11th Week in Ordinary Time 2026 - Wednesday - The prayer, fasting, and almsgiving of God's priestly people

 

At Sunday Mass, this last weekend, we read from the book of Exodus how God has formed his people into a kingdom of priests—a royal priesthood. Being the people God made us to be involves a priestly dimension. All of us, all of the baptized have priestly duties.

In his recent catechesis on the documents of Vatican II, Pope Leo talks about this priestly dimension of our lives—he says, “we exercise our royal priesthood through prayer, asceticism and active charity, and by doing so, we bear witness to a life renewed by God’s grace.” Those three priestly activities should sound familiar, they are the three Lenten practices—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—which we all strive to engage in more perfectly during the Lent season.

In our Gospel reading today, we read of Jesus teaching about these three priestly duties—a Gospel which we read on the first day of Lent every year—on Ash Wednesday. He says, “when you pray”, “when you fast”, “when you give alms”. His disciples are expected to engage in these activities not just during the season of Lent, but always. They are part of the ordinary priestly duties of the baptized.

The Lord doesn’t just tell explain THAT we are to engage in these duties, but HOW we are to engage in them: “when you pray, when you fast, when you give alms” don’t do so that others may see you, or to win the praise of others. Our intention for our priestly duties mustn’t be for worldly attention, rather, as Pope Leo explained, echoing the sentiments of Our Blessed Lord, “we exercise our royal priesthood through prayer, asceticism and active charity, and by doing so, we bear witness to a life renewed by God’s grace.”

Our intention must be to bear witness to God, to show others that the relationship with God transforms human life, renews us. Prayer directed to God, renews us, it is a sipping of the fountain of eternal life. Fasting renews us, for it is restraining the bodily appetites in order to focus on what truly matters—for man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And almsgiving, charitable work, renews us, because it is a participation in the life of God who is love—and that participation transforms us like gold in a furnace.

The priestly dimension of our Christian life is not simply a sacrifice to detracts from us—giving of our time and effort in order to pray, in order to fast, in order to give alms enables us to share in the very life of God.

May we engage in them more fervently, more seriously, but also in great joy, bearing witness to God for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

As God’s royal priesthood, we intercede for the needs of the world and the needs of the Church.

For Pope Leo, our bishops, priests, and deacons: that their ministry may strengthen the faithful to live their baptismal dignity with renewed fervor and joy.

For all Christians: that we may pray not for human praise, but from a sincere desire for communion with God.

That through fasting and asceticism, we may discover the freedom of living by the word of God.

For the poor, the lonely, the sick, and all who depend upon the charity of others: that the almsgiving and active love of Christians may reveal to them the tenderness of God. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our young people on summer vacation and those attending our Vacation Bible School this week: that they may be blessed with faith-filled homes, and protected from all physical and spiritual harm.

For the faithful departed: that, purified of every sin, they may share forever in the life and love of God.

Heavenly Father, you have made us your holy people through Baptism and called us to bear witness to your grace in the world. Hear the prayers we offer today, and strengthen us to live our priestly calling with sincerity, humility, and joy. Through Christ our Lord.

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 - Pope Leo Vatican II Catechesis - Royal Priesthood

 

At the beginning of the New Year, Pope Leo began a new initiative. He announced that each Wednesday he would be offering catechesis on the documents of the Second Vatican Council at his weekly general audience.

So he began, first thing, first week of January 2026, and he explained his reasoning this series of teachings, now 60 years after Vatican Council II. He said, “as the years have passed, the Conciliar Documents have lost none of their timeliness; indeed, their teachings are proving particularly relevant to the new situation of the Church and the current globalized society.”

In other words, “the Church has something to say, a message to give, a communication to make” in our modern world and the Documents of Vatican II are important for interpretating what God is calling us to do, in this era of AI and global challenges.

The following week, the Holy Father began with a catechesis on the first of the Vatican II documents, Dei Verbum, the dogmatic constitution on Divine Revelation—how God’s revelation—how God’s revealed truth is imparted to humanity, particularly through Scripture and Tradition.

He then went on to discuss Lumen Gentium, the constitution on the Church, and he’s now onto discuss a third document, Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy—reflecting on the role of liturgy in the church, the reform of the liturgy that took place at Vatican II, and the way God uses the rituals, signs and symbols of the liturgy to impart his divine gifts to us. Exciting stuff.

