aside all apathy, let us strive to please him who is everywhere, so that we may joyfully and with a good conscience pass over from the road of this world to the blessed and eternal home of our eternal Father, moving from present things to absent ones, from sad things to joyful ones, from passing things to eternal ones, from earthly things to heavenly ones, from the region of death to the sphere of the living, where we shall see heavenly things face-to-face, and the King of kings, ruling his realms with an upright rule, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory from age to age. Amen.

[From Celtic Spirituality, translated and introduced by Oliver Davies, with the collaboration of Thomas O’Loughlin. © 1999 by Oliver Davies. Published by Paulist Press, Inc., New York/Mahwah, NJ. www.paulistpress.com. Used with permission.]


Nov 21 | Why the Memorial Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

My food is to do the will of the one who sent me. (John 4:34)

The story of the presentation of Mary in the Temple as a child ­captures the essential Gospel portrait of Mary as a woman entirely dedicated not merely to doing but to living the will of God. Her own willing obedience, unhesitatingly given and never revoked, lies at the heart of her life of self-sacrifice offered in love.

“O Virgin Mother of God,” the Byzantine liturgy sings, “you are the subject of the preaching of the prophets and the glory of the apostles. You are the pride of the martyrs and the cause of the renewal of the entire human race, for through you we have been reconciled with God. Wherefore we honor your entrance into the temple of the Lord, repeating to you the salutation of the angel, for we are saved through your intercession, O most honorable one!” “The heavens opened up,” Saint Francis de Sales said, and the whole choir of angels “leaned over the balustrades of the heavenly Jerusalem to see and admire this darling child.”

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Here is a meditation of the day we can reflect on as we seek Mary’s intercession and join her in offering ourselves to the Lord.

The Perfectly Presentable Mother of God

Due to his Son’s dignity, God had to give beauty to Mary [to make her] the mold from which the most perfect body of the Word Incarnate would come…. Mary is the faithful mirror where God contemplates and recognizes the beauty of his Son.

Cardinal Cajetan states: “We must believe that the Blessed Virgin has been, as far as possible, like unto Christ in all things.” Just as spiritual beauty is realized in the soul of Christ and of his Mother, sensible beauty has found its complete expression in the body of Jesus and the body of Mary.

The Blessed Virgin has collected to herself the perfections of the exalted women of the Old Testament: the grace of Rebecca, the charm of Rachel, the beauty of Judith, the majestic sweetness of Esther. Her mere presence is an apparition of immaculate beauty. From Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Saint John Damascene, Richard of Saint Victor, Denis the Carthusian, Gerson, and all the way up to the most recent authors writing of Mary, the Fathers and churchmen are unanimous in affirming that the Blessed Virgin is perfectly beautiful…. Both miracle and grace were added to nature so as to form in Mary an array of beauty never before seen and never seen since: the charm of the virgin, the majesty of the mother, perfect integrity and fecundity without equal. She possesses at once both the grace of spring and the riches of summer….

She is beautiful in the Temple of Jerusalem where the divine spirit prepares her for her mysterious destiny. She is beautiful in her maiden chambers where she lives in meditation and prayer. She is beautiful when she cradles the Infant-God or when she caresses him on her breast. She is beautiful in the home at Nazareth, next to the gracious youth who is her son and her God. She is beautiful on the roads of Judah and Galilee, accompanying the heavenly preacher and meditating upon his parables. She is beautiful on the mount of Calvary, when she assists the dying divine one and where she becomes the mother of humanity. She is beautiful in the upper room, where she instructs the Apostles and protects the infant Church. Finally, she is beautiful on the throne of glory where she reigns at the side of Jesus, above all the choirs of angels. She is assuredly the living apparition of beauty, and I understand that the poet has represented the archangel in ecstasy in contemplating Mary’s eyes…. She is one part of the happiness which awaits us in eternity.

By Father Édouard Hugon, o.p.

