The Solemnity of the Annunciation

At the Annunciation, God sent His messenger, the archangel Gabriel, to announce to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would bear the Incarnate Son of God, and it would be Jesus who would take human flesh from her, to bring salvation into the world. When Mary heard these words, she was filled with awe and wonder, and she asked for clarification: “How can this be…?” When Gabriel told her that it would be by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded by saying, “Let it be unto me according to thy word.”

That is an important phrase, “Let it be…” It takes us back to creation itself, when by the word of God, all things came into being.

In the beginning, God said “Let there be light,” and there was. God brought into being everything there was – by His word there came into being all of creation, including man himself. In fact, creation itself is the larger context for the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

As God spoke His creative word in the beginning, so in our remembrance of the beginning of the Incarnation we call to mind Mary’s words, “Let it be…. Let it be unto me according to thy word.” The Virgin Mary’s words, “Let it be,” echo God’s words, “Let there be.” It is, in a way, the continuation of creation and the beginning of our salvation. 

God says, “Let there be…” and His word brings forth creation.  Mary says, “Let it be,” and her words bring forth the Incarnate God into the world.

We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts: that, as we have known the Incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an Angel; so by his Cross and Passion we may be brought unto the glory of his Resurrection; 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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Pictured: "The Annunciation" by Arthur Hacker, 1892 

St. Turibius of Mogrovejo

Together with St. Rose of Lima, St. Turibius is among the first of the known saints of the New World, serving the Lord in Peru, South America, for twenty-six years.

Born in Spain and educated for the law, he became so brilliant a scholar that he was made professor of law at the University of Salamanca and eventually became chief judge at Granada. He was a great success, but he was about to enter upon a surprising sequence of events.

When the archbishopric of Lima in Spain's Peruvian colony became vacant, it was decided that Turibius was the man needed to fill the post. It was generally agreed that he was the one person with the strength of character and holiness of spirit to heal the scandals that had infected that area. Turibius cited all the canons that forbade giving laymen ecclesiastical dignities, but he was overruled. He was ordained priest and bishop and sent to Peru, where he found colonialism at its worst. The Spanish conquerors were guilty of every sort of oppression of the native population. Abuses among the clergy were wide-spread, and he devoted his energies (and his suffering) to this area first.

He began the long and arduous visitation of an immense archdiocese, studying the language, staying two or three days in each place, often with no place to sleep, and little or no food. He made his confession every morning to his chaplain, and he would then celebrate Mass with tremendous devotion. Among those to whom he gave the Sacrament of Confirmation was Saint Rose of Lima, and most likely Saint Martin de Porres. After 1590 he had the help of another great missionary, Saint Francis Solanus.

His people, although they were very poor, also had a sense of personal pride, and they were unwilling to accept public charity from others. Turibius solved the problem by helping them himself, anonymously.

When Turibius undertook the reform of the clergy, along with unjust officials, he encountered tremendous opposition. Some tried to "explain" God's law in such a way as to make it appear that God approved of their accustomed way of life. He answered them in the words of Tertullian, "Christ said, 'I am the truth'; he did not say, 'I am the custom."'

O God, who gavest increase to thy Church through the apostolic labours and zeal for truth of the Bishop Saint Turibius: grant that the people consecrated to thee may always receive new growth in faith and holiness; 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.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church

Our knowledge about St. Joseph is not extensive, and yet enough is known to reveal his character. What we know of him, we know from the Gospels, and it is there that we see him to be a man who was determined to do what is right in the sight of God, and to do it in a kindly way. 

He was betrothed to Mary, and according to Jewish practice, betrothal was as sacred as marriage. Because of that, any infidelity before the actual marriage would be treated in the same way as infidelity after marriage: death by stoning was the punishment for such sins. By all human appearance, Joseph's beloved betrothed was in just such circumstances, and he had to act in the way that seemed best. Certainly, he was a just man, but he was a kind man, too, and surely what Mary told him made a great demand on his faith. But that is the point: Joseph was, above all, a man of faith and completely obedient to the divine will of Almighty God. 

When it was revealed to him that Mary was to bear the Incarnate Son of God he took her to be his wife. There was no hesitation, no consideration of what others might think or how they might judge. It mattered little to him that it was assumed he was the human father of this Child -- not that he would have encouraged others to believe such a thing, for he knew the truth -- but it was better than having people think that Mary had shamefully conceived with someone else, and so Joseph took the responsibility, knowing that one day the truth would be known, and that Truth "would make men free." It is in this very situation, brought about by God Himself, that Saint Joseph's justness and kindness are both revealed.

His justness is shown in that he was a devout servant of God, and he ordered his life according to the standard of that law which had been revealed to the Jewish nation. He sought to please God in all things, even when it meant that he would be misunderstood or even harshly judged by the world. And because justness does not exclude kindness, his response to the revelation that Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit was one of deep gladness and joy, and so he took his place in God's plan without fear or hesitation. This place was not one of glory; rather, it was one of quiet reserve. Whether on the way to Bethlehem, or in the stable, or at the Child's circumcision on the eighth day, or in the Temple when He was presented, or in everyday life in Nazareth, Joseph simply was there. Loved and respected both by the Incarnate Son of God and by the Mother of God, he was a man of deep piety and gracious character.

