If you have been paying attention to the Catholic media in the United States over the past year or so, you are probably aware of the three-year Eucharistic Revival that is underway here in our county.  But perhaps it is not so clear why this effort is underway.  I found the following description from the official Eucharistic Revival website to be an excellent summary:

The difficulties and challenges over the last few years have shed lights on the Church’s need for healing, unity, formation, and conversion. More than 30 percent of Catholics have not returned to the pews post-pandemic, and recent data reveals that the majority of Mass-going Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The past decade has also seen the rise of the “nones” among the millennial generation, with more than 40 percent now self-identifying as “unaffiliated” with any religion. Many young Catholics find the faith to be irrelevant to the meaning of their lives and challenges.

Since the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, we have great faith that a renewal of our understanding and love for the Eucharist is necessary for the Church as we move forward.

The first year of the Eucharistic Revival is to be a Year of Diocesan Revival, and it officially began on Corpus Christi this past June.  In our diocese, we have chosen to make a slight adjustment to the timeline and have decided to have our diocesan Year of the Eucharist begin this coming Thursday, December 8.  Given that our diocese is under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, this seems to be a fitting time for us to begin.  It also just so happens that this coming year will mark the 100^th Anniversary of the transfer of the See city of our diocese from Alton to Springfield.  To mark that milestone, Bishop Paprocki will kick off our diocesan Year of the Eucharist with Mass at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Alton, the church that served as the Cathedral when the diocese was located in Alton.  The year will conclude with Mass at our own Cathedral Church on December 8, 2023.  Please also mark your calendars for October 28, 2023, as we will be hosting an all-day diocesan Eucharistic Congress at the BOS Center here in Springfield.  That day will highlight various activities and speakers, including Bishop Robert Barron and Dr. Scott Hahn.  The day will conclude with a grand Eucharistic celebration involving thousands from throughout our diocese.

As we begin this year, I acknowledge there is a lot that is yet to be determined about how we will observe this special time.  But we know that the Lord will bless it since the goal is for us to draw closer to His greatest gift of Himself in the Eucharist.  Perhaps the most important thing for us to do now is to pray for the success of this year, and who better to turn to than to our Blessed Mother whose feast day on December 8 will mark the bookends of this Year of the Eucharist.  I am therefore issuing an invitation to add an additional Hail Mary to the three that so many of you have been saying for our parish since last January.  As a reminder, those three Hail Mary’s are for: 1) the clergy of the Cathedral Parish, 2) for the parishioners of the Cathedral Parish, and 3) for yourself individually.  With this 4^th Hail Mary, let us ask Mary’s intercession that this Year of the Eucharist might be fruitful for our diocese, our parish, and ourselves!

Father Alford     

This is a great question, and one that Christians have been talking about since the beginning of the Church. St. Paul tells us that we are justified by faith, and Christ himself told us that unless we are born again of water and the Spirit, one cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Here Jesus refers to the sacrament of baptism. But, at the same time, Jesus told the good thief on the cross, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” The good thief was probably never baptized, but he did express explicit faith in Jesus. This example proves that even if someone has not received the sacrament of baptism, God is able to give sanctifying and saving grace by another means. In the early Church, there were many martyrs who died as Catechumens, meaning they were still in the preparation phase and had not yet been baptized. The Church has said that these martyrs received a “baptism of blood.” They were not literally baptized, but received salvation by their faith and their witness to Christ. Other people, such as the good thief already mentioned, have received a “baptism of desire” in which they explicitly expressed faith, but for some reason, had not actually been baptized. 

A related question is what happened to the Jews who lived before Jesus. After all, they never received the sacrament of baptism, either! I think St. Joseph is a good example to consider. The Scriptures calls him a “just man,” and considering that he was entrusted with caring for God himself, he must have been very holy. However, it is likely that he died before Jesus instituted the sacrament of baptism. Sometimes Church authors refer to the “sacraments” of the Old Covenant. This refers to the rituals and symbols that God gave the Israelites in the various covenants of the Old Testament. For Jews, a major symbol of the Covenant was circumcision, and it has been understood that God also gave sanctifying grace through these “sacraments.” They are not in the same category as the seven sacraments which Christ gave the Church, but they were still occasions on which God gave grace to his people. The sacrifices were only a prefigurement of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. God gave grace in the Old Testament, because he foresaw the merits of Christ’s death on the cross. The Jews were (and can be today) justified by faith, through the Covenants that God has given their people. So, St. Joseph is certainly in heaven, as are all of our Fathers in the faith such as Abraham, Moses, and David. 

