Feast Day: October 17^th

Peter had been the first apostle to reach the large Roman city of Antioch, north of Jerusalem, outside Judea, in Syria.  It was a bustling, large, pagan place, the fourth largest city in the entire Roman Empire, and, with a population above 250,000, it was not only was double the size that Springfield is now, it was also a perfect place for the Gospel to begin its march out to the whole world.  The Galilean fisherman must have already been overwhelmed by the distance the Word of Christ had come in those first years after the resurrection.  Could he have imagined that that crazy city would be the first place the followers of Christ would be called “Christians”?  How could he have predicted that within 10 years Paul and Barnabas would convert to Christianity, and would depart from that very city on their missions to the Greek-speaking world?  Far less could he look 20 years ahead to his martyrdom in Rome itself, fulfilling Christ’s words back on the beach of the Sea of Tiberias, when Jesus told His beloved burly fisherman that “when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will fasten your belt for you and carry you where you do not wish to go…” [John 21:18]  Or, that in 200 years, 100,000 of those people in Antioch would be Christian.

But perhaps he knew a little boy named Ignatius.  

Ignatius was a young child there in Antioch around the time that Peter was there, and as a good friend of a disciple of Peter, St. Polycarp, it is possible that Peter met him.  Some even say that Peter picked the boy out to be his successor as bishop of Antioch one day.  Either way, it is from his role as bishop of that important city, that Ignatius got his famous surname, “Ignatius of Antioch”.  But I want to tell the story of another name he has: Ignatius Nurono, translated: Ignatius Fire-Bearer.  Many attributes must have contributed to his having this nickname: his tireless proclamation of the Gospel, his lifelong witnessing to Christ’s resurrection, his fearless embracing of martyrdom … but I think above all this nickname came from his relentless proclamation that the piece of unleavened bread he held in his hands each Lord’s day, became Jesus Christ Himself in the Blessed Sacrament.  He bore the fire of Christ in all his boldness, but never more than the humble consecration at Mass.  It is not by chance that this is the man who would first use “Eucharist” to refer to Christ’s sacramental Body and Blood, nor that he first referred to the Church as “Catholic”, for to him these were just two parts of the same mysteries, two aspects of the same reality.  

I write boldly to your love, which is worthy of God, and exhort you to have but one faith, and one preaching, and one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ; and His blood which was shed for us is one; one loaf also is broken to all, and one cup is distributed among them all: there is but one altar for the whole Church, and one bishop, with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow- servants. Since, also, there is but one unbegotten Being, God, even the Father; and one only-begotten Son, God, the Word and man; and one Comforter, the Spirit of truth.
[St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians, Chapter 4.]

The unity of the Church is found in the unity of her members around Christ, in His Vicar, and His bishops, but most of all in His Body and Blood.  This is why the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of our faith, the foundation of all the sacraments, and the greatest treasure that we have.  Every other sacrament streams out from this Most Blessed Sacrament: different gleams from the same Light, different gifts from the same Lord, different sparks from the same Fire.  

Want unity?  Want courage?  Want faith?  Want love?  Rely on Christ in the Eucharist.  Prepare yourself and your families to receive Him well.  Bear that fire boldly.  Ignatius did.  

His last letter was written to the Christians of Rome, as he followed in St. Peter’s footsteps to his own martyrdom in the arena: “The only thing I ask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ.” [Letter to the Romans, Chapter 4].  May we too, by the intercession of St. Ignatius, be united, inspired, and transformed into the Immaculate Bread of Christ.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin, as of this writing, has celebrated the Holy Mass nine hundred and forty seven times, and has been re-ignited every time by a new flicker of the flame of love from Christ’s Heart that constantly seeks to set us all alight.  

As you are likely aware, the Church celebrates the feast days of saints throughout the year.  Many Catholics look forward to these different feast days for various reasons.  For example, in places like Poland, the feast day connected to your name is a very big deal, even bigger than your own birthday in some cases!  It is also common to celebrate the feast day of the saint that was chosen for one’s Confirmation.  We also celebrate saints for whom we have a special devotion.

Every so often, the liturgical celebration of these feast days is skipped when there is a higher-ranking feast.  Today is one such example.  In a normal year, on October 4 we would be celebrating the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.  But since Sundays generally take precedence over most feast days for saints, St. Francis has to take a back seat in most places, though Franciscan communities would celebrate today as a Solemnity, which would take precedence over the Sunday.  Hopefully this explanation is not too complicated, and maybe you even learned a new fact!

I bring up St. Francis because he has long been one of my favorite saints.  In fact, I had briefly entertained the possibility of discerning a vocation to religious life as a Franciscan before I entered the seminary for the diocese.  While I realize that it is normally Father Rankin’s job to reflect on the saints in our Cathedral Weekly, I could not miss the opportunity to say something about this great saint.