Father Hugon († 1929) was a Dominican priest, theologian, and retreat preacher. He taught in Rome for many years. [From Mary, Full of Grace: plena sibi, superplena nobis, John G. Brungardt, Tr. © 2019 by Cluny Media, P.O. Box 1664, Providence, RI 02901. www.clunymedia.com Used with permission.]


Nov 18 | Who is St. Rose Philippine Duchesne?

Born in Grenoble, France, Rose entered the Sisters of the Visitation at eighteen, but the French Revolution cut short her novitiate. Eleven years passed before she was able to join the Society of the Sacred Heart at Amiens.

At the age of forty-nine, she made the arduous journey to Saint Charles, Missouri, where the first house of the order was an unheated hut. Schools for girls were established despite a dearth of funds; Saint Rose († 1852) founded the first houses in America of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Rose’s missionary labors on the frontier were capped with a decade of infirmity—and almost continual prayer. A contemporary said: “She was the Saint Francis of Assisi of the Society. Everything in and about her was stamped with the seal of a crucified life.”

Here is a meditation of the day from her (from Philippine Duchesne: Frontier Missionary of the Sacred Heart 1769-1852, Louise Callan, r.s.c.j. © 1957, The Newman Press, Westminster, MD.)

The Prayer of a Good Servant

O my God, I desire to live as a victim offered in a spirit of penance and love. Then let me prepare all that is needed for a sacrifice of love whose perfume will rise even to the Heart of Jesus. May my whole being be the victim, all that I am and all that I have. May my own heart be the altar, my separation from the world and all earthly pleasures the sacrificial knife. May my love be the consuming fire, and my yearning desires the breeze that fans it.

Let me pour on it the incense and perfume of all virtues, and to this mystical sacrifice let me bring all that I cling to, that I may offer all, burn all, consume all, keeping back nothing for self. O Divine Love, my very God, accept this sacrifice which I desire to offer you at every instant of my life.


Nov 17 | Who is St. Elizabeth of Hungary?

If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. (Matthew 19:21)
Saint Elizabeth found her one treasure not in her aristocratic heritage or wealth but in Jesus Christ, whom she found and loved in her family and in the poor.
Of Hungarian royal birth, Elizabeth grew up at the court of Thuringia, in Germany, where she married the kindly Ludwig when she was but fourteen. Her piety and preference for the poor drew the ire of the courtiers, but Elizabeth’s desire to follow Christ did not waver. After Ludwig’s unexpected death in 1227, Elizabeth modeled her life on that of Saint Francis of Assisi. She founded a hospital at Marburg, where she personally tended the sick and the dying. When her spiritual director questioned her, she told him that she “received from the poor special grace and humility.” Elizabeth died in 1231. She was twenty-four.
You know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake He became poor although He was rich, so that by His poverty you might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Once free of family responsibilities, Saint Elizabeth chose to become poor with the poor despite opposition and persecution. In their name she prayed; to their needs, she devoted all her energies and ­possessions; in their presence, she found joy in the Lord whom she loved.


Nov 16 | Who is St. Gertrude the Great?

Saint Gertrude the Great through her writing helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart. She entered the monastery of Helfta, Germany, at the age of five. At twenty-five, having already excelled in her scholarly studies, she underwent a conversion. In a vision, a young man took her by the hand. Gazing at his palm, Gertrude saw “the precious traces of the wounds that abrogated all the acts of accusation of our enemies.” It was Christ Himself who led Gertrude into the prayer of union. Intimacy with His human heart was the hallmark of her writings. Gertrude died in 1301, at the age of forty-six. Saint Gertrude, taught Pope Benedict XVI, “shows us that the heart of a happy life, of a true life, is friendship with the Lord Jesus”

Here is a meditation of the day from her (from the book Gertrud the Great of Helfta: The Herald of God’s Loving-Kindness: Books One & Two)

