The Catechism we are reading follows the structure of the Apostles’ Creed with frequent references to the Nicene Creed for further details and explanations. Together, these Creeds aid us in articulating the beliefs we share with all members of the Catholic Church. Fr. Mike discusses why St. Ambrose refers to the Creed as “an ever-present guardian” and “treasure of our soul.” He encourages us not to take this gift for granted. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 193-197.
Saint Angela Merici’s story (March 21, 1474 – January 27, 1540)
Angela Merici has the double distinction of founding the first of what are now called “secular institutes” and the first teaching order of women in the Church.
Born in Desenzano, Italy, she was orphaned in her teens. As a young woman, with her heart centered on Christ, Angela joined the Third Order of St. Francis and embraced austerity. In a visionary experience, she felt called to found a “company” of women.
Angela was invited to become a live-in companion for a widow in the nearby town of Brescia. There she became the spiritual advisor of a group of men and women with ideals of spiritual renewal and service to those in need. While on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1524, Angela was struck with blindness. She proceeded to visit the sacred shrines, seeing them with her spirit. On the way back while praying before a crucifix, Angela’s sight was restored.
At age 60, Angela and 12 other women began the Company of St. Ursula, named for a patroness of medieval universities and venerated as a leader of women. This constituted a new way of life: single women consecrated to Christ and living in the world rather than in a monastery. With Angela as their “mother and mistress,” Company members did not live in community, wore no special clothing, and made no formal vows.
Angela Merici died in Brescia, Italy, in 1540. Clothed in the habit of a Franciscan tertiary, her body was interred in Brescia’s Church of Saint’ Afra. Four years later the Company’s Rule that Angela had composed, prescribing the practices of chastity, poverty and obedience, was approved by the pope.
In the early 1600s, Companies that had expanded into France were re-organized into the religious Order of St. Ursula, to teach girls. Angela’s words continue to inspire the Ursuline nuns’ mission of education, a mission that spread worldwide. The Company of St. Ursula also continued to exist and is federated worldwide today with members in 30 countries. Angela Merici was canonized by Pope Pius VII in 1807.
Reflection
As with so many saints, history is mostly concerned with their activities. But deep Christian faith and love sustain one whose courage lasts a lifetime, and who can take bold new steps when human need demands.
This past week we had the funeral of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. He was a great teacher even though he was highly educated. He was a wonderful scholar – not because he earned advanced degrees – but because he could pass along his knowledge and, more importantly, he could share the Faith. Many educated people cannot take what is in their heads and share it effectively. They were educated beyond their abilities.
One of the things I really loved about Pope Benedict was his great humility. He didn’t want to be pope. He would have been happy to remain a priest and scholar. I recommend any of his books to you. You don’t need graduate or post-graduate degrees to understand his writings. You don’t have to sit there with Google – I would say the dictionary, but that’s so passé – to understand what he said. My evil twin had two doctorates. . .show-off! He wrote a textbook on wastewater management. Now, I’m not a total idiot; I did go to school. So, I decided to take a look at the textbook. I couldn’t get past the introduction and first paragraph. Well, that was fun! I’m done.
One of the names given to Pope Benedict when he was a cardinal and Prefect of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was God’s Rottweiler. He didn’t like the name, but I do because I love dogs. His Holiness was a Rottweiler in the very best sense of the word. He protected those he loved. He protected them by teaching them what was true and how to achieve salvation. He also protected them by pointing out the mine fields. “Don’t listen to that person. . .their words sound believable but are not.” “I have a map, and this is a mine field so don’t step there.” People called him a doctor of the Faith because he gave people correction. I don’t like being corrected. You know who you’re talking to? I know a guy. But as any parent knows, they correct their children because they love them.
Why did God give us dogs? To love and protect us. . . and to fertilize our neighbors’ lawns. That is their mission. I was in hospice one day, and the nurses set me up. They said a patient had a dog in room 7 and that I should go see it. So, I knocked on the door and was greeted by the head of a Rottweiler. When you see something like that, you think this is not going to end well. But the patient said, “Oh, he’s friendly. He likes people.” Yeah, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! But I let him smell my hand and petted him on the head. Then it was kissy time. He was a big baby.
