Saint Talk:St. Matthias, Apostle

From the Workshop of Simone Martini

Apostle

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Matthias, the Apostle. Although Matthias was not one of the original twelve he is counted among the apostles because he was chosen to replace Judas. He was chosen by the drawing of lots from those men who had been part of the original followers who had been with Jesus since His baptism (Acts 1:21-26). 

Patronage

St. Matthias is the patron saint of carpenters and tailors

Pictorial Lives of the Saints
AFTER our Blessed Lord’s ascension His disciples met together, with Mary His mother, and the eleven apostles, in an upper room at Jerusalem. The little company numbered no more than one hundred and twenty souls. They were waiting for the promised coming of the Holy Ghost, and they persevered in prayer. Meanwhile there was a solemn act to be performed on the part of the Church, which could not be postponed. The place of the fallen Judas must be filled up, that the elect number of the apostles might be complete. St. Peter, therefore, as Vicar of Christ, arose to announce the divine decree. That which the Holy Ghost had spoken by the mouth of David concerning Judas, he said, must be fulfilled. Of him it had been written, “His bishopric let another take.” A choice, therefore, was to be made of one among those who had been their companions from the beginning, who could bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus. Two were named of equal merit, Joseph called Barsabas, and Matthias. Then, after praying to God, who knows the hearts of all men, to show which of these He had chosen, they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, who was forthwith numbered with the apostles. It is recorded of the Saint, thus wonderfully elected to so high a vocation, that he was above all remark able for his mortification of the flesh. It was thus he made his election sure.

Reflection.—Our ignorance of many points in St. Matthias’s life serves to fix the attention all the more firmly upon these two—the occasion of his call to the apostolate, and the fact of his perseverance. We then naturally turn in thought to our own vocation and our own end.

(Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, 133)

Video:

Saint Talk: Saint Blaise, Patron of Throat Ailments

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Blaise, the patron of throat ailments. When St. Blaise was Bishop of Sibastea, a woman brought her son to him. The boy had a fish bone lodged in his throat. St. Blaise laid hands on the boy and the bone was expelled. Now on the feast of St. Blaise we can go to Mass and have our throats blessed with candles. In the not so distant past this was done with the candles lit. So during this cold and flu season you can ask for St. Blaise's intercession.

Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother!

Source: CatholicMemes

Mother Mary's Birthday
Today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother Mary. Perhaps you are asking yourself how we know the exact date of her birth. We don't. The feast was chosen as it is nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception. There is no mention of Mary's birth in the Bible. According to Francis Fernandez, author of In Conversation with God, Vol. 7, "Initially in the Eastern Church and subsequently in the Universal Church, the faithful have celebrated the birthday of our Blessed Mother from the earliest centuries of Christianity. This special Feast of the Mother of God and our mother is an occasion of great joy because Mary's arrival is a sign that the Redemption is drawing near. On this day, many peoples and nations honour Our Lady as their Patroness."

History of the Celebration

According to EWTN, the feast traces back to Palestine and "goes back to the consecration of a church in Jerusalem, which tradition identifies as that of the present basilica of St. Ann." This source also indicates that the feast began to be celebrated in Rome near the end of the 7th Century.

Three Words
Last year's homily for this feast was given by a visiting priest, Fr. John Kochuchira, TOR who is the Vicar General of the Franciscans Third Order Regular. He said that the birth of each child marks the birth of a new mother, for no woman is a mother until she gives birth. We went on to point out the three words/phrases that summarize Catholic teaching about Mary: fiat, magnificat and stabat mater.

Mary's fiat is our example for saying yes to the will of God. Her magnificat exemplifies that our lives, like hers, must be entirely led for the glory and praise of God. Finally in her stabat mater dolorosa we are reminded that following Christ means also joining him at the cross.

Precursor of the Son

Happy Birthday Blessed Mother!

St. Lawrence:Deacon, Martyr and Patron Saint of Comedians

Source: Catholic Memes

Martyr for the Faith

Little is known about St. Lawrence, but most accounts indicate he was martyred in 258AD and celebration of his feast day spread rapidly. St. Lawrence "has been one of the most honoured martyrs of the Roman Church" since the 4th Century (Catholic Encyclopedia).

Burned Alive on a Grill
Lawrence was a Roman deacon who served under Pope Sixtus II. According to New Advent's Catholic Encyclopedia, Sixtus and later Lawrence were victims of the persecution of Valerian. St. Ambrose of Milan wrote an account of St. Lawrence's martyrdom and described him being burned on a gridiron.

