The Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity

From January 18 through January 25, Christians throughout the world keep the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The official material composed for it each year tends to be non-specific, as far as what we’re actually supposed to pray for (other than nice feelings and politeness) whereas the original prayers and intentions for the Octave of Prayer concentrate much more on the fact that unity according to the mind of Christ is a specific kind of unity.

The Octave was first conceived by Father Paul of Graymoor on 30 November 1907, before his entrance into the Catholic Church. The initial success in 1908 was so encouraging that he decided to promote it annually, and he regarded the Octave as one of the special means which brought his Society of the Atonement into the Church on 30 October 1909. It was given papal blessing by Pope St. Pius X on 27 December 1909, just two months after the Society of the Atonement had entered the Catholic Church. Other popes have given it their blessings over the years, including Pope St. John XXIII (who urged its observance more widely throughout the world) and Pope St. Paul VI (who had promoted it in his archdiocese when he was the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan). 

Father Paul considered the Octave as the greatest project which came from Graymoor, and even though it was overshadowed by the less-specific "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" during his own lifetime, he rejoiced that those separated from full communion with the Catholic Church felt called to observe the January period as a time of prayer for unity. Even though their concept of unity differs from that of the Catholic Church, it is significant that so many pray for that unity which God desires for His people.

The Octave, as originally conceived by Father Paul, reflects the unchanging truth that there can be no real unity apart from union upon that Rock, established by Christ Himself, which is Peter and his successors. For that reason, St. Peter is considered the special Patron of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity.

THE OCTAVE PRAYERS

ANTIPHON: That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in me and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.

V. I say unto thee, thou art Peter;

R. And upon this rock I will build my Church.

[Here is brought to mind the intention for the day's prayer.]

January 18: For the return of the "other sheep" to the One Fold of our Lord Jesus Christ.

January 19: For the return of the Eastern Orthodox Christians to communion with the Apostolic See.

January 20: For the return of the Anglicans to the authority of the Vicar of Christ.

January 21: For the return of all Protestants throughout the world to the unity of the Catholic Church.

January 22: That Christians in America (or, in my own country) may be one, in union with the Chair of Saint Peter.

January 23: That lapsed Catholics will return to the Sacraments of the Church.

January 24: That the Jewish people will be converted to the Catholic Faith.

January 25: That missionary zeal will conquer the world for Christ.

Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who saidst to thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: regard not our sins, but the faith of thy Church; and grant to her peace and unity according to thy will; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Pictured: "Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter"

by Peter Paul Rubens c.1700

Cana: God's Overflowing Grace

“There was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.”

-St. John 2:1, 2

The commemoration of the visit from the Wise Men only begins Epiphany. The Church actually links three events - the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Our Lord, and Christ's first miracle at the wedding in Cana – and together these are the Epiphany: the manifestation of the Divine, the showing of the God-Man to the world.

He had come to take away the sins of the world, and to restore the communion between God and man which had been lost as a result of the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. He came to enter into our lives fully. He is true God, yet He does not cut Himself off from the everyday joys and activities of our lives. In Cana, we see Jesus and His disciples sharing in a festive wedding. Even though we do not know the names of the bride and groom, we do know that our Lord was there and He was celebrating with them.

In the society of that time a wedding was a special occasion, just as it is in our own day, although many of the customs were different. There, the wedding festivities lasted for a whole week. The wedding ceremony itself took place late in the evening, after a feast. After the ceremony the young couple was conducted to their new home. They were taken there by as long a route as possible so that everybody could have the opportunity to wish them well.

The newly married couple would stay at home for the ensuing week.  They would keep an open house, with feasting and dancing for the whole community. In lives where there was so much poverty and constant hard work, this week of festivity and joy was a supremely bright and happy occasion. It was a joyful time that our Lord gladly shared, and to have run out of wine would have cut the whole thing short. It was Christ’s provision of the wine that allowed for it to continue.

It is not accidental that this first miracle – or what St. John calls a “sign” – takes place at a wedding feast. Marriage is an important image, being a symbol of that relationship that is between Christ and His Church. This miracle of turning the water into wine points ahead to the water and blood which would flow from our Lord on the cross, and it looks forward to baptism and the Mass, two sacraments which incorporate us and bind us to Christ. And it points even further ahead to the messianic banquet when Jesus will feast with all the members of the kingdom in heaven, in the age to come. Some of the earliest Christian works of art have depicted the wedding at Cana as the heavenly feast, the Supper of the Lamb.

