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.

July 11 2017 - St. Benedict, Prefer nothing to the love of Christ

This morning we received word that Pope Francis has named Bishop Nelson Perez as the 11^th Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland. Bishop Perez is currently auxiliary bishop the Diocese of Rockville Center. He is a native of Miami and a priest of Philadelphia. Bishop Daniel Thomas remains our Apostolic Administrator until Bishop Perez is installed on September 5. In the words of Bishop Thomas: “Together let us pray that Bishop Perez' episcopal ministry will bear great spiritual fruit for the faithful of the Diocese of Cleveland”

St. Benedict is the father of the monastic tradition that spread throughout Europe—so he’s often known as the Father of Western Monasticism.

Benedict lived in a time when the classical world was breaking apart—bloody wars were tearing down the civilization of the Greco-Roman world.  Barbarians were sweeping through Europe. These were the dark ages. European culture was crumbling, yet within the Benedictine Monastery a different culture of work and prayer and learning and love of God prevailed.  The monasteries became beacons of hope for the people of Europe.

In the monasteries, the monk’s life was founded on a harmony of work and prayer; yet the ultimate aim of the monk’s was to seek God. Benedict wrote: Nihil amori Christi praeponere—Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.  Holiness consists of this: preferring nothing to the love of Christ.

We now live in a world where the culture again is deteriorating.  The fabric of society is being torn a-shred at its most basic levels: the dignity of human life and Christian marriage.

Irrationality, decadence, vice, ignorance of classical values and objective morality, all these things proceeded the dark ages 1500 years ago, and they are becoming the new norm again today.

The Benedictine monk is a witness that we must turn away from these things and seek the Lord, if our culture and our Church is to have any hope. We must habituate our minds and hearts to prefer nothing to the love of Christ.

Every Christian is to be a beacon that hope can be found in Jesus Christ. Daily, we must turn away from the distractions of the world, to bask in the sunlight of Christ. And as we are faithful to this vocation, we will begin to radiate his love, his kindness, his purity, his willingness to suffer for righteousness.

Pope Benedict XVI, who took his name from today’s saint echoed his teaching that the love of Christ radiated by the Church is to be a light for the world. Pope Benedict wrote, “Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For Bishop Nelson Perez, named as the 11th bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, for the support of God's grace and the help of the Holy Spirit as he begins this most vital ministry.

For the sanctification of every Christian, that each member of the faithful may radically commit to the vocation to holiness.

For the Benedictine Order and all of the monastic orders, that they may remind us to prefer nothing to the love of Christ.

For the healing of all those afflicted with physical, mental, emotional illness, for those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, those struggling with addictions, for those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today.

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

Gracious Father, your saints remind us to seek first your kingdom, through the intercession of St. Benedict, hear our prayers, and help us to become worthy of the promises of Christ, through the same Christ Our Lord.