The Plea of Faith

Hail, my salvation and the light of my soul. May all that is encompassed by the path of heaven, the circle of the earth and the deep abyss give you thanks for the extraordinary grace with which you led my soul to experience and ponder the innermost recesses of my heart…. I became anxiously aware of the many things in my heart which would be offensive to your most chaste purity, and of all the other things so disordered and chaotic that my heart could offer no resting place to you who wished to dwell there. But no more…did this drive you away, Jesus my most beloved, or prevent your honoring me frequently with your visible presence on those days when I came to the life-giving food of your Body and Blood. Though I could see you no more clearly than one sees things at dawn, nonetheless with kindly condescension you induced my soul to exert itself, that it might be united with you more closely…. I cannot find the words to describe how you, the Dayspring from on high…visited me through the depths of your loving-kindness and sweetness.

Giver of gifts, give me this gift: may I henceforward offer on the altar of my heart a sacrifice of joy, that by my supplication I may win for myself and all those whom you have chosen the privilege of enjoying often that sweet union and unifying sweetness…. You endowed me with a clearer light of knowledge of you, in which the sweet love of your loveliness always attracted me more greatly than the harsh punishment I deserved ever castigated me. I do not remember, however, having ever enjoyed such fulfillment except on the days when you invited me to taste the delights of your royal table.


Nov 13 | Who is St. Frances Xavier Cabrini?

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me. (Mt 25:35)

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, herself an immigrant, was the first United States citizen to be canonized. Her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart continue the many works she began in order to make the love of Christ visible in care for the multiple needs of immigrants, the sick, the poor, and the uneducated.

Frances Cabrini was born in the Lombardy region of Italy. She took private religious vows at age twenty-seven, adding “Xavier” to her name in honor of the great Jesuit missionary to the East. In 1880, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the aim of evangelizing in China, yet Pope Leo XIII advised her to go “not to the east, but to the west.” Arriving in New York in 1889, she founded an orphanage for children of Italian immigrants. Schools, hospitals, and a prison ministry followed. Frances died in 1917, having established sixty-seven institutes of the order in the United States, Europe, and Central and South America. She is the patroness of immigrants.

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Here is a meditation of the day by her

Seeking to Lose…and Save

O Lord, your mercy has urged me to wish to suffer for the love of you, Jesus, and to imitate your life, which was a continual martyrdom. Give me the desire to humble myself for your love…. When I do not feel inclined to follow your holy inspirations, help me to do so. O Heart of Jesus, by the agonizing abandonment which you experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane…which made you sweat blood, help me and give me courage to overcome those obstacles which would make me less pleasing to you.

Yes, yes, O most beloved Jesus, allow me to keep you company in the Garden in place of your disciples who slept. My Jesus, I long…to wipe from your brow the drops of precious blood, with the hope of securing my salvation and the utmost perfection. Lord, unite me closely to you, never let me go away from you, my Love: O Heart of my heart, Life of my life! O most comforting sweetness of my soul! As you have always inspired me, O my God, behold that I offer myself to you today and for all my life as a sacrifice to share your painful agony in the Garden of Gethsemane; and for the dying, that they may obtain the grace to expire in your arms, humbly and contritionally for their sins….

My sweet Immaculate Mother, shelter me with your mantle today; and please accept my vow, which on your feast I shall renew and promise to keep forever, so that I may be guided by your intentions and thereby merit your unfailing protection in my needs and your assistance at my death. Jesus and Mary, in you both I shall find peace for my soul. Amen.

[From Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, Rose Basile Green, Tr. © 1984, The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Chicago, IL. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.]


Nov 12 | Who is St. Josaphat?

Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. (John 17:11)

Saint Josaphat, bishop and shepherd of his flock, labored and gave his life in tireless pastoral service and in martyrdom for the peaceful unity of the Churches of East and West.

Josaphat was born to Ruthenian Orthodox parents in 1580, in present-day Ukraine. He entered the monastery only a few years after the Ruthenian Orthodox metropolitan had brought the entire church back into communion with Rome, a move that sadly lacked popular support. The young monk worked tirelessly to promote union. After he was elected Archbishop of Polotsk, Josaphat drew many to the Catholic Church by dint of a good example.

