August 2 2024 - St. Eusebius of Vercelli - The truth shall set you free

 In the year 355, a council was called by Pope Liberius in Milan to address the continuing problem of Arianism. As his personal representative, the Pope sent a bishop, to defend the apostolic faith, the bishop of a place called Vercelli, bishop Eusebius, a native Sardinian.  

During the Council, the Arians were vicious in arguing that the Son of God did not always exist—that he was inferior in divinity to God the Father. Additionally, they called for the condemnation of the writings and teachings of St. Athanasius who defended the true faith at the First Council of Nicaea. On top of it all, the Roman Emperor was an Arian Heretic and placed greater pressure on Eusebius and the other loyal bishops to relent to his side. 

But Eusebius did not relent, in fact he confronted the emperor for attempting to use secular force to influence Church decisions. Eusebius laid the Nicene Creed on the table and insisted that all sign it before taking up any other matter.  

And you’d like to think Eusebius’ courage and constancy changed the emperor’s mind and converted the Arians…well, no. The emperor had Eusebius, like Athanasius before him, exiled. And in exile, the Arians continued to harass the faithful bishop, even dragging him through the streets and imprisoning him. 

Many of the saints experience tremendous suffering for the truth and integrity of the Christian faith. They experience suffering like so many of the Old Testament prophets, like our Lord himself, who in the Gospel today was rejected in his hometown. 

Wherever the truth is spoken, the devil is often right around the corner seeking to twist and pervert and incite hostility to the truth because the devil hates the truth, he is the father of lies.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The devil hates the truth because he wants us enslaved to error and sin. 

Thanks be to God for prophets and saints and martyrs who defend the truth from the devil’s lies, who help us to have courage when the world pressures us to compromise our relationship with God. 

There the Arians dragged Eusebius through the streets, imprisoned him, and continue to harass him.

We do well to pray for our bishops, that they may defend the Church’s teaching against those who seek to destroy her.  Many people would not necessarily deny the divinity of Christ formally, by becoming card-carrying Arian heretics.  But, the danger in our modern day is more subtle.  The danger is that we affirm the divinity of Christ in one breath, but ignore his divine teaching in our actions.  Our conduct, our choices, our attitudes need to all point to our faith that Christ is God.  Christ is the only way to salvation, he is the only road to the freedom and peace that the human race longs for.  

And we pray this day, through the intercession of St. Eusebius and all the saints, that the truth of Christ will permeate every dimension of our society and every human heart, that his joy and truth might be in us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For our Holy Father, bishops, and clergy: That they may have the courage and wisdom to confront falsehoods and lead the faithful in accordance with the teachings of Christ and His Church. 

For those who struggle with doubt or are led astray by false teachings: That they may encounter the truth of Christ and find their way back to the fullness of faith. And for all Christians: That our actions may consistently reflect our belief in Christ's divinity, and that we may live out our faith in every aspect of our lives. 

For our society: That it may be permeated by the truth of Christ, leading to greater justice, peace, and respect for human dignity, and that those in positions of secular authority may respect religious freedom and refrain from interfering in matters of faith and conscience. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of human trafficking, natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for the unborn, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Priest: Heavenly Father, graciously hear the prayers we bring before you. Through the intercession of St. Eusebius, grant us courage and integrity of faith in order to serve you more faithfully on earth so win a greater share of glory in heaven. Through Christ our Lord.

August 2 2022 - St. Eusebius of Vercelli - Constancy to affirm the Lord's divinity

 The time was the third century, the challenge facing the Church was the heresy of Arianism which denied the Divinity of Christ.

A synod was called by Pope Liberius in 355 to help settle the growing split between loyal Catholics and the Arians, and the Pope’s delegate was the first bishop of Vercelli, Bishop Eusebius.

During the Council, the Arians were vicious in arguing that the Son of God did not always exist, that he was inferior in divinity to God the Father.  The Arians wanted their opponents to condemn the writings and teachings of St. Athanasius who defended the true faith at the First Council of Nicaea.

Eusebius and other bishops loyal to Rome refused to go along with the condemnation of Athanasius.  Instead, Eusebius laid the Nicene Creed on the table and insisted that all sign it before taking up any other matter.  The Roman Emperor, himself an Arian Heretic, began to put pressure on Eusebius and the loyal bishops.  But Eusebius did not relent, in fact he confronted the Emperor for attempting to use secular force to influence Church decisions.

