Feast Day: November 23rd

Continuing from last week, we return to Pope Benedict XVI’s Audience on St. Columbanus. Recall he had spoken on Columban’s early life in Ireland and courageous embarkment on a mission to re-evangelize the European Continent.

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With another famous work entitled: De poenitentiarum misura taxanda, also written at Luxeuil, Columban introduced Confession and private and frequent penance on the Continent. It was known as “tariffed” penance because of the proportion established between the gravity of the sin and the type of penance imposed by the confessor. These innovations roused the suspicion of local Bishops, a suspicion that became hostile when Columban had the courage to rebuke them openly for the practices of some of them. The controversy over the date of Easter was an opportunity to demonstrate their opposition: Ireland, in fact, followed the Eastern rather than the Roman tradition. The Irish monk was convoked in 603 to account to a Synod at Chalon-sur-Saône for his practices regarding penance and Easter. Instead of presenting himself before the Synod, he sent a letter in which he minimized the issue, inviting the Synod Fathers not only to discuss the problem of the date of Easter, in his opinion a negligible problem, “but also all the necessary canonical norms that – something more serious – are disregarded by many” (cf. Epistula II, 1). At the same time he wrote to Pope Boniface IV – just as several years earlier he had turned to Pope Gregory the Great (cf. Epistula I) – asking him to defend the Irish tradition (cf. Epistula III). 

Intransigent as he was in every moral matter, Columban then came into conflict with the royal house for having harshly reprimanded King Theuderic for his adulterous relations. This created a whole network of personal, religious and political intrigues and manoeuvres which, in 610, culminated in a Decree of expulsion banishing Columban and all the monks of Irish origin from Luxeuil and condemning them to definitive exile. They were escorted to the sea and, at the expense of the court, boarded a ship bound for Ireland. However, not far from shore the ship ran aground and the captain, who saw this as a sign from Heaven, abandoned the voyage and, for fear of being cursed by God, brought the monks back to dry land. Instead of returning to Luxeuil, they decided to begin a new work of evangelization. Thus, they embarked on a Rhine boat and travelled up the river. After a first stop in Tuggen near Lake Zurich they went to the region of Bregenz, near Lake Constance, to evangelize the Alemanni. 

However, soon afterwards, because of political events unfavourable to his work, Columban decided to cross the Alps with the majority of his disciples. Only one monk whose name was Gallus stayed behind; it was from his hermitage that the famous Abbey of St Gall in Switzerland subsequently developed. Having arrived in Italy, Columban met with a warm welcome at the Lombard Royal Court but was immediately faced with considerable difficulties: the life of the Church was torn apart by the Arian heresy, still prevalent among the Lombards, and by a schism which had detached most of the Church in Northern Italy from communion with the Bishop of Rome. Columban entered authoritatively into this context, writing a satirical pamphlet against Arianism and a letter to Boniface IV to convince him to take some decisive steps with a view to re-establishing unity (cf. Epistula V). When, in 612 or 613, the King of the Lombards allocated to him a plot of land in Bobbio, in the Trebbia Valley, Columban founded a new monastery there which was later to become a cultural centre on a par with the famous monastery of Monte Cassino. Here he came to the end of his days: he died on 23 November 615 and to this day is commemorated on this date in the Roman rite. 

St Columban’s message is concentrated in a firm appeal to conversion and detachment from earthly goods, with a view to the eternal inheritance. With his ascetic life and conduct free from compromises when he faced the corruption of the powerful, he is reminiscent of the severe figure of St John the Baptist. His austerity, however, was never an end in itself but merely the means with which to open himself freely to God’s love and to correspond with his whole being to the gifts received from him, thereby restoring in himself the image of God, while at the same time cultivating the earth and renewing human society. I quote from his Instructiones: “If man makes a correct use of those faculties that God has conceded to his soul, he will be likened to God. Let us remember that we must restore to him all those gifts which he deposited in us when we were in our original condition. “He has taught us the way with his Commandments. The first of them tells us to love the Lord with all our heart, because he loved us first, from the beginning of time, even before we came into the light of this world” (cf. Instructiones XI). The Irish Saint truly incarnated these words in his own life. A man of great culture – he also wrote poetry in Latin and a grammar book – he proved rich in gifts of grace. He was a tireless builder of monasteries as well as an intransigent penitential preacher who spent every ounce of his energy on nurturing the Christian roots of Europe which was coming into existence. With his spiritual energy, with his faith, with his love for God and neighbour, he truly became one of the Fathers of Europe. He shows us even today the roots from which our Europe can be reborn.

