June 19 2023 - St. Romuald - Reparation & Evangelization

 On Friday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a feast day on which we make reparation—through prayer and penance—for the blasphemies and sins committed against God and His Holy Church. And throughout the year, the first Friday of each month is traditionally set aside for this purpose as well—to do penance and offer prayer and make reparation for our sins and those of the world.

Well the saint honored today, made that his life. St. Romuald grew up without the practice of religion in Ravenna, Italy. But after he witnessed his father kill a relative in a duel over and argument about money, he entered monastic life to escape the violence of the world and to perform penance for his father. 

He took penance very seriously, and made some of the less strict monks a bit uncomfortable. But after some time, his father repented of his sins, and entered the monastery as well.

Now, Romuald would later become abbot of the monastery, and would also go on to be sent by the Pope to preach in Hungary, and also founded a new religious order, the Camaldolese hermits, but that initial inspiration to do penance for another shouldn’t be glossed over.

We see a lot of evil in the world right now—sins repugnant to the call to holiness are pridefully celebrated, blasphemies are broadcast, vice is normalized and encouraged. What can I we, the church asks? We can follow the example of St Romuald—if not entering religious life to do penance, we can certainly fast and pray a little bit more assiduously in reparation for the multitude to of sins and for the conversion of sinners. Our Blessed Lord Himself said, some demons are only cast out through prayer and fasting. 

We speak a lot about evangelization these days, the need to spread the Gospel. Monks and hermits like St. Romuald remind us of a powerful way of engaging in evangelization—joining a religious community who take religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the context of a penitential rule of life. The great powerhouses of evangelization throughout history, have often been those monasteries where men and women have sought to conform themselves to Christ and to do penance for sin. Hermits inspire people to turn away from the emptiness and the noise of the world in order to find Christ. That’s evangelization. We become effective instruments of evangelization when we are serious about our personal call to holiness. 

And shouldn’t that be the pursuit about which we are most serious? St. Romuald brought his father to Christ through his humble quiet life of prayer and penance. May his example and heavenly intercession inspire us to similar endeavors for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

To God the Father Almighty, may every prayer of our heart be directed, for it is His will that all humanity should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of all the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them, and deepen in them the virtues of justice and religion.

For an increase in vocations to the consecrated religious life—especially to those holy orders of hermits—who inspired us by their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief, especially for the sick and victims of war and terror and natural disaster.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

November 11 2022 - St. Martin of Tours - "Wherever Christ is known, Martin is honored"

 

Most of us are familiar with the famous scene of the St. Martin, the roman soldier, cutting his cloak in two in order to give half his cloak to the cold beggar. Not often depicted is what happened shortly after. That evening, Martin is said to have been visited by the Christ Child, dressed in the cloak Martin had given to the beggar. The Christ Child said, “Martin, still a catechumen, has covered me with his garment.”

This recalls the passage from the Gospels in which the Lord teaches, that which we do for the least we do for him. In clothing the beggar, Martin clothed Christ.

After being released from military service, the soldier, Martin traveled to a city called Caesarodunum, now called Tours, in western France, and there, Martin became the student of a saintly bishop named St. Hilary of Poitiers, whose feast is celebrated on January 20. 

Martin learned from St. Hilary the bishops duty of defending and spreading the Catholic faith. Martin witnessed St. Hilary’s apostolic courage in this matter. For the two men lived at a time when the Arian heresy was spreading rapidly through Europe. Many bishops fell to Arianism, and St. Hilary was exiled from France to Turkey by the emperor for preaching the truth.  Yet, even from exile, Bishop Hilary worked strenuously to bring the heretics back to the truth.  

During Hilary’s exile, Martin returned home to Italy, where he sought to convert his family. He was successful in bringing his mother to Christ, but not his father. After being kicked out of Milan by the Arian Archbishop for seeking to convert the heretics, Martin became a hermit on the Isola d’Albegna, a small island off the coast of northern Italy, where he lived on a diet of herbs and wild roots. 

In 361, St. Hilary returned to France and so did St. Martin, where he established a hermitage, which soon attracted converts and followers to the hermitical way of life. 

After the death of Hilary, in 371, Martin was made bishop of tours. As bishop, Martin set to enthusiastically ordering the destruction of pagan temples, altars and sculptures. He died in 397. A small chapel was built over his grave, and within a hundred years, the chapel of insufficient to house the vast number of pilgrims coming to pray at the grave of St. Martin, and so a basilica was built. By the sixth century, Martin was so venerated by the Church, that the latin poet Venantius Fortunatus wrote, "Wherever Christ is known, Martin is honored."

St. Martin has been honored ever since. And how fitting, that on the feast of St. Martin, the soldier who laid down his arms to devote himself entirely to Christ, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 major hostilities of the Great War, World War I, came to an end. And that today in our nation, our veterans are remembered and honored.

May St. Martin, the veteran turned monk and then bishop, assist all veterans, and all of us to seek after Christ, to serve Christ by serving the poor, to proclaim Christ as did this faithful and beloved bishop, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the nations of the world will seek to work together in harmony and peace; we pray to the Lord:

That our homeland will be preserved from violence and terrorism; we pray to the Lord

That even in armed conflict, we may keep clearly before us the defense of all human rights, especially the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

For all veterans experiencing physical or psychological, that they may know God’s healing and strength, and that all veterans may be blessed for their self-sacrifice.