And you’d like to think Eusebius’ courage and constancy changed the Emperor’s mind and converted the Arians…well, no. Eusebius, like Athanasius before him, was condemned to exile for not supporting the Emperor’s will and heretical beliefs. And In exile, the Arians continued to harass the faithful bishop, even dragging him through the streets and imprisoning him. 

This reminds me of a line of Mother Theresa: “God doesn’t call us to be successful, only to be faithful.” We might not always be successful in converting the heretical emperor or fallen away family member. But we are called to be faithful to trying.  We are to uphold Catholic teaching, when faced with pressure from the secular world; maybe some will be converted…God willing…when they witness our constancy and fortitude and patience and willingness to suffer for the truth. 

As you know, I like to use the proper readings for the saints on their memorials. I like to preach on the virtues of the saints, and those proper readings are chosen by the Church because there is some confluence between God’s word and the life of the saint, the saint in some way exemplifies and illustrates God’s word by their life. And I find it pretty noteworthy that the Gospel reading for St. Eusebius is the beatitudes. 

It's almost as if the Church is saying, take note of this saint, he exemplifies the beatitudes of Jesus Christ. He was meek as Jesus was meek, he was pure of heart as Jesus was pure of heart, he was insulted and persecuted and had every evil uttered against him because he was faithful to God, and for this, for his faithfulness, he is counting among the blessed and his honored by the Church, but also held up as an example, of what it means to be a holy bishop, and faithful Catholic.

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That the pope, bishops, and clergy may be filled with constancy in teaching and living out the Gospel, and that our parish may bear witness with great confidence to our life-giving faith in word and deed.

For Bishop-elect Michael Woost who will be consecrated bishop this week, for blessings upon his ministry as auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Cleveland.

That politicians and government officials may protect religious freedom, promote virtue, and look to the law of Christ to guide their work for the good of nations and the human race

For all those who experience persecution for the sake of the Gospel, that they may be sustained in their faith, and bear fruit for the salvation of souls.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection, especially N. for whom this mass is offered.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021 - Take up your cross

 The author of today’s Gospel passage, St. Mark, was not a member of the Twelve Apostles. There’s a little dispute over when he encountered the Gospel One tradition states that he was among the 70 disciples sent out by Jesus during his Galilean ministry, another tradition, held by the third century church historian and bishop St. Eusebius, states the Mark became Christian through the post-resurrection preaching of St. Peter. Peter, after all called him “my son Mark” in his first epistle. So, likely, St. Mark got his information about Jesus from Peter; some ancient writers even called Mark’s Gospel “Peter’s Gospel” for that reason.  

So even if St. Mark was not an eye-witness to Jesus, his Gospel, which we’ll be reading through for the duration of the church year, is based on an eye-witness account, that of the prince of the apostles, St. Peter. 

Like St. Peter, St. Mark eventually traveled to Rome, and wrote his Gospel there around the year 60 A.D.  St. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospels: it is clear, precise, orderly, and direct—certainly pleasing to the Roman ear. 

The ancient Romans, to whom Mark wrote, were in many ways like modern Americans.  They were a practical, pragmatic people who emphasized deeds more than words, action more than theory.  The Romans got things done.  They conquered the known world.  And since his audience, the Romans, admired people who got things done, St. Mark emphasized these aspects of Jesus’s life. Throughout Mark’s Gospel, the Lord is confronting and expelling demons, curing contagious diseases, undergoing the terrible sufferings of his Passion, only to rise again victorious over sin and death. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus affirms, explicitly and uncompromisingly—very clearly, so even Romans could understand—that he and all of his followers must "take up the cross"—talk about action. For following Jesus is about more than calling oneself a Christian, to quote same James, “faith without works is dead.” And, the Lord goes so far to say that those who refuse to take up the cross “will lose their lives”—they will lose the promise of eternal life in heaven. Again, you can’t call yourself a Christian without the works that back-up that claim. 

The Lord gives this stark teaching in response to Peter really sticking his foot in his mouth. The Passage begins with Peter seemingly understanding that Jesus is the Messiah—the promised one—the one anointed by God to save us from our sins and restore unity to the fallen human race and restore humanity to right relationship with God. 

