Today, on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, I hear you can now pre-order a new book co-authored by Brant Pitre, Michael Barber and John Kincaid. Paul, a New Covenant Jew: Rethinking Pauline Theology to be published by Eerdmans in August 2019! Michael Gorman wrote the Foreword to the book.
Blessed feast!
That today we honor the memory of St Francis deSales one cannot forget the complement he had with St Jane Frances deChantal.
DeSales was the renowned bishop of Geneva where he lived his vocation with great love for the people entrusted to his care.
The Introduction to the Devout Life is an important text to consider reading, and to re-read over your lifetime. In the beginning of The Introduction to the Devout Life, he calls out to all Christians: “Live Jesus! Live Jesus! Yes, Lord Jesus, live and reign in our hearts for ever and ever. Amen.”
This idea to “Live Jesus!” is the very heart of the doctrine of the saintly bishop. He says so himself. “I have desired above all things to engrave and inscribe this holy and sacred word upon your heart: Live Jesus!”
In what ways will we life Jesus?
In the image we see St. Francis De Sales giving St. Jane de Chantal the Rule of the Order of the Visitation.
Today is the birthday of Father Alexander Vladimirovich Men (22 January 1935), a Russian Orthodox priest who assassinated on 9 September 1990.
A convert father, priest, prolific author and martyr. His writings are very interesting and impactful.
Eternal memory.
Today we liturgically commemorate St. Anthony of Egypt (251-356), a holy abbot of the 3rd century, called “the father of monks”. He is the considered the founder of Christian monasticism.
What motivated Anthony to live the Gospel so radically? He heard a reading from the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus tells a rich young man, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor.” Antony heard the truth of Jesus’ teaching and saw himself as that rich young man; he immediately did exactly as Jesus instructed.
Anthony challenges the way we lead our lives viz. the challenges of the soul: “Wherever you find yourself, do not go forth from that place too quickly. Try to be patient and learn to stay in one place.”
He retired to the desert at about the age of eighteen in order to live in perfect solitude.
Anthony saw the Christian’s task as both simple and formidable: become a “lover of God” by resisting the Devil and yielding only to Christ. Are we lovers of God?
In Friday’s edition (1/11) of a weekly online newsletter of the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation (USA) is a brief article on one of the Benedictine nuns, Sister Marie-Bruna of the Monastery of the Glorious Cross in Branford, Connecticut. Read “You Follow Me.”
Amazing what comes across the desk. Today, on International Human Trafficking Awareness Day, we liturgically recall St Vitalis of Gaza, who frequented brothels. I am aware of the work of countless people work for those trafficked, including our Florence.
St Vitalis biography, in part, reads,
“In the 600s, prostitution was a terribly exploitative profession. Often young peasant girls with no prospects would be sold into slavery or captured by pimps. They would then be taken to the poor areas of towns and live in terrible conditions while being forced to sell themselves for sex.
“St Vitalis could not tolerate this misery and so he set out to collect the name and address of every prostitute in the city. He then would work as a poor day laborer, which itself wasn’t much better than slavery, and would collect his wages at the end of the day and take it to a different brothel. He pretended to be a paying customer, which allowed him to enter without notice. Once he was alone with the woman he would give her his money, which she would use to escape, and tell her about her dignity and value as a woman, saying it was wrong for her to be abused and objectified by men. He would then leave and repeat this process every day.
“St Vitalis rescued countless women during his life, and ended up sacrificing his life in the process. He was killed one day entering a brothel, because he was recognized as a monk. Ironically, it was not a pimp who killed him for recognizing him as a rescuer. Rather, it was a Christian who killed him, believing him to be visiting the brothel to break his vow of chastity.
St Vitalis often said, “Do not judge your neighbor as a sinner.”
In the Latin Church there is a pious custom, at least in the churches of the Slavic and Germanic lands, where the priest blesses chalk. We chalk each house (or the room where one resides) with the initials CMB (which stand for “Christus mansionem benedicat”, which also commemorates the 3 Magi), crosses (which are to scare the demons), and numbers (which signify the number of years that have passed since the original three kings came to Bethlehem).
Today, we honor the first native born saint of the United States of America, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, with a liturgical memorial. She arrived arrived in Baltimore on June 16, 1808 taking up residence on Paca Street. Saint Elizabeth Ann would also profess her first vows as a woman religious in the presence of Bishop John Carroll. Seton would go on to be one of the greatest saints of America and religious educators.
“Let your chief study be to acquaint yourself with God because there is nothing greater than God, and because it is the only knowledge which can fill the Heart with a Peace and joy, which nothing can disturb.” (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton)
“You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”
The Latin Church has today as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus; it is historically associated with the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus celebrated on the 8th Day of Christmas, January 1. Both the Latin and Eastern Churches have the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus. It is not only the shedding of skin but the giving of the name according to Jewish Law thus making the baby a member of God’s household committed to the Covenant.
We know that the name ‘Jesus’ means ‘God Saves’ and is the name that St. Joseph was instructed by an angel to name the Child. By Divine Will, it is the sacred name before which “every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11). The only name that saves.
Devotion to the Most Holy Name of Jesus was popularized by the Franciscan St. Bernardine of Siena in the 15th century, often symbolized by the monogram IHS (denoting the first three letters of the Greek spelling of Jesus’ name). The feast was given to the Order of Friars Minor by Clement VI. But it is known by the Cistercians with the preaching of St. Bernard before this time; it is the same monogram that Loyola used for the Jesuits. By 1721, Innocent XII gave the feast of the Holy Name to the entire Church as the Emperor Charles VI.
Today the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is celebrated on January 3rd. And the month of January is dedicated to the Holy Name.
For me, one of the key figures in English Catholic history is St. Thomas Becket, the famed martyr and archbishop of Canterbury. It is not to say that the other notable figures of Christian history are unimportant or second to Becket, they are not, but Becket is part of a narrative of faith that is eerily contemporary to the Catholic experience for every generation. While Becket’s early life may have been filled with questionable alliances and compromises, after his conversion to Christ and subsequent Church service as archbishop is notable. And that is the key for us: the journey to salvation, no matter at what point in life it is picked up, is significant. You pick your cross and you walk with with it. From the moment Christ enters your heart is THE moment of grace. The moment of conversion is the moment our discipleship with the Lord begins with great flourish. The past is prologue, as it is said.
One thing I learned today is that St. Thomas Becket was slaughtered between the altars of Our Lady and St. Benedict. Note, that the brutal killing of Becket was not at the hands of just a disgruntled person but at the the behest of his former friend and benefactor, King Henry II. It is meaning may be particular to each person but loving the Mother of God and St. Benedict speaks volumes. As Becket himself said, “The whole company of saints bears witness to the unfailing truth that without real effort no one wins the crown.”
So, 1170 will always be relevant. It is the year that Becket met his Savior; it is the year that we ought to reflect upon viz. our own era when Catholic life, for persons and the Christian body, is under assault from various sectors in society.
Let me recommend three books on Becket that come from a friend:
Frank Barlow’s Thomas Becket (1990) and Thomas Becket and His Clerks (1987)
John Butler’s Quest for Becket’s Bones: The Mystery of the Relics of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury (1995).