August 9 2024 - St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - Persecuted for the sake of righteousness

 On Wednesday, we celebrated a group of martyrs who underwent the sword as a result of state-sponsored persecution of Christians in the year 258. Pope Sixtus and his companions were beheaded as a result of the Emperor Valerian decreeing that bishops, priests, and deacons were to be put to death.

Today’s saint was martyred, too, as a result of state-sponsored persecution nearly 1800 years later, in our own modern day. The year was 1942, Adolf Hitler was the Fuhrer of Germany and the Nazi party.

Though the Jews were the principal victims of the Nazi’s in World War II, millions of Catholics, including bishops, priests, and nuns were murdered in the concentration camps.  In 1942, the Nazi’s arrested Sister Teresa Benedicta out of the Carmelite Convent.  She and her sister Rosa, who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism along with her sister, were transported to Auschwitz in Poland by boxcar.  One week later, Sister was murdered in a gas chamber. 

The Nazis' long-term plan was to de-Christianize Germany after final victory in the war. Their ideology could not accept an autonomous establishment, whose legitimacy did not spring from the government, and they desired the subordination of the church to the state. The Nazi’s certainly could not tolerate the Church’s criticism and denouncement of the Nazi’s genocidal methods. 

We know what the world can do when left to its own devices. It seeks to silence and abolish the Word of God. It burns down churches, beheads popes, rips holy nuns out of their convents and sends them to the gas chamber. It gaslights, imprisons, tortures, and murders its critics. 

And the Lord places us in hostile enemy-controlled territory in order to witness to the truth of the Gospel, to cultivate sanctity by imitating the crucified Christ in our lives, so to become instruments in which our good God draws souls to himself. 

Catholics of course must be a bulwark against evil, confronting tyranny, working against the tide of religious persecution, defending the weak. We mustn’t lose hope when we see great evils arise in the world. Evils will ebb and flow until the Lord’s return.

Rather, we must trust that God has chosen us to live now, to stand courageously against evil, to cultivate substantial pulpable sanctity, and witness to the truth of the Gospel even as we are dragged from our homes. For Christ is victorious and promises eternal blessedness to those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that she may remain steadfast in faith and courage in the face of persecution. 

For world leaders, that they may recognize the dignity of every human life and work to end all forms of hatred. 

For those suffering religious persecution today, or who feel hopeless in the face of evil in the world, that they may find strength in the witness of martyrs, and for the conversion of those who persecute others, that they may turn away from hatred and embrace the love of Christ. 

For our parish community, that we may cultivate sanctity in our daily lives and be effective witnesses to the Gospel in our words and actions. 

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering and for those who continue to experience the effects of this weeks tornados here in Northeast Ohio.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.

Merciful Father, we bring these prayers before You on this memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Through her intercession, strengthen our faith and grant us the courage to stand firm in Your truth, even in the face of persecution and adversity. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

January 25 2023 - Conversion of St. Paul - "A reversal of perspective"

This morning I came across a Catechesis on St. Paul given by Pope Benedict XVI back in 2008, in which he called Paul’s conversion, “a reversal of perspective”. What an interesting way to think of a conversion: “a reversal of perspective.”

Initially, remember, Paul persecuted Christians; he denounced the belief that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, who had risen from dead, to be a myth, a lie so heinous that it should be punishable by death. He didn’t just shake his head at the foolish Christians for believing some silly idea; he rounded them up and ordered stones to be pelted at their bodies until they died.

He had a deeply rooted passion, that not only he made public, but his identity became driven by the idea Christianity needed to be eradicated, they very idea of Christ’s divinity needed to be erased, by all means. He was invested, with fanatical fervor. And humans do not give up our passions easily.

I doubt any of us here have experienced any “reversal of perspective” so dramatic. But it happened. By God’s grace, God’s goodness, Paul’s perspective was reversed. 

By the merits of Christ’s suffering, and the suffering graciously endured by Christ’s Body the Church, likely through the merits of Paul’s victims, like St. Stephen, who prayed that Paul might be forgiven, Paul’s perspective was changed so dramatically that he came to consider all as loss, all as refuse “compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Knowing how we humans become so invested in our perspectives, this was truly a miracle.