But then the conversation takes a turn: when Jesus tells the group that the Christ must suffer greatly, be mocked, and killed, Peter, the disciple, attempts to correct Jesus, the teacher. Big mistake. But who could blame him. Peter doesn’t want Jesus to go to the cross, because Peter doesn’t want to go to the cross. In fact, throughout the Gospel, Peter is often running away from the cross. In the Passion story, Peter denied Jesus three times, so he wouldn’t be arrested and crucified with the Lord.  On the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah about going to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die like the prophets before Him, Peter says, no, Lord, let’s just stay here. Peter doesn’t want the Lord to be subject to suffering, because Peter doesn’t want to have to suffer. And again,…who can blame him. Most of us spend a lot of time and energy avoiding or at least minimizing suffering.

“Get behind me Satan”, the Lord says to Peter. You can imagine Mark’s surprise when Peter recalled the events in today’s Gospel: “He called you what?” Why does the Lord offer this sharpest of rebuke? This passage gets to the heart of who Jesus is and what he’s all about. The Lord Jesus wasn’t just a teacher, he wasn’t a community organizer, he wasn’t political leader, he didn’t come to simply encourage humanity to work for social justice. Of course, it’s good to feed the hungry, it’s good to stand up for someone being bullied, it’s good to speak up for the vulnerable. But the Son of God took flesh in order to accomplish something we couldn’t do on our own, the greatest good imaginable: he embraced unimaginable suffering, the greatest suffering, to obtain, to purchase our salvation. 

So when Peter said, you mustn’t allow yourself to suffer, it was akin to Satan opposing the holy will of God to save us from hell. Of course Satan doesn’t want Jesus to suffer and die. The Lord’s Passion freed us from hell’s grasp. And so the Lord rebukes Peter, he rebukes Satan for opposing the salvific plan of God. 

And then the Lord teaches his disciples, that we must, like him, bear our crosses. Fulfilling the will of God is not easy. There is a weight to it, a cost to it. And we know this: it’s good to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. But, we often draw a line, don’t we? We willingly engage in these good works…to a point: and that point usually is, when it costs me something, when I will have to sacrifice something I enjoy or can utilize—cash, leisure time, my favorite television show, my reputation among less religiously fervent peers or family members. When I have to sacrifice these things to build up the Church and to do good works, well, most of us like to leave the hard work to someone else. 

This is a difficult Gospel. Perhaps the most difficult. It was certainly difficult for Peter, so we are, at least, in good company. Peter continues to run away from suffering throughout the Gospel—we run away often. We allow Satan to whisper in our ears, “the cross is too heavy, leave it to someone else, God can’t possibly be asking you to carry this cross, you can carry the next one”. 

But, the Christian life is about learning to carry crosses for the sake of the Kingdom. And just as our Lord brought ineffable goodness from his cross, so to with us. Lives our touched, souls are saved, miracles are wrought, saints are made through the cross. 

There’s the story, which you have likely heard, when Peter finally gets it. After the Lord’s Ascension, of course, Peter labors with the rest of the Apostles to spread the Gospel, in Jerusalem, then to Judea, then throughout the empire. And around the year 64, Peter having been bishop in Antioch for some time, comes to preach and minister to the Christians in the Imperial City of Rome. And for a while Peter knowing that he was likely to be arrested and killed for his ministry, showed great courage preaching the Gospel and ministering to the small community of Christians there. 

When he began to agitate the local Roman authorities, the threat of the cross again loomed too close for comfort. So Peter began to flee Rome. But as he began to flee through the city gate, something happened. He had a vision. Before him he saw the Lord Jesus walking through the gate, into Rome carrying the cross.  Peter, falling to his knees asked him, “Domine, quo vadis?  Lord, where are you going?”  And the Lord replied, “I have come to Rome to be crucified, since you will not.”  Peter recognized that he had been fleeing the cross, yet again., and the Lord’s words struck Peter and gave him the resolve to do what he must do. 

Peter returned to his ministry, preaching the Truth of the Gospel, and for this he was arrested, and like our Lord, Peter was crucified; only he asked that he be crucified upside-down because he felt he was unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord. His sacrifice no doubt bolstered the faith of the Roman Christians who would undergo terrible persecution, and has bolstered the faith of the Church for 2000 years because he finally took up his cross.

What will it mean to take up your cross this week? To pray, to fast, to visit the lonely widow next door? Will it be to bear wrongs patiently, without complaint, without seeking to get the last word in when arguing with a spouse, or refrain from talking back to your parents? Will it mean finally forgiving someone who hurt you, or going out of your way to find a intentional act of charity each day, to invite a coworker to pray? Daily upon waking, ask God for the strength and courage to carry that cross, the willingness to pay what is costly for the spread of the kingdom for the glory of God and salvation of souls.