Also, this sign is an expression of God’s overflowing grace – the supernatural help we receive from God to assist our growth in holiness – grace that is mediated to us especially through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this Gospel account it was the Blessed Mother who told her Son that there was no wine. It was she who interceded on behalf of those who were in need.

We know that God’s grace is full and overflowing, and this is symbolized in the story of the wedding when St. John tells us that there were six stone jars, each containing twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus commanded the servants to fill them all to the brim with water, a reminder that when the grace of Jesus comes to us there is more than enough for everyone and still much more left over. There is no need on earth so great that it could possibly exhaust the grace of Christ.

And not only is this grace full and overflowing, but its quality is always the best. Jesus touches a wedding and lifts it not just with the miracle but also with His presence. He took something ordinary and made it extraordinary.

He took a fisherman named Peter and transformed him into the Rock on which He has built His Church. He takes ordinary men and women, just like us, and He uses us as His instruments to evangelize and transform the world.

All we have to do is call on Him and be touched by Him and we will witness the fact that He takes something plain and ordinary and makes it extraordinary. If Jesus can turn the water into wine, He can certainly turn the sinner into a saint.

So often God reveals his glory to us in the least likely places – in a stable at Bethlehem, on a bloody cross at Golgatha, on the road to Emmaus, or at a village wedding party in Cana.

At Cana in Galilee we see the first public sign and miracle which Jesus performed. The Lord Jesus brought great blessing and joy to a newly-wed couple and their wedding party. Every miracle of Jesus demonstrates the power of God's love and mercy for His people. God's kindness knows no limits. And the ultimate expression of His love is revealed in the Person of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

He became flesh for our sake, He died for our redemption, and He rose that we, too, might be raised up and glorified with Him. As this miracle signifies the "new rich wine" of the Gospel, may we thirst for God and for the abundant life and blessings He offers to us.

And by the way, the key to living a life filled with blessings is summed up by our Lady herself: “Do whatever he tells you.”

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Pictured: "The Marriage Feast in Cana"

by Juan de Flandes (1460-1519)

St. Anthony of Egypt, Abbot

Before the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 312 AD, back in the days when Christianity was still a persecuted religion, the act of becoming a Christian meant that a person turned his back on security, prestige, popularity, and success as far as the world was concerned.

After the Emperor Constantine had changed Christianity from being a persecuted religion into one that was acceptable to society, and it became fairly easy to be a Christian, many who were serious about their faith felt that they needed to make a bigger sacrifice. As a result, some of them wanted to show their Christian commitment by leaving society and going out into the desert to become hermits, where they could devote themselves to a life of solitude, fasting, and prayer. Although this had begun to happen even before Christianity became legal, after Constantine this “going out into the desert” was seen more and more. One of the earliest examples is St Anthony of Egypt, who is considered to be the founder of Christian monasticism.

St Anthony of Egypt was the son of Christian parents, and from them he inherited a large estate. On his way to church one day, he found himself thinking about the words of Jesus, where He said, "Sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and come follow me." When he got to church, he heard the preacher speaking on those very words. He took this as a message from God for him, so having provided for the care of his sister, he gave his land to the tenants who lived on it, and gave his other wealth to the poor, and became a hermit, living alone for twenty years, praying and reading, and doing manual labor.

As more Christians sought out that solitary life, they tended to gravitate towards the place where St Anthony was, so in the year 305, he decided to give up his solitude, and he became the head of a group of monks, living in a cluster of huts or cells, devoting themselves to communal singing and worship, to prayer and study and manual labor under Anthony's direction. They weren’t there simply to renounce the world, but they wanted to develop their lives of prayer for others, and they worked with their hands to earn money so they could give it to the poor, and they gave spiritual guidance to those who sought them out.

In 321, Christians in Alexandria were beginning to experience persecution again, this time by the Emperor Maximinus – even though the Christian faith had been made legal by Constantine – and Anthony visited Alexandria to encourage those who were facing the possibility of martyrdom. He visited again in 335, when Arianism had become strong in the city, and he converted many by his preaching and testimony, and by prayer and the working of miracles. What we know of Anthony’s life we learn from the writings of St Athanasius, one of the followers of St Anthony. It was Athanasius who said about Anthony: "No one ever met him grieving, without failing to go away rejoicing."

