Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Mark.
St. Mark is one of the four evangelists, and his symbol is the Lion. He was a big, strong man with a long nose and a beard. His mother was named Mary and his cousin was St. Barnabas. It is believed that it was at St. Mark’s house where was celebrated the Last Supper and it was where Christians often met.
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Mark was baptized by St. Peter, whom he followed to Rome in the year 42. He was St. Peter’s assistant. In Rome, the people asked Mark to write down what St. Peter remembered about the Lord, and so he wrote the gospel. Peter looked it over and approved it. Then Peter sent St. Mark to Egypt, where he preached the gospel.
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The church grew quickly there, and many miracles were also done by St. Mark. St. Mark’s thumb had been amputated, and so he thought he could never be a priest or say Mass, because of this disfigurment.[i] But St. Peter ordained him a priest anyway, and then made him bishop of Alexandria.
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One day, St. Mark’s shoe fell apart, and so he took it to a man who fixes shoes. But while the man was mending his shoe, he injured his hand; St. Mark mixed clay with saliva, just like Jesus did, and rubbed it on the wound, which healed instantly. So the man took Mark to his home and asked him many questions. St. Mark told him that he is a servant of Jesus Christ, and the man said: ‘I would like to see him.’ ‘I will show him to you, said Mark, and he instructed him in the teachings of Christ, and the man and his whole family were baptized.
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Now in those days, many enemies of the Church plotted against St. Mark, because he was a great teacher. They attacked him while he was celebrating Mass on Easter. Putting a rope around his neck, they dragged him through the city, shouting: ‘let’s haul this wild ox to the slaughterhouse.’ Being dragged, his flesh was cut on the pavement, and the road was drenched with blood. Then he was put in jail, where Jesus appeared to him saying, “Mark, my evangelist, fear not! I will deliver you.’ The next day they again dragged him through the city, until he died as a martyr. His body exuded a wonderful, sweet, odor, so much so, that it could be smelled throughout the entire city of Alexandria.
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His tomb today is in Venice, at the great church of St. Mark near the sea. [ii] St. Mark is the patron saint of attorneys, stained glass workers, insect bites, and lions.
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[i] this is also referenced by Thomas in Summa, Under The States of Life, Q. 185 a2
[ii] The Venetians came to bring his body to Venice, but while they were doing so, men on another ship began to doubt that it was really the body of St. Mark. With that, the ship carrying St. Mark’s body, suddenly turned around at astonishing speed and rammed that ship of doubters.
Friends in Christ,
today is the Feast of Pope St. Martin I. Martin was Pope in the middle of the 7th century, and he is the last of the Popes who were martyrs – for now.
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Before he was Pope, Martin was a strong defender of the true Faith of Christ, and he spoke out against a heresy of the day called Monothelitism. Monothelitism was the teaching that there is only one Will in Jesus Christ, but this is false. Jesus is true God and true Man; as a man like us, he has a mind and will: he can choose to do good or evil, to do God’s will or not. But Christ is also Divine, he is God the Son. So Jesus has ‘two wills,’ his human will and his divine will, but they were always aligned. He said ‘I have come not to do my own will, but the will of the One who sent me.’ Unlike us, who often do something bad which is not God’s will, Jesus aligned his human will to the Divine will all the time.
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But the raging heresy in the East was that Christ had only one will – this would mean he was not truly Man, since a human being has free will. As we said, Martin spoke forcefully against Monothelitism, which was favored by the Emperor. He convened a synod and reaffirmed two wills in Christ. This immediately drew the anger of the Emperor.
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The Emperor sent his chamberlain Olympius telling him: ‘either kill the Pope or bring him into exile.’ Arriving there, Olympius hired a servant to murder the Pope while he was giving out Holy Communion at Mass. But as the servant neared Pope Martin, he was suddenly struck with blindness and could not see. Witnessing this marvel, Olympius instead captured Pope Martin and brought him to Constantinople.
