Friends in Christ, today is the feast of St. Stanislaus of Poland. St. Stanislaus was born in 1030 and raised by pious parents. He was educated at Paris, and after his ordination to the priesthood he was made a canon of the cathedral at Cracow. The eloquence of the priest and his saintly example led to many conversions among his penitents, and even many priests flocked to him for advice. Upon the death of the bishop of Cracow, he himself was named bishop.
Stanislaus was a defender of the liberty of the Church and very importantly, he was a defender of the dignity of each human person; it was also true, that in him, there was no better advocate for the outcast and the poor.
Now the king at that time was Boleslaus II, and because he was a tyrant, Stanislaus opposed him. He once confronted him for his immoral behavior because Boleslaus had abducted the wife of a Polish nobleman and carried her off to his castle. No one seemed willing to stand up to the king, for fear of his rage, but Stanislaus boldly went to the king and threatened excommunication if he did not change his ways. Furious, the king promised revenge.
The king arranged for a false trial against Stanislaus, claiming that he had not paid for some land from a man who was now deceased. In a remarkable miracle, as the court was siding with the King, the dead man rose out of the grave and entered the courtroom, vindicating Stanislaus! Despite this remarkable miracle, the King condemned St. Stanislaus to death.
At first he commanded his soldiers to kill the bishop when he was celebrating Mass at St. Michael’s chapel in Cracow, but the soldiers refused, saying that they could not kill him because he was surrounded by a heavenly light. Calling them cowards, Boleslaus himself entered the church, drew his sword, and killed the bishop. He then had the body cut up and left for wild animals to eat, but a group of eagles gathered and protected his remains.
Pope Gregory VII placed the country under interdict. This is when the church suspends all sacraments in protest; the people rose up, and Boleslaus fell from power; fleeing to Hungary, he eventually entered a monastery and did penance for his crime. St. Stanislaus was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253; he the patron saint of Poland.
Friends in Christ,
I recently read an article,[i] written by a Catholic from Europe, who describes what is happening in her country. She says that there, many Catholics are just going through the motions. They grew up in the Faith, but they really believe only what their culture tells them. The vast majority do not attend Mass.
At Mass, she says, people often listen to gray-haired priests go on and on about politics and a hundred things that are not related to Jesus Christ. But the people have tuned it out long ago. Their country is quite liberal, with theologians often demanding that Rome give up its ‘out-dated’ ideas.’ We of course have some of this in our country as well, but what caught my attention, was what the author said, sort of mater-of-fact. She said that a kind of Arian catholicism is present there.. It was a striking statement.
Arianism is a heresy which hit the Church in the 4th century. It is the belief that Jesus is not Divine, he is not God. But Jesus’ Divinity is one of the most important doctrines of the Faith; He is fully God and fully man. It is God the Son who took Flesh, to be born of the Virgin. Yet it is surely true, that many today are really Arians, who think that Jesus was just a good man who taught some nice things.
The writer I mentioned says of her country: There are few seminarians studying for the priesthood, because studying ‘about a nice guy in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, doesn’t draw too many students.’
A ‘nice guy from Jerusalem’ cannot save us; he cannot change our life, he cannot raise us from the dead anymore than Buddha or Gandhi or Mr. Magilicuddy can. But for the honest person, this is not an option. Jesus does not allow you to say that he is ‘just a nice guy.’ He claims to be God. ‘You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?, they asked. ‘Who do you make yourself out to be?’ And he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” This is his claim – to be God; its why they tried to stone him.
So as we approach Holy Week, the question lies before every person: If Jesus was just an ordinary man who was crucified, it means nothing. But if he is the Son of God, and has risen: it makes all the difference in the world.
[i] The Secret Catholic Insider Guide to Germany, Beverly De Soto; http://reginamag.com/secret-catholic-insider-guide-germany/
‘If you remain in my word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Friends in the Lord, True freedom is freedom in Christ. What does this mean? Well, it doesn’t mean what the popular culture means by freedom. Many think that freedom is doing whatever you want. Money makes me free, so I can buy what I want and do what I want. Contraception makes me free, so that I can indulge myself anyway and anytime I want. The list goes on: today, the idea of freedom is what used to be called license.
