Saints – Page 43

Saint Polycarp

St Polycarp2.jpg

Saint Polycarp‘s rich writings point to one thing: a sharp focus on Jesus Christ as the only thing we ought to be concerned with today. Nothing else really matters….

Polycarp (AD 69-155) was a bishop of Smyrna and martyr of the Church. He was a disciple of the Beloved Disciple John who ordained him a bishop. Polycarp’s life and work are attested to by Irenaeus, Tertullian and Jerome. He is called an Apostolic Father along with Saint Clement of Rome and Saint Ignatius of Antioch.

Saint Polycarp’s witness is key in knowing the early Church’s life and how we work in building up the Kingdom today. The saint was instrumental in bring others to Christ.

This excerpt tells us of his call to greater conversion in the Lord.

“… if we do His will and walk in His commandments and love the things which He loved, abstaining from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness; not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing or blow for blow or cursing for cursing; but remembering the words which the Lord spake as He taught; Judge not that ye be not judged. Forgive, and it shall be forgiven to you. Have mercy that ye may receive mercy. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again; and again Blessed are the poor and they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.”

The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians

Chair of Saint Peter

With the Church we pray

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that no tempests may disturb us, for you have set us fast on the rock of the Apostle Peter’s confession of faith.

Has anyone promised you anything? As Catholics, we can say with certainty that we have been promised something. In fact, we are promised not only something, but Someone. We can identify that we have been promised the truth, happiness (in this life) and eternal life (happiness in the next life); we’ve also been promised a rich relationship with God, with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Today’s feast of the Chair of Saint Peter is the Church’s way of reminding God and each other that we have been promised all these things: truth, happiness, and life eternal with God.

For a very, very long time, actually since the 4th century, the Church of Rome has had a special commemoration of the pastoral, spiritual authority of Saint Peter as the rock upon which the Lord built His Church. Historians estimate that Saint Peter was executed between the years 64 and 68. In fact, the Church in Antioch, founded by Saint Peter, has also had this feast on their liturgical calendar. The witnesses found in the Apostolic Fathers, the Roman See has always held a special place in the obedience of orthodox Christian believers because of the bishop of Rome “presides in love” and in service over all the Churches of God.

Today’s feast ought to remind each one of us that we don’t celebrate furniture but it calls us to see in Peter Jesus. Each feast of a saint, including the Blessed Mother, always points to Jesus. To do otherwise would be idolatry. The Chair of Saint Peter is fundamentally about work, the mission of bishop as overseer, teacher and pastor conferred by Jesus on Peter, and continued through the ages to Pope Benedict XVI (and soon on his successor). See the Gospel of Matthew 16:13-20. What we celebrate today is the communion of faith, the truth of the faith given to us by the Lord through the apostles to the bishop of Rome and to all bishops. You may even say the feast we celebrate today is the ministry of the Church’s Magisterium located in the Roman Pontiff in that he cannot teach error. That does not mean the pope is a saint; that the pope does not sin; on contrary, we believe the pope is a sinner and in need of redemption like each one of us: he has clay feet like you and me. But having clay feet doesn’t mean that teach that we believe in “Christ, the Son of the Living God.” His job is to help us see the face of Christ in this world, and to lead us to Him so that may enjoy eternity with Him.

In 2006, Benedict XVI gave the following address on this feast which is required reading,

Continue reading Chair of Saint Peter

Saint Maron

Holy are You O God,
Holy are You O Strong One,
Holy are You O Immortal One,
O Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us; Lord teach us to pray!

Saint Maron, pray for us.

Saint Josephine Bakhita

With the Church we pray,

O God, who led Saint Josephine Bakhita from abject slavery to the dignity of being your daughter and a bride of Christ, grant, we pray, that by her example we may show constant love for the Lord Jesus crucified, remaining steadfast in charity and prompt to show compassion.

One of the most intriguing and beautiful faces of holiness in the 20th century is Saint Josephine Bahkita (c. 1869- 8 Feb 1947), the Sudanese woman once a slave, convert, and a religious sister. She’s gaining popularity and was mentioned by the Pope in Spe Salvi.