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Already sickly, the Pope was subjected to humiliation and abuse on the 3 month voyage, in which he almost died of dysentery. After condemning him on trumped up charges, he was stripped in public and an iron collar was placed on his neck by which they dragged him through the streets. The horrified crowd watched all this, and ultimately Martin was sent to die in exile.
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Pope St. Martin lived his life entirely for the truth of Christ. We ourselves must also be ready to endure anything for the Truth of Christ, and like our Lord, we must always try to do God’s holy will.
Friends in Christ,
Today is the feast of St. Patrick. We remember today the immigrants who brought the Catholic Faith to our country. Today it is Pol’s, and Mexicans, and Filipinos, and Indians, and others – the immigrants, but in the 19th century it was the Irish, who brought great faith and warm hearts to our land.
Now St. Patrick himself was actually not Irish! He was born in 390 to an aristocratic family in England. So he is from England, and he was named Patricius.
When he was only 9 years old, he was kidnapped by pirates and dumped in Ireland where he was a slave until age 15. Ireland was a land of the Druids and the worst in paganism. Filthy practices were common there, including bestiality. This is the world without God; a world not knowing Jesus Christ, or right from wrong, or even that heaven exists. Patrick felt compassion for these lost souls, and – in the time he was there in slavery he prayed a lot.
He later would write down in his notebook: ‘In those days, my faith grew, and my spirit was stirred up, so that in a single day I said as many as a hundred prayers, and I would often stay in the woods on the mountain and say another hundred prayers at night.. I awoke at dawn, no matter the weather. There was no lack of fervor in me in those days.’
After 6 years as a slave, he escaped and found passage back to England. He turned his back on the aristocratic life of his family, and trained to become a priest, and then he returned to Ireland.
An extremely sensitive person, Patrick’s heart nearly was breaking as he left his homeland. He went as a Bishop. He followed another who had been martyred a year earlier.
It was St. Patrick’s holiness, zeal, and miracles, that transformed an Island of Druids to an Island of Saints. It was his intense love of God which was the secret of the extraordinary impression he produced upon those he met. It is absolutely true, that in less than 30 years, he had converted all of Ireland to the Christian Faith. St. Patrick ordained over 5000 priests, and consecrated 350 bishops.
But a little known fact about St. Patrick is this: Many saints have done miracles, but no saint has raised as many people back from the dead as St. Patrick. No less than 39 times, he raised persons from the dead. He showed the people the promise of heaven. If that lovely Emerald Island, makes us think of heaven, then may St. Patrick today bring alive in us, a joy and a hope in the heavenly homeland ahead.
Friends in the Lord,
today is the Feast of St. Casimir of Poland. St. Casimir was born in 1458. His father was the King of Poland. There were 13 children in their family; he was the 3rd.
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Now he was a Prince, and he could have become King if he wanted, but he was not interested. Casimir was very pious and tried to keep the presence of God with him all day. He was well-known for his cheerfulness, and this cheerfulness was contagious to any who knew him.
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He loved the Blessed Virgin; he used to sing a hymn to her, over and over. He even asked that a copy of this hymn would be buried with him in his tomb. When he attend Mass, he was sometimes caught up in rapture, being so near to Christ Crucified. So much did he long for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, that often at night, he would kneel before the locked doors of churches for hours, regardless of the weather.
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Now although he was a prince, he was always seen in rather plain clothes, and under them he wore a hair-shirt for penance. Rejecting even ordinary comforts, he slept little, spending his nights in prayer, often on his knees for hours; and when he did sleep, it was on the floor not on a royal bed. Even though he was a prince, everyone was at ease with him; he was friendly, cheerful, and calm. St. Casimir assisted the poor a great deal, and he is known for this.
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His father wanted him to marry the beautiful daughter of Emperor Frederick III, but he refused because he had made a private promise of celibacy. At only 23 years of age, he contracted a serious case of tuberculosis; he then foretold precisely the hour he would die, which came true.
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Many miracles happened at his intercession, and 120 years after his death, his body still gave off a wonderful sweet scent. Canonized in 1521, his relics are in the church of St. Stanislaus in Poland.