Freedom embraces responsibility and is guided by virtue; license is choice without restraint. License is the throwing off of all responsibility. It is a carte blanche to do as we feel. Therefore, it is incompatible with virtue. License leads to absurd and dangerous action. On the personal level, license leads to moral chaos. If my actions are based merely on whim or the impulse of the moment, they are completely unpredictable, even to myself. On the social level, license leads to anarchy — the lack of all dedication to the common good.
Following our own whims and desires is not freedom, and we can even see how this destroys lives. Jesus says: ‘If you remain in my word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Sin is slavery, it is a bondage, says the Lord. Freedom in Christ is true freedom.
Recently, the Holy Father asked: ‘What exactly is Christian freedom?’ Well, doing what you want and not what God wants – this is a sin, he says – a sin of idolatry. “Christian freedom is to discern what the Spirit is doing in my heart, what the Holy Spirit wants, where the Spirit is taking me. And to obey. To discern God’s will, and then obey.”
True freedom does not look only inward, to our own interests, but acts for the good of others as well; acting in true freedom builds a peaceful community, selfish, me-first freedom tears down community.
Pope John Paul II said that freedom in Christ is not the freedom to do what we want, it is freedom to do what we ought. This is the freedom that builds up the City of God.
Friends in Christ,
When Our Lord was in the bloody sweat of the Agony in the Garden, anticipating his Passion, he asked his Father if it were possible, that the cup of suffering would pass by – He was not asking to be spared death, because he had already committed himself to it at the Last Supper: ‘this is my Body, given up for you,’ he said. Nor did Christ wish to avoid the physical suffering and torments and nailing which he knew would happen. It was more than that.
As Frank Sheed says in his book,[i] many other people had suffered the same or worse crucifixion or torture, but the agony of Jesus, no other person ever suffered. Isaiah said it: ‘He was wounded for our iniquities and bruised for our sin. The Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.’[ii]
Jesus took upon himself not only the suffering that our sins deserved, in we who commit them, but he also took to himself all the sorrow that sinners ought to feel, and did not feel, for their many and sins. That, as Sheed says, was the heart of his agony. He took upon himself the guilt we should all have, the sorrow for sin. “Him, who knew no sin, he has made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him.’
Who, since the creation of the world could ever handle that? The pain that we feel when we do something very wrong, when we hurt someone – Jesus takes all that pain for our faults, and sadly, the pain for the sins that we never thought twice about. He takes it all upon himself.
This great act of Redemption was foretold in the desert: ‘And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.’
This is a prophecy of the events of Good Friday. It was reiterated by Christ: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM.”
Lord Jesus, thank you, for dying for me; thank you for dying for this sinner, that I may live.
[i] To Know Christ Jesus, p. 349
Friends in Christ,
Today is the feast of St. John Baptist de Lasalle; St. John was born in Rheims, France, in 1641. He studied for the priesthood, and was ordained at age 37. Along the way, both of his parents died, and he was left caring for his 4 brothers and 2 sisters, which he did.
St. John was a man of refinement and culture, and was known for his kindness and affability. Somewhat tall, he had a commanding presence with large, blue eyes. Really without realizing it, little by little he got involved in the field of education. He had an association with a congregation of sisters, and through them he met a man who asked his help in establishing a school, which he did. Education gradually became St. John’s life work. Trying to guide a group of young men as teachers, he would invite them to his home for dinner, hoping to teach them not only Christian doctrine, but culture and manners. He soon realized that he would have to take a further step – he brought his teachers into his home to live with him.
Here was the beginning of a new type of religious congregation, which would grow into the Christian Brothers. At first such a group of consecrated lay brothers met with resistance from the Church. Nevertheless, they succeeded in creating a network of quality schools throughout France. His methods were new: schools were free for all, rich and poor. They taught in French, instead of Latin – a new idea at the time. Students were grouped according to their ability, and the Faith was integrated into all subjects. With the required involvement of parents, and with teachers who had a sense of vocation and mission, they met with great success.
If we say ‘yes’ to God at every moment, in even things that are difficult, the Lord can lead us, little by little, to achieve things we never dreamed of.
