The Catechism in a Year – Day 9 – The Fullness of Revelation
In our Catechism reading today we learn how out of love, God has fully revealed himself by sending his Son, Jesus Christ who established God’s covenant forever. We also learn that the Son is the Father’s definitive Word, but this Word has not yet been made completely explicit. Fr. Mike explains how private revelations may not claim to add to the Faith and must not contradict the Faith. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 65-73.
Click on the link to play video: https://youtu.be/v14auCZgM90
Saint of the Day – January 9 – Saint Juan Diego
Saint Juan Diego’s Story (1474 – May 30, 1548)
Thousands of people gathered in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2002, for the canonization of Juan Diego, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul II celebrated the ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the Church’s first saint indigenous to the Americas.
The Holy Father called the new saint “a simple, humble Indian” who accepted Christianity without giving up his identity as an Indian. “In praising the Indian Juan Diego, I want to express to all of you the closeness of the Church and the pope, embracing you with love and encouraging you to overcome with hope the difficult times you are going through,” John Paul said. Among the thousands present for the event were members of Mexico’s 64 indigenous groups.
First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who speaks”), Juan Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe because it was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531. The most famous part of his story is told in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. After the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady, however, little more is said about Juan Diego.
In time he lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy, unselfish, and compassionate catechist, who taught by word and especially by example.
During his 1990 pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II confirmed the long-standing liturgical cult in honor of Juan Diego, beatifying him. Twelve years later the same pope proclaimed him a saint.
Reflection
God counted on Juan Diego to play a humble, yet huge role in bringing the Good News to the peoples of Mexico. Overcoming his own fear and the doubts of Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, Juan Diego cooperated with God’s grace in showing his people that the Good News of Jesus is for everyone. Pope John Paul II used the occasion of Juan Diego’s beatification to urge Mexican lay people to assume their responsibilities for passing on the Good News and witnessing to it.
The Catechism in a Year – Day 8 – God Forms His People
God chose Abraham and made him the “father of a multitude of nations.” Then God formed Israel as his people, freeing them from slavery in Egypt. Fr. Mike explains why God reveals himself in stages, and through the prophets who are honored as saints, he continues to form his people in the hope of salvation. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 59-64.
Click on the link to play video: https://youtu.be/m6f2J4Cr3Ps
Saint of the Day – January 8 – Saint Angela of Foligno
Saint Angela of Foligno’s story (1248 – January 4, 1309)
Some saints show marks of holiness very early. Not Angela! Born of a leading family in Foligno, Italy, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social position. As a wife and mother, she continued this life of distraction.
Around the age of 40, she recognized the emptiness of her life and sought God’s help in the Sacrament of Penance. Her Franciscan confessor helped Angela to seek God’s pardon for her previous life and to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity.
Shortly after her conversion, her husband and children died. Selling most of her possessions, she entered the Secular Franciscan Order. She was alternately absorbed by meditating on the crucified Christ and by serving the poor of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs. Other women joined her in a religious community.
At her confessor’s advice, Angela wrote her Book of Visions and Instructions. In it she recalls some of the temptations she suffered after her conversion; she also expresses her thanks to God for the Incarnation of Jesus. This book and her life earned for Angela the title “Teacher of Theologians.” She was beatified in 1693, and canonized in 2013.
Reflection
People who live in the United States today can understand Saint Angela’s temptation to increase her sense of self-worth by accumulating money, fame or power. Striving to possess more and more, she became more and more self-centered. When she realized she was priceless because she was created and loved by God, she became very penitential and very charitable to the poor. What had seemed foolish early in her life now became very important. The path of self-emptying she followed is the path all holy men and women must follow. The liturgical feast of Saint Angela of Foligno is celebrated on January 7.
The Catechism in a Year – Day 7 – God Reveals Himself
God reveals himself to man and gives us the capacity to know and love him beyond our own natural abilities. From the very beginning, even after the first sin of Adam and Eve, God made himself known to human beings and gave us a promise of redemption. Fr. Mike explains how God’s covenant with Noah offers hope for salvation and unity that are only made possible in Christ. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 50-58.
Click on the link to play video: https://youtu.be/KAs6uQTUFNI
Saint of the Day – January 7 – Saint Raymond of Penyafort
Saint Raymond of Peñafort’s Story (1175 – January 6, 1275)
Since Raymond lived into his hundredth year, he had a chance to do many things. As a member of the Spanish nobility, he had the resources and the education to get a good start in life.
By the time he was 20, he was teaching philosophy. In his early 30s he earned a doctorate in both canon and civil law. At 41 he became a Dominican. Pope Gregory IX called him to Rome to work for him and to be his confessor. One of the things the pope asked him to do was to gather together all the decrees of popes and councils that had been made in 80 years since a similar collection by Gratian. Raymond compiled five books called the Decretals. They were looked upon as one of the best organized collections of Church law until the 1917 codification of canon law.
