October 28 2024 - Sts. Simon and Jude - Zealotry and Hopeless Causes

 It is always good to reflect upon the importance and lasting impact of the Apostles.

In the Gospels, the apostle Simon was known as the Zealot. He may have been part of the political group of Jesus’ time called the Zealots who were planning to overthrow the Roman occupying force. Or he may have simply been zealous for God. In any case, Simon put aside any plans he had for himself to follow the Lord and to proclaim the kingdom of God.

St. Jude was a close relative and trusted friend of our Redeemer. Some ancient sources even speculate that Jude was the groom at the Wedding at Cana, though there is no scriptural evidence to support this. 

After the Ascension Jude took the Gospel to Mesopotamia (now known as Iraq), Libya, Persia and Turkey.

Legend has it that after winning thousands of converts, the pair of apostles were arrested in the Persian city of Suanir for refusing to offer pagan sacrifice in the temple of the sun and the moon. They explained that the sun and the moon were only creations of the one true God. They then cast out demons from the pagan idols  and two black, hideous evil spirits, began howling and blaspheming.  For exposing the idols as demons they were killed by an angry Persian mob. 

Devotion particularly to St. Jude endures to this day. It is said that among the saints whose heavenly help and intercession is sought by the faithful, second only to Our Lady, is the apostle St. Jude.  Even many non-Catholics venerate St. Jude as the patron saint of Hopeless Causes. 

The patron of hopeless causes is so popular because so many of our difficulties seem hopeless: the terminal illness, the seemingly endless cycle of addiction, the corruption of government leaders, the plights of the poor—they seem hopeless.

The Book of Jude in the New Testament is attributed to him. In it, he calls the faithful to a true Christian life of great devotion, one in which they hold fast to their faith no matter the consequences. He exhorts them to pray in the Spirit, that they might deepen their faith, hope, and love, and come to know God and His will. 

Let us learn from their examples and wisdom in turning away from earthly and selfish zealotry, in order to turn more deeply to the Lord. May we entrust our needs to them and imitate their constancy, courage, and faith, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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May Simon and Jude assist all bishops and priests to preach and witness to the fullness of the truth of the Christian Gospel.

May the holy apostles help all Christians to be strengthened in the faith, hope, and charity.

For the conversion of all who engage in false worship, for all unbelievers, and for Catholics who have fallen away from the faith, for those whose love of created things has eclipsed the love of the Creator.

That the sick, suffering, overburdened, and destitute, may know the help of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

For all who long to see the face of the Father, for all our departed loved ones and all of the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024 - Blind Bartimaeus and Priesthood Sunday

 

Since 2003, the last Sunday of October is designated as Priesthood Sunday— an opportunity for us to reflect upon the role of the ordained priesthood in the life of the Church.  

Today we welcome Tate Johnson, a second year seminarian at Borromeo Seminary here in Cleveland, who will speak to us after communion about his own discernment and formation for the priesthood.

For the homily today, I’d like to consider the role of the priest in light of our Gospel reading---the story of Bartimaeus.  The story offers several meaningful insights relevant to Priesthood Sunday and the priestly vocation and our own call to holiness.

The story begins with blind Bartimaeus crying out to Jesus. In the course of his ministry, the priest encounters countless people who are crying out to Jesus. Many of them, like Bartimaeus, have a hard time seeing Jesus due to the challenging circumstances of their life—a crisis, an illness, a unique encounter with the evils of the world or in their own heart. 

The priest helps people see Jesus. Particularly at Mass, right? The priest has a unique role in the Church to help others see Jesus. Through the celebration of the sacraments—the priest makes Jesus present through the sacramental rituals, particularly in the changing of bread and wine into the Lord’s Body and Blood so we can see Him present in our midst. Also in the homily, hopefully, each week, I help you see Jesus in the concrete details of your life. 

One of my favorite functions in the priestly ministry is to teach OCIA. I’m always pleased to meet those souls hungering, longing to see Jesus. And in those sessions their eyes become more and more attuned to Jesus present in the Catholic Church and come to understand the invitation Jesus makes to them—to come and be changed and transformed. 