St. John Baptist LaSalle had no plan of working in education. He says that if he had known that formation of teachers meant that he would have to live with them in community, he would have dropped the whole project! But, as he says: God in his wisdom worked in an imperceptible way, so that one commitment led to another.
Little by little: this is how God can do great things in us – if we let him.
Beloved in Jesus Christ, During the civil war of Spain, in 1938, the future St. Josemaria Escriva[i] was already trying to guide young people on the path of holiness – even during the war. Now it came to light that one of those young people, was going to be denounced by the Territorial Administrator; this Administrator, Don Jorge, had a vendetta against the boy’s father; and so denouncing him would surely mean his death. Continue Reading →
Friends in Christ,
In the Book of Exodus, we see how our ancestors were set free from the bondage of Egypt. Moses guided them through the Red Sea, then through the desert – to Mt. Sinai. But while Moses was on Mt. Sinai speaking to God – while he was gone, the people fell back into their old sins – into idolatry. They made the Golden Calf and worshiped it.
After this sin of the Golden Calf, God instituted the entire system of temple sacrifices: the sacrifice of cattle, sheep, and goats. Why? What was the purpose of these animal sacrifices?
Well, Israel had lived for a long time in Egypt, and those pagan ways were deeply rooted in the people; this is why they quickly returned to idol worship.
Just like us; we have perhaps conquered a past sinful habit, we are going along fine, we’ve left the slavery of Egypt, but then comes the temptation to return to our old sin, and there we go – This is what the people did.
Perhaps the greatest rabbi in history, Maimonides, says that the Egyptians worshiped: cattle, sheep, and goats – these were their gods, among others. The greatest crime in Egypt would have been to dishonor or harm those gods, the cattle-god or the goat-god for example.
So the Lord gives the command to Israel, that they will now, day after day, slaughter cattle, sheep, and goats, and offer them up. Killing these gods daily, will be a reminder, that their former ways of idolatry can never save them. This they would do for 1400 years.
These temple sacrifices, which were symbols, they ended when Christ came. Jesus has come, and gives his life for us, so that we will have the power to drive the idols out of our life. The Lord says, ‘I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or lambs, or goats. Rather, ‘cease to do evil. (Isaiah 1:11)
So it is not slaughtered animals that must die in order to drive “Egypt” out of our souls. It is ourselves who must die to the idols in our life. Therefore, we offer spiritual sacrifices to God. The best spiritual sacrifice we can make, is when we are tempted to sin, to immediately pray. We stop what we are doing, for a moment, and we ask for help from the Lord. Then we bring these spiritual sacrifices and offer them here at Mass with the True Golden Calf – Jesus Christ.
Friends in Christ,[i]
Today is the feast of St. Francis of Paola. He was born in 1416 at Paula, a small town in Calabria, Italy; if Italy is the ‘boot’, Calabria is the toe of Italy. His parents loved God very much, and for a long time could not have a child. But after earnest prayer, they had a son, whom they named after St. Francis of Assisis: Francis.
His early education was with the Franciscans, where he learned to read; more importantly, he developed a love for prayer and the spiritual life, and with his parents permission at age 14, he went to live an austere life as a hermit in a cave by the sea. Others eventually joined him, and they built cells for themselves to pray in. They chanted the Liturgy of the Hours, and a priest would come to offer Mass. As others joined them, a church and monastery were built; the people of the area loved them so much, that they themselves worked tirelessly to help built it.
Francis had a favorite expression, ‘out of love,’ he would say. ‘Out of love, the heaviest stone can be made light. ‘Out of love, a brother can be corrected. ‘Out of love, will you not help the poor.’ He would say this.
Francis worked many miracles. One time, in order to make a point, he lifted out of the fire burning coals which he held in his hand for some time while speaking. On another occasion he wanted to go from the shore of Italy over to Sicily. A boat was lying in the harbor. Francis asked the owner if he would take him and his companion along on the boat. “If you pay, monk,” “I will take you along, he said with a huff; “Out of love,” Francis pleaded; “for I have no money.” “Then I have no ship for you,” came the mocking reply. Francis walked a little down the shore, blessed the sea, and then, to the man’s surprise, he stepped out on the waves, and walked on top of the water all the way to Sicily.