On November 12, 1623, supporters of a rival bishop overwhelmed the house where Josaphat was staying. “My children,” he said, “if you have anything against me, here I am.” A bullet ended his life. Josaphat is hailed as the “Martyr of Unity.”


Nov 11 | Who is St. Martin of Tours?

The weapons of our battle are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses. (2 Cor 10:4)

Saint Martin translated his long military career into a campaign of spiritual warfare against the paganism and the temptations to worldly wealth that threatened the people of the Church he served as monk and as bishop.

Martin was born in Pannonia (modern Hungary), and became a catechumen at the age of ten. While serving in the Roman army, he met a poor, half-clothed man outside the city gate of Amiens. Martin drew his sword and divided his own cloak in two, giving half to the naked man. That night, he saw Jesus in a vision. “Martin, who is still but a catechumen, gave me this robe,” our Lord told the angels. After this, Martin “flew to be baptized.” After he resigned from the army, he founded a monastic community in Gaul (modern France). In 372, he was elected Bishop of Tours, where he served his flock with great care until his death in 397.

Saint Martin is perhaps best remembered for the story noted above; for tearing his warm cloak in half and sharing it with a shivering beggar, only to discover later in a dream that the beggar was Christ. He never lost this love for the poor or for a life of personal poverty in service of the Gospel.

Today is Veterans Day where we honor all the military men and women who have put aside their own lives to protect our freedom. It is known internationally as Armistice Day.

World War I, or “The Great War,” as it was known at the time, officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside of Versailles, France.

In actuality, fighting had ceased seven months before that — on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month — Nov. 11, 1918. An armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on that day, and for that reason Nov. 11 came to be known as Armistice Day.

Saint Martin testifies to the fact that faithful service also can lead to sanctity.

He shows us that there are other ways to die for Christ.

Here’s one of his most famous quotes “Lord, if your people still have need of my services, I will not avoid the toil. Your will be done. I have fought the good fight long enough. Yet if you bid me continue to hold the battle line in defense of your camp, I will never beg to be excused from failing strength. I will do the work you entrust to me. While you command, I will fight beneath your banner.”

I will not avoid the toil. Six little words that say volumes.

Not avoiding the toil means hanging in there, day after day, through thick and thin, and remaining faithful to my Christian ideals and all that the Church — that Christ himself — asks of me.

It means not shirking my responsibilities to my fellow man and not skimping on my prayer and sacramental life.

It means following God’s every command without question and to the best of my ability, regardless of whether I agree with it or not.

It means showing fervor and love of Christ in all I do, in spite of human frailty, laziness, or indifference.

Sounds a lot like the life of a soldier, doesn’t it?

It is. It’s the life of a soldier for Christ.

That’s what Saint Martin of Tours was and still is. He’s a great example for all of us and the perfect patron for our military men and women who face the toil of military life day in and day out.

So let us pray for the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual safety of all our military personnel. Pray for the repose of the souls of the departed military. And pray, for ourselves and for the entire Church, that we may be given the grace and strength to fight the good fight and not avoid the toil.


Nov 10 | Who is St. Leo the Great?

Jesus said, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” (cf. Matthew 7:24)

Saint Leo the Great prayed, lived, and taught the wisdom of God’s Word made flesh. On that rock he sought to build up the faith of the Church, God’s house, which he served as pope.

A native of Tuscany in Italy, Leo the Great was elected pope in 440. He considered himself to be Saint Peter’s unworthy heir as Bishop of Rome. His epistle 28, known as the Tome to Flavian, authoritatively taught the Church’s faith in Jesus Christ. After it was read at the Council of Chalcedon (451), the shout “Peter has spoken through Leo” was heard from the Council Fathers. Leo’s preaching stirred his people to greater faith in Christ and care for Christ’s poor. In the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church still reads from several of his sermons, including this passage on Christmas Day: “Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition.”


Nov 9 | Why the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica?