Within Saint Paul's Cathedral in London is the tomb of its architect, and on that tomb are the words, "If ye seek his monument, look around you." How much more impressive are those words when they are used of Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. There could be no greater remembrance of Joseph's holy life, than that glorious Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ, the foster-son of the quiet, just, kind man of God.

O God, who from the family of thy servant David didst raise up St. Joseph to be the guardian of thine incarnate Son and the spouse of his Virgin Mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to thy commands; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Illustration: "St. Joseph and the Weeping Infant Jesus"

by Charles Bosseron Chambers (1882-1964)

Lent IV: Bringing Light to the Darkness

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay.

- St. John 9:1, 6

Although He is God Incarnate, our Lord’s earthly ministry was pretty simple. With a touch, a word, Jesus made profound changes in people’s lives. Cutting to the heart of a matter, He would bring His divine power into the situation, and things would never be the same.

His ministry, demonstrated with such power during His time on earth, continues through the Catholic Church which He founded. And as He acted simply, so the same principle continues. With a little water, or some bread and wine, or with a trace of oil, or a touch of consecrated hands, His holy will is accomplished. Lives are changed, bodies and souls are made whole, and God’s presence is manifested in the world.

One day our Lord came across a man who had been born blind. His was a difficult life. He had been reduced to begging. His parents had lived with the guilt of wondering if the common opinion of the day was true, that perhaps his affliction was due to some sin they had committed. He had become so anonymous in his suffering that those who were accustomed to his begging rarely even looked at him any longer.

When Jesus saw him He had pity and stopped to heal him. Our Lord’s actions were simple, almost crude. He spat on the ground and He made a clay of the spittle and the dirt. He took the clay and put it on the blind man’s eyes and then told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, just a short distance away. So the man did as he was told. With spittle and dirt smearing his face, and still blind, he made his way through the streets to do as Jesus had told him, without questioning. Through these simple actions, his sight was restored. God acted; a man responded, and he was made whole. A man was touched by God and so was able to begin a new life, both with his physical sight, and more importantly, with a greater spiritual sight.

But then something ugly happened. Those who had little interest in the man when he was blind now had plenty to say. “Is this really the same man?” the Pharisees scoffed. Assured that he was, they demanded to know how he had received his sight. When they were told, the Pharisees declared, “It cannot be from God because it was done on the sabbath.” They even asked the man himself, and when he told them that the one who had healed him must be a prophet, the Pharisees became indignant. How could this beggar presume to teach them!

Jesus heard this, and He pointed out to them all that He gives spiritual sight to those who are blind, and He blinds those who, in their pride, think they can see. The Pharisees demand to know if He thinks they are blind. And Jesus gave them a simple answer: “If you really were blind then you would have no sin; but you claim to be able to see, and so you remain in sin.”

Here’s a case of there being “nothing new under the sun.” Has there ever been a time when God has presented His truth without it being questioned or made more complicated than it really is?

God, in revealing Himself to us, has acted in a way which certainly is astounding and deep, but which is at the same time simple and clear. He has taken upon Himself human flesh from the Virgin Mary. He has taken upon Himself our sin and has died on the cross for our salvation. He has conquered death by rising from the dead. He has given us access to the fruits of His death and resurrection through the sacramental ministry of the Catholic Church.

And what does He require of us? We are to acknowledge our own sinfulness and unworthiness of His gifts, and we are to make every effort, with His grace, to live our lives in conformity with His divine will. And He makes His will clear to us in the teaching of His Church. Living the Christian life certainly is demanding, and yet it really is quite simple and clear.

But we have Pharisees in our own day who attempt to complicate and confuse things. What God has done in Christ Jesus is called into doubt by some. The requirements of the Christian life as defined by the Church are made confusing and subjective by others. There are those who set themselves as teachers who claim that it’s only they who truly see. And yet, they are the very ones whom Jesus would call blind – blind to the real truth of what God has done, blind to the real demands of the Christian life.

Faced with the good news of Christ Jesus we should respond as the blind man did: “I was blind, but now I see.” We are children of the Light, and God has shone His light upon us in all its fullness.

The simple truth is this: once we were in darkness, but in Christ we can turn away from the darkness towards God’s Light. God has come to us so that we can come to Him. Christ died so that we can live. We’re to be slaves to God’s law so that we can be truly free.

Jesus said, “I come into the world to give sight to those who cannot see, and to make blind those who think they can see.” We’re called to live in that clarity of vision which comes from embracing the fullness of the Gospel in all its simplicity.

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Painting: “Christ Healing the Blind Man” by El Greco (1541-1614)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem loved to study the Holy Scriptures from the time he was a child, and he made such progress that he became known for his deep faith. He was eventually ordained priest by St. Maximus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and he was given the work of preaching to the faithful and instructing those preparing for baptism. His Catechetical Instructions, which explain clearly and fully all the teaching of the Church, still exist today for us to read. His treatment of these subjects is so distinct and clear that he refuted not only the heresies of his own time, but also, by a kind of foreknowledge, he was able to expose heresies which would develop later. Upon the death of Patriarch St. Maximus, Cyril was chosen to be bishop in his place.