Pope Benedict was a priest, bishop, cardinal, and pope. A pastor protects the sheep entrusted to his flock. Jesus said, “When I leave, vicious wolves will come in among you.” He forecasted it. Wolves are in the flock. There are both interior and exterior assaults. Like those of Father James Martin of the society of Jesus – which is no longer a society of Jesus – no offense. He says that gay marriage is a Sacrament. Really? I wonder what’s going to happen to him – probably nothing.
Protecting the faith from attacks from the inside and the outside are works of love that aren’t against anybody. They are corrections to help us achieve our salvation and to protect the Deposit of Faith. . . that precious gift from Christ Himself so that we and generations after us may have it. Sometimes, when we receive a correction, we get very upset. That is pride. “My way is right! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Yeah. Don’t step on that mine field. James Martin ignored the warning. “I know what I’m doing!” Famous last words. Corrections are to protect and to call back the strays. Go out and seek what was lost. First tell them what they need to do to come back to the Truth. And then help them come back.
Some people throw around the so-called penalties of the Church. “Oh, I’m excommunicated.” No. Excommunication is only by a formal decree of the Church or by latae sententiae or “automatic” excommunication. Do the act, and you’re excommunicated. That form of excommunication can be forgiven through the Sacrament of Penance. The formal one must go to Rome. I had a priest tell me once, “Oh, they suspended me.” I said, “No, they didn’t. Did you get a letter?” No. Then you aren’t suspended. Another penalty the Church uses is “administrative leave.” All these penalties are supposed to be medicinal remedies and meant to bring people back. I was actually awake during Canon Law class. God is not a punisher. He is a holy God, and He calls people back. When the woman was accused of adultery – did He berate her? No. Did He berate Peter who denied Him three times? No. All the corrections are intended to bring people back to the Sacred Heart and to make His joy and our joy complete. Why? Because He is God.
What Pope Benedict did came at a great cost. Bishop Sheen said this about Saint Pope Paul XI, “Every night he goes to bed with a crown of thorns because of all the hate mail he receives.” I am sure this was true for Pope Benedict as well. His Holiness Pope Benedict sacrificed his life for the love of God and to bring that love to others. It’s very sad to hear all the ungratefulness and venom coming from people. What a cross he carried. You didn’t see the crown of thorns on his head. You only saw the white skull cap. You are offering people salvation, and they tell you to stuff it because you don’t know what you’re talking about. Parents, you know the feeling.
At the age of 85, Pope Benedict knew it was time to give it up because of his health problems. He was head of the Church and State, and he just couldn’t keep it up physically. So, he retired. Some say, “Well he should have stayed until he died.” That sounds a lot like civilians . . .their guts and our blood. I don’t see them volunteering for the job.
This is why we pray for Pope Benedict. He suffered so much. We are never aware of another person’s sufferings. Only God is aware of them. Pope Benedict has all the crowns and thorns about his head. People complain and complain and complain. “You don’t love me.” “You have to change this.” “You have to change that.” He wore a heavy crown, but he protected his Faith which was his job as a priest, bishop, and especially as supreme confidant. His job was to care for his flock both from the wolves that seek to savage the flock from the outside and especially the deviants from within. It is a heavy cross that he wore. It was a crown of thorns that he never took it off even after he retired.
This is why we pray for His Holiness. He was a man who responded to God’s will. He didn’t want to be pope, but he was. So, pray for the repose of his soul. The greater the responsibilities a person has the greater the culpability there is for the sins from within. So, pray for his soul and ask him to pray for us.
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________________
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Today we further realize the sense of the word “credo,” meaning “I believe.” As we read the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, we discover the differences between the two and come to understand how the Nicene Creed, which came centuries later, expands upon and explains the beliefs of the Apostles’ Creed. Fr. Mike tells us that these Creeds help us to share the essential elements of Catholicism, acting as “symbols of faith,” and encouraging communion between believers. Today’s readings are the Creeds and Catechism paragraphs 185-192.