Not long ago I watched a most beautiful film, “Bakhita: From Slave to Saint.” It was exemplary in the way the directors brought out the beauty of conversion for Bakhita but also for others, including the Canossian sisters and the parish priest.

I can’t recommend the movie enough even with the subtitles.

In a 1993 homily Pope John Paul II said of Bakhita:

In the midst of so much hardship, Blessed Bakhita is your model and heavenly patron. In the terrible trials of her life Bakhita always listened to Christ’s word. She learned the mystery of his Cross and Resurrection: the saving truth about God who so loved each one of us that he gave his only Son (Cf. Jn. 3: 16), the saving truth about the Son who loves each one of us to the end (Cf. ibid. 13: 1).

Blessed Bakhita was faithful, she was strong. She confided in Christ without reserve. She showed herself a servant of God by patiently enduring troubles, hardships and difficulties, by purity, knowledge, forbearance and kindness (Cf. 2Cor. 6: 4-6) – like the first Christians who, in the midst of the persecutions of the Roman Empire, showed themselves to be “servants of God… in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute” (Ibid. 6: 8). So writes the Apostle Paul in the Letter to the Corinthians. And so speaks the history of the Church in Africa, not excluding the countries which I have now visited: Benin, Uganda, the Sudan.

It was the power of God which made Bakhita – in the likeness of Christ – into the one who enriches many. The poor slave-girl who had nothing showed that she was in fact the one who had the greatest treasure (Cf. ibid. 6: 10). And even if, humanly speaking, she seemed condemned to death, she lives! (Cf. ibid. 6: 9). She lives just as Christ lives, though he was condemned to death and was crucified. She lives with his life!

Blessed Pius IX, pope

Pope Pius IX (13 May 1792-7 February 1878), in history known as Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning Roman Pontiff in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until death, nearly 32 years.

The future pope was the archbishop of his hometown of Spoleto and later of Imola. Personal attributes related show him to be known for his charitable work among the poor, care for educating his people and the formation of clergy; he had a keen intellect, prayerful, was friendly and engaging. He was an advocate of making administrative changes in the Papal States. He was a cardinal in pectore in 1839 and later revealed in 1840.

Following the death of Gregory XVI, Ferretti was elected pope in 1846 with neither diplomatic nor curial experience, a source of great tension for some.

Pope Pius convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and granted the Marian title of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, a famous Byzantine icon from Crete entrusted to the Redemptorist priests which now hangs in their church on the Via Merulana. He was the “Marian Pope.”

Pius IX was also the last pope to rule as the Sovereign of the Papal States, which fell to Italian nationalists by 1870 and were incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy.

Thereafter, Pius became the first “Prisoner of the Vatican.” Pius is also the origin of the collection taken annual called the “Peter’s Pence.”

Pope Pius IX was beatified in 2000.

Saint Agatha

May the Virgin Martyr Saint Agatha implore your compassion for us, O Lord, we pray, for she found favor with you by the courage of her martyrdom and the merit of her chastity.

A woman so brutally killed in the 3rd century is not that important for many people today. I should point out that the saints, especially the virgin martyrs so very much revered in the Church are important because they show us who Jesus Christ is by the stories of their lives.

I would recommend a marvelous book by Michael J.K. Fuller, The Virgin Martyrs: A Hagiographical and Mystagogical Interpretation (Chicago: Hillenbrand Books, 2011).

Our prayers are with the women and men who live with diseases of the breast, of whom Saint Agatha is their patron. Likewise, we ought to pray the intention of medical research for breast cancer and the medical professionals who work closely with those with the cancer.

I’d also like to pray for the cardinal titular of the Church of Saint Agatha of the Goths (in Rome), the American Raymond Cardinal Burke, the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.

The prayer to Saint Agatha for us to offer.

Saint John Bosco

O God, who raised up the Priest Saint John Bosco as a father and teacher of the young, grant we pray, that, aflame with the same fire of love, we may seek out souls and serve you alone.