As bishop he endured many injustices and sufferings for the sake of the faith at the hands of the Arians. They could not bear his strenuous opposition to their heresy, and so they told lies about him, and drove him into exile. They were so violent against him that he fled to Tarsus in Cilicia, but eventually, with a new emperor and the death of many of his enemies, Cyril was able to return to Jerusalem, where he taught his people and led them away from false doctrine and from sin. If once wasn’t enough, he was driven into exile a second time under the Emperor Valens, but eventually peace returned to the Church, and the Arians were once again brought under control, so he was able to return again to Jerusalem. The earnestness and holiness with which he fulfilled the duties of being bishop were evident in the strength and holiness of the Church in Jerusalem.

Tradition states that God gave a sign of His divine blessing upon the spiritual leadership of Cyril by granting the apparition of a cross, brighter than the sun, which was seen by pagans and Christians alike. Another marvel happened when the Jews were commanded by the wicked Emperor Julian to restore the Temple which had been destroyed. They no sooner began the work when an earthquake happened and great balls of fire broke out of the earth and consumed the work, so that Julian and the Jews were terrified and gave up their plan. This had been clearly foretold by Cyril. He lived long enough to see the Arian heresy condemned, and he died as a beloved and holy bishop, eventually acknowledged to be a doctor of the Church.

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that at the intercession of thy blessed Bishop Saint Cyril, we may learn to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent; that we may be found worthy to be numbered for ever among the sheep that hear his voice; 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. Patrick, Bishop and Confessor

St. Patrick is known as the Apostle to Ireland. His specific place of birth isn't known, except that it was someplace in Britain. Some claim he was born in England, others say he was born in Scotland, and still others claim he was born in Wales. Wherever his birth took place, the year was about 385, and his parents were Romans, living in Britain, because his father was overseeing the Roman colonies in Britain.

When Patrick was fourteen or so, he was captured during a raid being carried out by Irish invaders, and he was taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. During his time of captivity, he learned the language and practices of the people who held him, and even though he was among them as a slave, he began to love the Irish people.

Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty years old, and he then escaped, after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. When he reached the sea, he found some sailors who took him back to Britain, and he was reunited with his family.

The time came when he had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him, "We beg you, Patrick, to come and walk among us once more."

He began his studies for the priesthood, and he was eventually ordained. Subsequently Patrick was consecrated to the episcopacy, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in Ireland on March 25, 433, and he came upon a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted this chieftain, and he then began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick's message.

St. Patrick preached throughout Ireland for some forty years, working many miracles and writing of his love for God in his “Confessions.” After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring great suffering, he died on March 17, 461.

O Almighty God, who in thy providence didst choose thy servant Patrick to be an apostle to the people of Ireland, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of thee: grant us, by his intercession, so to walk in that light; that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; 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 of St. Patrick by William Laurel Harris (1870-1924), 

Church of St. Paul the Apostle, New York City.

Perfect Forgiveness

[At that time] Peter came up and said to Jesus, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”

- St. Matthew 18:21, 22

Jesus goes right to the heart of the question of how many times forgiveness should be given.  His answer is like an arrow into the unbelieving, calculating, unforgiving heart. "Not seven times but seventy times seven." That’s the answer: give perfect forgiveness and multiply it without measure.

After all, that’s what we ask from God, isn't it? We who confess that we have sinned in “thought, word and deed…" We certainly don’t want limits on God's forgiveness, and so we’d better not place limits on the forgiveness required of us.

And then Jesus tells a parable about the king who forgave a servant’s huge debt, but that same servant refused to forgive a small debt owed to him by a fellow servant. When the king heard about it, he had that first servant thrown into jail until he paid off all the debt. And then Jesus makes His point: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

They sound like harsh words – startling words – and if we were harbouring a grudge against someone and withholding forgiveness from someone, these words of Jesus are words that would convict us.

But we need to understand. With those words Jesus isn’t intending to hurt us or make us feel badly about ourselves.  Actually, He intends to stop us in our tracks; to crush those hardened, unforgiving hearts of ours so that His forgiveness can come first to us, and then through us to our neighbour. Jesus wants to rescue us from a lack of forgiveness.

Why is that important? An unwillingness to forgive hurts most the person who refuses to forgive. We may well think that we’re hurting those who have hurt us, but we wind up only hurting ourselves. It’s rather like punching yourself in the nose because someone insulted you. “That'll teach them,” as we wince in self-inflicted pain. Unwillingness to forgive is a spiritual cancer that eats away at our souls, it demeans us, it robs us of vitality and joy, it drives us to say and do things that are beneath our dignity as God's children. It diminishes us, it makes us small.

Marriages are diminished when husband and wife don’t forgive each another on a daily basis. Families are diminished when parents and children don’t forgive each another. Our schools and workplaces and communities are diminished when we don’t forgive our neighbors and co-workers. Parishes are diminished when those who come together to receive the Lord Himself are, at the same time, at each other's throats, trying to get even for some perceived slight or injustice.

A lack of forgiveness is a hardening of the heart, a clog in the artery of faith. When we refuse to forgive, we put ourselves in opposition to God and we destroy our own desire to be forgiven. People who harbour grudges are not often found on their knees confessing their sins before God. People who try to settle the score for every wrong done to them rarely acknowledge the score God settled when He hung on a cross to pay the price for their sinfulness. Those who refuse to be reconciled with others ultimately refuse to be reconciled God.