Patron of Comedians
St. Lawrence is that he is considered the patron of comedians. The reason is that according to St. Ambrose's account, Lawrence was executed by being placed on a gridiron over coals of fire. While he was literally being cooked alive, he called to his persecutors, "I'm done on that side. Flip me over." This account is confirmed in several early painting depicting his martyrdom. One other funny note - St. Lawrence is also the patron of grilling and Bar-B-Q'ing.

Proof of Love
St. Lawrence teaches us a valuable lesson that in times of adversity we too should trust so much in God's love for us that we can face anything with cheerfulness. Pope Gregory the Great wrote that fire that burned within Lawrence's heart was great than that from the outside burning his flesh. The Second Vatican Council in discussing the universal call to holiness, highlighted martyrdom as the "fullest proof of love." In Lumen Gentium the Council exhorted:

The Church, then, considers martyrdom as an exceptional gift and as the fullest proof of love. By martyrdom a disciple is transformed into an image of his Master by freely accepting death for the salvation of the world—as well as his conformity to Christ in the shedding of his blood. Though few are presented such an opportunity, nevertheless all must be prepared to confess Christ before men. They must be prepared to make this profession of faith even in the midst of persecutions, which will never be lacking to the Church, in following the way of the cross (LG, 42).

 Video - Apostleship of Prayer

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Source: Ignatius Insight

Take Up the Cross
It is fitting that today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross because in today's Gospel reading Jesus says, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." What better way to demonstrate this than to lay down your life as a martyr for the faith?

Jew, Atheist, Philosopher and Convert
St. Teresa Benedicta was born born on October 12, 1891 as Edith Stein. She grew up Jewish, but as she entered her teens, she stopped believing in God. Stein was extremely intelligent and studied philosophy, specifically phenomenology, at the University of Göttingen. During her studies she encountered some Catholic classmates and was moved by the "strength of their faith". These encounters sparked Stein's interest and she began to study a catechism on Catholicism. Stein went on to earn a doctorate in philosophy with highest honors from the University of Freiburg. Her study of philosophy – the study or search for truth – fueled her intellectual curiosity. Edith would read the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. Studying the life of this great Carmelite ignited a renewed awareness of God and Stein entered the Catholic Church in 1922. After her conversion, Stein spent her time as an academic - writing, researching and teaching. She became a Carmelite nun in 1934 and began teaching at the Educational Institute of Munich. She was forced to give this up during the reign of the Nazi's and moved to a Carmelite Monastery in the Netherlands. In 1940, along with other Dutch Jews, including her sister Rose, Stein was sent to Auschwitz where she would die in a gas chamber on August 9, 1942. 

Lessons:

1. Intelligent people can believe in God.

2. Faith and reason go hand in hand.

3. God often uses the lives of other Christians to reflect His own love for us.

4. Catechesis and study of the saints can lead to sanctity.

Reflections on the Transfiguration

Transfiguration by Rafael (Source: Wikipedia)

Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord which is described in all three synoptic Gospels. This year the Gospel reading is taken from Luke 9:28-36. I have collected a few commentaries and reflections on the Transfiguration to help in understanding its meaning.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Catechism explains that the transfiguration is a foretaste of the Kingdom.

554 From the day Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Master "began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. . . and be killed, and on the third day be raised."²⁹⁰ Peter scorns this prediction, nor do the others understand it any better than he.²⁹¹ In this context the mysterious episode of Jesus' Transfiguration takes place on a high mountain,²⁹² before three witnesses chosen by himself: Peter, James and John. Jesus' face and clothes become dazzling with light, and Moses and Elijah appear, speaking "of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem".²⁹³ A cloud covers him and a voice from heaven says: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"²⁹⁴

555 For a moment Jesus discloses his divine glory, confirming Peter's confession. He also reveals that he will have to go by the way of the cross at Jerusalem in order to "enter into his glory".²⁹⁵ Moses and Elijah had seen God's glory on the Mountain; the Law and the Prophets had announced the Messiah's sufferings.²⁹⁶ Christ's Passion is the will of the Father: the Son acts as God's servant;²⁹⁷ the cloud indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit. "The whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining cloud."²⁹⁸

You were transfigured on the mountain, and your disciples, as much as they were capable of it, beheld your glory, O Christ our God, so that when they should see you crucified they would understand that your Passion was voluntary, and proclaim to the world that you truly are the splendor of the Father.²⁹⁹

