SCCR Parish Blog

  I've always been fascinated by the saints of the English persecution of the 17th century -- both priests and laymen and women who gave their lives so that priests could celebrate Mass and hear confessions in the era where the royal crown put priests to death for administering the sacraments. Here's a brief story from the National Catholic Register about a layman, Nicholas Owen, who was a carpenter who built many "priest holes" (hiding places within homes to prevent the royal army from capturing these renegade priests) before he was eventually hanged for it. 

  There are a lot of great saints in February.  More on them later. But here a few short bio's of two saints who overcame great adversity because of their faith. St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita (both February 8th).

  I'm just a bit late with this: Yesterday, we celebrated the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the great 13th century friar, scholar and doctor of the church.  He is without question one of the greatest theologians in Church history.  Fortunately, he wrote prodigiously and we still have his writings, hymns, Scripture commentaries and more. Below is a brief snippet from the breviary (the Church's daily prayer book) with his reflections on how the Cross encompasses all the virtues (habits of holiness) which we strive for.  This is also available online at universalis.com From a conference by Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest The Cross exemplifies every virtue Why did the Son of God have to suffer for us? There was a great need, and it can be considered in a twofold way: in the first place, as a remedy for sin, and secondly, as an example of how to act.   It is a remedy, for, in the face of all the evils which we incur on account of our sins, we have found relief t...

I highly recommend the Magnificat devotional magazine.  In addition to all the Mass prayers offered day by day, they have inspirational short reflections and commentaries on the great religious art of the day. This month, there is a commentary on a beautiful painting of today's saint, Charles Borromeo, from 16th century Italy, the era of the Catholic Reformation (the rebuilding of the Church after many Protestants divided her after rejecting the Church's teaching). He was an extraordinary man who lived a very short life, but in that brief time as Archbishop of Milan saw through many reforms, including increasing reverence for the the holy Mass and celebrating it in a consistent way and reforming seminaries so they could shape good priests.  (Please pray for our seminarians through his intercession this month that they will become good and holy priests, and for all the faculty who help make that happen).  He was an aesthetic, choosing not to become overly trapped in the lu...

  St. Maximilian Kolbe I have not written much about the saints of August.  They include ancient and modern martyrs, including two who died in the terrible World War of the 20th century because of their ethnicity and their religious vocation ( Edith Stein/St. Teresa Benedicta and Maximilian Kolbe ).  I'll try to write a little bit about the great saints of August in the parish bulletin at the end of the month.  St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

  Today in the U.S. we celebrate one of the great "adopted" American saints, the Spaniard Fr. Junipero Serra .   Canonized by Pope Francis , he was a great 18th century missionary to much of what is now Mexico and California, walking thousands of miles and establishing many missions to bring the faith to the indigenous American peoples and help them learn the ways of agriculture.  You can still visit some of the missions he founded.  St. Junipero has recently been in the news, when some of the angry, divisive, violent and anti-Christian secularists who seem to be on the rise in our nation began attacking his reputation and destroying his statues .  That is a sign not only of our very troubled times, but also that the saints are not always esteemed in the eyes of the world during their lifetimes or afterwards.  No matter, enjoying the unimaginable happiness of the beatific vision of the Holy Trinity is its own reward.   St. Junipero, pray for...

  Today is a solemn feast day remembering the birth of St. John the Baptist, the saint the Lord calls "the greatest man born of woman."  (The only other saint whose birthday we observe on the calendar is the Blessed Virgin herself).  He is the voice announcing  the coming of Christ and our need to prepare our hearts through conversion,  as we remember in the Advent season. Here is a homily on this topic (below) from the great teacher St. Augustine. His feast day fits in nicely into these weeks of observing religious liberty, since he was martyred and beheaded for defending the dignity of marriage in speaking out to a powerful king (cf. Mark 6:14-29 ). Very important to turn to him in our own times when those who defend the dignity of marriage often bring down the wrath of powerful people and institutions -- government agencies, "human rights" commissions, universities, large corporations and employers, and more. St. John the Baptist, pray for us.  From a se...