We should remember this: Jesus forgave those who plotted to kill Him. He forgave the soldiers who spit on Him, He forgave those who slapped Him, who pulled at His beard and who whipped Him. He absolved those who crucified Him. "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."

And He forgives us. It’s in the strength of His forgiveness that He sends us out as instruments of His forgiveness, conduits of His undeserved kindness to sinners, to let His forgiveness flow freely to others through us, just as we have been forgiven by God.

The Curing of Naaman

When Jesus had come to Nazareth, he said to those in the synagogue, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away.

- St. Luke 4:24-30

In this passage from St. Luke’s Gospel Jesus refers to the healing of Naaman the Syrian. Naaman was a great military leader, but he had leprosy. Naaman's slave-girl was a young Jewish woman who had faith in God and compassion for Naaman her master. She urged him to seek out Elisha, the great prophet of Israel, and ask for healing.

When Naaman went to the land of Israel in hope for a cure for his leprosy, the prophet Elisha instructed him to bathe seven times in the Jordan river. At first, Naaman was indignant. He expected that there would be much more in being healed than just going into the Jordan River. After all, there were better rivers than that in Syria. But Naaman’s advisors pointed out to him that if he had been asked to do something really involved and more difficult, then he would have. Instead, Elisha had asked him to do something simple, and he felt insulted! Naaman got their point and followed the prophet's instructions. In doing so he was immediately restored to health.

There are many lessons we could learn from this, but an important one is for us to understand what God is asking of us, and then to do it. And in many ways, what God asks of us is fairly simple.

What does He lay out for us to do?

We need to be faithful in receiving the sacraments He has given us. When we sin, we need to repent and confess it. We need to stop and think carefully before we speak or act. We need to choose to be obedient to God’s commandments.

These things are simple. They may not be easy, but they are simple. And if we do them faithfully, we will have that wholeness – the spiritual health – God wants for us.

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Pictured: Bronze and enamel plaque depicting the Cure of Naaman, c.1150

Lent III: Living Water

If you were to go about forty miles by road north of Jerusalem, you would come to the modern city of Nablus, which is the site of the ancient city of Shechem. There’s a practical reason why people have lived in this place for so many centuries, and that’s because of water – water which from the earliest days was drawn from what is known as Jacob’s Well.

To reach Jacob’s Well today you must enter a very beautiful Orthodox church. Near the front there are stone steps which descend below the altar. After making your way down, the well is there, just as it was on that day when Jesus came to it.

It was about noon. He was tired and thirsty from His travelling. As He rested at the edge of the well, a woman came to draw water. Now, that in itself was rather odd. Most women would have come to draw water in the cool early morning, before the sun rose too high in the sky. They would take their supply of water home with them so that they could get on with their day’s work, rather than waiting for the hottest part of the day to go to the well. But there was a reason for this particular woman to have come at noon, when she thought no one else would be around – and that reason was revealed in Christ’s conversation with her.

Jesus asks her for a drink. She’s amazed that He would ask her. In the culture of that day and time, no man would speak to an unaccompanied woman, much less would he ask her for something. And in addition to that, she was a Samaritan, and the Jews had nothing to do with the Samaritans because they considered them to be unclean half-breeds, unworthy of any contact whatsoever with God’s chosen people.

She asks Him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” And it’s then that Jesus begins to get to the divine nature of this encounter. He says to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water...” He spoke of a water which is more powerful, more satisfying than any natural water that could be drawn from this well, no matter how historic a well it might be.

She misses the point, probably because she has a mind which is more practical than it is curious. “Give me that water,” she says. She figures that if she didn’t get thirsty again, then she wouldn’t have to make the daily trek to the well. Our Lord, of course, sees that she hasn’t grasped what He’s talking about, so He goes immediately to the cause of her spiritual deafness. Getting right to the point, He brings up the reason why she has to come to the well at a time when others aren’t around. “Go call your husband,” He says. Then the truth about her life comes out. She has no husband, but she’s had five men whom she has called her husband, and the man she’s presently living with isn’t her husband. She didn’t need a road map to figure this out – there’s something unique about this Jew who had asked her for water, and it’s as though a light went on for her – she sees Him at last as He truly is; namely, the Christ. So she runs off to tell others about her discovery.

Those are the bare facts of the encounter, and it was a meeting unique to this Samaritan woman. And yet, there’s a kind of universality about it, because Christ’s encounter with every individual is an echo of this encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well.

As He asked her for a simple kindness, so He asks every one of us for a particular service through the specific vocation He gives to each of us. Each of us has been called by God to use what we have and what we are, to serve Him, to build up His Kingdom, to make Him better known to those around us.

And too often our response is as the Samaritan woman’s was. “Why would you ask me, Lord? Why would you single me out to do something for you? Why would you want me to tell others about my faith? Why would you want me to get involved in that charitable work?” Instead of being eager to respond, we act surprised, and we start excusing ourselves. “I couldn’t do that,” we tell ourselves. “I’m so busy.” “I’m too shy.” “There are others who would be better at it.” We’ve got all the excuses memorized. But remember what Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman? That if she knew who it was who was doing the asking, she would have responded immediately? We do know who’s doing the asking. And the Church tells us that God gives the necessary grace to those who respond to the vocation which is given. Remember, God never asks us to do something without giving us the means to do it.