Consider another detail in the Bartimeus story. Bartimaeus longs for Jesus, but many in the crowd make it difficult for him—they tell him that he is wasting his time. Similarly, there are many forces in the world today which tell us that we are wasting our time turning to the Lord and seeking to follow Him. The priest has a role in helping members of the Church to take courage in standing up against the worldly forces that seek to silence the Church and to ensure that we never ally ourselves with those terrible powers.

As many of you know, I was appointed by Bishop Malesic as Chaplain for an apostolate called Courage International which helps men and women with same-sex attraction live faithfully the Lord’s call to follow him. Now the world tells them, ah, just give in to your impulses. But, Christians recognize that not every impulse leads to Jesus. Rather, we need to restrain and discipline those impulses that are misaligned. And priests help others break through those wordly voices. Thanks be to God for those priests who tell us the truth and encourage us. 

Next in the story, Bartimaeus runs to Jesus, and Jesus surprisingly asks, “what do you want?” It’s surprising because Jesus already knows what Bartimaeus wants and needs. Jesus can read his heart, he made him. But Jesus asks, and listens. This reflects a very important aspect of priestly ministry. Listening. Before a priest can offer words of advice, or spiritual guidance, or make decisions regarding the life of a parish, he needs to listen. I hope that when you have brought your concerns to me, you have felt listened to. 

You might not have received the answer you liked, I can’t promise that all the time, but I hope that you’ve felt that your concern was taken seriously and it was given the attention it deserved. 

But moreso, we’re not just talking about decisions about clambakes here. The priest takes concerns of the soul with profound seriousness. If you are seeking to follow Jesus more faithfully, more deeply, the priest will listen and pray for you and with you and bring your concerns to the Lord.

Finally, in the story, Jesus heals Bartimaeus.

The ministry of the priest certainly has a healing dimension. Every priest is called to dispense the healing of Jesus Christ primarily in the Sacrament of Confession and the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

The Confessional is a place of the most profound healing, a healing of those wounds we inflict on our relationship with God and our fellow man through sin. Now yes, some of our spiritual wounds can be healed in other ways—our venial sins can be healed through repentance and reception of the Eucharist. But our most serious sins, our grave sins, our mortal sins, can those mortal wounds can be healed only in the Sacrament of Confession. 

When we confess our sins to a priest and receive absolution we know that a profound healing occurs at that moment—we feel lighter, we feel the weight of guilt relieved, we feel peace. And I hope that no one here is depriving themselves of the healing that Jesus is waiting to dispense to you through his priests. I hope that neither pride, nor shame, nor embarrassment is keeping you from crying out like Bartimaeus for healing. If you can ‘t get to confession on Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings, give me a call, we can schedule something. I’m not too busy to hear your confessions, that’s why I’m here. 

Similarly, with the Sacrament of Anointing. If you are going in for serious surgery, or you’ve gotten a serious diagnosis, or you feel the effects of old age or declining health really taking its toll, all you have to do is call, and say, Father, I’d like to receive the Anointing of the Sick. For through that Sacrament Jesus gives powerful spiritual healing and spiritual strength to bear our afflictions with grace.

Recall, that every priest is also Bartimaeus, with his own blindnesses. So always please be patient with your priests, with the same patience you would want for yourself.

And recall too that every member of the Church has a priestly role, of bringing souls to Jesus, of listening to the afflicted and offering wise counsel and comfort, and seeking as best we can to be instruments of the Lord’s healing. Every soul we encounter is another Bartimaeus, who deep down longs to see the Lord.

May all priests and all the priestly people of God be strengthened in their vocations of service and holiness for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

29th Week in Ordinary Time 2024 - Friday - Signs of Divine Love

 

With the leaves changing colors, and the still mostly warm days and cooler nights, autumn is my favorite time of year. I made soup yesterday, because something about autumn just cries out for a good bowl of soup and crusty bread. 

Signs of autumn are everywhere: squirrels gathering nuts, pumpkins, light jackets, football games, conversations about where we will be celebrating thanksgiving.

