Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos’ Story (January 11, 1819 – October 4, 1867)
Zeal as a preacher and a confessor led Father Seelos to works of compassion as well.
Born in southern Bavaria, he studied philosophy and theology in Munich. On hearing about the work of the Redemptorists among German-speaking Catholics in the United States, he came to this country in 1843. Ordained at the end of 1844, he was assigned for six years to St. Philomena’s Parish in Pittsburgh as an assistant to Saint John Neumann. The next three years Father Seelos was superior in the same community, and began his service as novice master.
Several years in parish ministry in Maryland followed, along with responsibility for training Redemptorist students. During the Civil War Fr. Seelos went to Washington, D.C., and appealed to President Lincoln that those students not be drafted for military service, although eventually some were.
For several years, he preached in English and in German throughout the Midwest and in the Mid-Atlantic states. Assigned to St. Mary of the Assumption Church community in New Orleans, Fr. Seelos served his Redemptorist confreres and parishioners with great zeal. In 1867, he died of yellow fever, having contracted that disease while visiting the sick. He was beatified in 2000. The liturgical feast of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos is celebrated on October 5.
Reflection
Father Seelos worked in many different places but always with the same zeal: to help people know God’s love and compassion. He preached about the works of mercy and then engaged in them, even risking his own health.
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos is a Patron Saint of:
Saint John XXIII’s Story (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963)
Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed, one writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his most remarkable qualities.
The firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In Bergamo’s diocesan seminary, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order.
After his ordination in 1904, Fr. Roncalli returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary, and as publisher of the diocesan paper.
His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921, Fr. Roncalli was made national director in Italy of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He also found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City.
In 1925, he became a papal diplomat, serving first in Bulgaria, then in Turkey, and finally in France. During World War II, he became well acquainted with Orthodox Church leaders. With the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people.
Named a cardinal and appointed patriarch of Venice in 1953, he was finally a residential bishop. A month short of entering his 78th year, Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope, taking the name John after his father and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral, St. John Lateran. Pope John took his work very seriously but not himself. His wit soon became proverbial, and he began meeting with political and religious leaders from around the world. In 1962, he was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis.
His most famous encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963). Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and made it more international. At his address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council, he criticized the “prophets of doom” who “in these modern times see nothing but prevarication and ruin.” Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Council when he said, “The Church has always opposed… errors. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.”
On his deathbed, Pope John said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.”
“Good Pope John” died on June 3, 1963. St. John Paul II beatified him in 2000, and Pope Francis canonized him in 2014.
Reflection
Throughout his life, Angelo Roncalli cooperated with God’s grace, believing that the job at hand was worthy of his best efforts. His sense of God’s providence made him the ideal person to promote a new dialogue with Protestant and Orthodox Christians, as well as with Jews and Muslims. In the sometimes noisy crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, many people become silent on seeing the simple tomb of Pope John XXIII, grateful for the gift of his life and holiness. After his beatification, his tomb was moved into the basilica itself.
Saint Francis Borgia’s Story (October 28, 1510 – September 30, 1572)
Today’s saint grew up in an important family in 16th-century Spain, serving in the imperial court and quickly advancing in his career. But a series of events—including the death of his beloved wife—made Francis Borgia rethink his priorities. He gave up public life, gave away his possessions, and joined the new and little-known Society of Jesus.
Religious life proved to be the right choice. Francis felt drawn to spend time in seclusion and prayer, but his administrative talents also made him a natural for other tasks. He helped in the establishment of what is now the Gregorian University in Rome. Not long after his ordination, he served as political and spiritual adviser to the emperor. In Spain, he founded a dozen colleges.
At 55, Francis was elected head of the Jesuits. He focused on the growth of the Society of Jesus, the spiritual preparation of its new members, and spreading the faith in many parts of Europe. He was responsible for the founding of Jesuit missions in Florida, Mexico, and Peru.
Francis Borgia is often regarded as the second founder of the Jesuits. He died in 1572 and was canonized 100 years later.
Reflection
Sometimes the Lord reveals his will for us in stages. Many people hear a call in later life to serve in a different capacity. We never know what the Lord has in store for us.