Anthony died after a long, prayerful life in 356. He was 105.

Most gracious God, who didst call thy servant Anthony to sell all that he had and to serve thee in the solitude of the desert: grant that we, through his intercession and following his example, may learn to deny ourselves and to love thee before all things; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Painting: St. Anthony, Abbot

Nicola di Maestro Antonio d'Ancona

c. 1465 - 1511

A Journey to Remember

Forty-four years ago, on the feast of St. Anthony of Egypt, my family and I arrived in San Antonio from Rhode Island. We had driven for almost five days, having left New England during a major snow storm. We arrived with our (then) three very young children, our dog, and whatever supplies we could pack in around them.

Times and circumstances then were less kind. On the day we left Rhode Island I was removed from the clerical ranks of the Episcopal diocese – officially deposed – because of my intention to enter the Catholic Church. My salary had been terminated, we were immediately stricken from all diocesan insurance policies, and even my small pension plan had been confiscated.  We faced the future with nothing but the conviction that we were doing God’s Will.

As we approached San Antonio, we were entering the unknown. I wasn't sure even how to start this new work ahead of us, nor did anyone else, because it had not been done before. But we had come to implement the Pastoral Provision of Pope St. John Paul II, which would eventually be transformed into the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, established by Pope Benedict XVI.

Those were difficult days, beginning a parish from scratch, but they were exciting days, too. We were doing something worthy, a new work with no precedent. Big challenges led to little victories, as the seed we had come to plant was nurtured by God.

Our lives were changed as a result of that journey forty-four years ago, and by God’s grace, the lives of countless others were, too. Now a new generation has taken up the work, as those of us from the early years fade into the background. The rough paths we had to hack out of the wilderness are now paved thoroughfares, carrying ever-increasing traffic.

Forty-four years in the life of the Church is scarcely a blip on the screen, but to me it seems almost a life-time ago. And now, from the vantage point of a quiet retirement, my prayer is for those who continue the work, that what began with difficulty and sacrifice may, in the words of our Lord, continue to "gather the fragments that nothing be lost."

Cleansing the Leper

A leper came to Jesus beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people." But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

- St. Mark 1:40-45

The scriptures - both Old and New Testaments - make it clear that there was no disease that caused more terror than the disease of leprosy. It meant a condemnation to a slow death, and it meant total social ostracization, too.

Jesus treated it with the same seriousness that society viewed it. When He sent the twelve disciples out, he commanded them to “heal the sick, cleanse lepers.”

The fate of the leper was truly horrible. The body becomes covered with ulcers; the appearance is changed over the course of time, losing the human look. The voice becomes hoarse; fingers and toes are lost. It really is a kind of “living death.”

Because of all of this, the leper was pronounced to be “unclean” and he was banished from living within society. He had to live apart, either alone or with other lepers. If anyone came close to him, he was required to shout out “Unclean, unclean...” So the leper had to bear not only the physical pain of his disease, but also the mental anguish of being completely banished from family, friends, and society in general.

This particular case outlined in Mark’s Gospel gives a revealing picture of Jesus: The leper described in this passage had broken the law when he approached Jesus, which was strictly forbidden. However, Jesus simply met this desperate act with understanding and compassion. He actually reached out and touched him, even though it was the general belief that physical contact with a leper was contagious. But Jesus knew well that he wasn’t unclean. He was simply a human being in desperate need. Then, having miraculously cleansed him, Jesus sent him to fulfil Jewish law by going to the temple priest. He would need a certificate to show that he was clean.

The Gospel makes it clear that Jesus didn’t defy conventions; rather, He submitted to them. But while fulfilling human requirements and expectation, we see divine compassion, power and wisdom, as Christ made this broken man whole again, healing him both in body and in soul.

Christ the Healer

“At that time: Jesus left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered together about the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him pursued him, and they found him and said to him, ‘Every one is searching for you.’ And he said to them, ‘Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.’ And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.”

- St. Mark 1:29-39

Just before the events recounted in this section of St. Mark’s Gospel Jesus had been in the synagogue where He had spoken to the people and where He had cast out the evil spirit from the man who was suffering. When the synagogue service ended He went a short distance away to the house of Simon Peter. Peter’s wife’s mother was there, very sick with fever, and our Lord healed her of this sickness.