In the Gospel today, Jesus is making his way toward Jerusalem when he comes across a group of non-believers. 

He points out how easily they forecast the weather by observing the signs—clouds and winds. But they were missing something more important than weather.

The signs of the kingdom of God where all around them: loaves being multiplied, the lame walking, hardened sinners repenting, and the good news spreading. Jesus is the sign that things were changing—not just meteorologically, but spiritually. With all these signs of God, Jesus performing  miracles left and right, demons being cast out, the deaf hearing, the blind seeing, the lame walking, the dead being raised, you’d think that people would be able to discern, quite easily, in fact, that they should take Jesus seriously.

But with all these signs many refused to believe, many refused to change their minds and their hearts, and open them up to the fact that Jesus was who he claimed to be: the Son of God come to save us from our sins.

Thankfully, 2000 years later, everyone follows Jesus as they should, right? Well, no, sadly. 

Even with the testimony of the Church---with Christians pouring out their lives in devotion to following Jesus’ teaching, feeding the hungry in soup kitchens, clothing the naked, even with so much evidence that Jesus Christ will change your life for the better, much of the world still does not believe. 

So the task of the Church is to continue to pray, and to continue to provide the world with signs and reasons to believe in Jesus, to be baptized, and follow him—signs of Divine Love—of God’s love for every person and His desire for their eternal salvation.

We are to take this morning’s words of Paul to heart, who writes, “I, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received”, and that call is to witness to Jesus Christ in word and deed, in how we treat people, in how we love each other, in the conviction with live out the teachings of the Gospel, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that we may live in a manner worthy of our calling, bearing witness to Christ through works of mercy and love, showing the world clear signs of God's presence among us.

For the people of the world, so often divided by ideology, that we may be reconciled with one another, addressing conflicts with wisdom and working towards peace

For those who struggle to recognize God's presence in their lives, that they may discover the signs of divine love surrounding them.

For the sick, the suffering, and those who have died, that they may experience the healing and transformative power of Christ, who makes the lame walk and brings life to the dead.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for the repose of the souls of all those who made our reception of the faith possible. 

O God, you 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.

29th Week in Ordinary Time 2024 - Wednesday - Christian Stewardship

Both our readings this morning—from Ephesians and the Gospel—speak of stewardship. 

In our first reading, St. Paul describes himself as receiving "the stewardship of God's grace" – a gift given not for himself, but "for your benefit." Paul recognizes the fundamental truth that God's gifts are always given for the good of others.

Like the servant in Jesus's parable who is entrusted with distributing food to the household, Paul understood that his role was to faithfully share what he had received with others.

This is one of the great principals of the Christian Stewardship to which we are all called: the more we receive, the more responsibility we bear to share it. “Everything is interconnected” as Pope Francis has written: our spiritual gifts, our material resources, our relationship with creation itself. We are stewards not just of material goods, but of "God's varied grace" as St. Paul puts it. And what we do with these gifts effects everything else.

Jesus's parable warns us about two dangerous attitudes toward stewardship. The first is failing to be diligent. The faithful steward is praised because the master returns and finds the steward diligently fulfilling his duties. We are to be diligent in our stewardship of our time, talent, and treasure. Now of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t rest from our labors when we need to. Rest is good stewardship when it allows us to become recharged for the work that needs to be done. But rest can easily devolve into sloth if we are not careful and prudent and disciplined.

The second and more serious danger is actively abusing our stewardship – like the servant who begins to mistreat others and squander resources when he thinks the master is delayed. This servant forgets the fundamental truth that everything we have is a gift meant for service.

God has blessed each of us, physically, financially, intellectually, and spiritually. But we have been entrusted with these gifts not simply for our own well-being or our own earthly success, but for the good of others and the building up of the Church. 

In essence, Christian Stewardship is a fundamental aspect of Christian identity, it is the way of discipleship, a way of participating in God's work, a means of personal sanctification, a form of preparation for eternal life.

But again, "At the evening of life, we shall be judged” on how we used the time, talent, treasure, and grace entrusted to us. So may we be lavish in our charity, diligent in our service, disciplined in our habits, and prudent with the time we have been given for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that all her members may be good stewards of the Gospel, sharing the faith with courage and jo. Let us pray to the Lord...