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What can we learn from St. Casimir? We should imitate his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and we should also imitate his cheerfulness. Being cheerful, even when we don’t feel like it, and even with those who we don’t like, is a powerful form of charity toward neighbor.
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St. Casimir’s symbol is the lily, for purity; he is the patron saint of Poland and of bachelors.
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Agatha.
St. Agatha was a Christian young woman who lived in Palermo, Sicily; at age 15, a very pretty young lady, many sought her hand in marriage. The Roman Proconsul Quintianus desired Agatha for himself, but she rejected his advances. As a result she was charged with being a Christian and brought before his tribunal. .
She was ordered to deny her faith, but she would not. To make her change her mind, she was placed for one month in a brothel with other women who pressured Agatha to give up her chastity. After 30 days of this she was again interrogated by Quintianus; but she told him: ‘true liberty is to be a servant of Jesus Christ.’ He then had her stretched on the rack, her flesh torn with iron hooks and her skin burned with torches. Yet throughout these sufferings she maintained a heavenly cheerfulness.
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Quintianus became outraged; he then went so far as to have her breasts cut off. She rebuked him for his barbarism: “Godless tyrant, are you not ashamed to despoil a woman of that by which your own mother nursed you?” For this she was thrown into prison.
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That night, there appeared to her a venerable old man, the apostle Peter, who came and healed her. Thanking God she said: ‘I give you praise O Lord, because by your apostle you have restored my breasts”.
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Not impressed by the miraculous healings, the governor had her rolled over hot coals and sharp pieces of glass. As she was dying she said: O Lord, good Master, I give You thanks that You have given me patience to suffer, and have granted me victory. May I now dwell happily in Your never-ending glory.
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It is said that a young man in beautiful garments, along with a hundred youths in white, came and placed a plaque at her grave and then vanished from sight. It was the year 251 AD. The name of St. Agatha is still honored in Eucharistic Prayer I to this day. She is the patron saint of nurses, and of those with breast cancer.
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Although St. Thomas lived 800 years ago, his books are the most important of all theology. In his short life, he wrote over 60 different works, such as the great Summa Theologica.
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Historians now know something of how his writings were composed: A group of 3 or 4 secretaries (usually monks), would take down what he said in a kind of short-hand. Sometimes Thomas would write down his thoughts first, and then proceed to read this aloud, as the secretaries wrote. When one secretary tired, another took over. It seems however that later on, and in the case of his major works, he never wrote anything down beforehand, but that they came straight from his remarkable memory.
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There is related a story that shows how he operated: Thomas had been invited to a large dinner in honor of King Louis XI; they seated Thomas right next to the king; but during all of the festivities, Thomas’ mind was elsewhere; he was pondering a theology question, a challenge posed by a heretical group called the Manichees. Suddenly, during the gaiety of the dinner, he struck his hand on the table, saying: ‘Yes! that will settle it with the Manichees!’ He immediately called for his secretary to write it down – as if he were still back in the monastery.
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On another occasion, when he was trying to write his commentary on Isaiah, Thomas became puzzled for days over a certain text. One night, he stayed up late to pray extra, and his secretary overheard him speaking with other persons in his cell. Then Thomas called for his secretary: “Reginald, my son, bring a light and the commentary on Isaiah; I want you to write.’ As Reginald wrote, the ideas were so clear from Thomas, that it was as if he were reading from a book. He pressured St. Thomas to tell him, who were the voices in his room? Thomas finally replied that St. Peter and Paul had been sent to him, “and they told me what I desired to know.”
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Research seems to show that the entire Summa Theologica was composed mentally and dictated from memory. It is said that when St. Thomas dictated it was “as if a great torrent of truth were pouring into him from God, as his memory simply gave out its treasures. “When perplexed by a difficulty he would kneel and pray; and then his thought would be clear again.
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One of his secretaries, named Evan, told how Thomas would sometimes sit down to rest from the work of dictating; falling asleep, he would continue to dictate – in his sleep – and Evan would continue to write….
Friends in Christ, today we celebrate the Conversion of St. Paul.