These things our Lord had said and done couldn’t be concealed. The manifestation of such great power and authority wasn’t something that could be kept secret, and so that evening there were crowds gathering outside Simon Peter’s house, people wanting to experience Christ’s healing touch. And as they came, so Jesus healed.

In these Gospel readings early in Epiphanytide we’ve already seen Jesus healing on three different occasions and in three different circumstances. First, He healed in the synagogue; second, He healed in the house of Simon Peter; third, He healed outside in the street. The people were flocking to Jesus because they recognized in Him one who could actually do things. There were plenty of religious leaders who could talk and expound and lecture and preach; but here was one who dealt not only in words but also with action.

But there is the beginning of trouble here. The crowds came, but they came, for the most part, because they wanted something out of Jesus. They didn’t come because they loved Him; they didn’t come because they had caught a glimpse of some new vision; in the last analysis they wanted to use Him.

One of the very important lessons for us in what we see in this excerpt from the Gospel is that God isn’t someone to be used only in difficult times, but He is someone to be loved and worshipped and obeyed every day of our lives.

When A Loved One Dies

Jesus went to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." And he came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his people!" And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

- Luke 7:11-17

Why did Jesus raise this young man from death? Was it just so that this widowed mother could have her son back? Certainly, that was the immediate result of Christ’s action - but that wasn’t the primary purpose of it all. Rather, Jesus was using a very human and tragic situation to show the world that He is Lord of all - that death is no match for his power, that death has no sting, that the grave has no victory, in the face of Christ’s divine power.

This is what we believe. We bring to God in prayer all those who have died, and we commend them to His merciful keeping, knowing that for those who are being cleansed in purgatory, they live with the sure hope of eternal life. And while the purgation may be difficult, nonetheless they live in the splendid hope that they are being prepared for the Beatific Vision, when they will see God face to face. 

We do not need folk tales and fables to soften the difficulty of handing our loved-ones over to God in death. Rather, we come to God in the clear knowledge that because of the power of Christ’s resurrection, all the faithful departed have that same promise, that Christ has prepared a place for them - and with the help of our prayers, so our departed loved ones are being prepared to claim that place as their own.

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Painting: "Raising the Widow's Son"

by James Tissot (1836-1902)

St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor

In the early years of the Church it was constantly persecuted by outside forces – sometimes by groups of Jews, frequently by the civil government – and that persecution continued until the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the year 312. But scarcely had the days of bloody persecution ended, when there arose up within the Church a most dangerous enemy of another sort, Arianism. 

The heresy of Arianism denied the divinity of Christ; it was, in fact, hardly more than a form of paganism masquerading as the Christian Gospel. The smoldering strife soon flared into a mighty conflict endangering the whole Church; and its spread was all the more rapid and powerful because emperors, who called themselves Christian, proved its best supporters. Once again countless martyrs sealed in blood their belief in Christ's divinity; and orthodox bishops who voiced opposition were forced into exile amid extreme privations.

Among the foremost defenders of the true faith stood Hilary. He belonged to a distinguished family and had received an excellent education. Though a married man, he was made bishop of Poitiers by reason of his exemplary life. It was not long before his valiant defense of the faith precipitated his exile to Phrygia. Here he composed his great work on the Blessed Trinity (in twelve books). It is a vigorous defense of the faith, which, he said, "triumphs when attacked." 

Finally, after four years he was permitted to return to his native land. He continued his efforts, and through prudence and mildness succeeded in ridding Gaul of Arianism. Because of his edifying and illustrious writings on behalf of the true religion, the Church honors him as one of her doctors.

He wrote to his fellow bishops, “Be ready for martyrdom! Satan himself is clothed as an angel of light.” A favourite motto of St. Hilary was, "Servants of the truth ought to speak the truth."

Almighty, everlasting God, whose servant Hilary steadfastly confessed thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to be very God and very Man: grant that we may hold to this faith, and evermore magnify his holy Name; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

St. Benedict Biscop, Abbot

St. Benedict Biscop is not the best known saint, by any means. He did not suffer for the faith, and in fact he lived fairly comfortably when compared to his contemporaries. But he had a sense of destiny, not just for himself, but for his people. He was (as hagiographers are so fond of saying) “of noble birth." He served his king and he was rewarded with his own land grant. His was the typical “local lad makes good” story.