At first the Samaritan woman was deaf to Christ’s words to her, and all too often, so are we. For her that day by Jacob’s Well, the most necessary thing was for her to see her own sinfulness before she could move on from there and tell others about Christ. And that’s an important part of our own encounter with Him. We need to acknowledge our sinfulness, and our complete dependence on God. That was the point of this conversation at Jacob’s Well, and that’s the point of Christ’s daily encounter with each of us: to help us see our need for Him, so that we can move on into the real life He has in store for us.

When we live for Christ, when we try to do His will in all things – that’s when we’ll have that well of water springing up in us – that water which is eternal life. We’re right in the middle of Lent. God has asked us to especially scrutinize our lives, to face up to our own sins and our own shortcomings, and with His grace, to do something about it. This is the time for us to confess our sins, to renew our devotion, to live in real humility, and to grasp hold of the life that God wants for us – a life which is infused with the Holy Spirit, a life which reflects the holiness to which we’re called, a life which is saturated with the living water of eternal life in Christ.

Because of what Jesus said to her at the well that day, the Samaritan woman came to know that He was, indeed, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And when she grasped the knowledge, she told the world about it. That’s our job, too – to tell the world about Christ, through our words and our actions and the holiness of our lives. That’s our vocation – it’s a holy calling which will lead us, and those around us, to eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Painting: "The Woman at the Well"

by Rolinda Sharples (1793-1838)

Photograph: Jacob's Well

St. Frances of Rome

Lest we forget that God's plan for us is always best, just look at the life of St. Frances of Rome. She was a child born into privilege in the latter part of the 14th century, with parents who had the means to give her a very comfortable life. Young Frances was keenly aware of society's poor around her, and she had the good desire to give herself to the alleviation of their suffering by entering religious life and dedicating herself to this mission. Her parents had other ideas, and apparently so did God.

A young nobleman was selected by her family, and Frances was expected to marry him. She threw herself into prayer, asking God to deliver her from what she saw as a terrible fate. In fact, she was so persistent in this that her confessor asked her a difficult but important question: "Frances, are you really praying to do God's Will, or are you trying to make God bend to your will?"

That simple question brought about a profound change in Frances. With some reluctance, she married the young nobleman, and to her surprise the marriage turned out to be very happy. They had three children, and she found that her husband was perfectly willing for her to carry out an apostolate to the poor. In fact, she discovered that her sister-in-law had the same desire to serve, and the two were able to work together and pray together, eventually inspiring others to join in their good works. The group of women became a quasi-religious community, and when Frances was widowed she was able to go and live with them, sharing a common life of work and prayer.

St. Frances also had the great comfort of being able to see her Guardian Angel, and she was careful in following the angelic guidance she received.

Frances came to realize that God had given her far more than she had asked for. She had a happy marriage, and she was able to fulfill her desire for religious life, too. That's the way it is with God. He always gives in abundance, albeit in unexpected ways. All we need to do is follow Him in love, and pray as our Lord Himself did, "...not my will, but Thine be done."

O God, who amongst other gifts of thy grace, didst honour blessed Frances, thy handmaid, with the familiar converse of an Angel: grant, we beseech thee; that by the help of her intercession, we may be worthy to attain unto the fellowship of the Angels in thy heavenly kingdom; 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. Frances of Rome"
from the school of Federico Zuccaro, 18th century

St. John of God

St. John of God was born at the end of the 15th century. From the time he was a child he tended to be a very impulsive person. When he was prompted to do something, he usually stuck with it, no matter what – which is fine, if the prompting comes from God, but it can make life difficult if it is something from one's own imagination.

When he was only eight years old, John heard a someone talking about all the adventures there were out in the world, and so young John took it into his head to run away to seek his fortune. He never saw his parents again, but instead spent time on the road, begging his way from village to town, until he became very sick. A kind man and his family nursed him back to health, and John stayed with them, working as a shepherd until he was 27 years old. 

Feeling the urge to travel again, John joined the Spanish army, which was at that time in a war against France. As a soldier, he was hardly a model of holiness, taking part in the gambling, drinking, and the wild life along with his comrades. One day, he was thrown from a stolen horse near French lines. Frightened that he would be captured or killed, he reviewed his life and vowed impulsively to make a change.

He took on all sorts of physically hard work – unloading ship cargoes, building fortifications, anything he could find to earn a living. He would work hard all day, but then in the evening he would visit churches, and spend time reading spiritual books. Reading gave him so much pleasure that he decided that he should share this joy with others. He quit his job and became a book peddler, traveling from town to town selling religious books and holy cards. Finally, when he was 41 years old, he came to Granada where he sold books from a little shop.

After hearing a sermon on repentance, he was so overcome by the thought of his sins that the whole town thought he had become mentally disturbed. After hearing the sermon John rushed back to his shop, tore up any secular books he had, gave away all his religious books and all his money. With his clothes torn and constantly crying, he was the target of insults, jokes, and even stones and mud from the townspeople and their children.

Some friends took him to a hospital for the insane. Eventually, the priest who had preached the sermon that had affected John so much, came to see him, and told him that he had gone on like this quite enough, so John was moved to a better part of the hospital where he was free to move about. Although still a patient, he began to help the other sick people around him. In fact, this experience made him decide to start his own hospital for the poor and those who had no one to care for them. He had no money for a building, so he went to the poor and homeless wherever they were – in abandoned buildings or under bridges – and he called those places his hospital. He continued to beg for money, and eventually found a very poor house which gave him a location where he could bring the sick and nurse them.