556 On the threshold of the public life: the baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed "the mystery of the first regeneration", namely, our Baptism; the Transfiguration "is the sacrament of the second regeneration": our own Resurrection.³⁰⁰ From now on we share in the Lord's Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ. The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ's glorious coming, when he "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body."³⁰¹ But it also recalls that "it is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God":³⁰²

Peter did not yet understand this when he wanted to remain with Christ on the mountain. It has been reserved for you, Peter, but for after death. For now, Jesus says: "Go down to toil on earth, to serve on earth, to be scorned and crucified on earth. Life goes down to be killed; Bread goes down to suffer hunger; the Way goes down to be exhausted on his journey; the Spring goes down to suffer thirst; and you refuse to suffer?"³⁰³

Navarre Bible Commentary
The commentators of  the Navarre Bible quote St. Thomas Aquinas who reflects that:

By His transfiguration Jesus strengthens His disciples' faith, revealing a trace of the glory His body will have after the Resurrection. He wants them to realize that His passion will not be the end but rather the route He will take to reach His glorification. "For a person to go straight along the road, he must have some knowledge of the end--just as an archer will not shoot an arrow straight unless he first sees the target [...]. This is particularly necessary if the road is hard and rough, the going heavy, and the end delightful" (St. Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologiae", III, q. 45, a. 1).

 They conclude their commentary by drawing from St. John of the Cross.

"Listen to Him!": everything God wishes to say to mankind He has said through Christ, now that the fullness of time has come (cf. Hebrews 1:1). "Therefore," St. John of the Cross explains, "if any now should question God or desire a vision or revelation, not only would he be acting foolishly but he would be committing an offense against God, by not fixing his gaze on Christ with no desire for any new thing. For God could reply to him in this way: 'If I have spoken all things to you in My Word, which is My Son, and I have no greater word, what answer can I give you now, or what can I reveal to you that is greater than this? Fix your eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have spoken and revealed to you all things, and in Him you will find even more than what you ask for and desire [...]. Hear Him, for I have no more faith to reveal, nor have I any more things to declare'" ("Ascent of Mount Carmel", Book 2, Chapter 22, 5).

Mystery of Light
In 2002, Pope John Paul introduced the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary in his apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae. These five new mysteries of the rosary reflect on the public life of Jesus and include "the mysteries of Christ's public ministry between his Baptism and his Passion" (RVM, 19B). Although he had already died by the time these mysteries were proposed, St. Josemaria had previously written reflections on Christ's public ministry. The following is excerpted from his revised collection of Holy Rosary reflections.

Jesus, we want to see you, to speak to you! We want to contemplate you, immersed in the immensity of your beauty, in a contemplation that will never cease! It must be wonderful to see you, Jesus! It must be wonderful to see you and be wounded by your love! 

Lord, we are ready to heed whatever you want to tell us. Speak to us: we are attentive to your voice. May your words enkindle our will so that we launch out fervently to obey you. 

Vultum tuum, Domine, requiram (Ps 26:8). Lord, I long to see your face. I like to close my eyes and think that, when God wills, the moment will come when I will be able to see him, not as in a mirror dimly, but…face to face (1-Cor 13:12). Yes, my heart yearns for God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? (Ps 41:3). (Holy Rosary, Fourth Mystery of Light)

Video Reflection

For you visual learners, I have included a brief video from the Apostleship of Prayer.

St. Mary Magdalene: Apostle to the Apostles

Patron of Penitent Sinners
Today the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene who was one of Christ's closest followers and one of the few who remained at the foot of the cross while all the others fled. St. Thomas Aquinas and others have referred to her as the Apostle to the Apostles she was the first to see the risen Lord and took that news to the apostles. According to EWTN, Mary Magdalene is the patron of contemplative life; converts; glove makers; hairdressers; penitent sinners; people ridiculed for their piety; perfumeries; pharmacists; reformed prostitutes; sexual temptation; tanners; women.

Apostle to the Apostles
In 2007, while reflecting on the role of women in the early Church, Pope Benedict XVI examined the life of Mary Magdalene.

The Gospels then tell us that the women, unlike the Twelve, did not abandon Jesus in the hour of his Passion (cf. Mt 27:56, 61; Mk 15:40). Among them, Mary Magdalene stands out in particular. Not only was she present at the Passion, but she was also the first witness and herald of the Risen One (cf. Jn 20:1, 11-18). 