– Fr. Dominic always enjoys crafting these saint-stories himself, but it is also a gift to just receive them from a great teacher as well. Praise the Lord for those like Pope Benedict with the gift of teaching!

Over the past weeks, I have been encouraging all us to consider ways in which we are grateful for what we have received from being a part of the Cathedral parish family.  At the time of this writing, I have received a few responses, and I have no doubt more will have come in.  I wanted to share with all of you part of one of the responses that I received.  This person, after listing a few things for which they are grateful, concluded: “All of these have provided me a home where I can continue growing closer to Christ!”

As I read those words, I was struck how with just a few words, they were able to express what I sincerely hope for all of us, that we see this parish as a home where we can grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus Christ.  As the Rector, I know that this is one of the most important things I can do in serving you.  When considering the state of a parish, it can be tempting to just focus on numbers.  How is the budget doing?  How many wedding, baptisms, and funerals have taken place here?  Hoe many hours of Bible study, faith formation, etc., have taken place?  How many hours of adoration?  How many people came to Mass in the month of October?  All of those metrics are good to know, and they can say a lot about what is happening in the parish.  But they only capture a small piece of the overall picture of where we are as a parish.  As I explained in last week’s bulletin, the more important indicator of the health of the parish is to be found in the somewhat hidden recesses of the souls of each individual.

Over the years, as I have been in a variety of parish settings, it strikes me that there is one metric that I think is a very good indicator of the state of a parish, and that is the number of confessions that are heard in a parish.  This is obviously a number that I never intend to count or actually report, but I believe the use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of best ways of getting a peek into that hidden reality of the inner disposition of the souls of a parish.  What do I mean by that?  Let me try to explain.

One who goes to confession has come to the realization that they are in need of Jesus, not just in a generic sense, but they realize that they need His mercy.  It takes humility to acknowledge that we have sinned, and to bring that sorrow to Him in the sacrament that He instituted to assure us of His forgiveness.  By going to confession, we demonstrate that we are striving to grow in holiness, because as Catholics, we cannot authentically grow into a deeper relationship with Him if we never go to confession.  I say this not to shame anybody, because I know there are likely some, if not many, reading these words who have not been to confession in quite some time.  I have shared myself how there was a period of time in my life when it had been more than 10 years since I had last gone to confession.  But to my dying day, I will always say that it was that decision to finally humble myself and go to confession that changed my relationship with Jesus forever.  I was met with compassion and love, and His mercy touched me in a profound way as I encounter His deep personal love for me, and my awareness of that love has continued to grow, due in no small part to my continued practice of regular confession.

As I look back on this past year, I am perhaps most grateful to God for the many confessions I have heard here.  It is so humbling to be in that place of vulnerability, and I get to see souls come to life again, having been touched by God’s loving mercy.  I get a glimpse into those souls, and it fills me with such great hope as they are set free from the burden of sin, setting off to begin again in growing into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Father Alford     

Feast Day: November 24^th 23rd

Usually, it takes me some time to decide between all the different saints who are celebrated on any particular day. This week was different. I saw St. Columbanus, had not even read about where he lived or when he died; I just saw “Patron of Motorcyclists”, and that was that. As I was researching his life, I discovered two additional things. First, Pope Benedict XVI had given a splendid audience on this heroic Irish saint, one with details and depth that I wanted to pass onto all of you. AND, sadly, that my first research was erroneous, and his feast day was actually November 23^rd… So, with that mistake already made, I just decided to give you Pope Benedict’s account of this saint, split between this week and the next. I will be back! But perhaps it is fitting as we celebrate Thanksgiving to just turn back in gratitude to a wonderful holy father who taught the faith so beautifully!

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Today I would like to speak about the holy Abbot Columban, the best known Irishman of the early Middle Ages. Since he worked as a monk, missionary and writer in various countries of Western Europe with good reason he can be called a “European” Saint. With the Irish of his time, he had a sense of Europe’s cultural unity. The expression“totius Europae – of all Europe”, with reference to the Church’s presence on the Continent, is found for the first time in one of his letters, written around the year 600, addressed to Pope Gregory the Great (cf. Epistula I, 1). 