  Old age creeps up on you.  I was surprised to note that the assassination attempt on Pope St. Paul II was 40 years ago from yesterday.  I remember it like it was yesterday, even though I was only a young teen at the time. It's worth reading that story and passing it on to your children and grandchildren.  It is an astonishing story about how one of the greatest of popes was almost miraculously spared from death (he credits the Blessed Virgin Mary,  Our Lady of Fatima) and an extraordinary story of forgiveness:  the saintly pope went out of his way to visit his would-be assassin in prison, embrace him, and forgive him as soon as he recovered (photo above).  I know that St. John Paul inspired a great many priests of my generation, including myself, to follow his footsteps into the holy priesthood. Here's just a brief excerpt from a short story on this event by Russell Shaw of the Our Sunday Visitor weekly magazine.  There is one other twist to thi...

  One of our "adopted" American saints who should be much better known is St. Damien of Moloka'i. He heroically served the lepers of the then-Kingdom of Hawaii in the late 19th century. Like so many of the saints such as Peter Claver, Katherine Anne Drexel (other saints of the Americas) he gave his life serving those whom no one else was willing to serve.   You can start reading about him here .  If you are lucky enough to travel to Hawaii, there are shrines to him there. 

  St. Jose Sanchez del Rio Today is the feast of St. Scholastica.  Perhaps more about her later. It is also the feast day of a heroic Mexican teenager named Jose del Rio. About 100 years ago, the government there turned severely against the Church and the faithful Catholic men rose up in resistance to their attempt to destroy her.  Courageous young Jose (only 14 years old) was part of that movement.  He wanted desperately to fight in the resistance with his older brothers, but was too young. But he did engage in the ultimate spiritual warfare.  When the Mexican government tried to force him to renounce Christ, he refused and withstood threats and torture, staying faithful to Christ to the last. You can read more about him here and here . In our own times, sharing a common heritage with our neighbors to the South and a common border, our government is becoming more like early 20th-century Mexico's than we might like to admit.  It is worth studying the life a...

  Quid hoc ad aeternitatem?   Until very recently, I had not heard of Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance .  But I would like to know more about him know.  He was a heroic and saintly priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in the 19th and 20th centuries, who served as a pastor and chaplain in many areas of the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.  His cause for canonization has not yet been taken up, but I hope it soon will be. Fr. Lasance suffered terrible physical ailments almost his entire life, including almost constant debilitating headaches, but did not let that get in the way of his zeal to save souls. One of his favorite sayings was from St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a patron of youth who died young in a time of plague, and also suffered greatly:  Quid hoc ad aeternitatem?  This Latin phrase loosely translates as, "What does this particular thing matter in the light of eternity?"  That's a question we should all ask ourselves often when we pray about what we ar...

St. Andre Bessette   Today (in dioceses like Cincinnati where Epiphany is transferred to Sunday) we celebrate the memorial of St. Andre Bessette, one of our modern and North American saints who lived in Quebec in the 19th and 20th centuries.  He is not well know in the U.S., but I think should be, especially in this holy year of St. Joseph . He spent much of his life encouraging thousands to develop a devotion to St. Joseph and was, like him, a shining example of the virtue of humility.  St. Andre (born Alfred) saw much suffering and tragedy in his life.  His father died in a work accident, his mother died of tuberculosis, he was sickly most of his life, he was barely literate, he was almost rejected by the religious community he wished to join (the Holy Cross Fathers and Brothers).  But he was allowed to become a brother doing menial tasks for the community.  Without complaint, he had an extraordinary love of the sick and the poor and brought hope and heal...

  Rembrandt, the Stoning of St. Stephen, 1625 Painted when the artist was only 19 years old From today's breviary reading (office of readings), we find a beautiful reflection about that martyrdom by St. Fulgentius.  (Read the account in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles, 7:1-60 ).  It reminds us that Christmas is not just about happy feelings, but rather about loving Jesus enough that we would give our lives in witness to the Good News that Jesus became man to save us from our sins and bring us to Heaven.  By virtue of our baptism and confirmation, we, like St. Stephen, are called to be soldiers of Christ the King and give our all to witness to our love of him and faith in His truth and goodness. Today we celebrate the second day of the eight-day celebration of Christmas Day (the Octave of Christmas).   We remember St. Stephen, the first martyr, who was stoned to death for witnessing to Christ. A sermon of St Fulgentius of Ruspe The armor of love Yester...

  In the Church's breviary (daily prayer cycle for priests, deacons, and religious) we reflect today on a powerful reading by St. Augustine, one of the great doctors (teachers) of the Church from the 4th Century. He contemplates what it would have been like if Jesus Christ had not become man in the miracle and mystery of Christmas. ======== From a sermon by Saint Augustine Truth has arisen from the earth and justice has looked down from heaven Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man.  Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.  I tell you again: for your sake, God became man.   You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy. You would never have returned to life, had he not shared your death. You would have been l...