You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of the nether world shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

The basilica of Saint John Lateran, the cathedral of the pope as Bishop of Rome, is called the “mother church” of Rome and of the world. As such, it is a visible symbol of the universal Church. It calls us to look toward the house of God in the new Jerusalem, toward which the earthly Church is on pilgrimage.

The first basilica of Rome, a renovated palace of the Lateran family, was consecrated on this date in 324 as the Church of the Most Holy Savior. Nearby communities of monks lent it the name of Saint John. Saint John Lateran is the pope’s basilica. Fire and earthquake have repeatedly destroyed the structure; each time it has been rebuilt with care. “The beauty and the harmony of churches, destined to render praise to God, invite us human beings too, though limited and sinful, to convert ourselves to form a ‘cosmos,’ a well-ordered construction, in close communion with Jesus, who is the true Holy of Holies” (Saint John Paul II).


Nov 4 | Who is St Charles Borromeo?

As both a civil and a canon lawyer, as well as a bishop, Saint Charles understood the pastoral work of law-giving according to the model of Christ. His unflagging efforts to promote Christian life and Church reform were prompted by a profoundly self-sacrificing love of Christ living in the Church.

Born at the Castle of Arona in northern Italy, Charles Borromeo studied canon and civil law. After his uncle was elected Pope Pius IV, Charles received a number of powerful preferments, yet his energies were bent toward reform. He guided the final session of the Council of Trent. When he was appointed to Milan, a diocese that had lacked a resident bishop for eighty years, Charles renewed catechesis and led the mostly lax clergy by his own austere example and diligent preaching: “We ought to walk in front,” he told his priests, “and our spiritual subjects will follow us more easily.”

When the plague hit Milan, he nursed the sick and even saw that the curtains in his palace, his clothes and other possessions were turned into money for medicine for the poor. Charles, the Archbishop of Milan, was usually seen in rags. He taught catechism, found the sick and elderly places to stay, established schools and ran the diocese. He lived a life of prayer, slept little and ate less. He once said, “Here all kinds of poor will be housed, outsiders as well as Milanese; men, women, children because charity knows no distinction of nations, and we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord.” Work and the heavy burdens of his high office began to affect Archbishop Borromeo’s health, leading to his death at the age of 46, Charles died in 1584.

For further reflection, read “How St. Charles Borromeo braved the epidemic of his time” https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2020/03/de-mattei-how-st-charles-borromeo.html


Nov 3 | Who is St. Martin de Porres?

Martin was born the son of a Spanish nobleman and a former slave in Peru. As a young man, he trained as a barber and applied to be a servant at the Dominican Convent of the Holy Rosary, where he eventually took vows as a lay brother. Martin loved the menial tasks: cooking, cleaning, and feeding the unwanted and the abandoned. In the infirmary he cured the sick, and in the backyard he fed the mice, whose language he seemed to know. Martin died in 1639 at the age of sixty. His attributes in art are a broom and the mice that hearkened to his word. _________

“He excused the faults of others. He forgave the bitterest injuries, convinced that he deserved much severer punishments on account of his own sins. He tried with all his might to redeem the guilty; lovingly he comforted the sick; he provided food, clothing and medicine for the poor; he helped, as best he could, farm laborers and Negroes, as well as mulattoes, who were looked upon at that time as akin to slaves: thus he deserved to be called by the name the people gave him: ‘Martin of Charity.'” — Pope John XXIII regarding St. Martin de Porres

For more about this awesome hero of our faith see the following https://youtu.be/SuSZKazd8jg https://aleteia.org/2019/11/03/how-st-martin-de-porres-taught-this-priest-sculptor-about-racism/


Nov 2 | Why All Souls Day?

In his encyclical Spe Salvi [Saved in Hope], Pope Benedict XVI says that when we come face-to-face with Jesus, “all falsehood melts away.” As we encounter Him whose love has conquered all evil, “we absorb the overwhelming power of His love” into our hearts. That love is so strong that it burns away whatever evil or sin remains in us. Pope Benedict calls this “the pain of love” (47). It’s something that can be painful—but joyful too—because it ultimately brings us salvation. We can look at it as God’s way of loving the sin out of us.