When faithful Jews died, the gates of heaven were not yet open, so they went to some sort of spiritual “waiting area” until the Savior would open the gates of heaven again. The event of Jesus coming to retrieve these just ones is sometimes called the “harrowing of hell,” referring to the line in the Creed when we say that Jesus “descended into hell.” This is not the same hell that we typically think of today, which is a state of eternal separation from God. Rather, it was the place the dead went while heaven was not accessible. 

A more challenging question to consider is about those who have never known about Jesus, or have known about the Gospel, but not in a compelling way. Plus, what about babies who died without the benefit of baptism? In short, the Church hopes and prays for the salvation of all people, even those who do not explicitly know Christ. They too can be saved by a sort of “baptism of desire,” although only in an implicit way, because they do not know that baptism and faith are necessary for salvation. Some people are seeking to live the truth in their lives, but have not yet seen that Jesus is the Truth. God can give graces in ways that we are not aware of. Other religious traditions such as indigenous religions, Buddhism, and Hinduism are not completely devoid of truth or goodness. They can be understood as a preparation to receive the fullness of religious truth through Jesus Christ. God can certainly use these other religious practices as occasions to give saving grace. 

A traditional way of understanding the Church’s role in salvation is in this Latin phrase: “Extra ecclesiam nulla salus.” This translates as, “Outside the Church, there is no salvation.” A few have incorrectly interpreted this to mean that only baptized Catholics can be saved. This is obviously not true, based on the story of the good thief. This phrase means that whenever God gives grace to a person, it always comes through the Church, the Body of Christ. Ideally, this is through the seven sacraments. But if God were to give grace to a truth-seeking atheist, this grace also comes through Christ and the Church. In every Mass, the Church prays for the salvation of the whole world. I like Eucharist Prayer IV, which includes this prayer to God the Father: “Lord, remember now all for whom we offer this sacrifice: Francis our Pope, … your entire people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart. Remember also those … whose faith you alone have known.” 

The Catechism says in #994, “It is Jesus himself who on the last day will raise up those who have believed in him, who have eaten his body and drunk his blood.” We can understand this to mean that even people who implicitly believed in him can also be raised up on the last day. Of course, I do not mean to diminish in any way the value of the sacraments that Jesus gave us. He especially gave us Baptism as a systematic way to receive his sanctifying grace and forgiveness of our sins. In a world as big and messy as it is, the structured sacramental economy that we have can give us reassurance that we indeed are in the state of grace, and that we have concrete encounters with Christ through the Church. 

Feast Day: December 13^th | Virgin and Martyr | Patronage: Writers; Salesmen; Martyrs; the Blind; Throat Infection; Epidemics; Mtarfa, Malta; and Perugia, Italy | Imagery: Holding a cord, eyes on a dish, a lamp, or swords. A woman: hitched to a yoke of oxen; in the company of Saints Agatha, Agnes of Rome, Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, and/or Thecla; kneeling before the tomb of Saint Agatha.

This coming year in our diocese, and in all the dioceses of our country, we are setting out on a renewal based on the Eucharist, a Eucharistic Revival, as the USCCB has called it. This first year in the diocese of Springfield, IL, we will begin on December 8^th, (asking the patroness of our diocese, Our Lady in her Immaculate Conception, to bring us to Jesus). By starting on that day, we beg Mary to teach us to “do whatever He [Jesus] tells” us, to “show unto us the Blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus”, Our Lord Jesus present personally, truly, in the Blessed Sacrament. Mary, of course, is the Queen of all the saints and angels, and the more we come to know and befriend the saints, the more we find that they also only ever point us towards Jesus. So, this coming year, we are going to take the saints as our guides and encouragers in this great project of our Church, that each of us would encounter Jesus anew and ever more deeply in His gift to us of Himself in the Eucharist.

Most of the saints I will look at this year will be those specifically mentioned in the Roman Canon, the Eucharistic Prayer given the most prominence, and having an amazing pedigree, in our Church. Before seminary I had not paid much attention to the different Eucharistic Prayers that the Church gives the priest to pray. There are four primary ones and multiple others for various occasions, though we are probably most familiar with the Second Eucharistic Prayer (the one that compares the calling-down/overshadowing/epiclesis of the Holy Spirit upon the offerings to “the dewfall”) and the Third Eucharistic Prayer (the one that begins “You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise”, and allows the priest to include after Mary, Joseph, and “Your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs” the Saint of the day or a Patron Saint).