The devotion to Saint John Bosco is not as known on these shores as it ought to be. He was a brilliant, loving and insightful man. Bosco’s confidence in God’s ways is a tremendous consolation: he helps me to recognize the signs God places in front of me with clarity.

The Salesian congregation of priests, brothers and sisters is better known in other parts of the world than in the USA. Some say that the popularity of the Jesuits here made covered over the charism of Bosco and the schools his order administered. Not completely sure that is the reason but what is clear to me that not to know about Bosco is an impoverishment. One thing I heard from a Benedictine friend who has taken a shining to Bosco tells me that Bosco’s “success” is that if you want to positively affect the lives of students then you have to be involved in the lives of the students. The ivory tower approach is not going to work.

May the Apostle of the Youth, pray for us.

Saint Francis de Sales

O God, who for the salvation of souls willed that the Bishop Saint Francis de Sales become all things to all, graciously grant that, following his example, we may always display the gentleness of your charity in the service of our neighbor.

We honor the gentle giant, pastor of souls, spiritual father of many, author, and Doctor of the Church, Francis de Sales (1567-1622). A brilliant student, he was ordained a priest despite his father’s desires. Francis was a provost of an Oratorian community and later bishop of Geneva and founder. His writings and approach to religious inspired many new forms of religious life.

His Introduction to the Devout Life, first published in 1609, is well known and cherished, reliable, honest, accessible, humane, and a Christian classic. His doctrine is called celestial in that it points a perfect way for ordinary people to enter into communion with God without having to flee the world. You don’t have to be a monk of nun to have a spiritual life!

Saint Francis is the patron saint of journalists, writers, and now social communications for the Church.

Saint Agnes

Saint Agnes of Rome

What I longed for, I now see; what I hoped for, I now possess; in heaven I am espoused to him whom on earth I loved with all my heart.

Saint Agnes raised her hands and prayed: Holy Father, hear me. I am coming to you whom I have loved, whom I have sought and always desired.

The feast of Agnes, like the other virgin martyrs of the Church point to the fact that loving Christ is no easy fact, even when the burning desire of the heart is tangible. Much suffering, much rejection, unto death, is the sign of discipleship. In many ways the line from yesterday’s gospel, “Do what he tells you” is very exacting today with Agnes.

The cost of being in love with Jesus Christ and the willingness to suffer for and with His sacrament, the Church, is as much a reality today in all parts of the world as it was for Agnes in hers.

Let is pray for persecuted Christians, those who desire to belong to Christ but can’t.

Saint Anthony Anthony of the Desert

Saint Anthony, father of Monks, intercede for the monastic life in the present day for the monks and nuns can live his consecration in awe and charity at all pleasing only to God.

Saint Anthony Anthony of the Desert (c. 251-356) was a friend of God, and therefore a son and brother to others. His friendship with God flowed from his obedience (his listening to and building his relationship).

He’s known as the founder of monasticism. His rule of life established guidelines for living together as Christians. This is what came to be known as “monastic,” the intense and purpose driven living of the Gospel. Following the death of his parents and providing for his younger sister, Anthony became a monk at 20; his method was to live in total solitude on a desert mountain near the Nile River and eating only bread and water, which he never tasted before sunset, and sometimes only once in two, three, or four days. In the spiritual life the desert is the place to do battle with sin. Anthony shows us that it possible to overcome the temptations of the devil; emerging about 20 years later from total seclusion to instruct hermits in the ways of the Gospel, monasticism, Anthony gave witness to the power of Jesus Christ in his capacity to the heal the sick, being a spiritual father, by casting out demons and preaching. From him we begin to realize that not everything lasts forever. It is said that he lived at least to 100 years.

It is Saint Athanasius’s Life of Saint Anthony that perpetuates the narrative and inspired waves of monks who civilized and evangelized Europe and the Near East. Anthony established a monastery between the Nile and the Red Sea, which exists today.

Saint Anthony, pray for us. Help is to renew and in some cases, refound the monastic living.