November 12 2025 - St. Josaphat (School Mass) - Martyrdom and Truth

 

The month of November began with the great feast of All Saints. There are many types of saints canonized over the centuries. Saints who were Holy Popes, priests, and deacons; saints who were married or widowed; saints who were religious brothers and sisters who remained unmarried and consecrated themselves to Jesus for their whole of life; saints whose names and stories we know, and saints whose names we will only learn in heaven.

A very special group of saints is known as the martyrs. The word martyr comes from the Greek word for witness. The martyrs witness, they testify, they tell the world about Jesus, not only through their preaching and teaching, but to the point of death.

Today, the Church honors the martyr St. Josephat, a Catholic bishop who was killed by a mob of people who hated the Pope. St. Josephat witnessed to the truth that Jesus created the Church and organized it to have a spiritual leader, the pope, who governs the Church in faithfulness to Jesus. Not everyone believes this, but this was the will of Jesus. For defending this truth, Josephat was killed.

Christians like Josephat are worthy of our praise and imitation: Christians who are willing to stand up for the truth, even when it brings them the hatred of the world.

In his most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Here Jesus makes a promise. If you are willing to suffer for preaching and seeking the truth that comes from God, your reward will be heaven.

The martyrs, like St. Josephat are counted among the blessed ones of heaven because they were willing to be persecuted, hated, mocked, arrested, tortured, and killed for the sake of what was right—the truth proclaimed by Jesus and His Catholic Church.

Josephat didn’t water down the truth. He taught it with clarity. He didn’t hide the truth. He taught it boldly. And he did so because He loved the Truth—He loved Jesus and His Church and wanted to gather everyone into the unity of the Church, as Jesus prayed for, as we heard in the Gospel today, “I pray that they may be one”.

Through the intercession of St. Josephat and all of the holy martyrs, may each of us have the wisdom to seek the highest truth, the truth revealed by the Most High God, and the courage to witness to it, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

April 26 2021 (EF) - Sts. Cletus & Marcellinus - Shepherds and Martyrs

 We celebrate two martyred Popes today: Cletus and Marcellinus, both memorialized in the Roman Canon. Cletus was just the third bishop of Rome, succeeding St. Linus, martyred in the early Roman persecutions in the year 89. Marcellinus, the 29th Pope, was martyred about 200 years later, in the empire-wide persecution of Diocletian. 

The ancient collect for this Mass calls upon God as Pastor Aeternus, the Eternal shepherd, to watch over his flock and protect it, as he gave Cletus and Marcellinus the grace of being faithful shepherds to the end.

That image of the Shepherd should still be fresh in our minds, just having celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday a week ago.  Both Cletus and Marcellinus willingly accepted martyrdom, imitating the love of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, that the Church might have abundant life.

The martyrs are in a sense always the greatest of shepherds. As shepherds, the martyrs by their deaths lead us, guide us, and direct us to the one true shepherd and giver of life. As shepherds, the martyrs protect us from worldly errors. They die in order to help us believe in the heavenly realities. They help us to possess true conviction that suffering and death do not get the last word for followers of Christ. 

As good shepherds, the martyr leads us to the green pastures of Christ, they feed and nourish and bolster and strengthen our faith, they carry us on their shoulders into the bosom of Christ. 

We certainly never err in flocking to the martyrs, in beseeching their prayers and imitating their virtues, for they will always help us to remain faithful members of the flock of Christ.

There will be times when we are called upon to give witness to Christ, particularly when it will bring upon us the scorn of the world or perhaps the ridicule of coworkers or family. But may the martyrs grant us courage and conviction and a deep love of Christ which overcomes all fear, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

August 21 2019 - St. Pius X - To restore all things in Christ

At his election as Pope in 1903, Saint Pius X took as his papal motto “Instaurare Omnia in Christo”—“To Restore all things in Christ”. He saw as his mission, building up the Church, strengthening the faith, especially in the face of the modernist philosophical errors of the 19th century.

His plan for restoring faith in the Church involved building up the piety of the laity and their love and devotion for Our Lord in the Eucharist and for His Blessed Mother.

My first parish assignment at St. Columbkille in Parma has a statue of St. Pius X, holding the chalice and host as the priest does at mass. For in 1910, Pius X issued his famous decree Quam singulari which lowered the age for first communion for Latin Catholics and advocated frequent communion.
Then in regard to Our Lady, on the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of her Immaculate Conception, he wrote an encyclical in her honor.

And we saw in the early and mid-20th century the fruits of his labors: wonderful Marian movements like the Legion of Mary.