But the First Eucharistic Prayer (called the Roman Canon, because it was the prayer that developed especially in Rome during the first five hundred years of the Church’s history), is the one that has had the longest history in the Roman Catholic Church (though there are similarly longstanding Canons/Eucharistic Prayers/Anaphora’s [a word meaning “carrying-up”] found in Eastern Rite Liturgies and the Eastern Churches). Some parts of this prayer stretch back to the very beginning of the Church, as we will find throughout this year, and it has been said by every Roman Catholic priest who celebrated the Mass since Gregory the Great in 590 A.D.! This same prayer was recited by Augustine of Canterbury when he brought England to Christ, and Boniface went to Germany. St. Stephen and later St. Elizabeth, heard it at Mass in Hungary, St. Francis in Italy, and St. Margaret in Scotland. It was this same prayer that was offered to God if you had gone to Mass with Thomas Aquinas, Joan of Ark, John Fisher, Isaac Jogues, Andrew dun Lac and his Companions in Vietnam, Alphonsus Liguori, Maria Goretti, Therésè of Lisieux, Padre Pio, or Mother Theresa. 

But this great and ancient prayer is not marked as much by all of those saints, but double listing of some of the saints of the early church (think of “… John and Paul, Cosmas and Damien …”) and this week we celebrate one of the women listed in the second such litany: St. Lucy. Named after the Latin word for light, [“lux/lucis”, compare with the English words “lux”, “lucid”, “lucifer”, “lumen”], we beautifully begin this year-long project with a saint of light. St. Lucy was a young woman living in the 300s in Sicily. She and her mother, Eutychia, took a pilgrimage to Catania to visit the tomb and shrine of St. Agatha (there Eutychia was cured of her lengthy illness, and Lucy found that she, like Agatha, was being called to consecrate herself as a virgin to Christ). Like Agatha, who had been martyred 50 years before Lucy only 50 miles away, that decision angered the suitors who wanted Lucy’s hand (and dowry) in marriage, and when persecution against Christians arose in that Roman territory in the 3^rd century A.D., Lucy was also maltreated and then martyred. 

How can Lucy begin our delving into the mystery and gift of the Eucharist? Perhaps she teaches us the simplest, but most profound, of truths: the Eucharist is a gift, and must be received. If we receive a gift but never unwrap it, have we really received it?! If we receive Christ, but never return the favor, have we really opened our heart to Him?! When you or I receive Holy Communion, do we listen to Christ then and there to hear how He asks us to give ourselves back? Or do we go on with our day just exactly as we were planning to before?

– Fr. Dominic Rankin often asks himself, and the Lord in prayer, why receiving Holy Communion does not seem to do much to him? Shouldn’t there be results? Where is the joy? Why haven’t I been transformed yet? St. Lucy shows us that the fault lies not with Christ’s gift to me, but my lackluster self-gift back to Him.

A couple of months ago, at our October Pastoral Council Meeting, one of our agenda items was to consider having some sort of parish party, a time for our parishioners to come together for a time of celebration.  As we looked at dates, a few dates in Advent were proposed, thinking that might be a nice season to do something.  One of our members humbly and very insightfully brought up the point that the Advent Season is more of a penitential season, one that is more subdued in nature as we prepare for the birth of Jesus at Christmas.  Wouldn’t having a celebration at the parish send a conflicting message?  What a helpful comment that was as it really helped me to remember the proper focus on Advent, a season which has been so overlooked in a society which basically celebrates Christmas from Thanksgiving until Christmas Day, then moves on.  In reality, Advent has a distinct character of being a season of expectation, one which prepares us to celebrate the Season of Christmas, which only begins on Christmas Day, instead of ending that day as our society is so used to doing.

I offer this as a way of inviting us to enter into this season with the mind of the Church, not the mind of the culture.  This can be a very difficult thing to do because of how overwhelming the Christmas theme is around us over these next four weeks.  We will be offering some recommendations throughout the Advent Season on ways to maintain that proper perspective through the rich devotional life that the Church proposes for us.

Perhaps a good place to start would be participating in our annual Immaculate Conception Novena which takes place each night at 7:00 pm beginning November 30.  Each night we will include Eucharistic Adoration, a Liturgy of the Word with a preached homily on a different Marian title, praying of the Rosary, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and the Novena Prayer.  Our themes for this year will be titles related to Mary as Queen.  Mary is a great model for us of how to celebrate this season well.  She carried Jesus in her womb these final four weeks before His birth.  What eager expectation and joy there must have been in her heart as she looked forward to the night that the world would change forever. 