Columban was born c. 543 in the Province of Leinster in southeast Ireland. He was educated at home by excellent tutors who introduced him to the study of liberal arts. He was then entrusted to the guidance of Abbot Sinell of the community of Cleenish in Northern Ireland, where he was able to deepen his study of Sacred Scripture. At the age of about 20 he entered the monastery of Bangor, in the northeast of the island, whose abbot, Comgall, was a monk well known for his virtue and ascetic rigour. In full agreement with his abbot, Columban zealously practiced the severe discipline of the monastery, leading a life of prayer, ascesis and study. While there, he was also ordained a priest. His life at Bangor and the Abbot’s example influenced the conception of monasticism that developed in Columban over time and that he subsequently spread in the course of his life. 

When he was approximately 50 years old, following the characteristically Irish ascetic ideal of the “peregrinatio pro Christo”, namely, making oneself a pilgrim for the sake of Christ, Columban left his island with 12 companions to engage in missionary work on the European Continent. We should in fact bear in mind that the migration of people from the North and the East had caused whole areas, previously Christianized, to revert to paganism. Around the year 590, the small group of missionaries landed on the Breton coast. Welcomed kindly by the King of the Franks of Austrasia (present-day France), they asked only for a small piece of uncultivated land. They were given the ancient Roman fortress of Annegray, totally ruined and abandoned and covered by forest. Accustomed to a life of extreme hardship, in the span of a few months the monks managed to build the first hermitage on the ruins. Thus their re-evangelization began, in the first place, through the witness of their lives. With the new cultivation of the land, they also began a new cultivation of souls. The fame of those foreign religious who, living on prayer and in great austerity, built houses and worked the land spread rapidly, attracting pilgrims and penitents. In particular, many young men asked to be accepted by the monastic community in order to live, like them, this exemplary life which was renewing the cultivation of the land and of souls. It was not long before the foundation of a second monastery was required. It was built a few kilometres away on the ruins of an ancient spa, Luxeuil. This monastery was to become the centre of the traditional Irish monastic and missionary outreach on the European Continent. A third monastery was erected at Fontaine, an hour’s walk further north. 

Columban lived at Luxeuil for almost 20 years. Here the Saint wrote for his followers the Regula monachorum – for a while more widespread in Europe than Benedict’s Rule – which portrayed the ideal image of the monk. It is the only ancient Irish monastic rule in our possession today. Columban integrated it with the Regula coenobialis, a sort of penal code for the offences committed by monks, with punishments that are somewhat surprising to our modern sensibility and can only be explained by the mentality and environment of that time. 

– Fr. Dominic was further humbled this week. Last week’s collection of saints also included a Blessed! Fr. Josaphat Kocylovskyj, from Poland, is not yet canonized a saint, so perhaps we can all pray for his intercession and if a miracle is granted it could prompt the church to officially give him the title of saint! 

On November 4, the Church celebrated the Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, who was a cardinal of the Church and Archbishop of Milan.  In a letter he wrote toward the end of his life, he addressed his priests with a variety of exhortations.  The one that always stands out to me as I read it every year is the following:

Are you in charge of a parish? If so, do not neglect the parish of your own soul, do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself. You have to be mindful of your people without becoming forgetful of yourself.

This serves as a reminder to me of the importance of my being diligent to taking care of my soul so that I can be of best service to you in my pastoral care of your souls.  But I think these words can be extended to all of us, especially as we are preparing for my State of the Parish address at all of the masses next weekend.  We will be considering the financial stewardship of the parish, the faith formation opportunities we have had this past year, the sacraments that have been celebrated.  But more important than those facts and figures is the state of the soul of the individual members who make up our parish family.  This is something that I cannot really speak to, as it touches on something that is hidden from my eyes.  It deals with the relationship that each of us has with the Lord.

Perhaps this next week can be a time of personal reflection in which each one of us asks the Lord to shed His light into our souls to help us to see where we are at in our friendship with Him.  Over the past year, how have we grown, if indeed we have grown?  What is our attitude toward prayer?  Are we more or less excited than a year ago about spending time with the Lord in prayer?  What about our love for the Mass?  Do we approach this greatest of all prayer with greater reverence and eager anticipation?  Or, have we let our devotion and dedication slide?  When was the last time we brought our sins to the Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?  When was the last time we picked up the Bible to read or pray with the Word of God?  When did we last pray the Rosary?  How well am I doing with loving my neighbor in my heart?

The list of questions can go on and on, but I think you get the point.  As I pray and discern about what to share next weekend, it would be great if all of us could bring with us an awareness of the present state of the parish of our souls.  No doubt, we will find reasons for giving thanks, as well as identifying areas for growth, similar to our parish community.  We bring all of that to the Lord, especially at the Mass, offering ourselves and our parish to Him, that we might be an acceptable offering to Him, one that we want to continue to purify and strengthen, so that the individual cells of the body of our parish family will make for a more united and vibrant community of intentional missionary disciples of Jesus Christ who seek to become saints!