So take heart! God wants to keep cleansing you, even after death. He wants to bring you into the joys of heaven—you and all your loved ones. So pray for your loved ones. Ask the Holy Spirit to help them pass through this “pain of love” so that they can see God face-to-face!

“Lord, bring all those who have died in friendship with you into heavenly joy!”

The commemoration of All Souls is rooted in the Church’s strong conviction that we, the living, have a serious responsibility in charity to pray for those who have died but who must yet complete the purification every human being needs to be able to enjoy the vision of God.

“In praying for the dead, the Church above all contemplates the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ, who obtains salvation and eternal life for us through his Cross…. To believe in the resurrection of the flesh is to recognize that there is a final end, an ultimate goal for all human life, which so satisfies man’s appetite that nothing else is left for him to desire…. Joined to the merits of the saints, our fraternal prayer comes to the aid of those who await the beatific vision. Intercession for the dead, just as the life of those living according to the divine commandments, obtains the merits that serve the full attainment of salvation. It is an expression of the fraternal charity of the one family of God…. Contemplation of the lives of those who have followed Christ encourages us to lead a good, upright Christian life so that we can prepare ourselves each day for eternal life.”—Saint John Paul II


Oct 28 | Who are Saints Simon and Jude?

Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my ­people. (Jer 7:23)

The voice of the Lord is full of power! He calls each of us, like the Apostles Simon and Jude, to be His voice to the world, knowing that wherever we go, He will follow.

Simon and Jude were among the twelve men Jesus chose to lead His Church. Tradition holds that after Pentecost Simon preached the Gospel in Edessa and Jude in Egypt. The two Apostles met in Persia, where they suffered martyrdom on the same day. “Our Lord has appointed certain men to be guides and teachers of the world and stewards of his divine mysteries. Now he bids them to shine out like lamps and to cast their light over every country. These holy men become the pillar and mainstay of the truth, and Jesus said that he was sending them just as the Father had sent him” (Saint Cyril of Alexandria).


Oct 24 | Who is St Anthony Mary Claret?

Ordained in 1835, Anthony Claret was appointed apostolic missionary to his native region of Spain, Catalonia, where he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (the Claretians) for the work of evangelization.

Shortly thereafter he was appointed Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, an assignment he did not want. “My spirit goes out to all the world,” he told the apostolic nuncio. Yet, after prayer, discernment, and consultation with friends, Anthony accepted. At his episcopal ordination, he added “Mary” to his name: “She is my Mother, my protector, my teacher, my all, after Jesus.” After six years of fruitful work in Cuba, he was recalled to serve Queen Isabella in Spain. He died in 1870.


Oct 23 | Who is St John of Capistrano?

In the United States, the name of Capistrano evokes the celebrated story of the swallows that return yearly on March 19 to nest in the California Mission named after the Franciscan Saint John.

Born in Capistrano, Italy, in 1385, John was trained in civil and ecclesiastical law. He left behind a promising career to enter the Franciscans. He preached to great crowds throughout Europe before he was tapped to serve in a series of diplomatic roles for the Holy See.

At the age of seventy, he helped to plan a crusade against the Ottomans who threatened Belgrade, leading soldiers into battle under a standard bearing the Holy Name of Jesus. He died a few months later.

May we profess in word and deed the faith for which blessed John of Capistrano never ceased to labor and for which he spent his whole life.

St. John of Capistrano, pray for us!


Oct 22 | Who is St John Paul?

Saint John Paul II liked to quote Saint Augustine: “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!” Through years of painful unity with Christ’s cross, he focused always on the Resurrection. Just as every Sunday is a little Easter, so is every single sunrise a reminder of God’s glorious victory over sin and death.