It could have stopped there. A young man, a property owner, a good Catholic boy, who might have settled down and married the maiden next door, have a passel of children, pass into old age and a quiet death, unknown except to those closest to him. And that would have been fine, if God hadn’t had other plans for him.

Benedict Biscop wanted to travel. He wanted to go to Rome. There was a deep desire within him to make his own kind of ad limina. Saints had lived there, and they had died there, and he wanted to see it, experience it, soak it in for himself. He wanted to pray at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. He wanted to take in the beauty of it all. And he did, not only once, but several times. In fact, much of his life was spent traveling back and forth to Rome, and what he saw there he wanted to carry back to his own people. And that he did too. Art, liturgy, theology, music, everything he experienced in that great city of faith was something he knew would benefit his people in cold, far-away Northumbria.

This was part of the spiritual genius of St. Benedict Biscop, that great music, great art, great architecture should not be limited to the great centers of civilization. God intends it for us all. He has created us with a hunger for such things. The good abbot built the first stone structure his people had ever seen. He brought the finest continental glaziers to wild Northumbria to give his monastery unheard-of glass windows. He filled the place with paintings which served as poor men’s books. He established the expectation of learning amongst his monks, astonishing even them with what they could accomplish. His work reached even a young boy named Bede who came and never left.

When it comes to fitting out God’s house, and the worship offered within it, it takes godly imagination, obedience to Catholic tradition, a readiness to reach higher than one thought possible, a desire to do all things well for God. It was done by Benedict Biscop then, and we can do it now.

O God, by whose gift the blessed Abbot Benedict left all things that he might be made perfect: grant unto all those who have entered upon the path of evangelical perfection; that they may neither look back nor linger in the way; but hastening to thee without stumbling, may lay hold on life eternal; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Christ's Baptism: At One With Us

Like so many other pious Jews, our Lord Jesus Christ came to John and let him baptize Him. At first consideration it seems strange that He would have done that. If Jews were receiving John’s baptism as a sign of repentance and to mark a new beginning, why would Christ go through it? As the sinless Incarnate God, He certainly had nothing for which He had to repent, and as the eternal Son of God – in Whom is no beginning and no end – He would not be marking a new beginning. So we can understand John’s initial hesitation. God had already revealed to John the real identity of Jesus, so of course John would protest the whole idea of baptizing Christ.

When we put together all the Gospel accounts of the baptism of Christ, we learn a number of things.

The scripture is clear in telling us that the Lord was baptized “when all the people were baptized.” In other words, it was done publicly, at the same time as others were being baptized. When Christ was baptized, He looked like the countless other Jews who were lined up along the Jordan River. And this is an important point: although He was the Incarnate Word of God, outwardly Jesus led a life like the lives of other Jews. As an infant He was circumcised, and then was presented in the Temple in accordance with traditional Jewish practice. He took part in the customary pilgrimages to Jerusalem. He attended the synagogue, and He worked like other Jewish men. Nothing particularly distinguished Him from those around Him – so much so, that later on during His earthly ministry, people began to ask, “Where does He get these ideas? Isn’t He the son of Joseph the carpenter? Isn’t Mary His mother? Don’t we know His family?” To all outward appearances, Jesus was a typical Jewish boy who grew into typical Jewish manhood, faithfully following the demands of the Law.

And this principle applies to His baptism, too. Christ wanted to make it clear that He was truly “at one” with those He had come to save. Certainly He had no sin or guilt for which He had to ask pardon; rather, His baptism was a profound expression of union with mankind. And this is reason enough for His baptism to be important to us. It shows Christ to be one of us. It reminds us that He knows our deepest needs. He knows our longing to be forgiven and to be restored to a right relationship with God. But His baptism proclaims much more than that.

The Gospel tells us that the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended, and the Father’s voice said “You are my Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The prophet Isaiah had foretold this generations before, when he wrote, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him.” And ever since that prophecy the people had been looking for the coming of this servant. He would be a servant who would inaugurate a new age. He would “bring forth justice to the nations.” In Him, the old darkness would be swept away, and the new age of God’s light would dawn. This servant would “open the eyes that are blind.” He would “bring prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” No more would mankind have to grope blindly for the truth, hoping to find God. Now God would seek out man, and would come to him. And in Christ, God had come very near indeed; in fact, He was in the world, even though the world did not recognize Him.