Moreso, the energy that Paul had poured into persecuting Christ became redirected, so much so, that he wished himself damned if he did not spend his life preaching Christ’s Gospel. 

Today’s feast offers such tremendous hope, that if Paul, whose heart was set against Christ like none other could experience conversion, than those to whom we are to share the Gospel cannot be beyond the reach of God. Our witness, our sufferings, like those of St. Stephen can contribute to the conversion of the most hardened soul.

And, yet, perhaps we too, have energies that need to be redirected, endeavors and perspectives that need to be reversed, so that Christ may be known more deeply, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our bishops may be graced with Saint Paul’s zeal in preaching and teaching the Word of God. Let us pray to the Lord.

That our parish may build up missionary disciples equipped for the spreading of the Gospel. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the conversion of all hardened sinners and all persecutors of the faith and those in error, that the Lord may touch their hearts and remove the blindness from their eyes. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all who have suffered as a result of violence or abuse, all of the sick and suffering, especially victims of natural disaster, poverty, and addiction, may they be comforted and supported by God’s healing love. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our departed loved ones and all of the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

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

June 30 2020 - First Martyrs of Rome - Blessed are the Christian Persecuted

Yesterday, we celebrated the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, both martyred in Rome, perhaps even on the same day. Peter and Paul were martyred, likely in the year 67, but they were not the first martyrs of Rome.

There were Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus; it is to them that Paul wrote his great letter to the Romans.

Little can be said with certainty about the social and economic situation of those original Roman Christians; they probably represented a cross-section of Rome’s urban population. It was probably a congregation consisting mostly of folks from the middle and lower classes—artisans, merchants, manual laborers, slaves and former slaves, with perhaps a modest number of affluent citizens and perhaps a one or two politically influential persons. They were probably a combination of Jewish and Gentile—Paul even refers to a few of his relatives in his letter, Prisca and Aquila.

Rome was somewhat tolerant to its Jewish citizens. They were exempt from offering the pagan sacrifices. As a foreign religion, some Romans viewed Judaism with disdain. Cicero, for example, referred to Judaism as a barbarous superstition. He did not consider it dangerous, merely uncultured.

So, when some of those Roman Jews and a handful of Gentiles become Christian, it probably didn’t cause much concern, as it did in Jerusalem. Perhaps, as time went on, rumors of the Christians claim that Christ was King and true God began to cause some concern in the imperial palace.

In July of 64 A.D., more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumor blamed the tragedy on the Emperor Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He, in turn, shifted the blame off of himself by accusing the Christians.  And so Nero ordered their arrest and execution.  Christians were rounded up, many were tortured, some were even crucified or thrown to wild beasts or burned at the stake.

The 1st century roman historian Tacitus wrote about the incident, “great multitudes of Christians were put to death”. Even Tacitus suggests that Nero made the Christians scapegoats for the fire.

Nero's was the first persecution by a Roman emperor, but certainly not the last.  But we celebrate and commemorate today those who were killed by that persecution, for their association with Christ. For their witness which must have impacted the early Church profoundly and continues to bolster our faith, 2000 years later.

“Blessed are those who are persecute you, and insult you, and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me, rejoice and be glad, for your reward is the kingdom of heaven.” As the world continues to oppose and conspire against Christ, against his Church, and against Christians, may we be counted among his friends, his disciples, his brothers and sisters. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.


 
That our bishops and clergy may be zealous in preaching and teaching the truth of the Gospel, and that our future bishop of the diocese of Cleveland may be a man of true faith and the Holy Spirit.

That people of faith remain vigilant in defending their religious liberty and that Christ may govern the minds and hearts of those who govern us. We pray to the Lord.

That we may never allow the witness of the martyrs to be in vain, but live lives worthy of their sacrifice.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all Christians persecuted for their faith around the world, 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 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, and for Richard Behlke & Catherine Strauss for whom this Mass is offered.

Heavenly Father, graciously hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church on this feast of the Roman Martyrs, through Christ, Our Lord.