But again, for a few months there, the Holy Father was teaching on Lumen Gentium—a very important document on the make-up of the Church,—so, the role of bishops, the role of priests and deacons, the role of the consecrated religious, and the role of the laity, including the role of the family—how all of us, together are called to fulfill the mission of the Church.

Why do I bring any of this up? Partially because Lumen Gentium, explaining the role of the people of God in God’s saving plan, heavily draws upon concepts we find in today’s scripture passages for the 11^th Sunday in ordinary time. And Pope Leo, in his current catechesis, really draws out some of these themes quoting even from our first reading today.

In our first reading, from the book of Exodus, the people of God at the time, comprised of the Israelites, are at the base of Mt. Sinai where God reminds them how he has delivered them from 400 years of Egyptian slavery  for a purpose—he chose them for a purpose. God chosen them to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation—in order to glorify God in the world. He chose them for a mission—a priestly mission—to sanctify the world.

Now, in this era of the Church—of course, God’s chosen people includes us—the baptized people of the nations of the world—from every place the Gospel has been preached. And we’re reminded today that we are a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood. Pope Leo, just a few weeks ago, spoke on this very idea. He said, “the Lord Jesus, through the new and eternal covenant, has established a kingdom of priests, constituting his disciples as a ‘royal priesthood’.”

The Holy Father says, we are formed into a priestly people at Baptism, which enables us to worship God in spirit and truth, and to “confess before men the faith which we have received from God through the Church” quoting Lumen Gentium 11. In other words, each of us is called to the priestly duty of worshipping rightly and teaching rightly, witnessing rightly.

Furthermore, through the sacrament of Confirmation, all the baptized “are more perfectly bound to the Church … and the Holy Spirit endows them with special strength so that they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith, both by word and by deed, as true witnesses of Christ”.

Why has God formed us into a royal priesthood? Because we have the mission—both ordained and lay—of sanctifying the world through the spreading and defending the faith.

The Holy Father goes on, “the exercise of the royal priesthood takes place in many ways, all aimed at our sanctification, first and foremost through participation in the offering of the Eucharist.” Every week we come to mass, not just to get an obligation out of the way—but to participate in right worship—offering ourselves along with the priest—as a living sacrifice to God the Father.

The Holy Father goes on, he says, we exercise our royal priesthood through prayer, asceticism and active charity—prayer fasting and almsgiving aren’t just for Lent, but are to be part of the ordinary priestly dimension of our faith, and by doing so, we bear witness to a life renewed by God’s grace. As the Council summarizes, “it is through the sacraments and the exercise of the virtues that the sacred nature and organic structure of the priestly community is brought into operation”.

We could do an hour lecture on this stuff, it’s so good. But for now, we do well to consider: why is Pope Leo wanting to remind us, now in 2026, that we are a priestly people. Because this is one of the great needs of our time. For you and for me, to more deeply fulfill the priestly duties of our baptism: to offer our life to God, to prayerfully intercede for the world, to sanctify the ordinary duties of daily life, and to bear witness to Christ as best as we possibly can, especially through works of charity.

Again, this priestly duty is not just for the ordained. Each of us have a priestly role—to pray, to preach and teach, to sanctify the world and to save souls.

The Catechism speaks particularly of parents priestly role. It says, “In a very special way, parents share in the [priestly] office of sanctifying “by leading a conjugal life in the Christian spirit and by seeing to the Christian education of their children.”

What does a priest do? He sanctifies. And so priestly parents have a special duty of ordering and orienting your children to God—through your holy example and holy teaching.

In the Church, God works powerfully through Holy Families. When someone asks you what it means to be Catholic, you should be able to say, come and spend time with my family. It’s a little chaotic yes, but, the Catholic family is the place where the Church in a vital way, lives out its call to daily love, care, hospitality, sacrifice, forgiveness, prayer, Christian education, and turning to God’s healing and grace in our brokenness. Look at how we pray together and for each other, look at how we forgive one another, look at how we are patient with each other’s smaller imperfections, look at how we study the faith together, and work together to meet the needs of the less fortunate and the suffering.

So, Pope Leo is offering some pretty powerful catechesis right now, which helps us to understand what God’s plan for the Church, for each of us, and how we are called to live out our call to holiness and the mission of the Church. The Holy Father’s messages, audiences, homilies, and encyclicals are available for free on the Vatican’s website. I highly recommend you check them out.

