When we think of the saints, we often think of people whose holiness was evident from a very young age. St. Bernadette, was a very holy and humble young girl, St. Catherine had visions and conversations with Jesus, Mary and other saints from a very young age. St. Maria Goretti, as a young girl consecrated herself to the Lord, and courageously protected her chastity to the point of death, the polish St. Stanislaws Kostka’s holiness was quite evident when he entered the Jesuit order on his 17th birthday.
Not all the saints exhibited holiness from their youth. St. Francis we know galivanted around town, spending his father’s money on women and drink. St. Augustine had a saying to describe his life before his conversion at the age of 40, he said, “It was foul, and I loved it.” And even after his initial conversion he described his half-hearted commitment to chastity in a little prayer, “Lord give me chastity, just not yet.”
St. Camillus, whom the Church celebrated this week on Friday, was another saint whose conversion came later in life. As a lad, Camillus gave his parents nothing but trouble. He got into fist-fights with neighborhood boys, he skipped school, he learned his prayers, but refused to say them; he was so quick to unleash his violent temper that his mother was actually afraid of him.
At the age of seventeen, Camillus joined his father as a mercenary soldier, and he quickly picked up a lot of the vices of the military camps—swearing, gambling, drinking, and visiting prostitutes. He and his father, Giovanni, even teamed up as a con artist team, swindling their fellow soldiers. The father and son conmen went from camp to camp, cheating at cards, and whatnot, until Camillus’ father fell seriously ill.
To Camillus’ surprise, on his deathbed, his father sent him to fetch a priest. And after Giovanni made a good confession, repenting from all his sins and crimes, he received Holy Communion and died.
This was a turning point in Camillus’ life…sort of. He was deeply touched by his father’s deathbed conversion. If his father, a life-long gambler and conartist could have faith, then so could Camillus. One of his uncles was a Franciscan, so Camillus thought he might give religious life a try. But that didn’t last long; he soon fell into gambling again. And this time his luck really ran out—he lost everything and became homeless.
God’s grace broke into his life when a local business owner gave him a job doing menial construction work. Here Camillus began to acquire two virtues he had never cultivated before: self-discipline and responsibility. Through work he realized his dignity.
When his construction job was done he set out for Rome to work at the famous Hospital of San Giacomo. There, he found great worth in nursing the sick and giving the desperately ill a clean, comfortable place to die. Doing this holy work, he discovered his vocation and was ordained a priest. He spent the last thirty years of his life dedicated to the sick.
What a conversion! At many points in his life, it seemed unlikely that Camillus would even find God, let alone develop faith, humility, or compassion. Perhaps, there are some of us here, who like Camillus, were on the wrong path at some point in life. But somehow, God broke in. Maybe like Camillus we were given a chance by an employer, or we saw how much suffering we were bringing to our loved ones. If not yourselves, likely everyone here knows someone who seems trapped in an endless cycle of poor decisions.
But, the life of Camillus and our Gospel this weekend reminds us that we must be patient. Everyone we meet might be one act of kindness away from getting back on the right road toward God.
Our Lord tells us that weeds and wheat often grow in the same field. Even expert farmers have a difficult time telling the difference between the two while they are still growing. It is only at harvest time when the two can be distinguished. So we must be patient with everyone who is struggling. We must never write anyone off as incapable of conversion. St. Camillus’ sins are nowhere near the worst of those whose lives were turned, who turned out not to be weeds after all.
Like the wealthy employer who gave St. Camillus the job which was the turning point in his life, we too are called to be instruments of God’s grace in the lives of others.
A number of years ago, rather early on in his pontificate, there was a media storm around a comment Pope Francis made. The Holy Father was asked about the eternal consequences of a priest who had forsaken his vows and was living in a way contrary to the Gospel. And the Holy Father declared, “Who am I to judge?” In this pronouncement, the Holy Father was articulating a truth that is very clear in scripture and tradition. St. James writes in his epistle: “There is only one lawgiver and judge. He is the one able to save and destroy. So, who are you to judge your neighbor?”
St. James is saying that neither the Pope, nor any Christian, can point to anyone and say, that person is definitely going to Hell because of their sins. That person is definitely a weed. Such a judgment is reserved to God alone. Again, the weeds and wheat will be sorted out on judgment day by God, the one and only judge.
But to be clear, Pope Francis is not saying that because only God can judge us we can live however we want. He’s not saying we can ignore God’s commands, throw away the Catechism and disregard Scripture because all roads lead to heaven. He’s not saying we should disregard the Lord’s mandate to preach the Gospel to everyone. No, he is saying nothing of the sort. He’s just saying, he’s not the one who makes the rules and none of us are either.
Our Gospel this weekend is very clear that there are eternal consequences for rejecting God’s law. There will be a separation at the end of time: weed from wheat, sheep from goats, the saved from the damned, those who accepted God’s grace from those who rejected it.
And so, we must strive to live in conformity to the truth revealed in Christ, and to be very careful about how we treat those who have not accepted the fullness of the Gospel. We must strive for righteousness, call others to righteousness, but to be very patient with those who initially refuse that call. Because it ain’t over till it’s over, for them, or for us. We must persevere to the end, and remain hopeful and work and pray for the conversion of those who have not yet converted. And remain patient with God who works on his own time table.
And speaking of patience, as you may have seen on the internet or on television, the Holy Father has named a new bishop for the Diocese of Cleveland. Thanks be to God! Currently the bishop of Greensburgh Pennsylvania, until he is installed as our bishop in September, Bishop Edward Malesic. If you haven’t had the chance, you can watch the Bishop’s press conference on the diocesan website or on youtube. I also put a link to it on my personal facebook page.
In the press conference, the good bishop humbly acknowledged that most of us have never heard of him before. Likely, when we heard of the appointment a lot of us googled his name and his accomplishments. I know I did. He then said, he also googled the diocese of Cleveland and even some Cleveland priests, which made me kind of nervous, as I’ve been posting my homilies online for the last 7 years. I think they are pretty devoid of heresy, but if you happen to detect any, please let me know so I can…do a little revision before the bishop digs too deep.
Upon hearing of his appointment Wednesday night, I listened to a few of HIS homilies on the Greensburgh’s website and boy am I deeply impressed and excited. My first impression is that Holy Father Pope Francis has sent us a great gift. Here is a man who will help us to know the grace of Christ, to respond to it, who will help us reach out to souls like Camillus and Augustine, to reach into the lives of those who seem lost, to bring Christ to them and to bring them to Christ.
His Excellency will be installed as our 12th Bishop on the 14th of September, the Feast of the Exlatation of the Holy Cross. It will be good to have someone at the helm again, but I think his spiritual leadership will be a tremendous blessing for us.
May he know the constant support of our prayers, and may we will know the guidance of the holy Spirit, that in whatever vocation to which we have been called, we may bear good fruit, we may judge rightly what is the will of God, that our lives may be holy, and pleasing, and perfect for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