Here is the schedule of topics and preachers for this year’s Novena:

Wednesday, November 30 – Queen of Angels – Very Reverend Brian C. Alford
Thursday, December 1 – Queen of Patriarchs – Deacon Larry Smith
Friday, December 2 – Queen of Prophets – Reverend Paul Lesupati
Saturday, December 3 – Queen of Apostles – Reverend Monsignor David Hoefler
Sunday, December 4 – Queen of Martyrs – Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki
Monday, December 5 – Queen of Confessors – Reverend Dominic Vahling
Tuesday, December 6 – Queen of Virgins – Deacon Rob Sgambelluri
Wednesday, December 7 – Queen of Families – Reverend Dominic Rankin
Thursday, December 8 – Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (Novena concludes with the 5:15 pm Mass for the Solemnity)

Father Alford 

Feast Day: December 4^th| Father and Doctor of the Church | Patron of Theology Students, Icon Writers, Hymnographers, Poets, and Pharmacists.

“Iconoclasm.” Not a word we throw around every day, nor even consider all that often. It was a movement in the 700s and 800s, primarily in the Eastern Roman Empire (thus, often referred to as “Byzantine Iconoclasm”), that questioned the place of icons, really any religious imagery, in Christian worship and devotion. If God commands the Israelites to “make no graven image”, why do Christians dare to do so? Shouldn’t the great culture, and great emperor, of Byzantium have better subjects than the poor, unthinking Christians, bowing and venerating images? Does Islam, quickly becoming a real threat on the eastern border of the empire, and which decried the use of images and icons as idolatry, have a point? Have the Christians grown attached to their devotions and fallen from true worship, (and perhaps are afflicted because of it)? As the emperors began to exert their authority to destroy icons and “purify” the worship in churches under their dominion, many Christians were horrified to see the images of the saints, of the Mother of God [theotokus], and of Christ emptied from their churches and burned, but did the emperor perhaps have a point (and all the power)? Into this crisis stepped one of the final Fathers of the Church, and one of its first Doctors, St. John Damascene (of Damascus). He wrote three letters to the emperor, the first of which I offer an excerpt to us today:

This is the word the Lord hath commanded, saying: Set aside with you first fruits to the Lord; let every one that is willing and hath a ready heart, offer them to the Lord: gold, and silver, and brass, violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen, goat’s hair, and ram’s skins dyed red, and violet, and coloured skins, selimwood, and oil to maintain lights, and to make ointment, and most sweet incense, onyx stones and precious stones for the adorning of the ephod and the rational: Whosoever of you is wise let him come and make that which the Lord hath commanded: to wit, the tabernacle,’ etc.

Behold, then, matter is honoured, and you dishonour it. What is more insignificant than goat’s hair, or colours, and are not violet and purple and scarlet colours? And the likeness of the cherubim are the work of man’s hand, and the tabernacle itself from first to last was an image. ‘Look,’ said God to Moses, ‘and make it according to the pattern that was shown thee in the Mount,’ and it was adored by the people of Israel in a circle. And, as to the cherubim, were they not in sight of the people? And did not the people look at the ark, and the lamps, and the table, the golden urn and the staff, and adore? It is not matter which I adore; it is the Lord of matter, becoming matter for my sake, taking up His abode in matter and working out my salvation through matter. For the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt amongst us. It is evident to all that flesh is matter, and that it is created. I reverence and honour matter, and worship that which has brought about my salvation. I honour it, not as God, but as a channel of divine strength and grace. Was not the thrice blessed wood of the Cross matter? and the sacred and holy mountain of Calvary? Was not the holy sepulchre matter, the life-giving stone the source of our resurrection? Was not the book of the Gospels matter, and the holy table which gives us the bread of life? Are not gold and silver matter, of which crosses, and holy pictures, and chalices are made? And above all, is not the Lord’s Body and Blood composed of matter?

Either reject the honour and worship of all these things, or conform to ecclesiastical tradition, sanctifying the worship of images in the name of God and of God’s friends, and so obeying the grace of the Divine Spirit. If you give up images on account of the law, you should also keep the Sabbath and be circumcised, for these are severely inculcated by it. You should observe all the law, and not celebrate the Lord’s Passover out of Jerusalem. But you must know that if you observe the law, Christ will profit you nothing. You are ordered to marry your brother’s wife, and so carry on his name, and not to sing the song of the Lord in a strange land. Enough of this! Those who have been justified by the law have fallen from grace.