What we know from the New Testament of Timothy’s life makes it sound like that of a modern harried bishop. He had the honor of being a fellow apostle with Paul, both sharing the privilege of preaching the gospel and suffering for it.
Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother named Eunice. Being the product of a “mixed” marriage, he was considered illegitimate by the Jews. It was his grandmother, Lois, who first became Christian. Timothy was a convert of Paul around the year 47 and later joined him in his apostolic work. He was with Paul at the founding of the Church in Corinth. During the 15 years he worked with Paul, he became one of his most faithful and trusted friends. He was sent on difficult missions by Paul—often in the face of great disturbance in local churches which Paul had founded.
Timothy was with Paul in Rome during the latter’s house arrest. At some period Timothy himself was in prison (Hebrews 13:23). Paul installed him as his representative at the Church of Ephesus.
Timothy was comparatively young for the work he was doing. Several references seem to indicate that he was timid. And one of Paul’s most frequently quoted lines was addressed to him: “Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Timothy 5:23).
Titus has the distinction of being a close friend and disciple of Paul as well as a fellow missionary. He was Greek, apparently from Antioch. Even though Titus was a Gentile, Paul would not let him be forced to undergo circumcision at Jerusalem. Titus is seen as a peacemaker, administrator, great friend. Paul’s second letter to Corinth affords an insight into the depth of his friendship with Titus, and the great fellowship they had in preaching the gospel.
When Paul was having trouble with the community at Corinth, Titus was the bearer of Paul’s severe letter and was successful in smoothing things out. Paul writes he was strengthened not only by the arrival of Titus but also “by the encouragement with which he was encouraged in regard to you, as he told us of your yearning, your lament, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more…. And his heart goes out to you all the more, as he remembers the obedience of all of you, when you received him with fear and trembling” (2 Corinthians 7:7a, 15).
The “Letter to Titus” addresses him as the administrator of the Christian community on the island of Crete, charged with organizing it, correcting abuses, and appointing presbyter-bishops.
Reflection
In Titus we get another glimpse of life in the early Church: great zeal in the apostolate, great communion in Christ, great friendship. Yet always there is the problem of human nature and the unglamorous details of daily life: the need for charity and patience in “quarrels with others, fears within myself,” as Paul says. Through it all, the love of Christ sustained them. At the end of the Letter to Titus, Paul says that when the temporary substitute comes, “hurry to me.”
Saints Timothy and Titus are the Patron Saints of:
Dwynwen is believed to have been a daughter of King Brychan Brycheiniog, who lived in the 5th century. Her mother may have been Rigrawst. St.Dwynwen lived in Anglesey, and her name is still recalled in place names such as Llanddwyn and Porthddwyn in Walesand the Church of Sen Adhwynn in Advent, Cornwall.
In the tale told of her, Dwynwen falls in love with a young man named Maelon, but rejects his advances. Stories differ substantially on the events that follow but the outcome remains the same. Either she is raped by Maelon and prays for assistance, or she is unable to marry him due to her father’s refusal and prays to forget her love for him.
An angel provides her with a potion. Maelon drinks it and turns into ice. Dwynwen then prays for three requests (either given as a result of drinking the potion, or prayed for when she sees what happens to Maelon). These three requests are that Maelon be released; that, through her, God look after all true lovers; and that she remain unmarried. She then retreats to the solitude of Llanddwyn Island off the west coast of Anglesey to become a hermit until she dies, in about AD 460.
Saint Paul’s entire life can be explained in terms of one experience—his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. In an instant, he saw that all the zeal of his dynamic personality was being wasted, like the strength of a boxer swinging wildly. Perhaps he had never seen Jesus, who was only a few years older. But he had acquired a zealot’s hatred of all Jesus stood for, as he began to harass the Church: “…entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment” (Acts 8:3b). Now he himself was “entered,” possessed, all his energy harnessed to one goal—being a slave of Christ in the ministry of reconciliation, an instrument to help others experience the one Savior.