May God’s Divine Assistance help us be that royal priesthood and holy nation that God made us to be, enlightened by God’s Truth, washed in Christ’s Blood, united and animated by God’s Spirit for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

10th Week of Ordinary Time 2026 - Wednesday - Prophetic Role of the Baptized

 

In the first reading, we heard of one of the great spiritual showdowns of the Old Testament—the prophet of the God of Israel, Elijah versus the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal.

In dramatic fashion, Elijah proves that God is the One True God and exposes the futility of belief in the false god, Baal. When you hear the word “prophet” you might think of one who foretells the future. But in Scripture and in our Tradition, the role of the prophet is to do exactly what Elijah did in our first reading. The Prophet has the job of making the true God known to the world, which might include the occasional showdown with the false prophets.

So, who are the prophets these days? The Pope? The highly trained theologian? Well, not just them, of course. God has raised up, called, and anointed each of the baptized as prophets. Each of us has a role, a share, in the Church’s prophetic mission.

To highlight your prophetic role, when you were baptized, the priest or deacon who baptized you put oil on your head, and explained to you, that as God “has given you new birth by water and the Holy Spirit”…”he now anoints you, so that you may remain members of Christ, priest, prophet, and king”

The Pope has a unique role as teacher and leader, but every baptized person is called to be a messenger of God's truth and to proclaim the Gospel. This mission involves living a holy life, serving others, and speaking truth even when unpopular, following the example of the biblical prophets, and of course, Jesus, Our Blessed Lord Himself.

In the Gospel today, Our Lord himself connects good example and our role to proclaim the truth: “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."

And so we should strive day by day to become the most effective prophets we can; by ensuring we are giving good example and by learning how to effectively teach the faith to people in the various circumstances of their lives. This includes the members of our families, being a good example for them, and also giving good Christian example when we are in public. That’s probably the most effective prophetic witness we can give—is to show people how God, how being Catholic can transform someone like me, into someone like Jesus—how Christianity helps people become more like Christ. That’s the task, just like Elijah, to point people to the one true God—through word, example, acts of charity, obedience, bearing spiritual fruit for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

- - - 

 

For the holy Church of God, and that every Christian make take seriously their share in the Church’s prophetic mission.

For the peoples of the world: that they may come to acknowledge and worship the one True God.

For the priests of the diocese who begin a new parish assignment this week, especially for the newly ordained, that they may be faithful Christ in every dimension of their ministry.

For our young people on summer vacation, for their protection from the evils of our culture, from all physical harm, and that the faith may be practiced and flourish in their families.

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.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

 

June 2026 - St. Anthony of Padua Novena Mass - Patron of the Lost

 

Saint Anthony of Padua has been honored since the 11th century by Catholics around the world. Anthony belonged to that first generation of the followers of St. Francis of Assisi known as the Friars Minor.

In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI gave a beautiful summary of Saint Anthony’s life and spirituality.  He said, “Anthony, in the school of Francis, always put Christ at the center of his life and thinking, of his action and of his preaching.”

Franciscan, doctor, preacher, priest. Yet, St. Anthony is of course widely invoked as the patron saint of lost things. The little jingle goes something like this: "St. Anthony, please look around; something is lost and must be found." This attribution comes from an incident from Anthony’s life.

As the story goes, Anthony had a book of psalms that was very important to him. This was in a time prior to the printing-press, so any book was of great value, but this book of Psalm in particular had notes and comments Anthony had made to use in teaching young novices of the Franciscan Order.

Upon realizing his psalter was missing, Anthony prayed that it would be found or returned to him. A novice who had decided to leave religious life had stolen the psalter. But after Anthony’s prayer, the thieving novice was moved to repentance. He returned the psalter to Anthony and returned to the Order, which accepted him back.

St. Anthony is invoked as patron of lost things, yet, this story highlights a connection with a patronage toward lost souls-- who have fallen to serious sin, like that young novice who had stolen what was not his. We rightly invoke St. Anthony for all lost souls, those who have abandoned the Church or have grown apathetic to the practice of the faith. And for this we should invoke him more often than those rare times when we lose our car keys!

When your heart is grieved over family members who have left the Church, pray to St. Anthony! For those young people who seem to be lost in a sea of sin, pray to St. Anthony! For those who are angry at the Church or preach a false Gospel, pray to St. Anthony!