Francis lived a very penitential life; his bed was a plank, a stone was his pillow. In addition to the 3 traditional vows, his order never ate meat, eggs, or anything with milk. So in this spirit of mortification, he is a real example for us during this Lenten season.
[i] Adapted from “The Church’s Year of Grace, Pius Parsch” and Butler’s lives of the Saints.
Friends in Christ, Today we see in the gospel, Jesus finds this man at this pool of water. The water there apparently had some kind of curative power, but not always. Now this man had been sick for 38 years! That’s a long time. Our Lord asks him: ‘Do you want to be cured?’ For sure he did. And Jesus did cure him.
But it is interesting that later on, Our Lord tracks this man down, and speaks to him again: “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.”
In this incident, we can see a lesson about the Christian life. When the man is cured, this is analogous to a person first becoming Catholic, or it could be a big religious experience of faith, that we might have at one point in our life.
Sometimes people stray from the Church, even for many years, but then something happens – God grants them a special grace, a certain circumstance – and….they are on fire with Faith! In some ways we may all have had some manner of awakening of Faith at some point in our life.
But that experience, which may involve a lot of emotion – it may not be built on rock, sometimes it is more like sand; when feelings wane, or difficulties come in life – when we don’t FEEL God’s consolations every day, our faith-life can slacken.
In the gospel, we see that after this man is cured of his disease, Jesus returns to him later. He tells the man not to sin any more, so that nothing worse might happen. Jesus is implying that sin leads to sickness of the soul; and that if, after our soul is healed, we should go back to a sinful way of life: Look out! It will end even worse for us.
We see then, that rather than living off of one ‘spiritual experience,’ we need more visits from the Lord in life. Jesus went to see the man again; so should we. To remain ‘cured,’ we need to call on our Savior often, pray daily, meditate each day, aspirations, examine our conscience, asking his help – as they say, ‘it’s a work-in-progress.’
Many of us have known a person who had a ‘born-again’ experience, but later in life is found living in a pagan way, long-forgetting that experience. On the contrary, we should invite Jesus into each our of our day, and if we do, we will find he is there with us at the end of our life.
Friends in the Lord,
Yesterday was called ‘Laetare Sunday.’ It comes from the Introit in Latin for yesterday’s Mass, ‘Laetare, Jerusalem, et conventum facite.’ ‘Rejoice Jerusalem, and all who love her!’ Yesterday, the Violet vestments of Lent gave way to a happier Rose color. We rejoiced a little, because we are half way to Easter. Easter: is our salvation.
Today we read Isaiah’s words about this beautiful future ahead: ‘Thus says the LORD: I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered, instead, there shall be rejoicing and happiness, for I create Jerusalem to be a joy; This is a vision of the New Jerusalem, a promise that we will be resurrected in the New World to come. The Christian should always have this hope.
St. Peter says, ‘Be ever ready to answer those who ask the reason for the hope that is in you.’ Our hope is the resurrection, and in a few weeks we will re-live the first Resurrection, that of Jesus.
With this in mind, we can perhaps see today, when this man comes to Jesus to ask him to heal his dying child – this man who seems to have no hope in anything beyond this life – well, Christ seems a bit frustrated: ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.’ As if to say, ‘Death is not the end at all; you should know this, that a new world awaits, in which you will see that child in joy, and anyone who might die.’
If our child is dying, we would of course wish to ask Jesus to save him. But with a different faith than this man. We would come to the Lord and say, ‘Lord, I am not afraid of death and I know that in the New World ahead our families will be reunited; but if it be your will, grant him more time with us now.’
And he said to him, ‘You may go; your son will live.’
St. Alphonsus says[i] that according to the senses, death brings about fear and worry; but with the eyes of faith, it can be consoling, the end of our earthly suffering and labor.
I knew a woman who felt sad a long time over the death of her young daughter. One day I was at the hospital, and she was there. She said, ‘Father, today is my birthday, and I was just told that I have terminal cancer.’ I said, ‘Then this is news that you will see your daughter.’ Her smile was the best I ever saw.
St. Ambrose says, ‘The present life is given to us, not for rest, but that we may labor, and merit eternal glory in the life to come ‘
[i] Preparation for Death, Liguori, p. 87.