For all veterans who gave their life for our liberty, and for the repose of the souls of all of our beloved dead, family, friends, those whose names are written in our parish necrology, deceased priests and religious, for all the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this mass is offered.

God, Almighty Father, creator of mankind and author of peace, as we are ever mindful of the cost paid for the liberty we possess, help us to use that liberty to promote peace and justice and spread saving Gospel of Christ. Through the same Christ Our Lord.

July 24 2020 - St. Charbel - To liberate the soul in its ascent to God

This morning’s Gospel should sound familiar, we just heard it a week and a half ago on the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

In the parable of the sower, the different types of soil are the different responses to the Lord’s Gospel. Some souls' hearts are hardened to the Gospel, they have no inclination to understand what the Lord is teaching or why he is teaching it. Some souls are initially receptive and even enthusiastic about the Gospel, but discipleship is abandoned when it becomes difficult. Some souls do not make room for the Gospel amidst all the distractions of the world. But in some souls the Gospel flourishes—these souls receive the Gospel with understanding, with the willingness to suffer for it, making it the highest priority of their life.

Today we honor a saint, who did just that, St. Charbel the hermit, who made his soul into good soil where the Gospel flourished. Let’s examine how.

At the closing of the Second Vatican Council, on December 5, 1965 Charbel was beatified by Pope Paul VI who said:

"...a hermit of the Lebanese mountain is inscribed in the number of the blessed...a new eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching, by his example and his intercession, the entire Christian people... May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance, and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God..."

How did St. Charbel make his soul into good soil where the Gospel could flourish? Prayer, poverty, penance, and asceticism. A good gardener needs tools to cultivate soil. Well here are the indispensable tools if the soul wishes to ascend to God: poverty, penance, and asceticism.

We are not all called to be hermits, but the hermits to love quiet and solitude in which we can seek the heart of Christ and the face of God.  Jesus himself would often go to quiet deserted places in order to seek His Father’s Will.  We too must go to God in prayerful solitude, every day, to be refreshed.

The hermits are witnesses that the kingdom of noise and distraction of our digital age is not the true kingdom.  So we must practice penance and asceticism, yes, guarding our minds and eyes from that which corrupts, but also intentionally turning away from the non-essential, in order to focus on the spiritually essential.

May St. Charbel teach us cultivate our souls so that the Gospel may flourish within them, that we may be effective in spreading the Gospel in the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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That every member of the Church may cultivate minds, hearts, and souls to receive the Word of God more deeply and fruitfully.
That leaders of nations may find guidance in the Word of God for proper governance and the pursuit of justice for all.
That Christian families may be places where the Word of God is studied, understood, obeyed, and cherished.
That the word of God may bring consolation to all those who suffer: for the sick, those affected by inclement weather or political turmoil, the indigent, those who will die today, and those who grieve.
For the deceased members of our families and parishes, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, and for N., for whom this Mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain

Homily: Jan 17 2017 - St. Anthony, Abbot - "If you wish to be perfect..."

Most of what is known about the life of Anthony is from his biography written by St. Athanasius. St. Anthony was born in Egypt around 251, to wealthy parents who owned land near present-day Cairo. During this time, the Christian faith was rapidly spreading throughout the vast expanses of the Roman empire, though the empire remained officially pagan for another 80 years.

Around the year 270, his parents died and he inherited their sizable wealth. But shortly after, while attending Mass he heard Jesus' exhortation to the rich young man: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Anthony told his disciples in later years, that it was as though Christ has spoken those words to him directly.

The words of Christ, striking him to the heart, Anthony gave away some of the family estate to his neighbors, sold the remaining property, donated the funds to the poor, placed his sister with a group of Christian virgins for her education, and became a desert hermit.

He sought detachment from material goods and earthly pleasures and sought his riches in God alone. His holiness soon attracted the attention of others; a group of hermits grew around him, and he became their spiritual father, or an “abbot”, thus beginning monasticism as it is known today.

God continues to call men and women to the monastic life; in fact, there seems to be a resurgence in monasticism in some places. Perhaps, due to all the chaos and hatred in the world, the monastics seek a desert place to focus on what really matters, the only thing that really matters in the end.

The monastics remind the whole Church not to become too wrapped up in the affairs and trappings of the world, to seek out the desert places from time to time, to become quiet enough to hear the silent Word of God speaking to our hearts, and to strive after the Christian perfection to which we are called.

On this feast of St. Anthony, we are reminded of the invitation to embrace the Gospel with ever greater devotion and commitment.  Inspired by grace to follow Christ with a free and pure heart, Anthony gave away all his possessions to the poor, and overcoming the weakness of the flesh by the strength of the spirit, he lived in deep communion with God in the austere solitude of the desert for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

That all Christians may seek detachment from the things of the world to focus more deeply on the things of God.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, and for the sanctification of those in the monastic orders.

For St. Anthony’s protection against all the wickedness and snares of the devil.

That the wealthy might use their earthly treasures to gain treasure in heaven by coming to the aid of the poor and helpless.

For the needs of the sick and suffering…

For the dead.