One day he heard that the hospital where he had been a patient was on fire. He immediately ran there and found that no one was doing anything. He entered the building and carried out the patients one by one, and then went back in to get as much of the contents as he could. As the fire burned more fiercely, he fell through the weakened timbers, and everyone thought he was dead – but almost miraculously, he walked out of the flames, unhurt.

John was ill himself when he heard that a flood was bringing precious driftwood near the town. He jumped out of bed to gather the wood from the raging river. Then when one of his companions fell into the river, John without thought for his illness or safety jumped in after him. He failed to save the boy and caught pneumonia. He died on March 8, his fifty-fifth birthday, of the same impulsive love that had guided his whole life.

John of God is patron saint of booksellers, printers, heart patients, hospitals, nurses, the sick, and firefighters and is considered the founder of the Brothers Hospitallers.

O God, who didst cause blessed John, by the fire of thy love, to pass unhurt amid the flames, and through him didst enrich thy Church with a new offspring: grant, by the pleading of his merits; that our vices may be healed by the fire of thy charity, and that we may obtain thine eternal healing; 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: "San Juan de Dios salvando a los enfermos
de incendio del Hospital Real"
by Manuel Gómez-Moreno González (1834–1918)

Ss. Perpetua, Felicitas, and Companions

With the lives of so many early martyrs shrouded in legend, we are fortunate to have the record of the courage of Perpetua and Felicity from the hand of Perpetua herself, her teacher Saturus, and others who knew them. This account, known as "The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity," was so popular in the early centuries that it was read during liturgies.

In the year 203, Vibia Perpetua made the decision to become a Christian, although she knew it could mean her death during Septimus' persecution. Her surviving brother (another brother had died when he was seven) followed her leadership and became a catechumen as well.

Her father was frantic with worry and tried to talk her out of her decision. We can easily understand his concern. At 22 years old, this well-educated, high-spirited woman had every reason to want to live -- including a baby son who was still nursing. We know she was married, but since her husband is never mentioned, many historians assume she was a widow.

Perpetua's answer was simple and clear. Pointing to a water jug, she asked her father, "See that pot lying there? Can you call it by any other name than what it is?" Her father answered, "Of course not." Perpetua responded, "Neither can I call myself by any other name than what I am -- a Christian."

This answer so upset her father that he attacked her. Perpetua reports that after that incident she was glad to be separated from him for a few days -- even though that separation was the result of her arrest and imprisonment. Perpetua was arrested with four other catechumens including two slaves, Felicity and Revocatus, along with Saturninus and Secundulus. Their catechist, Saturus, had already been imprisoned before them.

She was baptized before taken to prison. Perpetua was known for her gift of "the Lord's speech" and receiving messages from God. She tells us that at the time of her baptism she was told to pray for nothing but endurance in the face of her trials.

The prison was so crowded with people that the heat was suffocating. There was no light anywhere and Perpetua "had never known such darkness." The soldiers who arrested and guarded them pushed and shoved them without any concern. Perpetua had no trouble admitting she was very afraid, but in the midst of all this horror her most excruciating pain came from being separated from her baby.

The young slave, Felicity was even worse off, not only suffering from the stifling heat, overcrowding, and rough handling, but she was eight months pregnant.

Two deacons who ministered to the prisoners paid the guards so that the martyrs would be put in a better part of the prison. There her mother and brother were able to visit Perpetua and bring her baby to her. When she received permission for her baby to stay with her, she said "my prison suddenly became a palace for me." Once more her father came to her, begging her to give in, kissing her hands, and throwing himself at her feet. She told him, "We live not in our own power but in the power of God."

Meanwhile Felicity was also in torment. It was against the law for pregnant women to be executed. To kill a child in the womb was shedding innocent and sacred blood. Felicity was afraid that she would not give birth before the day set for their martyrdom and her companions would go on their journey without her. Her friends also didn't want to leave so "good a comrade" behind.

Two days before the execution, Felicity went into a painful labor. The guards made fun of her, insulting her by saying, "If you think you suffer now, how will you stand it when you face the wild beasts?" Felicity answered them calmly, "Now I'm the one who is suffering, but in the arena there will be Another with me, suffering for me, because I will be suffering for him." She gave birth to a healthy girl who was adopted and raised by one of the Christian women of Carthage.

There was a feast the day before the games so that the crowd could see the martyrs and make fun of them. But the martyrs turned this all around by laughing at the crowd for not being Christians and exhorting them to follow their example.

The four new Christians and their teacher went to the arena (the fifth, Secundulus, had died in prison) with joy and calm. Perpetua in usual high spirits met the eyes of everyone along the way. We are told she walked with "shining steps as the true spouse of Christ, the darling of God."

When those at the arena tried to force Perpetua and the rest to dress in robes dedicated to their gods, Perpetua challenged her executioners. "We came to die out of our own free will so we wouldn't lose our freedom to worship our God. We gave you our lives so that we wouldn't have to worship your gods." She and the others were allowed to keep their clothes.