For our spiritual and temporal leaders, that they may exercise their authority with wisdom and justice, always remembering that their power is a sacred trust for service. 

For the grace of prudence and discipline in our lives, that we may avoid both sloth and overwork, finding the right balance between activity and rest in service to God, we pray to the Lord...

For those who are struggling with poverty or mental illness, for the sick, suffering, homebound, victims of war, and those who will die today, that they may receive the material, emotional, and spiritual assistance they need. Let us pray to the Lord.

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 the deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom, that they may enjoy the eternal reward promised to the Lord’s faithful servants. Let us pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, all good gifts come from you. help us to be faithful stewards of your grace, diligent in service, prudent in judgment, and generous in charity. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

October 22 2024 - Pope St. John Paul II - Witness to Hope

10 years ago, we celebrated the Feast of Pope Saint John Paul II for the first time. His feast is celebrated on the 22nd of October, the anniversary of his papal inauguration in 1978.  On that day, the new Bishop of Rome began a ministry that would change the world.

His papacy lasted 26 years, 5 months, and 17 days, the third longest papacy in history.  He traveled the world more than any Pope in history, visiting 129 nations during his pontificate. He was the first pope to visit the White house.  He spoke latin fluently, but could also converse in Slovak, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Ukrainian, English, and of course, his native Polish.  

He presided over the largest papal gathering in history—5 million people gathered in Manila for the 1995 World Day. That is, until Pope Francis 20 years later, presided at Mass with a crowd of 6-7 million. 

Pope John Paul, published the first official Catholic catechism since the Council of Trent.  He had one of the most prolific pontificates in history, publishing 14 encyclicals, 15 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constitutions, 45 apostolic letters and 28 motu proprios.  He canonized more saints than any other Pope in history.  And. he played a decisive role in the downfall of communism in eastern Europe

The list of accomplishments goes on and on.  His personal holiness could be felt by those around him.  If you ever had the eyes of Pope John Paul II on you, you could sense his deep love for God.  He was a mystic.  His prayer life, his love for God, his devotion to the Blessed Mother infused his life, and radiated from him.

At his canonization, Pope Francis said of him that John Paul II was “not afraid to look upon the wounds of Jesus, to touch his torn hands and pierced side.”  He “bore witness” to Jesus’ mercy for us.  John Paul instituted Divine mercy Sunday and was Canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday.

In the collect we asked God that, instructed by John Paul’s teaching, “we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ”.  He was a prolific writer, yet his greatest teaching is in his witness to Christ.  At his Beatification, Pope Benedict XVI said, John Paul “remained deeply united to God amid the many demands of his ministry.” Even as he was stripped of good health in his final months, he remained a “rock of faith”.  May we learn from his example, of deeply united ourselves to God, through prayer and service, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the Church throughout the world, that following the example of St. John Paul II, she may fearlessly proclaim the Gospel in every nation and culture, bearing witness to Christ's mercy in our time. Let us pray to the Lord...

For all who lead and serve the Church, that like John Paul II, they may remain deeply united to God amid their ministry, finding strength in prayer and devotion to Our Lady. Let us pray to the Lord...

For world peace and justice, that through the intercession of St. John Paul II, who helped bring down the walls of division in Europe, nations may find paths to reconciliation and mutual understanding. Let us pray to the Lord...

For young people, whom John Paul II especially loved, that they may open their hearts to Christ and respond generously to God's call in their lives. Let us pray to the Lord...

For those who suffer in body or spirit, that like John Paul II in his final illness, they may unite their suffering to Christ's cross and bear witness to the dignity of human life at every stage. Let us pray to the Lord...

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 the deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.

29th Week in Ordinary Time 2024 - Monday - Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy)

 Having concluded our reading of St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, our readings at weekday Mass will be taken from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, until the end of the month.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians was primarily corrective—addressing particular grave errors of the Galatian community.  