There is a phrase connected with St. Francis that has come up in my prayer over the past couple of months.  The phrase is the words that Our Lord gave to St. Francis toward the beginning of his vocation.  In the run-down church of San Damiano, he heard these words: “Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.”  Other translations use the word “rebuild”, but I think I prefer repair, for the Church, founded by Christ, can not be rebuilt, strictly speaking.  The divine aspect of the Church is holy and not in need of anything.  The human aspect, however, is always in need of repair.  The Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church articulates this well:

While Christ, holy, innocent and undefiled (Heb. 7:26) knew nothing of sin, (2 Cor. 5:21) but came to expiate only the sins of the people, (Cf. Heb. 2:17) the Church, embracing in its bosom sinners, at the same time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of penance and renewal. (Lumen Gentium, §8)

There is no doubt that the Church in our present times needs repair.  And the first place we need to look to begin that process of repair is in our own hearts, acknowledging that we are in constant need of purification and renewal.  When we have committed ourselves to that task, we will be making as great of a contribution to the renewal of the Church as pointing out everything other than ourselves that needs renewal in the Church.  That is not to say that we remain silent or that we do not do anything to work for the needed repair in the Church.  That is badly needed, but so is our renewal.

Our theme for this month is “God is the source of all life and What is a sacrament?”  The sacraments are the greatest resources that we have in this important work of repairing the Church.  The sacraments help us to be more firmly rooted in God’s grace so that we can more closely imitate Christ and His holiness.  We are also called to be missionary disciples who lead others to the sacraments in order to experience that renewal in their lives.  The more the faithful center their lives in the sacraments, the more we will allow God to truly work in and through His Church.  When this happens, we will experience a remarkable repair and renewal in the Church, so that she will shine with ever greater brightness and purity in a world that desperately needs the hopeful message of the Gospel entrusted to the Church.

Father Alford     

As we spend this year reflecting on the seven sacraments and their role in our faith, it may be helpful to look into why we have sacraments at all. One reason we have the seven sacraments in our church is because God is the source of all life. God created the entire universe out of nothing, and the dimensions of our universe are truly mind-blowing! However, the pinnacle of God’s creation is not massive stars and galaxies, but life here on earth. Specifically, men and women are the pinnacle of God’s creation because we are made in his image and likeness and share in the life of the Holy Trinity. This life that God shares with us is called grace. And this is the reason sacraments exist! The seven sacraments are the primary way that God desires to share his life with us when we live on earth. (Of course, God can and does give grace outside of the seven sacraments.) This sharing in divine life begins at baptism when Original Sin is washed away and the fire of God’s love is lit in the soul of the newly baptized baby. This is symbolized by the baptismal candle being lit from the Easter candle. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life” (1996-1997). Grace is both the help that God gives us and a sharing in the divine life of God. The sacraments are an effective visible sign of an invisible grace which God has given us to become more united with him and to share more fully in his love. 

It is possible to fall away from baptismal grace through serious sin, which is called a mortal sin. It is called “mortal” because it kills the life of grace within our souls. The Church teaches that if somebody dies in the state of unrepented mortal sin, their eternal life will be spent apart from God. This may seem harsh, but it is really a free choice of each individual to accept the free gift of God’s grace or reject it and live in sin. The Sacrament of Reconciliation restores the life of grace if we do fall into serious sin after baptism. The other sacraments all work to increase the life of grace within us. 

In the past century, there has been a great amount of study into genetics and how all life on earth is connected biologically through DNA. Specifically, our bodies are made of the same building blocks as other animals. However, I think we can say that we are more closely related to angels than we are to other primates. Human beings and angels are the two groups of beings that share in God’s divine life. In eternal life in heaven, we will look more like the angels than we do like other animals! On September 29, we celebrated the feast day of three archangels: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. On October 2, we celebrated the memorial of the holy guardian angels. We honor the angels that God created because they play such an important role in the history of our salvation and even in the current practice of our faith. May God increase our desire to share in his sanctifying grace – his own life within us! 

Feast Day: October 4^th

St. Francis would be pleased; October 4^th is always his Feast, but this year it is trumped by a Solemnity, namely Sunday.  Every week our Sunday celebration of Mass displaces every other feast because Christ’s resurrection is the most important day of history, way more important than a day associated with even the greatest of saints.  Men and women are only saints because, at the end of their lives, they were united with Christ in His death, and thus, His resurrection.

We probably have already heard the story: Franceso grows up rich, popular, and charismatic, but gave all of that up, because one amazing day, his life having fallen apart, Christ stepped into that emptiness and said “Francis, rebuild my church.”  Out the window went the dreams of being famous or victorious; his life was now God’s to direct.  Francis gave everything away, even his earthly father, and began to rebuild that little church where the Crucified One spoke to him.  Many thought him a crazy beggar as he lived in his little hut and nursed lepers, but a few were crazy enough to join him, and a year or two later (it’s now 1209) they walked to Rome to see if Pope Innocent III would approve their rule.  It was not a long-winded document, actually it was only one line: “To follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps.” 