With the baptism of Jesus something new was beginning, something that would give mankind access to God in a way which had never existed before. It was as though every twisting thread of history was converging at this point, when Jesus was publicly manifested as the Son with whom the Father was well-pleased. Christ was the long-awaited Servant who had come to do the Father’s will. And the Father’s will is to open the way of salvation to the whole world – not just to the Jews, but to everyone.

In this baptism, the first public act of His earthly ministry, Christ wanted to manifest His closeness and unity with us. He wanted to emphasize the unique importance of what He had come to do. He wanted it to serve as a pledge that He would strengthen us in all that God has called us to do as a result of our own baptism.

HEAVENLY Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ did take our nature upon him, and was baptised for our sakes in the river Jordan: mercifully grant that we, being regenerate and made thy children by adoption and grace, may also be partakers of thy Holy Spirit; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Painting: "Baptism of Christ"

by Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834-1890)

St. Raymond of Peñafort

St. Raymond of Peñafort lived to be a hundred years old, and with such a long life, he had the opportunity to do many things.  He certainly took full advantage of all the time God gave him on this earth. St. Raymond was born into a Spanish family of noblemen, which meant that he had the resources and the education to get a very good start in life.

By the time he was twenty, St. Raymond was teaching philosophy. By the time he was little more than thirty years old he had earned a doctorate in both canon law and civil law. When he was forty-one he entered the Dominican order. Pope Gregory IX called him to Rome to work for him and to be his confessor. One of the things the pope asked him to do was to gather together all the decrees of popes and councils. St. Raymond compiled five books called the Decretals, and this was really the beginning of an organized system of canon law for the Church. In fact, since St. Raymond’s work, there was no other actual Code of Canon Law organized until 1917.

St. Raymond wrote a book for confessors which was a collection of various situations and sins, and in this book he discussed the different doctrines and laws of the Church which would be applied in the various cases – a work which was very helpful to confessors.

At the age of sixty, St. Raymond was appointed archbishop of Tarragona, the capital of Aragon. It was a position which he found to be very difficult.  It caused him to become sick and after two years he resigned.

The peace he felt from that resignation was soon over, however, because when he was sixty-three he was elected by his fellow Dominicans to be the head of the whole Order, the successor of St. Dominic. St. Raymond worked hard, visited on foot all the Dominican houses, reorganized their constitutions, and managed to put through a provision that a master general be allowed to resign. When the new constitutions were accepted, St. Raymond, then sixty-five, resigned as the head of the Dominicans. He still had thirty-five years ahead of him, and he spent those years very productively, opposing heresies and working for the conversion of the Muslims who were occupying Spain.

The most famous miracle associated with him was when St. Raymond accompanied the King of Aragon on an expedition to Majorca. While they were there the saint rebuked the king for giving public scandal. However, finding that his rebuke had no effect on the king, Raymond prepared to return to Barcelona. The king attempted to keep St. Raymond on the island by force, but the saint put his mantle into the sea.  With his staff serving as a mast, and he sailed on his mantle, like a boat, the nearly one hundred miles back to the mainland. On reaching Barcelona, St. Raymond took up his mantle, which was perfectly dry, and was transported through the locked doors of the convent and beyond the astonished crowd that had witnessed his landing. Touched by the miracle, the King of Aragon renounced his evil ways and forevermore led a good life.

O God, who didst appoint blessed Raymond excellently to minister the Sacrament of Penance, and didst wondrously make for him a passage upon the waves of the sea: grant, we pray thee; that, at his intercession, we may bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, and be found meet to attain to the harbour of everlasting salvation; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Painting: "St. Raymond of Peñafort"

by Tommaso Dolabella (1570-1650)

The Magi

Who were the Magi? They were the first Gentiles to believe in Christ, and were guided by a mysterious star which led them from the East to the village of Bethlehem, where they found the Infant Jesus.

They are called "sages" or "wise men" in the New Testament, but the idea that they were kings first appears in Christian tradition in the writings of Tertullian, who called them "fere regis," or "almost kings." This became generally accepted by the sixth century, because of the implication of Psalm 72, which speaks of the kings of Tarshish, Arabia, and Saba, "who shall bring presents." The New Testament says nothing of how many there were, although the traditional number of three was first ascribed by Origen, based upon the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Their names (Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar) are first mentioned in the sixth century, and are also included in the writings of the Venerable Bede. In the Middle Ages the Magi were venerated as saints, and there are relics enshrined in the cathedral in Cologne.