Maybe some of you here were at one point lost—apathetic or hostile to religion, dabbling in the new age, or in a state of mortal sin. The Church was praying for you, the saints were praying for you. And thanks be to God, what was lost, has now been found. Stay that way!

And yet, even those in a state of grace can always use the help of the saints to find Christ in the poor, in our in our Sacred Worship, in our prayer, in our trials and crosses. For those, it would be wise to invoke St. Anthony for ourselves, to find and experience more deeply the depths of God’s love and the closeness of God’s presence.

St. Anthony himself no doubt had a great devotion to the Psalms, perhaps St. Anthony is urging you to seek Christ in the praying of the Church’s liturgy of the hours, in which the Psalm are offered to God throughout the day. Certainly, that great preacher of God’s word, St. Anthony is urging you to seek Christ in the Sacred Scriptures, through regular reading and reflection upon the bible.

May, the same light of faith and truth and charity which shined in the life of St. Anthony fill our lives, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

- - - - - 

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.

That the members of the Franciscan Order and all those consecrated religious may inspire us to strive for greater holiness.

For the priests of the diocese who begin a new parish assignment this week, especially for the newly ordained, that they may be faithful Christ in every dimension of their ministry.

For all those who have led and taken part in this St. Anthony Novena, that many graces may flow from this devotion for the good of our families, our parishes, the Church and the world.

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.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

 

Corpus Christi 2026 - Why Eucharist?

 

During my eighth year of seminary, we devoted an entire semester to study the Sacrament which is at the heart of today’s feast: the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, the Eucharist. We studied how the scriptures, like the great Bread of Life discourse from John’s Gospel, as we heard today, influenced the early Church’s understanding of the Eucharist. We studied some of the ancient Eucharistic Prayers and the early Church fathers.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, for example, around the year 130, wrote about how sad it was that there were some who claimed to be Christian but did not confess the Eucharist to be the real flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. We continued through the early Church fathers to the medieval theologians, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, who composed the prayers and hymns for today’s feast.

At the end of the semester, our professor, Fr. Michael Woost—now Bishop Woost gave us some advice for the upcoming exam. He said, the best way to prepare for the exam is to “study everything”, as the exam would be comprehensive of all the material we’ve covered since class one.

Well, exam day arrived, and I thought I was ready! Bishop Woost handed us a small piece of paper with the exam’s only question, which consisted of two words and a question mark.  The big exam question was “Why Eucharist?”

Bishop Woost said, “you have two hours, I suggest you use it wisely.”  I watched my classmates open their exam book and start writing, but I just sort of sat there stunned for a moment. Now I promise you, I had studied. I had studied St. Justin Martyr, St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, Theodore of Mopsuesta, Blessed Sacrament Priest Eugene LaVerdie, Cardinal Ratzinger; I memorized the third Eucharistic Prayer, and most of the first and second ones. And this simple question, “why Eucharist?” just stunned me.

I sat there for 5 minutes, unable to write anything, kind of embarrassed. I’m 8 years into seminary, and I can’t think of where to start writing about the Most Blessed Sacrament. So, I prayed. “Dear God, help me. Why DID you give us the Eucharist?” And immediately an image popped into my mind: an image of the Eucharist contained in the monstrance. And I thought of the many holy hours that I had made as a seminarian: holy hours in the seminary chapel here in Cleveland, holy hours when I was a student in Rome, holy hours in my home parish. And at the conclusion of each of those holy hours is prayed the prayer composed by St. Thomas Aquinas for today’s Feast of Corpus Christi:

“O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption.” And then I was able to begin writing. Now, I didn’t always get A’s in my seminary classes, but that was one exam that it all seemed to come together.

What the Church believes is expressed in her liturgical prayer. And that collect prayer for Corpus Christi answered Bishop Woost’s question: “why Eucharist”. Firstly, God gave us the Eucharist as a memorial of Christ’s passion. And secondly, “so that we may experience in ourselves the fruits of redemption”.

Let’s look at those two parts of the Collect prayer. Firstly, the Eucharist is a memorial. Jesus, at the Last Supper said, “do this in memory of me”. On the night before he died, our Blessed Lord took bread and wine and transformed them into his Body and Blood, and taught us—commanded us—to do the same. “Do this” Jesus says, “in order to remember what I have done for you—in offering my Flesh and Blood to the Father for your redemption on the cross, in my Passion.”