Earlier, Raymond had written for confessors a book of cases. It was called Summa de Casibus Poenitentiae. More than simply a list of sins and penances, it discussed pertinent doctrines and laws of the Church that pertained to the problem or case brought to the confessor.
At the age of 60, Raymond was appointed archbishop of Tarragona, the capital of Aragon. He didn’t like the honor at all and ended up getting sick and resigning in two years.
He didn’t get to enjoy his peace long, however, because when he was 63 he was elected by his fellow Dominicans to be the head of the whole Order, the successor of Saint Dominic. Raymond worked hard, visited on foot all the Dominicans, reorganized their constitutions and managed to put through a provision that a master general be allowed to resign. When the new constitutions were accepted, Raymond, then 65, resigned.
He still had 35 years to oppose heresy and work for the conversion of the Moors in Spain. He convinced Saint Thomas Aquinas to write his work Against the Gentiles.
In his 100th year, the Lord let Raymond retire.
Reflection
Raymond was a lawyer, a canonist. Legalism can suck the life out of genuine religion if it becomes too great a preoccupation with the letter of the law to the neglect of the spirit and purpose of the law. The law can become an end in itself, so that the value the law was intended to promote is overlooked. But we must guard against going to the opposite extreme and seeing law as useless or something to be lightly regarded. Laws ideally state those things that are for the best interests of everyone and make sure the rights of all are safeguarded. From Raymond, we can learn a respect for law as a means of serving the common good.
Saint Raymond of Peñafort is a Patron Saint of: Lawyers
The Catechism in a Year – Day 6 – Knowing God with Certainty
Today’s reading is a summation of what we have learned so far. Man is made for God, and we are born with a capacity for knowing God. Using our senses, listening to our consciences, and employing our gift of reason, we can know with certainty that God exists. Fr. Mike explains how we live freely only in communion with our Creator, even if we are limited in our capacity of comprehension. Knowing this compels us to share our faith in God with those who do not yet believe. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 44-49.
Click on the link to watch video: https://youtu.be/CxqVfrtdcNA
Saint of the Day – January 18 – Saint Charles of Sezze
Saint Charles of Sezze’s Story (October 19, 1613 – January 6, 1670)
Charles thought that God was calling him to be a missionary in India, but he never got there. God had something better for this 17th-century successor to Brother Juniper.
Born in Sezze, southeast of Rome, Charles was inspired by the lives of Salvator Horta and Paschal Baylon to become a Franciscan; he did that in 1635. Charles tells us in his autobiography, “Our Lord put in my heart a determination to become a lay brother with a great desire to be poor and to beg alms for his love.”
Charles served as cook, porter, sacristan, gardener and beggar at various friaries in Italy. In some ways, he was “an accident waiting to happen.” He once started a huge fire in the kitchen when the oil in which he was frying onions burst into flames.
One story shows how thoroughly Charles adopted the spirit of Saint Francis. The superior ordered Charles—then porter—to give food only to traveling friars who came to the door. Charles obeyed this direction; simultaneously the alms to the friars decreased. Charles convinced the superior the two facts were related. When the friars resumed giving goods to all who asked at the door, alms to the friars increased also.
At the direction of his confessor, Charles wrote his autobiography, The Grandeurs of the Mercies of God. He also wrote several other spiritual books. He made good use of his various spiritual directors throughout the years; they helped him discern which of Charles’ ideas or ambitions were from God. Charles himself was sought out for spiritual advice. The dying Pope Clement IX called Charles to his bedside for a blessing.
Charles had a firm sense of God’s providence. Father Severino Gori has said, “By word and example he recalled in all the need of pursuing only that which is eternal” (Leonard Perotti, St. Charles of Sezze: An Autobiography, page 215).
He died at San Francesco a Ripa in Rome and was buried there. Pope John XXIII canonized him in 1959.
Reflection
The drama in the lives of the saints is mostly interior. Charles’ life was spectacular only in his cooperation with God’s grace. He was captivated by God’s majesty and great mercy to all of us.
Sermon Notes – January 1, 2023 – “Take Care of My Mother, I Remember Your Name”
“Take Care of My Mother, I Remember Your Name”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
January 1, 2023
Gospel: Luke 2:16-21
16 So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. 17 When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, 18 and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds said to them. 19 As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as they had been told. 21 When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.
In a few moments we will recite the Nicene Creed which is one of the statements of belief in the Church. We have many creeds including the Apostles Creed and the Athanasian Creed. The Nicene Creed was formulated by the Council Fathers, the Bishops, under the leadership of the Pope at the Council of Nicea in the fourth century. The Nicene Creed was a response to heresy by a priest named Arius who challenged our beliefs. Arius thought he was brighter than the average bear and that he had knowledge that nobody else had. So, he, in his exalted wisdom, sought to redefine who Christ is. He denied the true nature of Christ. This caused a bloody revolt within the empire. The Church went through great strife., and there was martyrdom all over the world. It was terrible. But that is what evil does. So, the bishops of the Church gathered in council along with the Holy Father and made a declaration about who Christ is and where He came from.