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, written while in prison in Rome around the year 60, is a more universal letter. It circulated among the various communities in the region of Asia Minor and doesn’t mention specific problems or controversies of any local church.  Rather, it is a profound and exalted meditation on the mystery of God’s plan to save all men through Christ and incorporate us into the Body of Christ, the Church.

We heard this morning, “God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgression, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” 

In 1980 Pope St. John Paul issued an encyclical “Dives in Misericordia”. Rich in Mercy, drawing its name from that verse of St. Paul, the encyclical focuses on God's mercy as revealed through Jesus Christ offered to all people. 

In it, the Pope emphasizes how mercy, as a fundamental attribute of God and a core element of Christ's messianic mission, restores human dignity and brings sinful man back into relationship with God.

God’s mercy offers us a fresh start. His forgiveness liberates us from the burden of guilt and allows us to rediscover our true identity as children of God. Mercy forgives us of sin and leads us away from all those forms of evil which degrade us. Moreso, the mercy of Christ reveals us to ourselves. God’s mercy, shown to us in Jesus Christ, shows us who we are meant to be. As the Pope says, “Christ reveals man to himself and brings to light his lofty calling." God's mercy reveals to us our true potential and calling.

Saved and transformed by God’s mercy, we are to be merciful toward one another. We are to practice forgiveness, active compassion, and the recognition of the dignity of every human person.  We are to engage in the works of mercy: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned. We are not only to engage in mutual service, but outdo each other in charity. 

The Church’s duty is to create a culture of mercy. May we start here in our neighborhood, in our parish, in our families and toward strangers—that the mercy of Christ which has saved us, may continue to save and transform all aspects of life and society to create a civilization of love, where mercy reigns, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that she may faithfully proclaim and embody God's mercy in all her ministries and interactions, let us pray to the Lord.

For world leaders, that they may be inspired by God's mercy to work for justice, peace, and the alleviation of poverty and suffering, that all our interactions and structures may reflect the merciful love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, let us pray to the Lord.

For our parish community, that we may become a beacon of mercy in our neighborhood, actively practicing forgiveness, compassion, and recognition of human dignity, let us pray to the Lord.

For those burdened by guilt or sin, that they may encounter the liberating forgiveness of Christ and rediscover their dignity as children of God, we pray to the Lord.

That the sick, suffering, and afflicted may always know the mercy of God in the charity of the Christian Church. 

That all those who have died, through the mercies of God, may rest in peace in the hope of the resurrection, especially…

Merciful Father, hear our prayers and grant us what we truly need in order to be  living witnesess of your mercy in Christ. We ask this through the same Christ our Lord.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024 - The Power of Redemptive Suffering

 Our readings this weekend come together in speaking about one of the central themes of Christianity: suffering for others—or what we often call redemptive suffering.  We say all that time that Jesus suffered for us, that he died for us.  How can we say that one person can suffer for another, that the suffering of one has an effect in the life of another? 

One of the first examples any of us experience in this life  comes from our parents.  Think of how parents cared for us as children. They gave-up on sleep to nurse us, to comfort us as infants. They gave-up precious sleep attending to our needs in our childhood illnesses. So many good parents suffer hard, long hours of work to provide for their families. We are all beneficiaries of the redemptive suffering of those who raised us, not to mention the mothers who uncomfortably bore us in their wombs and birthed us. We are born through the suffering of another. 

A second example of redemptive suffering. I was teaching third graders about the beatitudes, and we got to the 8th beatitude which mentions suffering. The Lord teaches “blessed are they who suffer for the sake of justice”.  I asked for an example, and one of the third graders said, “when you see someone getting bullied, you can go and stand-up for that person.  It might be hard because you might get picked on too.”  What a great example!  The suffering we bear when we stand up for the little guy—for the vulnerable—is another example of redemptive suffering. 

Standing up for what’s right changes things, it unleashes redemptive power, bullies back down.  As adults we stand up for what is right when we stand up for our Catholic values in the public arena, when we stand up for the “littlest among us”, the unborn. So many evils in the world today are often the result of fleeing those opportunities to stand-up for what is right. We are not called to be a “silent or inactive moral majority”, we are to suffer for the sake of justice. And again, lives are changed, lives are saved, when Christians take up this role.