While I was proclaiming the gospel, I thought about the servants the master dispatched. They were cursed at and thrown out. I can empathize with that. I’m glad you are sitting down because I’m sure you will be stunned when I tell you that sometimes I have not been treated very well by people. Shocking, isn’t it? Blanch and John’s little boy has been mistreated. I’ve been cursed at and thrown out of patients’ rooms. My cousin yelled at me one time while I was attending my aunt’s funeral. She said, “You still believe in this stuff?” to which I replied, “Yeah, what happened to you?” Our Lord created us out of love, sustains us in His love, and wants us to respond to His love so that we can be with Him for all eternity. That’s why He not only sent prophets, but He also sent His Son to remind of us His great love. People treated them not so well. He begs us to respond to His gifts. He begs us not to grow weary or to become jaded. He begs us to continue the walk to salvation. He tells us in the Gospels, point blank with no grey area or ambiguity, what we should do and not do. And if we happen to stumble, He gives us the means by which to pick up our cross and follow Him. He continues to show His everlasting love because He doesn’t want anyone to be separated from Him for all eternity. That’s not His plan. That’s our plan, not His.
We are called to judge people for we will know them by their fruits. I do not want to eat a sandwich made by someone who just came from the bathroom without washing their hands. Call me fussy, but I do not like that, and I’ve been to some pretty disgusting places. So, you will know them by their fruits, but you can never judge them for eternal salvation. You can never judge people beyond God’s mercy. About eight years ago, I was making my rounds in Hospice and a nurse came up to me and said, “Father, the patient in Room 3 has a statue of Buddha in his room.” So, I went into the patient’s room, and we talked for a while. He was a Marine during World War II. He had three island landings, and the second one hit him badly. It took him out of the game, but they fixed him up and sent him back in. The third one hit him so badly that he could no longer be a Marine. So, we were sitting there talking and he said, “I’m Buddhist.” Now it was time to talk about the elephant or the Buddha in the room. We take people where they are. The patient asked me if I knew anything about Buddha, and I said not much. I mean I know if you rub the fat guy’s belly it’s supposed to bring you wealth. But that’s about it. What did Buddha say to the hot dog vendor? Make me one with everything. The patient loaned me a book about Buddhism, and I took it home and read it. The next time I saw the patient, I told him that I had read the book and that it was very interesting. Then he told me why he became a Buddhist. After his tours of duty during World War II, he was sitting on an island, and he looked down at his left arm where he was wearing a silver ID bracelet. There were 28-29 notches on the bracelet which meant he had personally put the whack on 28-29 Japanese soldiers. Marines get up close and personal. When he came home from the war, he tried to be a good husband and father. He talked to the clergy to find help for what was going on inside him. But he could not find the answer for the damage the war had done to him, so he found peace in Buddhism. I can live with that. I came out of the room and told the nurses not to worry about the Buddha. The Buddha is fine. The upside of the story is that this patient got better and left Hospice although not in the usual way. He actually walked out of Hospice and moved to Florida to live with his daughter.
We had this woman come into hospice at the VA. She was acting very ugly and was throwing staff members out of her room. If she was in a good mood, she would let one nurse and one doctor enter her room. Finally, one of the chaplains went in and talked to her. Know why she was in Hospice even though she was only in her early thirties? She put herself there by living a very bad life. She was self-medicating because of the severe abuse she experienced as a child. Some might say, “She doesn’t know Jesus, so she’s not going to Heaven.” You know, I wouldn’t be so sure about that considering the crosses she has had to carry. That’s why we don’t judge other people.
We don’t judge people because we don’t know the crosses they carry. We don’t know what the heck has happened to them or to those they love. God judges that. The Gospel says, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold” (John 10:16). We don’t know, so we pray for them, and we implore the merciful judgment of God’s mercy upon them. In the future, I will probably be thrown out of more rooms. Will it hurt my feelings? Maybe. But that’s what I’m supposed to do. Before HIPAA rules, which every hospital and nursing home has, the staff would let me know when someone was dying, and I would go in and say the Prayer for the Departing Soul. I’ve told the funeral directors here that if someone doesn’t have anyone to pray for them at their graveside, call me and I will come and say the Prayer of the Dead. Because we are all children of God created in His image and likeness. We all deserve that. We don’t wish for God’s judgment on anyone. If we do, we are wishing it for ourselves. We don’t know the agony other people have endured, so we implore God’s mercy on them.
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________________
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