October 14 2024 - St. Callistus and Christopher Columbus - God chooses the weak and makes them strong

 Often times, the Collect Prayers for the saints reflect something of their lives.  Today’s collect contained a prayer asking God to rescue us from the “slavery of corruption.” This is a reference to the fact that Pope Callistus, honored by the Church today, was once a slave.

Pope Callistus was originally born a slave in Rome in the late 2nd century.  Seeing natural intelligence in him, his slave-master appointed him to oversee a bank, but after a while the bank failed. Callistus, fearing that he would be killed due to the bank’s failure, fled Rome.  He was caught and sentenced to hard labor in the mines of Sardinia. But, as providence would have it, Callistus wasn’t in Sardinia long, thanks to the Pope, who bargained with the emperor to free many of the prisoners.

After his release, Callistus studied theology and became a deacon.  10 years later, Pope Zephyrinus summoned Callistus, to serve as his theological advisor. Callistus proved himself to be reliable and competent, and was himself elected Pope in 217. In 223, an anti-Christian riot swept through Rome, and Pope Callistus was martyred.

From slave to Pope; God works in mysterious ways. As St. Paul says, “God chooses the weak and makes them strong in bearing witness to Christ.”

We do not get to choose the details of our birth and status, but we do get to choose what we do with the gifts God has given us—our intellectual gifts, our creativity, the spiritual gifts we receive in our baptism. 

Our nation today celebrates Columbus Day. Columbus, a Catholic, utilized his genius, his curiosity and energy, to bravely venture into the unknown to explore this world. He was not motivated by greed or violence, but the desire for knowledge and to spread the Gospel. 

Christopher Columbus was not racist or imperialist or sexist or genocidal for wishing to spread Christianity to an unknown land and foreign people. And neither are we. For Christianity professes our belief in the fundamental value of every human life and a commitment to human flourishing by utilizing our God given gifts.  

We pray that the Lord may raise up countless Pope Callistus's and Christopher Columbus's, men and women of great faith, who are committed to using their gifts for the good of others, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That Catholics around the world will be ever more zealous in their preaching of the Gospel and manifesting the mercy of Christ for others.

For wisdom and mercy to guide the life of the Church, the decisions of government leaders, and the ordering of our personal lives.

That young people be inspired to respond generously to God’s call to sanctity, and for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

During this month of October, dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, may Catholics take up this devotion with renewed vigor and trust in Our Lady’s never-failing intercession.

For the Knights of Columbus and all who look to the inspiration of Christopher Columbus, may they continue in good works and be examples of virtue and faith.

For all victims of war, for hurricane victims and for all affected by flooding and severe weather conditions, and for those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know God’s sustaining grace.

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

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.

32nd Week in Ordinary Time 2023 - Tuesday - Wisdom and Slaves of God

 

This last Sunday, our first reading was taken from the book of Wisdom, and we will read from the book of Wisdom all this week.

The book, which is sometimes called, “The Wisdom of Solomon” was not written by Solomon who lived 1000 years before Christ, rather, the book of Wisdom was written just a century or two before Christ by an anonymous Jewish author who seems to have lived in the Greek city of Alexandria, Egypt, the world’s center of Greek learning at the time.

The title was not meant to deceive anyone, but to express the author’s admiration for Solomon and to claim to be a disciple and imitator of Solomon’s wisdom.

The book is a synthesis of ideas from Jewish religion and Greek philosophy and literature. Its main lesson is much like that of the rest of the Old Testament: we need to be faithful to God; when we are faithful, we are blessed; when we are unfaithful, there are consequences.

Today we read a passage that is often chosen for Christian funerals. Just from chapter 2 of the book, the biblical author is spelling out the eternal ramifications of faithfulness. Faithfulness, living by God’s wisdom, living justly, righteously, in a manner that gives proper obedience and honor to God, brings eternal reward: “the souls of the just are in the hands of God and no torment shall touch them.”

Wisdom puts the sufferings of our lives in perspective. Yes, the just will suffer in this life, but for the faithful, that suffering is more like the refinement of gold in a furnace, than a sign of God’s displeasure. We don’t suffer simply because we’ve been disobedient, but because suffering endured for the sake of righteousness cultivates blessedness.

Wisdom also brings consolation. It helps us even see death in its proper perspective. Death is not the end. When a just, faithful person dies, we shouldn’t despair because they go to God.

The Gospel today contained a parable in which the Lord deepens our understanding of the Christian’s relationship with God. In this parable, the Lord explains that a slave does not serve his master because he hopes to be rewarded for it, rather, he serves because it is his nature to serve. So, too for the Christian. Our baptism makes us servants of God, and what motivates us to acts of service, isn’t simply the hope of heavenly reward, but because it is now in our nature to do so, as it was the nature of the Son of God to do the will of the Heavenly Father.

The Christian is elevated in nature, but now also bound, and at the same time freed, to live entirely for God. 

May Divine Wisdom guide all of our actions this day, enabling us to live more freely for God in loving service of the Divine Will, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the U.S. Bishop gathering in Baltimore this week for their plenary meeting, for the Holy Spirit to govern their deliberations and conversations and given them courage and apostolic zeal for the true good of souls.

For an end to the violence and poverty that displaces so many people from their homes and homelands, and that migrants, refugees, and strangers in our midst, may know the kindness and compassion of our local Church.

That the Holy Spirit may raise up great saints in our own land, and give us missionary zeal for spreading the Gospel at home and abroad. 

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

We pray in a special way during this month of November for all the faithful departed, for those whose names are written in our parish prayer book, all deceased parishioners and benefactors of St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish, and our deceased family members and friends, deceased clergy and religious, for those who fought and died for our freedom and for 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 prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.