The men were attacked by bears, leopards, and wild boars. The women were stripped to face a rabid heifer. When the crowd, however, saw the two young women, one of whom had obviously just given birth, they were horrified and the women were removed and clothed again. Perpetua and Felicity were thrown back into the arena so roughly that they were bruised and hurt. Perpetua, though confused and distracted, still was thinking of others and went to help Felicity up. The two of them stood side by side as all five martyrs had their throats cut.

Perpetua's last words were to her brother: "Stand fast in the faith and love one another."

O Holy God, who gavest great courage to Saints Perpetua, Felicitas and their Companions: grant that, through their prayers, we may be worthy to climb the ladder of sacrifice, and be received into the garden of peace; 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.

Second Sunday in Lent: Transfiguration

It was an astonishing sight for Peter, James, and John, when they saw the Lord Jesus Christ radiating His divine glory, talking with Moses and Elijah. He manifested His glory, the glory that was His as the only begotten Son of the Father - God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.

His face shone like the sun. His clothing became blinding and brilliant, whiter than any bleach on earth could bleach them. His divine nature shone through His humanity, making it clear that our Lord Jesus Christ is at once true God and true man. But He isn't like two things that are mixed together to form a third thing. He isn’t a hybrid of God and man. He is neither a “super man” nor is He a lesser god. He is the God-man, the unique Person in whom the fullness of the Deity dwells in human flesh and blood. That's what the disciples glimpsed on the mountain that day. They saw Jesus in His glory as God shining through His humanity.

And this is an important point about Jesus. His divine nature is never without His human nature. So, when we say that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament, we mean that He is present as the God-man.  Both His divine and human natures are present. Of course, there are some who deny this. They say that His presence is simply symbolic or spiritual – but what God has joined we must not separate. We must leave Jesus whole, and not try to pull Him apart. We cannot have a human Jesus sometimes, and a divine Jesus at other times. Either He is the God-man in the crib, on the Mount of Transfiguration, on the cross, at the right hand of the Father, and in the Blessed Sacrament, or else He is not the One who mediates between God and man. He touches our humanity and the Father's divinity, and He does it without dividing Himself.

In Christ, God was born of a virgin mother. In Christ, a man shone with the glory of God on the mountain. In Christ, God suffered on the cross. In Christ, a man reigns over all things at the right hand of the Father.

This means when Jesus deals with us, He deals with us according to our humanity, in a flesh and blood way. He comes to us under the outward signs of simple bread and wine. He speaks to us through words spoken by a human mouth which enter our hearts and minds by way of our physical ears. He uses things like water and oil to give us eternal life and healing. He deals with us in earthy and ordinary ways. He honours our humanity by becoming human and engaging us as human beings, as the creatures of God that we are. It is through the human flesh of Jesus that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us.

Jesus is the true Light that shines into the darkness of this world. He is the Light that shines into the darkness of death, the Light that shines into the darkness of everything that we fear.  It is the very same Jesus who was laid in a manger, who was carried in Simeon's arms in the temple, who was changed in appearance before His three disciples, who hung on the cross, who died and was buried, who was raised from the dead and now lives and reigns. It's all one and the same Jesus, whether He is gloriously gleaming like the sun or ingloriously dying in the darkness.

And at every single Mass we come into that same glorious presence of Jesus Christ together with the angels and the archangels and all the company of heaven. At every Mass we are setting foot on the mountain with Jesus. At every Mass we receive forgiveness, life, and salvation. At every Mass Christ comes to preach His Word of forgiveness to us and to feed us with His Body and Blood. At every Mass something greater than the transfiguration takes place. The same Jesus is present for us as He was for His disciples on the mountain. The only difference is that we cannot see Him as the apostles did that day.

Nor would we want to see Him, really. The sight of Jesus in His glory would be too much to bear. Peter was left talking about making booths. In the Book of the Revelation, St. John the Divine saw Christ in all His glory and fell at His feet like a dead man. As Scripture says, "no one may look on God and live." But Jesus is kind and gentle toward us. He reserves His full blast of glory for the Last Day.

For now, He comes hidden in humility. He is so hidden that sometimes people pass Him by without noticing. But the voice from the cloud draws our attention on where it needs to be: namely, on Jesus. "This is my beloved Son. Hear Him." As great as was this vision of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus in His glory, the center and focus is always Jesus alone. The voice of the Father declares Him to be His beloved Son, just as He did at His Baptism. He directs our ears to His voice. "Listen to Him." Listen to Him because He alone has the words of eternal life. Listen to Him because His words are Spirit and they are life. Listen to Him because He is God's word of undeserved kindness to us. In the former times God spoke by the prophets, by Moses and Elijah. But now in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son Jesus Christ.

Where Jesus is, Moses and Elijah slip into the background. When Jesus speaks, Moses and Elijah become silent. With the Father's voice having spoken from the cloud, the gospel says that the disciples "saw no one but Jesus only."

Only Jesus. That's what the Mount of Transfiguration is all about. That's what the sacraments are all about. Only Jesus. Only He is God's beloved Son. Only He shines with the glory of God through human flesh and blood. Only He bore our sins in His own body nailed to the tree. Only He sits at the right hand of the Father to pray for us, to forgive us, to give us life in His Name. Only He reveals the glory of God to save us and deliver us.

And as Jesus has His way with us, we too are being transfigured, changed from the inside out, changed to be like Him. For now, that work is hidden under weakness. But on the Day when Jesus again appears in glory for all the world to see, He will change our bodies to be like His glorious body.