But that is precisely what Francis and his followers were radically about.  The order was approved, women joined too, becoming the Poor Clares, and Francis began wandering the countryside, preaching the Gospel wherever people would listen (and when they wouldn’t, he would just speak it to the birds and fish).  He would try to go to Morocco, but would only get to Spain; He wanted to preach throughout France, but was told to stay in Italy; and in 1219, though he was able to meet with the Sultan of Egypt during the 5^th crusade, many would consider it another failure since the crusade continued and the Sultan didn’t convert.  

I think they’re wrong.

Maybe the Muslim camp did not receive the Gospel, but the Franciscans did become custodians of the most beloved sites in the Holy Land for the 800 years since.  And, we need to be clear, Francis was not looking for success, he was just looking to keep speaking about Jesus Christ.  And so, though worldly standards would be horrified that we are already at the end of his life, even (and especially) in death he was still accomplishing that mission!  In 1224, as he lost his eyesight, he gained the wounds of Christ (just like Padre Pio he had the stigmata!)  And, as his health dwindled, he asked to be carried from town to town, unable to preach, unable to stand, but still a beacon of poverty, humility, and charity, and that is all that God ever asks of anyone.

As I said, I suspect St. Francis is happy with his feast being trumped this year because as he died on that evening of October 3rd, 1226, he asked to be moved to the floor and instructed his followers to not build him an impressive tomb (they conceded the first wish, but not the second…)  More insightful, his last prayer was from Psalm 142: “I cry to you, O Lord; I say, You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”  It was a fitting conclusion to his life, which for all those years had been a model of total trust in the Lord.

All this is why he is the perfect man to open our discussion this month of the sacraments.  A sacrament, the Catechism says, is “an efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit.”  We only refer to the 7 sacraments as sacraments specifically, but in a larger sense, every place we glimpse God is a sacrament of sorts.  St. Francis was that above everything else, a glimmer of God!  He was canonized after only 2 years, and a giant basilica was built in his honor after another 2 because everyoneknew him to be an alter Christus, another Christ.  Francis had his Lord’s wounds, His suffered his Savior’s rejection, He endured Jesus’ poverty, and He shone forth the grace of God in his life.  That’s our call too.  

St. Francis, pray for us, that we might become signs and sacraments of God’s love in the world!   

– Fr. Dominic Rankin has preached the Gospel ever since he was ordained a deacon, like St. Francis, 3 years and 6 days ago.  He prays that his preaching might be as bold as the humble hermit of Assisi.

When I meet with couples preparing for marriage, I usually ask them about their prayer life together.  Most couples find this question difficult to answer, apart from responding that they might go to Mass together or that they pray a prayer before meals.  I remember one couple in particular who, after struggling to respond, asked me for some advice on how they might approach the practice of praying together as a couple.  I was delighted at the question, and it made me think of the request from the disciples of Jesus: “Lord, each us to pray.” (Luke 11:1).  It was that request that led to His teaching them the Lord’s Prayer (though a slightly different form than we are used to, which comes from Matthew’s Gospel).  So I would like to offer a few simple ideas on how to pray together – as a couple, as a family, or in some other group.

My first suggestion is to let the Lord begin the conversation.  By this I mean turning to the Scriptures.  Reading a passage out loud together is already praying!  Even if that is the only thing you do, you have begun.  You could take it a step further and spend some time sharing some thoughts about what struck you by the passage.  Not sure where to start with in the Bible?  Consider turning to one of the Gospels, or using the readings for the day or the upcoming Sunday.

My next suggestion is to pray the Rosary together.  Even if a full five decades seems too much, start with at least one decade.  Have one person say the first part of the Hail Mary, and the other person can complete it.  Consider rotating who leads each decade.  To step it up, maybe invite those who are praying together to voice some intentions to bring to the prayer.  When I taught a combined 7^th / 8^th grade PSR class last year, I often started class this way and it was a wonderful beginning to the evening and I could tell that the students got something out of praying together, and they usually had no problems voicing an intention for which they wanted the class to pray.

My final suggestion gets a little more advanced.  Try praying with your own words.  Now, I know that sounds intimidating.  But let me share a simple formula that can help you to pray like a pro.  Remember these four words: “You, who, do, through”  They are easy to remember because they rhyme.  These four words are the basic structure to many of the prayers we hear at Mass.  Here’s what I mean:

• You – begin by addressing the prayer to God the Father in some manner (Heavenly Father, Almighty God, Good and gracious Lord, etc…)
• Who – say something about God, such as something He has done, or something about who He is (who are all good and loving, who never fail to come to our aid, etc…)
• Do – ask the Lord for something (watch over our family this night, bring healing to our loved ones who suffer, help us during these difficult times)
• Through – conclude by offering your prayer through Christ (through Christ our Lord, through your Son, Jesus, who lives and reigns forever and ever, etc…)

Why not give this formula a shot and you will be surprised at how you too can pray with confidence with your own words.  And never forget that when you pray, it does not all depend on you.  The Lord will do His part, as St. Paul reminds us: “the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought.” (Rom 8:26)

Father Alford