  Some of the saints of December get overlooked in the pre-Christmas rush.  One of the saints worth knowing about is St. Peter Canisius .  His feast day was yesterday,  December 21st.   He was a real "everyman" who did it all in a very difficult and challenging time for the Church. In the 16th century in much of norther Europe, when the Church was beginning to collapse due to the Protestant revolution, he was an important part of the Catholic Counter reformation to help save the faith, not only in his native Germany, but also Austria, Switzerland, Bohemia He was a brilliant scholar and preacher but was able to work with people from all works of life -- from children to prisoners to imperial courts.  He was an Apostle of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and helped to restore an understanding of the Real Presence of the Lord in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass (which we see is beginning to slip again today ).  St. Peter Canisius, pray for us!...

  Today is the feast day of St. Lucy of Syracuse (in Italian, Lucia). I've always regretted the fact that Catholic parents in recent times have fallen away from naming their children after saints, especially the saints and martyrs who were so instrumental in bringing the Catholic faith to our current generation. One of those saints is Lucy .  It's a beautiful name, which means light .  She was an early martyr from the Church, mentioned in the Roman canon.  I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of girls or women I know with that name. There are fascinating legends about her purity and holiness.  Read about her here. In Scandavian countries, there is a custom of girls having parties where they would wear crowns of light on their head in her honor.  

     The Church's official prayer book (the breviary, or the Liturgy of the Hours) contains beautiful reflections on the saints and feast days.  The breviary reflection from doctor of the Church St. Anselm on today's feast of the Immaculate Conception gives us a lot to think and pray about: A sermon by St Anselm O Virgin, by whose blessing all nature is blessed! Blessed Lady, sky and stars, earth and rivers, day and night – everything that is subject to the power or use of man – rejoice that through you they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty and are endowed with inexpressible new grace. All creatures were dead, as it were, useless for men or for the praise of God, who made them. The world, contrary to its true destiny, was corrupted and tainted by the acts of men who served idols. Now all creation has been restored to life and rejoices that it is controlled and given splendor by men who believe in God.   The universe rejoic...

  Today is the feast day of the great 16th century Jesuit missioner St. Francis Xavier .   He was commissioned by the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), St. Ignatius of Loyola, to bring those from the Far East into Holy Mother Church. He was astonishingly active and effective in bringing thousands to Christ, teaching them the Catechism and baptizing them, across India and Japan. I like the photo above because it shows St. Francis "in action." Below follows the description of his mission in his own words (from the Church's prayer book, called the breviary or sometimes The Liturgy of the Hours. It's important to remember the great missioners, because the Church in more modern times reminds us that all of the baptized faithful should have a missionary focus.  This is something that our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, especially has stressed. As we prepare to re-align parishes and re-assign priests to meet the changing needs and demographics of the diocese, t...

  Servant of God Julia Greeley: A Name Written in the Sacred Heart On Fridays during ordinary time of the litrugical year (including today) I celebrate the daily Mass for the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  This is a beautiful devotion popularized by many saints over the years including St. Gertrude the Great and St. Margaret Mary Alocoque .   St. Gertrude is especially timely because, in addition to her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she is famous for her prayers for the holy souls in purgatory .  I encourage parish families to pray to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and find an image at a Catholic bookstore to display in their homes. One of the newer saints-on-the-way is an American named Julia Greeley .  She was an ex-slave from Colorado who lived a life of extraordinary humility and charity.  Julia is now a Servant of God (first step of being declared a saint in the Church).  She put the burning love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus into action.  ...

  Like many of you, I have immigrant roots as an American citizen.  My great grandparents on both sides immigrated to the United States from Germany. Yesterday, we celebrated the feast day of the first canonized American saint, Mother Frances Cabrini from Italy.  (She was Italian-born and became a U.S. citizen). This little Italian nun managed to accomplish extraordinary things, especially for the immigrant population, in spite of the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment that was still strong here and her sometimes frail health. Here's the blurb on her from the Magnificat devotional magazine: Frances Cabrini was born in the Lombardy region of Italy. She took private religious vows at age twenty-seven, adding “Xavier” to her name in honor of the great Jesuit missionary to the East. In 1880, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the aim of evangelizing in China, yet Pope Leo XIII advised her to go “not to the east, but to the west...