And what a Day of Transfiguration that will be! Our Lent will be changed to Easter. Our weakness will be transformed into strength. Every tear will be wiped away, and there will be no sorrow which is not turned to joy, as He brings about a “new heaven and a new earth,” restoring all things to Himself.

O God, who before the Passion of thy Only Begotten Son didst reveal his glory upon the holy mount: grant unto us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Behold our Lord transfigured,

In Sacrament Divine;

His glory deeply hidden,

'Neath forms of Bread and Wine.

Our eyes of faith behold Him,

Salvation is outpoured;

The Saviour dwells among us,

by ev'ry heart adored.

No longer on the mountain

With Peter, James and John,

Our precious Saviour bids us

To walk where saints have gone.

He has no lasting dwelling,

Save in the hearts of men;

He feeds us with His Body,

To make us whole again.

With Moses and Elijah,

We worship Christ our King;

Lord, make our souls transfigured,

Let us with angels sing.

Lead us in paths of glory,

Give tongues to sing thy praise;

Lord Jesus, keep us faithful,

Now and for all our days.

Text: Fr. Christopher G. Phillips, 1990

Music: "Ewing" by Alexander C. Ewing, 1853

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Painting: "The Transfiguration of Jesus"

by William Brassey Hole (1846-1917)

St. Casimir

St. Casimir known to the people of Poland as "The Peace-maker," was the third of the thirteen children of Casimir IV, King of Poland. Casimir was devout from the time he was a little child, and was known for his life dedicated to prayer and penance. Although he was part of the royal family, he often made his bed on the ground, and he would spend much of the night in prayer and meditation, especially on the passion of Christ. He always wore very plain clothing, and under them he wore a hairshirt.

Because he lived constantly in the presence of God, Casimir always seemed serene and cheerful, and pleasant to everybody. He had a tremendous love of the poor, whom he saw as members of Christ's body, and he was known for giving his possessions away to relieve the suffering of the poor.

Throughout his life he had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he would often recite a long and beautiful hymn to the Virgin Mother – a hymn we know in English as "Daily, daily sing to Mary."

There came the time when the noblemen of neighboring Hungary became dissatisfied with their king.  In 1471 they went to King Casimir of Poland, the father of St. Casimir, to allow them to place young Casimir on the throne. At that time, Casimir hadn’t yet turned fifteen years old, and he really wanted no part of the plan, but in obedience to his father he set out towards Hungary at the head of an army.

As they got closer, Casimir’s soldiers heard that the King of Hungary had assembled a large and strong army, and so Casimir’s army began to desert and go back home. Casimir had been given no money by his father or the Hungarian noblemen, so he wasn’t able to pay his soldiers to stay. It became obvious that Casimir wasn’t going to be able to march into Hungary with any kind of an army at all, so on the advice of his officers, he decided to return home to Poland.

King Casimir was very angry with his son Casimir. He had wanted to see his son on the throne of Hungary, because that meant he could control that country, as well as be King of Poland. As young Casimir got closer to home, his father had troops meet him, and instead of allowing the young boy to go to his family in Cracow, his father imprisoned him in a dark, musty castle.

Young Casimir accepted that with great patience, and let his father know that he would stay in the castle dungeon forever, before he would ever take up arms again. His father finally released him, and Casimir returned to his life of study and prayer, but his life of penance and his time in the dungeon, meant that he developed a disease of the lungs, and he died when he was only twenty-six years old. He was buried at the Church of St. Stanislaus in Vilna. Many miracles were reported at his tomb, and he was canonized in 1521.

O God, who, amidst the pleasures of a temporal kingdom, didst endue thy blessed Saint Casimir with constancy to resist all temptations: grant, we beseech thee; that by his intercession, thy faithful people may learn to despise all things earthly, and to seek earnestly after all things heavenly; 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.

St. Katharine Drexel

Katharine Drexel was born in Philadelphia in 1858, into a very wealthy and prominent family. She had an excellent education and traveled widely. As a rich girl, she had a grand debut into society. But her life was radically changed when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness, and she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death.

She had read a book about the plight of the American Indians, and how difficult their lives were. Once, when she was on a tour of Europe, she met Pope Leo XIII and she asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming, where a family friend was the bishop. The pope said to her, "Why don't you become a missionary?" His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities.

When she returned to America, she visited the Dakota Indian tribe, met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Native American missions.

She could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O'Connor, she wrote in 1889, "The feast of Saint Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored." Newspaper headlines screamed "Heiress gives Up Her Millions!"

After three and a half years of training, she and her first band of nuns (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament) opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations followed. By 1942 she had a system of African American Catholic schools in thirteen states, plus forty mission centers and twenty-three rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she established fifty missions for Native Americans in sixteen states.

Two saints met when she was advised by Mother Cabrini about the "politics" of getting her order's rule approved in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans, the first university in the United States for African Americans.

At seventy-seven, she suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently her life was over. But then came almost twenty years of quiet, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations and meditation. She died at ninety-six and was canonized in 2000.

- from various sources

O God of love, who didst call Saint Katharine Drexel to teach the message of the Gospel and to bring the life of the Eucharist to the Native American and African American peoples: by her prayers and example, enable us to work for justice among the poor and the oppressed; and keep us undivided in love in the Eucharistic 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.