John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyła in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920. He labored in a quarry during the Nazi occupation of Poland. He served as a priest and then a bishop under the succeeding Soviet regime. He has lived and suffered under two successive socialist regimes, so he had no difficulty identifying its errors and falsehoods. His experience immunized him against claims that socialism is the path to justice and peace https://bit.ly/2Ho9ogw

Upon his election as pope in 1978, his first words were those of Christ: “Be not afraid.” Later he wrote, “Peoples and nations of the entire world need to hear these words. Their conscience needs to grow in the certainty that Someone exists who holds in his hands the destiny of this passing world…. And this Someone is Love—Love that became man, Love crucified and risen, Love unceasingly present among men.” John Paul II died on April 2, 2005.


Oct 20 | Who is St. Paul of the Cross?

St. Paul Francis Daneii was born in northern Italy in 1694. His parents were deeply devoted Catholics who raised him in the faith. He lived at a time when many regarded Jesus as a great moral teacher but no more. After a brief time as a soldier, he turned to solitary prayer, developing a devotion to Christ’s passion. Paul saw in the Lord’s passion a demonstration of God’s love for all people. In turn that devotion nurtured his compassion and supported a preaching ministry that touched the hearts of many listeners. He was known as one of the most popular preachers of his day, even hardened men wept at his words, he was known both for his words and for his generous acts of mercy.

He received a vision from God, and founded the Barefoot Clerks of the Cross and the Passion (or the Passionists), to preach about Christ’s Passion and death. Because of their devotion to Christ’s passion, they add a fourth vow to the traditional three of poverty, chastity, and obedience, to spread the memory of Christ’s passion among the faithful. Paul was elected superior general of the Congregation in 1747, spending the remainder of his life in Rome.
Paul of the Cross died in 1775, and was canonized in 1867. Over 2,000 of his letters and several of his short writings have survived.

Let us model St. Paul of the Cross today, here is what he says— “When you are alone in your room, take your crucifix, kiss its five wounds reverently, tell it to preach to you a little sermon, and then listen to the words of eternal life that it speaks to your heart; listen to the pleading of the thorns, the nails, the precious Blood. Oh, what an eloquent sermon!”


Oct 19 | Who are Saints John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions?

For the North American martyrs whom we honor today, the pain of exile, torture, and even death was transformed into joy by their love for Christ and for the peoples to whom they were sent to proclaim his Good News.
Father John de Brébeuf and his seven companions, all associated with the Jesuits, were among the first missionaries to the native peoples of North America. Their work among the Huron, Iroquois, and Mohawks saw little progress while they lived; the natives blamed the “blackrobes” for every misfortune.

The missions grew, watered by their blood, which was spilled in various massacres from 1642 to 1649. In the years that followed, many of the natives accepted Christ, most notably Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, who was born in the same village near Auriesville, New York, where three of the martyrs attained their crowns.

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O God of the martyrs, You called and strengthened Saints Isaac, John, and their companions to preach the Gospel by their steadfastness in fidelity, even unto death. Through their example and their intercession, strengthen us in faithfulness to live the Good News of salvation, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Oct 18 | Who is St. Ignatius of Antioch?

Tradition holds that Ignatius was instructed by St. John the Apostle before he became Bishop of Antioch. Of Syrian origin, Ignatius served as the third Bishop of Antioch for forty years until he was arrested and escorted to Rome, where he died for sport, torn apart by lions, in the amphitheater around the year 107. The seven letters he composed on this journey inspired generations of persecuted Christians. “Let me be food for the wild beasts,” he begged his brethren in Rome, “for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.”


Prayer to Our Lady of Mercy

St. Augustine of Hippo

Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay you with praise and thanks for having rescued a fallen world by your generous consent! Receive our gratitude, and by your prayers obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the sanctuary of heaven and enable them to make our peace with God.

Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged, comfort the sorrowful, pray for your people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all women consecrated to God. May all who venerate you feel now your help and protection. Be ready to help us when we pray, and bring back to us the answers to our prayers. Make it your continual concern to pray for the people of God, for you were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world, who lives and reigns forever.

Amen.