At Mass, bread and wine are truly transformed into our Savior’s Body and Blood. And those with eyes of faith are able to see Him, know Him, and be in Communion with Him as we receive His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

And that brings us to the second part of that beautiful prayer:  Jesus gave us the Eucharist “so that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of redemption.”

When we receive the Eucharist with Faith, in a state of grace, that produces certain fruits, certain effects in us. The particular fruits we receive in the Eucharist flow from his saving passion. When we receive the Eucharist our venial sins are forgiven and we are strengthened in unity with God and each other. As the Lord taught in the Gospel today, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” Jesus is the Eternal Word, who has risen from the dead, and lives forever, and when we receive the Eucharist, our souls are united with His Eternal Divine Life, so we too, may live forever.

This is why St. Ignatius of Antioch called the Eucharist, the remedy for our mortality, it’s the antidote against death. “whoever eats this bread will live forever." That’s the ultimate fruit of redemption, the reason Jesus died for us on the cross was to obtain for us eternal life, and that eternal life is communicated to us through the Eucharist.

This is why it is so concerning when Catholics stop going to Church and receiving the Eucharist in a state of grace. Without the eternal life that the Eucharist nurtures in us, we become deprived of the antidote for the powers of sin and death which seek to corrupt us.

The pride and lust and greed and selfishness which seek to drive us away from God are counteracted when we receive the Eucharist with the desire to overcome them. The fruits of patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control grow in us, when we receive the Eucharist with openness to these grace.

Through the Eucharist, we become whom we are meant to be. Without the Eucharist, we are not complete. We lose our identity. For Christ defined Christianity at the Last Supper, to include taking, eating, drinking, remembering His Body and Blood. So we pray that all those separated from the Lord’s table may find their way home, here, to the altar, where we fed, nourished, and sanctified.

Dear ones, today we celebrate the greatest treasure Jesus left His Church—the gift of himself. He invites us to share in His divine life, to participate in His eternal sacrifice, and to carry that life to others.

Today’s feast reminds us of our great privilege, but also our great responsibility: to cooperate with the grace available here, to allow Christ to shape and form us, and to bear the fruit of conversion out in the world.

We offer ourselves along with the bread and wine to be transformed, that our lives may become Eucharistic, that we may become what we receive, as St. Augustine said, blessed, broken, and given, poured out for others, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

June 5 2026 - St. Boniface, martyr - Courage to pick up your axe

 

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Boniface, who is known as the apostle to the Germans. Boniface was born in what is now England in the 7th century, at a time when Western Europe was still rebuilding itself after the fall of Roman Empire.

 

By the time he was about forty years old, Boniface was known as a gifted scholar and preacher, and was abbot of a Benedictine monastery. At the request of the Pope, Boniface traveled from England to mainland Europe to spread the Gospel in places unevangelized or only partially converted, in what are now the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany. His initial efforts were unsuccessful.

 

One of the obstacles Boniface faced was the people’s attachment to their false gods like Odin and Thor. There’s a famous story that Boniface learned of a giant oak tree where the germans gathered to offer false worship to the God Thor.  So Boniface, took an axe, and he begins chopping down this Thor’s Tree.

 

The pagans cursed Boniface and waited for him to be struck dead by their gods for his sacrilege. But when Boniface had chopped just a small notch into the tree, God finished the job: the tree was blast apart from above.  And the germans who had before cursed Boniface now began to believe in the One True God.  This is why you’ll often see stained glass windows and statues with St. Boniface in his bishops attire, holding an axe, standing on a tree trunk.

 

In his 80^th year, Boniface was preparing candidates for confirmation when they were attacked by barbarians and massacred, martyred for the faith.

 

In a letter written to a Benedictine abbess, Saint Boniface wrote: “Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial…let us be neither dogs that do not bark, nor silent onlookers, nor paid servants who run away before the wolf” referencing the Gospel used for today’s feast.

 

Like Boniface, each of us are called to do what we can for the spread of the Gospel, and to do so with faith and courage.

 

Working for the spread of the Gospel in our modern world seems like daunting work, but remember that Boniface only needed to take those first courageous swings with the axe before God did the rest of the work. Boniface saw through the errors of the pagan culture, how those errors were keeping souls from Faith in Christ. And he took a stand.