One sentence determined his theology: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5b). Jesus was mysteriously identified with people—the loving group of people Saul had been running down like criminals. Jesus, he saw, was the mysterious fulfillment of all he had been blindly pursuing.
From then on, his only work was to “present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me” (Colossians 1:28b-29). “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and [with] much conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5a).
Paul’s life became a tireless proclaiming and living out of the message of the cross: Christians die baptismally to sin and are buried with Christ; they are dead to all that is sinful and unredeemed in the world. They are made into a new creation, already sharing Christ’s victory and someday to rise from the dead like him. Through this risen Christ the Father pours out the Spirit on them, making them completely new. So Paul’s great message to the world was: You are saved entirely by God, not by anything you can do. Saving faith is the gift of total, free, personal and loving commitment to Christ, a commitment that then bears fruit in more “works” than the Law could ever contemplate.
Reflection
Paul is undoubtedly hard to understand. His style often reflects the rabbinical style of argument of his day, and often his thought skips on mountaintops while we plod below. But perhaps our problems are accentuated by the fact that so many beautiful jewels have become part of the everyday coin in our Christian language.
As we wrap up the current section, we learn about the unity of faith and how the Church is meant to be united in Christ through apostolic succession. In addition, Fr. Mike reminds us that, as Catholics, we don’t just believe in formulas. We believe in the realities those formulas express. Lastly, Fr. Mike encourages us to trust in the Church, who guards the truths of the Faith and passes them down through the ages. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 170-175.
While faith is deeply personal, it is not isolated act. Today, Fr. Mike reflects on the reality that our Faith is a communal Faith that it is lived out it and passed down in the context of community. We also learn that Faith is truly the beginning of eternal life. Despite the sufferings of this world, when we walk by Faith we get to experience a taste of heaven here and now. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 163-169.
Saint Francis de Sales’ Story (August 21, 1567 – December 28, 1622)
Francis was destined by his father to be a lawyer so that the young man could eventually take his elder’s place as a senator from the province of Savoy in France. For this reason Francis was sent to Padua to study law. After receiving his doctorate, he returned home and, in due time, told his parents he wished to enter the priesthood. His father strongly opposed Francis in this, and only after much patient persuasiveness on the part of the gentle Francis did his father finally consent. Francis was ordained and elected provost of the Diocese of Geneva, then a center for the Calvinists. Francis set out to convert them, especially in the district of Chablais. By preaching and distributing the little pamphlets he wrote to explain true Catholic doctrine, he had remarkable success.
At 35, he became bishop of Geneva. While administering his diocese he continued to preach, hear confessions, and catechize the children. His gentle character was a great asset in winning souls. He practiced his own axiom, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrelful of vinegar.”
Besides his two well-known books, the Introduction to the Devout Life and A Treatise on the Love of God, he wrote many pamphlets and carried on a vast correspondence. For his writings, he has been named patron of the Catholic Press. His writings, filled with his characteristic gentle spirit, are addressed to lay people. He wants to make them understand that they too are called to be saints. As he wrote in The Introduction to the Devout Life: “It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married woman…. It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world.”
In spite of his busy and comparatively short life, he had time to collaborate with another saint, Jane Frances de Chantal, in the work of establishing the Sisters of the Visitation. These women were to practice the virtues exemplified in Mary’s visit to Elizabeth: humility, piety, and mutual charity. They at first engaged to a limited degree in works of mercy for the poor and the sick. Today, while some communities conduct schools, others live a strictly contemplative life.
Reflection
Francis de Sales took seriously the words of Christ, “Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart.” As he said himself, it took him 20 years to conquer his quick temper, but no one ever suspected he had such a problem, so overflowing with good nature and kindness was his usual manner of acting. His perennial meekness and sunny disposition won for him the title of “Gentleman Saint.”