Also, please remember to share what you are thankful for from the Cathedral.  Information about submitting these expressions of gratitude can be found later in the bulletin or in our eWeekly communications.

Father Alford     

Feast Day: November 17^th 

Gregory died at the age of 70, the bishop of the town of Caesarea in modern day Turkey. He was surrounded by a fervent Christian community despite this being the early 200s when Christianity was still far from accepted throughout the Roman empire

Hugh was a bishop in England in the 1100s, he had been worn out by a recent diplomatic trip through France asked by King John, returning to London for a national council only for his health to spiral and his death to come on November 16^th of 1220. 

Roque was on a ladder tilted up against the little belltower at the All Saints Mission that he and another Jesuit priest had just founded in Caaro, nowadays the southern tip of Brazil. It was the year 1628, and he was working on hanging a bell above their chapel to call the locals to the prayers and formation they would be given there when suspicious locals attacked the priests, leaving their bodies to be burned as the chapel went up in flames.

And Josephat. His last moments were in 1947, near Kiev, where he was imprisoned by the communists who were pressuring him to renounce his Catholic faith. He just had to become a Russian Orthodox priest, just had to abandon his allegiance to Rome, just had to accept reality and let political expediency trump Christ. He was 71 years old, in the Capaivca labor camp, when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage, faithful to the last. 

Now, of course the final moment is the one that counts (for us too!), but the rest of their lives (and ours) matters too! None of these saints would have been where they were, and offered their lives to God as they had without the story and decisions that led up to that final moment. 

So back to Gregory. He was a young man growing up in the Roman Empire, gobbling up all that the pagan world could offer when he ran into a unique Christian teacher: Origen. Not himself canonized, Origen is all the same considered one of the great teachers of the 2^nd century, and Gregory was floored by this eloquent, profound, and fervent preacher of the Gospel. He gave up everything, because a Christian, a priest, and then a bishop. Was made eventually bishop of Caesarea where he began his efforts in that city with only 17 Christians, and ended on his deathbed with only 17 pagans. What made all these converts? A zeal like Origen, and the gift of working miracles. His full name is St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, “the wonder-worker”. 

30 years before Hugh’s health collapsed in London he was just the new bishop of the See of Lincoln, in England. He was a Carthusian, and had strenuously tried ot avoid being named bishop, but having directly confronted the king about keeping such sees vacant, he could not refuse for long. (The king had a say in who was named bishop, and while any see was vacant handily received all their income into the royal coffers so he often procrastinated on filling them). But political meanderings, while they might mark the end of his life, in the middle of his life were just a training for the courage he would need elsewhere. Hugh’s most famous moment came when mobs were persecuting Jews throughout the country, on multiple occasions he marched up to the mob and faced them down until they released their victims!

So then, back to Fr. Roque Gonzalez y de Santa-Cruz. He was born in Paraguay in 1576. This was 10 years before St. Rose of Lima, and 13 before St. Martin de Porres, so though they were canonized before him, he is actually the earliest person born in the Americas who is now canonized a saint! He was ordained very young, despite always thinking himself unworthy of the honor. Partly because of this thought he had spent his priesthood seeking out the most remote missionary work he could find – avoiding the limelight – all the while cherishing, protecting, and educating the people he found, quite contrary to the ways of many other Christians who fought and conquered the indigenous tribes. 

And lastly, Bp. Josephat. He was just a man from a little village in Poland who joined the military as a young man before entering seminary and being sent to Rome. After being ordained a priest, he spent some time in seminary formation and then discerned into a monastery, receiving the name Josephat. Eventually he was made a bishop in 1917, spent a few decades shepherding his flock, and then was arrested by the communists for the reasons described above. His life was never flashy, no dramatic showdown, he was just a holy man who died unfaltering in the face of those who would trample his flock. 

– Fr. Dominic decided to offer multiple summarized saints this week because it is the month of November and always helpful to keep the unknown time of our own death before our eyes. Think about it this way, how many more presidential elections do you expect to see? If I make it to 77 (current average life expectancy), I will only see 11 more elections. Helpful perspective…! BUT, I also flashed back to their earlier life because their saintly deaths were the result of little choices along the way: choices to really listen to the Gospel, to stand up against evil, to choose the littlest assignment, to pray every day… One day will be our last. Did I live today to make that last one what it ought to be?