 

He left his homeland, he went to a people who spoke differently, had different customs, had confused beliefs, and met them where they were with the Truth of the Gospel. He could have stayed in the comfort of the monastery, but was filled with missionary zeal.

 

What would your life look like if you allowed yourself to be filled with missionary zeal? Consider how the faith might spread, if each of us, in our own way, was little more courageous in witnessing to Christ, just in this neighborhood.

A parish church is much more than a place where the faithful gather for worship, it is our barracks, for training in the outward mission of the Gospel. May St. Boniface help us and intercede for us in our share in the Gospel mission for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

That our bishops and clergy may be zealous in preaching and teaching the truth of the Gospel, and for an increase in Courage for all Christians in the task of evangelization.

 

That St. Boniface, patron saint of Germany, may enliven the faith of the German people and those of Germanic descent who have made their home in this land.

 

For our young people beginning summer vacation, that they may be kept close to the truth and heart of Jesus.

 

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.

 

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland and all those who labored for the faith we now profess, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

 

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.

 

Reading 1ACTS 26:19-23

Paul said:
"King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem
and throughout the whole country of Judea,
and then to the Gentiles,
I preached the need to repent and turn to God,
and to do works giving evidence of repentance.
That is why the Jews seized me when I was in the temple
and tried to kill me.
But I have enjoyed God's help to this very day,
and so I stand here testifying to small and great alike,
saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses foretold,
that the Messiah must suffer and that,
as the first to rise from the dead,
he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles."

Responsorial PsalmPS 117:1BC, 2

L  (Mark 16:15)  Go out to all the world and tell the Good News..
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R.    Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R.    Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

AlleluiaJN 10:14

R.    Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord,
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
R.    Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelJN 10:11-16

Jesus said:
"I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd."

 

June 3 2026 - St. Charles Lwanga and martyred companions

 To many of us the name of the Ugandan Martyr Charles Lwanga is unfamiliar.  But, he is well-known and revered in much of tropical Africa as a patron saint of young people.

 

Uganda only began to be evangelized in the early to mid-1800s by the Society of Missionaries of Africa, known as the White Fathers because of the white cassock they wore.

 

Charles Lwanga was one of the early native Ugandan converts. Charles was a servant in the royal court of the Ugandan king, King Mwanga, who ruled in the south eastern part of the country. Mwanga was a violent ruler and a pedophile who forced himself on the young boys and young men who served him. Due to the preaching of St. Charles Lwanga, many of the boys had converted to Christianity, and refused the advances of the King. This infuriated the King. So, he gathered up the Christian, and demanded that they renounce Christ. When they refused, he had them killed. King Mwanga thought that killing Christians would break our resolve. But the faith was strengthened.

 

Charles, who had already made many converts, was arrested and killed, along with many of those who refused to renounce the faith. They were marched for two days to their place of martyrdom, starved, beaten, stripped, bound, and burned to death on the 3^rd day of June, 1886.

 

Charles’ death shook the country, and instead of throwing other Christians into panic, in inspired many unconverted Ugandans to become Christian.

 

The story of the Ugandan martyrs is striking similar to our reading from 2 Maccabees, no? There too, young men were faced with a choice: compromise with evil, or suffer and die. There too, a cruel ruler thinks he can crush fidelity to God by torture and fear. And there too, the persecutor is wrong. The faithful do not break. They endure.

The brothers in Maccabees speak openly of resurrection: “The King of the world will raise us up to live again forever” The martyrs know that tyrants can wound the body, but they cannot conquer the soul that belongs to God.

Most of us will not be asked to die for Christ in flames. But we will be asked to suffer for him in smaller ways: to resist temptation, to reject impurity, to endure ridicule, to remain faithful to God amid the pressures of the culture. The martyrs remind us that courage is possible, because eternal life is real.

 

“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” says the Lord in the Gospel. Heavenly reward. Courage for Christ is pleasing to God for it imitates the Courage of Christ who himself suffered for our sake.

The martyrs remind us of our calling to witness to Christ even in the face of the hatred of the world. Some will continue to hate us, but others will convert, like Charles himself. Today, Catholics make up about 37% of the population of Uganda: 17 million Catholics who can trace their faith back to the courageous witness of the St. Charles Lwanga and his martyred companions.

May St. Charles Lwanga assist us in our call to witness to Christ with Courage, to bring the Gospel like Charles into the areas of the world plagued by evil, so that souls may find the presence of God, and know his help and his promises to those who love Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.