August 16 2022 - St. Stephen of Hungary - "Apostolic King"

 

Around the year 1000, the disparate and often warring tribes of Celts, Romans, Huns, and Slavs were united into a Christian Kingdom under St. Stephen, first King of Hungary. Most of his people were still pagan, as was his own father, the family only having converted to Catholicism when Stephen was 10 years old. 

As his people were given to violence and revolt, Stephen guided his people toward peace and order by admitting Christian missionaries from Bavaria into his country.  The attempt to convert his people was met with hostility. His people wanted to hang on to their old religion and old pagan ways.  But Stephen fasted and prayed, he established monasteries and built churches.  He also made blasphemy and adultery crimes.  

Through his strict, yet benevolent rule, King Stephen brought about order and peace. He was a true evangelizer of his country.  He consecrated the nation to Mary, whom he called “the Great Lady”. He, himself gave religious instruction to the poor, and in view of his many good works and spread of the faith, the pope bestowed on him the title “Apostolic King.”  

A Hungarian parish here in the diocese of Cleveland, is named after St. Stephen’s son, St. Emeric.  Cleveland, in fact, is a hub in the united states for immigration from Hungary.  Cleveland was known as “Little Budapest” for many years, having the second largest Hungarian community outside of Budapest itself. 

Listen to these powerful words, St. Stephen wrote to his son, St. Emeric: “I urge you above all things to maintain the catholic and apostolic faith with such diligence and care that you may be an example for all those placed under you by God.”

In the Gospel today, we heard that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven. It’s hard, but not impossible. Wealth can be a serious obstacle to sanctity when it is loved more than God and neighbor. 

But there have been saints who were kings: St. Edward, Good King St. Wenceslas, St. Hedwig. And there have been a number of saintly queens: St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Clotilde, St. Margaret of Scotland. Even some saintly royal couples like St. Henry and St. Cunigunde.

These saints show us that whatever wealth and whatever earthly power we possess needs to be put under the subjection of the King of Kings. 

St. Stephen used his temporal power to build up the kingdom of God. He was not spared hardship or suffering, his evangelical efforts were met with resistance, but he entrusted his work to Our Lady, sought to conform himself with Christ, and fasted and prayed for the spread of God’s kingdom.  

By St. Stephen’s example and prayers, may we do all we can today, using whatever influence, gifts and talents God has granted us, for the spread of His Kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the flourishing of spiritual gifts in the Church and in our parish; and for the grace during this month of August to practice the virtue of humility in all of our relationships and interactions. 

For our young people preparing to return to school and for their teachers: that the Word of God might be cherished, studied, and practiced in every classroom and home. 

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 all peoples.

For those beset with any sort of trial, illness, or burden: that the Lord will build up his strength within them and assist them in their needs. 

That those who have died may share in the joy of life-everlasting with the Risen Lord,

especially the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the souls in purgatory...

Palm Sunday 2022 - The Messianic King who reigns from the Cross

 Many times throughout his ministry, Jesus refused public recognition for his miracles and holy works. For example, after healing the deaf man in Mark chapter 7, the Lord orders the onlookers not to tell anyone about the miracle, but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it. Another example, after his first public exorcism in the synagogue of Capernaum, Mark tells us that the Lord “warned them sternly not to make it known.” And another example, in John’s Gospel, after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, the people wanted to crown him king right then and there, but he withdrew into solitude. 

Why did the Lord so often guard his Messianic identity and refuse public fanfare? Part of it had to do with the expectations of many of his fellow Jews. In those days, when you said the word Messiah, it conjured up the image of a political revolutionary who would overthrow Israel’s enemies through military force. Much of Israel was expecting a Messiah King to liberate the Jews from Roman domination. So the Lord distances himself from this political, earthly understanding of being Israel’s Messiah and refused efforts to make him King of Israel.

So how do we understand what happened on Palm Sunday? As we heard in our gospel at the beginning of mass today, the Lord allowed the people of Jerusalem to give him this kingly reception: waving palms, singing sacred hymns, laying down cloaks. Palms were the symbol of military victory. 

Well, there is certainly some irony to all of this. Most of these people thought that the triumphal entry marked the beginning of the end for Rome. They likely imagined that this Nazorean carpenter would soon be meeting with other revolutionaries, planning the violent overthrow of Israel’s oppressors, beginning perhaps with Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor. But, the Lord enters the holy city in triumph, not to begin a military campaign, but to signal that the time had come for his campaign against sin and death

He is a king, but not the king they expected. He is the Messiah—the anointed one of God—but he has not come to carry out the violent overthrow of our political enemies, but to overthrow evil itself, by carrying our sins with him as he carried his cross, and allowing our sins to be crucified with him in his Passion and death.

This is why we proclaim both the gospel of the triumphal entry and the reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday. You cannot have one without the other. The waving of palms is a misguided gesture if you believe Christianity is about establishing an earthly kingdom through any means necessary or that Jesus came to usher in some earthly utopia or some supreme form of temporal government. No. He has not come for that. 

The Messiah goes to the cross for you and me and for all people of all places of all times to pay the price for our sins, to redeem our fallenness, without which there is no hope of heaven for anyone ever, no hope of reconciliation with God, no hope of eternal life. 

Again, He is a Messiah and He is a King, but it is not on Palm Sunday that his identity as messiah is most manifest, his identity as king is most glorious. To those with eyes of faith, his procession through the streets of Jerusalem, bloodied and beaten, weak and on the verge of expiring, with the burden of our sins and the sins of the world on his shoulders, is more beautiful, and more glorious, than the palm Sunday entrance five days prior.

We sing Hosanna to Him because what he does on Good Friday. Hosanna, offered to a king, not as an earthly platitude or lip service, but as divine worship, in gratitude for our salvation.

He goes to the cross to make the humble, total immolation of himself for our salvation. And this week, we at least owe it to Him, to keep our eyes and hearts fixed on Him. These are the High Holy Days of our Christian Faith. These are the days where we are to pray with the greatest intensity, fast with the greatest intensity, to show our love, to show our respect, to show our gratitude, to our King reigns not from some earthly throne, but from the cross, to our Messiah who defeats evil not through military means, but through self-emptying humble obedience to God. 

He gave all, he sacrificed all, he gave the best he had, for us.  May we do the same for Him this week, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.