It was precisely to Mary Magdalene that St. Thomas Aquinas reserved the special title, "Apostle of the Apostles" (apostolorum apostola), dedicating to her this beautiful comment: "Just as a woman had announced the words of death to the first man, so also a woman was the first to announce to the Apostles the words of life" (Super Ioannem, ed. Cai, § 2519). [Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Feb. 14, 2007]

Further Reading

Mary Magdalene has long been confused for the adulterous prostitute described in Luke 7:36-50. Additionally she has been associated with gnostic myths most recently made popular by Dan Brown. Here is some additional reading to help you discover the real Mary Magdalene who has been a popular saint since the early centuries.

• Excerpt from The Da Vinci Hoax entitled The Magdalene: Saint, Sinner or Goddess?
• Audio Interview with Amy Welborn author of Decoding Mary Magdalene
• Mary Magdalene and Peter: Pattern for the Ages by Dr. Marshall
• Learning from the Saint Who was the Apostle to the Apostles by Bert Ghezzi & Brandon Vogt

Apostleship of Prayer Video

The Beatitudes

Compliments
Today's Gospel reading contains the Beatitudes. Years ago one of the lead catechists at RCIA described the Beatitudes as the positive compliments to the 10 Commandments. What he meant was that the Beatitudes expand on the commandments by requiring us to act. This view is consistent with the teaching in the Catechism:

God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us "partakers of the divine nature" and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life (CCC, 1721).

Navarre Commentary
According to the authors of the Navarre Study Bible the Beatitudes have a view for the kingdom of God:

All the Beatitudes have an eschatological meaning, that is, they promise us definitive salvation not in this world, but in the next. But the spirit of the Beatitudes does give us, in this life, peace in the midst of tribulation. The Beatitudes imply a completely new approach, quite at odds with the usual way man evaluates things: they rule out any kind of pharisaical religiosity, which regards earthly hap- piness as a blessing from God and a reward for good behavior, and unhappiness and misfortune as a form of punishment. In all ages the Beatitudes put spiritual goods on a much higher plane than material possessions. The healthy and the sick, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor – all are called, independently of their circumstances, to the deep happiness that is experienced by those who live up to the Beatitudes which Jesus teaches.

 Video Commentary

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Sacred Heart, Michael D. O'Brien

Origins
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The feast is held the Friday after the Second Sunday after Pentecost. We can trace the origin of the devotion back to the Middle Ages.

This devotion already existed in the Middle Ages as a private devotion; it appears as a liturgical feast in 1675 following the apparitions of Our Lord to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. In these revelations the saint was given to know with special depth the need to make reparation for her personal sins and for the sins of the whole world, and to respond to Christ's love. Our Lord asked her to extend the practice of frequent Communion, especially on the first Friday of every month, in a spirit of reparation. He asked for the first Friday after the octave of the Most Holy Sacrament to be dedicated to a special feast to glorify his Heart. The feast was celebrated for the first time on the 21 June 1686. Pius IX extended it to the whole Church. In 1928 Pius XI gave it the splendour it has today (In Conversation with God, Vol. 6. p. 315).

Devotion

We can consider the advise of St. Josemaria who explains how we should think about the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

[W]hen we talk about the heart of Jesus, we stress the certainty of God's love and the truth of his commitment to us. When we recommend devotion to the sacred heart, we are recommending that we should give our whole self to Jesus, to the whole Jesus — our soul, our feelings and thoughts, our words and actions, our joys. That is what true devotion to the heart of Jesus means (Christ is Passing By, 164) 

For a great overview of this solemnity, I suggest you watch the following video from the Apostleship of Prayer apostolate.

Getting Radical for New Evangelization

I used to take today's Gospel reading for granted as just another story about Jesus' power to heal the sick until I heard a reflection online or on Catholic radio. The priest who was speaking pointed out that it was the faith and craziness of the paralytic's friends that moved Christ to heal the man.

Here's my take on it. The paralytic man had four close friends who had been following Jesus. They knew in their hearts (and perhaps their minds) that He was the Messiah, that he could fix their friend. They cared so much for their friend that they ripped off the roof of the dwelling so they lowered him down and in front of Jesus. I want you to really picture that – four guys climbing a ladder with a make shift stretcher and then tearing up the top of the house to get their friend in to see Jesus. That is indeed radical evangelization.

What are we doing to bring our friends and family to one that can not only heal the body, but the soul?

How can you get radical in bringing your friends and family to Christ?

Saint Talk: Patron of Priests: St. John Vianney

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. John Vianney, Cure d'Ars, who in 2009 was named the universal patron of all priests. The link above will take you to a previous post on the life of St. John Vianney and a list of additional resources to learn more about this humble saint including a prayer for our priests.

Please enjoy this video commentary made available by the Apostleship of Prayer. I am also recommending you add this website to your Catholic bookmarks.