Another example of redemptive suffering is that of our patron saint whose feast we celebrate this weekend

The story of St. Ignatius of Antioch is a great one. He was a Catholic bishop who lived very close to the time of Jesus. After Jesus ascended into heaven, Jesus’ apostles were tasked with making disciples to continue the work of spreading the Christian faith. And St. Ignatius was one of those disciples. He was baptized and for a time learned about Jesus under St. John the Apostle, the very same apostle who laid his head on the chest of Jesus at the last supper and stood at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified, who ran to the tomb at the resurrection, and witnessed Jesus ascending into heaven.

So, Ignatius had one of the best teachers you could ever ask for. When he was ready, Ignatius was sent by John to continue the work of the Church in the gigantic city of Antioch, which even 2000 years ago, had a million people, meaning, it had more people than Cleveland. 

Being such an important city, the Roman Emperor came to visit Antioch, but the emperor was not a Christian, in fact, he wanted to destroy the Christian Church. So he summoned Bishop Ignatius, and demanded that he give up his faith and renounce Jesus. 

But remember, Ignatius knew that Jesus is truly the Son of God, that Jesus was crucified, died, and rose from the dead. 

So, courageously, Bishop Ignatius stood up to the Emperor, and told him that there was no way he could deny Jesus, because he knew the Gospel to be true—he knew that Jesus said and did the things the Church claimed. After all, it had only happened 60 years ago. There was no denying it. Even when the emperor threatened to kill Ignatius if he did not deny Jesus, Ignatius held fast to the truth and would gladly die to prove this point, that Jesus Christ is truly God and savior of the world.  

For courageously standing up to the emperor, Ignatius was sentenced to death—to be devoured by lions in Rome, which is why our school mascot is the lion—a reminder of the courageous death of our patron—that we might have the same courage in professing Jesus.

Through his Redemptive Suffering Ignatius emboldened the Church. His letters have been read by Christians for almost as long as the Gospels. His blood, shed for Christ, no doubt strengthened all those who were being persecuted in the early Church, and he inspires all of us, to live courageously for Christ.

In our First Reading, we hear that the Messiah willingly accepts the task of becoming a suffering servant, a sacrifice for the justification, the salvation, and the redemptive of others. Through Jesus’ redemptive Suffering, each of us has received new birth as children of God. All of us, reborn in the waters of baptism—have been justified and redeemed—given another chance at heaven—through the redemptive suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel today, it is clear that the Apostles were not to keen on this idea of redemptive suffering. They didn’t think Jesus should have to suffer. They hoped that the Messiah was going to be a military leader who would cause Israel’s enemies to suffer. And they certainly didn’t think that being his follower would mean that they were going to have to suffer. 

But to be a follower of Jesus means that we, like Him, will engage in a life of sacrificial self-giving for the good of others. 

Like the apostles in the Gospel, many people in the world have a confused idea about what will make them happy and what will make them great. Greatness according to the world usually means, having the position of power, having the wealth to do whatever you want, having fame where everyone recognizes you and applauds you as you are coming down the street.  But that’s not greatness in the eyes of God.  No number of Heisman Trophies will gain you entrance into heaven. Heaven is not contingent on the number of people you have working for you, the size of your house, or your bank account. To become great in the eyes of God requires you to pour out your life in God’s service in imitation of Jesus Christ. 

Blessed are those who suffer for the sake of righteousness. Do you want heaven enough that you are willing to suffer for it? Do you want heaven for your fellow man, enough that you are willing to be ridiculed for it? Are you willing to suffering the consequences of standing up to an emperor, like St. Ignatius, or to an authority figure who is urging you to compromise your faith?

Through the intercession of our Patron, St. Ignatius of Antioch, may we respond generously to the many ways the Lord invites us to allow the power of redemptive suffering to be unleashed in our lives—prayers and penances and the acceptance of inconveniences and uncomfortable conversations and days and nights spent in charitable service—that the lives of others may be led to Jesus and transformed for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.