But what do the Magi teach us? Surely, the overwhelming lesson is the absolute importance of complete and utter adoration. These three had traveled great distances and risked both physical danger and the wrath of Herod himself just to kneel before the Incarnate Word of God. All we need to do is to go to the nearest Catholic Church, where the same Christ waits for us in the tabernacle. O come, let us adore Him: Christ the Lord!

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Pictured: "The Three Wise Men" 

by Joseph Christian Leyendecker, (1874-1951)

The Dawn of Christ's Light

"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you,” Isaiah wrote thousands of years ago, and so the prophet foretold the dawn of God's light on each one of us as we come to a fuller knowledge His Son.

By the rising of Jesus Christ upon us, we are able to rise from weakness and to shine with the reflected glory of God. When we do right in the Name of Christ, we shine with His light, and we know that the darkness has no claim on us at all. We know that His light will take away even the shadows in our lives, so that we can call God not only our Creator, but also our Father. More even than this – because we belong to the Light of the World – every single day of our lives is a new opportunity to grow in His light, so that we can become more and more like Him.

Our lives are given to reflect God's glory, and this is the noblest and most blessed purpose of all. We are, in a mystical way, to be an “epiphany” of Christ, so that the whole world can see His glory in our lives.

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Painting: "Adoration of the Magi"

by John Duncan (1866-1945)

St. André Bessette

Brother André, whose baptismal name was Alfred, was born into a poor working family in 1845 in Canada, and both his parents had died by the time he was twelve. He was adopted by his aunt and uncle, but when he was fourteen they had moved to California to seek their fortune in the gold rush, leaving him to fend for himself. Young Alfred was sickly, and his bad health made it difficult for him to keep a job for very long, so he wandered from farm to farm and town to town in Canada and also in the United States, picking up odd jobs as he went. Finally he came to the Holy Cross Brothers in 1870. He carried with him a note from his pastor saying, "I am sending you a saint." The Brothers found that difficult to believe. The Holy Cross Brothers were teachers and, at 25, Alfred still did not know how to read and write. Alfred had no place else to go and so was in a desperate situation, but he was also prayerful and deeply devoted to God and Saint Joseph. He may have had no place left to go, but he believed that was because this was the place where he should have been all along.

The Holy Cross Brothers took him into the novitiate but soon found out what others had learned – as hard as Alfred (now Brother André) wanted to work, he simply wasn't strong enough. They asked him to leave the order, but André, out of desperation again, appealed to a visiting bishop who promised him that André would stay and take his vows as a Religious Brother.

After his vows, Brother André was sent to Notre Dame College in Montreal (a school for boys age seven to twelve) as a porter. There his responsibilities were to answer the door, to welcome guests, find the people they were visiting, wake up those in the school, and deliver mail.

In 1904, he surprised the Archbishop of Montreal by requesting permission to build a chapel to Saint Joseph on the mountain near the college. The Archbishop refused to go into debt and would only give permission for Brother André to build what he had money for. What money did Brother André have? Only the nickels he had collected as donations for Saint Joseph from haircuts he gave the boys; nickels and dimes from a small dish he had kept in a picnic shelter on top of the mountain near a statue of St. Joseph with a sign "Donations for St. Joseph." He had collected this loose change for years but he still had only a few hundred dollars. Who would start a chapel now with so little funding?

André took his few hundred dollars and built what he could – a small wood shelter only fifteen feet by eighteen feet. He kept collecting money and went back three years later to request to do more building. The Archbishop granted him permission to keep building as long as he didn't go into debt. He started by adding a roof so that all the people who were coming to hear Mass at the shrine wouldn't have to stand out in the rain and the wind. Then came walls, heating, a paved road up the mountain, a shelter for pilgrims, and finally a place where Brother André and others could live full-time to take care of the shrine and the pilgrims who came.. Through kindness, caring, and devotion, Brother André helped many souls experience healing and renewal on the mountaintop. There were even cases of physical healing. But for everything, Brother André thanked St. Joseph.