In St. Paul, we find a man who was well-educated, having gone to the great school of Gamaliel. By the time he finished Pharisee school, he was part of the effort to stop Christians. Scripture says that he was ‘breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord.’ He would go house to house, dragging out Christians and shipping them off in chains to Jerusalem. It was St. Paul who oversaw the stoning of Stephen and he was very pleased about it.
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We think of such a man, who had such great stature and education, and yet, who had become an arch-enemy of Christ? But we should not be scandalized by this. There is an expression, ‘but for the grace of God, there go I.’ It means that each of us is also capable of doing great evil. And who knows, if we were in the circumstances of others, if God had not blessed us so much with grace, perhaps we would be just as bad.
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So what can we learn from St. Paul? One thing is, we can learn how our past sins – and we have them – we can see how our past sins can actually help us to love God more. When we think of our past sins, and then we think of how God has never given up on us, but has kept seeking and forgiving us – well – it makes us love him all the more.
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Seeing God’s mercy in our life, being full of gratitude, his allowing us to begin again and be forgiven – this makes us want to do anything for him. And this is what happened to St. Paul. Much was forgiven him, and so he poured himself out for Christ.
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One year I traveled the path of St. Paul with seminarians. From Antioch to Tarsus. Through Galatia, Pisidia, and Colossea; to Miletus, Troas, Philipi, Athens and Corinth and to Rome where Paul was martyred. This is rugged travel. We did it by car on good roads, St. Paul did it 2000 years ago! Traveling to bring the gospel up steep cliffs, through rain, cold, and dangers.
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St. Paul did this for Christ, because of gratitude. Because he had been forgiven so much. St. Paul says: 3 times I was whipped, once I was stoned, 3 times shipwrecked. Sleepless nights, hunger and thirst and constant anxiety for the Lord’s Church. Here is a man who had much to make up for, but because of God’s mercy, he went to the ends of the earth.
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Jesus once said, he who is forgiven much, loves much. We therefore should love Him with all our heart, because Lord knows, we have been forgiven much.
Friends in Christ, today are the feasts of St. Sebastian and St. Fabian; these two martyrs have been celebrated together since ancient times.
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St. Fabian became Pope in the year 236. He governed the church for 14 years, and fought against a new heresy in Africa.
He was quite courageous; for example, when the Emperor requested to attend the Easter Vigil and to share in Holy Communion, the Pope told him that he would first have to admit his sins and become a member of the penitents; the penitents in those days were a group of people who were assigned penances, until they could be absolved of their sins. The Pope believed even Emperors had to live the Faith, just like everyone else.
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Fabian was concerned that as the years were passing, the records of the saints and the martyrs were not being written down. So he assigned 7 deacons to go out to all areas of the Church and collect the accounts and records of the martyrs. We are very indebted to him today for this effort.
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Pope Fabian established the practice of consecrating Chrism every year on Holy Thursday, which is still done today. He governed the Church during a time of relative peace, until a new Emperor appeared: Decius. Decius instituted a brutal persecution of the Church, and ordered the beheading of Pope Fabian. We still have today the stone that covered his tomb.
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His election as Pope is quite interesting. He was an ordinary citizen of Rome at the time, and when Pope Antherus died, and the people gathered for the election of the next Pope, Fabian went along with the crowd to see what the outcome might be. Lo and behold, a white dove flew in, and sat on Fabian’s head; this sign caused the clergy and the people to be filled with wonder, and so they chose him, though as a layman and a stranger they had no thought of him before. So he was ordained a priest, then bishop, then Pope!
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You and I do not know, on any given day or hour, when a ‘dove’ will land on our heads – that is, the Holy Spirit. The adventure of being a Christian is that God is full of surprises; would that we would be as docile to the surprises of the Holy Spirit as St. Fabian was. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit prompts us or surprises us, let us give him what he asks – and then he will ask for more!
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Basil and Gregory Nazianzen. Together, with Gregory of Nyssa, they formed the ‘Cappadochian Fathers.’