Pius X also encouraged strong Catechesis for both children and adults, and promoted sacred music, particularly Gregorian Chant for the liturgy.

But what Pius X is probably best known for was his condemnation of the heresy of modernism in his two documents Lamentabili and Pascendi. Modernism is so insidious for it says, all that came before doesn’t matter, all that we’ve received from the Apostles doesn’t matter, objective moral truth really doesn’t exist, forms of sacred beauty, art, architecture, sacred liturgy doesn’t really matter. All that matters is my own personal experience, my own subjective sense of truth and goodness and beauty.

And though Pius X, sternly warned the Church against modernism, that most insidious heresy ran rampant throughout the 20th century, continues into our own day, in many segments of the Church.
Instaurare Omnia in Christo”—“To Restore all things in Christ” we prayed in the Collect for this memorial. May St. Pius X help us to be purified of modernism, to love and revere Christ in the Eucharist, to turn assiduously to the intercession of his Blessed Mother, and to seek faithful catechesis, and the truth, goodness, and beauty that comes from God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our Holy Father, all the bishops, priests, and deacons of the Church will courageously preach the Truth of the Gospel in its fullness.
For the purification of Holy Church from all error and heresy, especially among those who preach and teach.
That the young students of our school beginning classes today may know the love of Christ in their families, that each school family may seek to practice right religion to the honor of God.
For mercy and peace for all those who suffer: for the sick and diseased, for those undergoing surgery this week, for the destitute and despairing, for all victims of war, violence, and abuse, and for those who will die today and the consolation of their families.
For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, and for N., for whom this mass is offered.
O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

June 29, 2017 - Saints Peter and Paul - Catholicity and Unity

Towards the end of my first parish assignment at St. Columbkille in Parma, I was able to lead a wonderful pilgrimage to Rome. Our very first stop, after the 8 hour flight, was the Basillica of Saint Paul’s.  There, one is able to kneel and pray before the relics of Saint Paul himself, the Great Apostle to the Gentiles, who was martyred in Rome.

Kneeling before the relics of the man who gave so much, who suffered so much, who traveled through rapid rivers, steep mountains, malaria-plagued lowlands, and bandit-ridden passages, endured robbers, attempted assassinations, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom all for the sake of the Gospel, all out of love for Jesus Christ, I thought, here is one of the great men of history, the heroes, an exemplar of the Christian life.  St. Paul pray for us.

No pilgrimage to Rome is complete without visiting the Basilica of Saint Peter. The basilica’s altar sits directly over Saint Peter’s. Pilgrims kneel there, in prayer, and in awe, before the holy relics of the man Jesus Christ himself called “the rock, upon whom I build my Church.”

One is struck by the shear of pilgrims in Rome: thousands and thousands of people, from all over the world, in pilgrimage and devotion. Among the relics of Peter and Paul, one truly encounters the Church’s Catholicity: comprised of living stones of people of every race, nation, and tongue.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote how it was fitting how both Peter and Paul came to Rome, the city that was the place of convergence for all people, which would become the primary place of the “universality of the Gospel.”

Interestingly, though the body of Paul is buried in the Basilica of Saint Paul and the body of Peter is buried in the Basillica of Saint Peter’s, the relics of their heads are enshrined in the Cathedral of Rome, the basilica of St. John Lateran. We celebrate the feast of the dedication of Saint John Lateran every year on November 9. For it is there among the heads of Peter and Paul, where the Pope, exercises his headship over the whole Church throughout the whole world.  To be faithful to Christ is to look to the leadership of Peter’s Successor.

Today’s feast reminds us that the Christian Faith is not something that the individual creates for himself, or a religion that we live out in isolation in our tiny corner of the world.  Christianity is something we have received from the Apostles on behalf of Jesus Christ, and that we live out in union with Christians throughout the whole world.  In great gratitude for our faith, and through the intercession of Peter, the rock, and Paul, the fearless preacher, may we give ourselves fully in generous and selfless service of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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The Lord Jesus built his Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. In faith let us pray.

The Lord prayed that the faith of Peter would not fail, may the Lord strengthen the faith of His Church and protect her from all dangers.

The Lord appeared to Peter after his resurrection and appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, may he make us steadfast proclaimers of His resurrection.

The Lord called Peter, a fisherman, to be a fisher of men, may he raise up new vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life.

The Lord mercifully forgave Peter’s denials, may he have mercy upon all sinners, and all those who suffer illness or any other need.

The Lord gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, may the gates of that kingdom be open to all who trusted in Christ’s mercy while still on earth.

Heavenly Father, graciously hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church on this great Solemnity and grant our prayers of petition through Christ, Our Lord.