Remember, Christ is a person. He is a “Who.” He is not an “it” or a “what.” And that is affirmed in the Nicene Creed. In philosophy, you learn that a person is a “Who.” Inside that “who” is a “what” which is their nature. We have a human nature…some of us just barely. Animals have an animal nature. Christ is a “Who” with two “what’s”. He has a divine nature which is Himself, and He had the human nature He took from the Blessed Mother. If you watch closely during the Mass, you see that I put one drop of water into the chalice of wine. The amount of wine and water in the chalice cannot be equal parts. The drop of water is not to cut the effect of the wine. It is to symbolize the human nature assumed and lost within the divinity. And unless I put that drop of water into the chalice of wine, the Mass is invalid because no Precious Blood has been consecrated. The mixture of wine and water in the chalice must be very precise because it is expressing the theological and ontological real meaning of who Christ is.
The Blessed Mother is fittingly called the mother of God so that each year God is made visible. Why is she called the mother of God? Because that is what scripture said. The Council Fathers declared that Mary, the Blessed Mother, was the mother of God. To some, this was a novel idea, but it really wasn’t because members of the Council knew scripture. And scripture said that Mary was the mother of God. Mary had just conceived when she went to visit Elizabeth, her kinswoman. And when Elizabeth said, “Who am I that the mother of our Lord should come unto me,” she was saying that Mary is the mother of God. Remember, when you read scripture, you have to read it as a First Century Jew coming from a Jewish culture. “Oh, I studied under so-and-so.” Do you know how to study the Old Testament? Study it under a rabbi. I did. Then you discover what things really mean. “Oh, that’s what that means.” Bingo! You have to consider the culture.
First Century Jews would never use our word for “God.” Even now, the Orthodox leave letters out and use hyphens. They don’t use the word “God.” When Mary greeted Elizabeth, the baby, John, leapt in her womb. Again, you have to read scripture in the original language. John didn’t “leap in the womb.” The original word was “danced.” It’s the same word that David used to describe what King David did before the Arc of the Covenant as the Arc was coming into Jerusalem. John the Baptist danced before the Arc of the New Covenant. Mary is referred to as the mother of our Lord throughout scripture. Mariology is a subset of Christology because if you study Christ, you have to study Mary. This is why, as Catholics, we have a great devotion to our Lady. “Oh, but we don’t want to neglect Christ.” I’m the wrong ethnicity, I’m French Canadian, but there’s a great Italian phrase that I love to repeat, “Hey Father, you take care of my mother, I remember your name.”
In praising the mother of God, aren’t you also praising Him who is the source and author of all virtue? However, it was not enough for Mary to be the mother of Christ. She also had a secondary vocation. Read the scriptures. When some people read them, they become like jailhouse lawyers …they read stuff and say, “Oh yeah! It says this.” Well, not quite. Mary is also our mother. At the wedding in Cana at Galilee, she said, “Son, they have no more wine.” Any man knows that when a woman says that it’s an implied task and you better get to work and fix it. She stated the problem and now it’s your problem. Fix it. Yes, Mom. Yes, Dear. What did Christ say? The English translation is not a good one. He didn’t call her “mother.” He said, “Woman what are thee to me?” This sounds very harsh. Say that to your mother and let me know how it works for you. Not well I bet. Even saying that to Bea Morton would result in a less than optimal outcome. There would be a lot of tears and crying on your part. But that was the beginning of Mary’s second vocation as our Lord began His ministry which was fulfilled three years later at the foot of the Cross. “Son, behold your mother. Woman, behold your son.” He said “woman” and not “mother.” She was to be the spiritual mother of all men. Christ works through her. Christ works through her to become present in this world. He works through her to open the gates of Heaven and help us with our salvation. Remember the words of Saint Bernard:
Remember, Oh gracious Sweet Virgin Mary, never has it been heard that you left unaided anyone who ran to you for protection, implored your help or sought for your intercessions. With this inspired confidence I fly to you my mother, Oh Sweet virgin of virgins, I come to you and before you I stand sinful and sorrowful. Oh Mother of The Word Incarnate, do not despise my petitions but listen, hear and answer them with your utmost love. Amen
Now is that a great prayer? Darn right. I say it every morning. Does it always work? Um, yes. However, I’m not a monsignor. The forecast looks really bleak on that front. But my prayers are never denied. I always receive strength, consolation, and affirmation. It always comes because Mom knows best. We use that phrase in our physical life how much more so is it true in our spiritual life? We know the mother of God. As Teresa Cuthrone might say, “Hey, I know a girl.”
When we pray the Rosary, we pray scripture. There is nothing contrary or adverse to Christ in that. Otherwise, she would have dropped out of scripture like Joseph. She is our mother too and wants to take care of us. She wants us to be with her Son. So always ask for help. Nobody has been sent to hell for asking for intercession.
Father’s Reflections… I had an appointment with my cardiologist on Wednesday. He said I was fine. Okay. But because I’m a cautious man, I kept the receipt.
How will you apply this message to your life? _________________________________________
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