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St. Basil, born about 330, was a brilliant young man who became very well educated in philosophy, science, and medicine. Although he was somewhat worldly at the time, he met the bishop of Caesarea, and was baptized. Having been inspired by the faith of his sister, Macrina, he tells us how, like a man roused from deep sleep, he turned his eyes to the marvelous truth of the Gospel and wept many tears over his miserable life. He says, “Then I read the Gospel, and saw there that a great means of reaching perfection was the selling of one’s goods, the sharing of them with the poor, the giving up of all care for this life.’
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He lived the monastic life, but eventually was chosen to be a bishop. As bishop, Basil was a champion of the Catholic faith against the Arian heresy. In 372 Emperor Valens sent Modestus, the prefect, to Cappadocia to introduce Arianism as the state religion. Modestus approached the holy bishop, upbraided him for his teaching, and threatened him with death. With total serenity, Basil calmly replied that he was a mere creature of God, and could not stop serving him.
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Modestus became enraged and asked: “Do you have no fear of my power?” Fear of what, asked Basil? Modestus: ‘You should fear conficscation of all your property, exile from your homeland, and death.’
Basil replied, Confiscation of my property means little to a man who owns nothing except these clothes and some books. Exile means nothing since I am not attached to any particular place. I am at home everywhere on God’s earth. And death is welcome, for it will bring me more quickly to God.
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“No one, said Modestus ever spoke to me like this before.”
Perhaps, said Basil, you never met a bishop.
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Even as he returned to the Emperor, Modestus could not get over the calm, courageous words of Basil. To the Emperor he said, “we have been beaten by this leader of the Church. And so the Emperor himself decided to put an end to this bishop. He himself went to the great Basilica in Cappadocia during Mass, intending to do violence to Basil.
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Gregory Nazianzen describes the scene: The Emperor marched into the church with his soldiers; they could hear the chanting of the psalms echoing throughout the holy place (like the gentle rumbling of thunder.) The people, like a waving sea, filled the house of God. So great was the beauty around the sanctuary, that it looked more like heaven than earth. Basil himself stood up as the scriptures were read, his body and soul motionless, as though nothing strange were taking place. He was united to God.
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The Emperor saw it all, and his soldiers. He had never before witnessed such a magnificent scene, and he felt overpowered. The Son of God and the Son of Mary had conquered his heart at Holy Mass. At the Offertory, the Emperor himself presented the gifts to Basil. The Emperor was so worried that he might not accept them from him, that trembling, his soldiers had to support him.
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Gregory concludes by saying this:
In those days, Basil was a beautiful and burning lamp, for the Church of God.
Beloved in Christ, today are the feasts of a two different saints, but I thought we could speak today about St. Gertrude, also known as Gertrude the Great.
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She was born in 1256 in Germany. Nothing is known of her parents, so she may have been an orphan. As a young girl, she joined the Benedictine monastery of St. Mary at Helfta. She dedicated herself to study, becoming an expert in literature and philosophy. Through the years, she came to a deeper commitment to Christ, and she began to strive for perfection in her religious life.
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Gertrude had frequent mystical experiences, including a vision of Jesus who invited her to rest her head on his breast and to hear the beating of his heart. She also had a great devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. At every Holy Communion she asked Jesus to bestow his mercy on them. Once she experienced the descent into Purgatory with Christ. She heard Him say: “At Holy Communion I will permit thee to draw forth, those to whom the fragrance of thy prayers penetrates.” As it turned out, Jesus actually brought more people from Purgatory than she had even asked for in her prayers.
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One time Jesus said to her, regarding the Holy Souls in Purgatory: If a good king has a friend in prison, he waits with longing for one of his nobles to plead for the prisoner, for his release. Then the king joyfully sets him free. Similarly, I accept with great pleasure what is offered to Me for the Poor Souls, because I long to have near Me, those for whom I paid so great a price.
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Saint Gertrude had that boundless confidence, which opens the Heart of Christ. She urges us also, to have this total confidence in Christ. “All that I have received,” she said, is because of my confidence in the generous bounty of God.”
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Our Lord told St. Gertrude that the following prayer would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said. The prayer was later applied to other sinners as well.
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“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, those in my own home, and within my family. Amen.