Despite financial troubles, Brother André never lost faith or devotion. He had started to build a basilica on the mountain but the Depression had interfered. When he was ninety years old he told his co-workers to place a statue of St. Joseph in the unfinished, unroofed basilica. He was so ill he had to be carried up the mountain to see the statue in its new home. Brother André died soon after on January 6, and didn't live to see the work on the basilica completed. But he died in peace, having helped hundreds of thousands of people by strengthening their faith, and by giving honor to the foster-father of our Lord.

O Lord our God, who art friend of the lowly and who gavest to thy servant, Saint André Bessette, a great devotion to Saint Joseph and a special commitment to the poor and afflicted: help us through his intercession to follow his example of prayer and love, and so come to share with him in thy glory; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, was founded by St. Andre Bessette, and grew out of his great devotion to the Foster-father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here are two hymns in honour of St. Joseph:

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Text: Fr. Christopher G. Phillips, 1991

Music: "Stuttgart" adapted by C. F. Witt, 1715

1. Holy Joseph, Intercessor,

Unto thee God's children sing;

Be our Patron and Protector,

To God's throne our praises bring.

2. Faithful Spouse of faithful Virgin,

Lover of God's purity;

From thy worthy place in heaven,

Pray that we may faithful be.

3. Guardian of the Word Incarnate,

Silent guide of God's own Son;

Guard our hearts and lead us onward

To the life that Christ has won.

4. Humble man in lofty station,

God has shed His grace on thee;

Pray such grace to us be given,

That we live eternally.

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Text: Fr. Christopher G. Phillips, 1992

Music: "Bread of Heaven" by William D. Maclagan, 1875

1. Blesséd Joseph, Guardian mild,

Who didst love the Holy Child,

Show thy love to us who pray,

Shield us from all harm this day:

Foster-father of the Word,

Keep us close to Christ our Lord.

2. Great Saint Joseph, Patron bold

Of the Church from days of old,

Give us courage strong and new,

To proclaim God's Gospel true:

Foster-father of the Word,

Keep us close to Christ our Lord.

3. He Whom thou didst guide in youth,

We receive in very truth;

In this Sacrament of love,

We are one with thee above:

Foster-father of the Word,

Keep us one with Christ our Lord!

St. John Neumann, Bishop

This American saint was born in Bohemia, which today is within the Czech Republic, in 1811. He completed his seminary formation, and was looking forward to being ordained in 1835, when his bishop decided there would be no more ordinations. It is difficult for us to imagine now, but Bohemia had more priests than they needed. John wrote to bishops all over Europe but the story was the same everywhere: no one wanted any more priests. He was sure he was called to be a priest but all the doors to follow that vocation seemed to close in his face. But John didn't give up. He had learned English by working in a factory with English-speaking workers, so he wrote to the bishops in America. Finally, the bishop in New York agreed to ordain him. So John left his homeland, and sailed to America, knowing he would probably never return to his home again.

In New York, Fr John Neumann was one of 36 priests for 200,000 Catholics. His parish in western New York stretched from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania. He spent most of his time traveling from village to village, climbing mountains to visit the sick, staying with different families, or in taverns and inns along the way, finding places to teach the Faith, and celebrating the Mass at kitchen tables.

Because of the work and the isolation of his parish, the young priest felt the need to be part of a community, and so he joined the Redemptorists, a congregation of priests and brothers dedicated to helping the poor and most abandoned.

Fr John Neumann was appointed bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. As bishop, he was the first to organize a diocesan Catholic school system. Sharing the same vision as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John Neumann was a founder of Catholic education in this country, and he increased the number of Catholic schools in his diocese from two to 100.

He had a great ability to learn languages, and he was able to learn Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch, so that he could hear confessions in at least six languages. When Irish immigration started, he learned Gaelic so well that one Irish woman remarked, "Isn't it grand that we have an Irish bishop!"

He spent all his energy on being a great bishop to his people, and he lived very simply. He was only forty-eight years old when he died. He is buried in Philadelphia, in St. Peter’s Church, where pilgrims venerate his tomb and ask for his prayers.

O God, who didst call the Bishop Saint John Neumann, renowned for his charity and pastoral service, to shepherd thy people in America: grant, by his intercession; that, as we foster the Christian education of youth and are strengthened by the witness of brotherly love, we may constantly increase the family of thy Church; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.