Let us set forth Christ, our King and Lord, not depriving Him of His army. The saints are His army. Let the earthly king strip himself of his army, and then of his own dignity. Let him put off the purple and the diadem before he take honour away from his most valiant men who have conquered their passions. For if the friends of Christ are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ, and are to be partakers of the divine glory and kingdom, is not even earthly glory due to them? I call you not servants, our Lord says; you are my friends. Shall we, then, withhold from them the honour which the Church gives them? You are a bold and venturesome man to fight against God and His ordinances. [St John Damascene, “On Holy Images”, Part I.]

– Fr. Dominic Rankin has to ask himself two questions this week: In what ways have I also forgotten God, who reveals Himself in matter? Have I also lost my sacramental view of the world, that takes Christmas seriously, and believes that God makes Himself evident to my eyes, darkly now, but will in heaven, truly and fully?! And, digging deeper, would I rather listen to the voice of the world, that says “This is all there is.”, or our days’ emperors “Forget your medieval devotions. Fill your eyes with media, with what it popular, with what is easy.”, or the Evil One, “God isn’t real. You can’t really hear His voice. Why bother? Why struggle? Why try again?” Christian obedience is not just listening to God. It is also not-listening, not obeying, the lies that attack our faith, our Church, and Our Lord.

“In all circumstances, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:18) These words from St. Paul express a fundamental attitude that we as Christians should constantly seek to foster in our lives.  I proposed gratitude as a way of beginning to reflect on the topic of stewardship, but gratitude should be present at every point in the journey of discipleship and stewardship.  When we actually exercise our stewardship, giving of our time, talent, or treasure, are we doing so with an attitude of gratitude, or do we harbor some resentment, begrudgingly offering what is mine?  After we have exercised our stewardship, do with thank the Lord?  By this I do not mean that we should say: “Thank goodness that is over!  Now I can get back to what I want to do.”  Rather, do we thank Him for the good that He will work in us and in those we support through our generosity?  

As our country prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving Day this coming Thursday, now could be a good time for us to do an examination of our lives, asking the Lord to reveal to us if we are people of gratitude.  Perhaps some questions to consider might be:

• Do I tell God thank you for my blessings every day?  Or do I just tell Him how difficult my life is, rattling off my problems?
• Do I express gratitude to others for the good that they have done for me or for others?  Or do I question their motives, or think that I deserve it?
• What is my general outlook on my life?  Is it positive or negative?  A negative view of ourselves is often a sign that we are lacking in gratitude.
• How do I view others around me?  Am I grateful that God has placed them in my life?  Or am I inclined to notice their weaknesses, harbor grudges about how they have treated me, make judgments about them?
• Do I find myself being envious of what others have, how they look, what they do, etc.?  An excessive preoccupation with others can be a sign of lack of gratitude for what God has given us.
• If somebody were to describe me, would they see me as a grateful, and thus joyful person?  Or would they see me as somebody who always seems to complain, somebody who is always negative?
• Do I thank God even for the crosses in my life, believing that “all things work for the good for those who love God”? (Rom 8:28)

This list is not necessarily exhaustive, but hopefully it can helpful so that we can understand where we are at.  If you are like me, going through this exercise is a little discouraging, because I know I lack the gratitude the Lord invites me to have.  But there is good news – growth and progress are possible!  Do not let that discouragement bring us down, but let’s give thanks to God for shining His light to reveal where we are, and also giving us the encouragement to begin again.  Next Sunday begins a new liturgical year, and perhaps we can make a spiritual resolution to be more grateful to God for everything in our lives – our blessings, our crosses, our opportunities, our time, our money, those around us, our family, our faith, our parish.  We have so much to be grateful for, so let us bring that gratitude to the Lord even now as your read this, and ask the Lord for the grace to live the command of St. Paul more fully in the year ahead, to give thanks in all circumstances!

Please know of my gratitude for all of you, and the blessing of being entrusted with the stewardship of this parish and your souls.  I give thanks to God for all of you every day!

Father Alford

Feast Day: November 23^rd | Patron of Motorcyclists! 

This week we turn to a saint that most of us haven’t gotten to know very well, St. Columbanus. Much of the account of his life I will draw from a monk that lived at one of the monasteries that he founded, and who lived only a few decades later, Br. Jonas. Just one note, realize that St. Columbanus was born in Ireland, in the 600s, and because the faith was so strong there, he took upon himself to (re)evangelize Western Europe. We often think that the faith spread linearly out from Jerusalem, to Rome, and then to the north and west from there, but Columbanus shows the reverse also happening. Something similar is always happening in the Church; lands that were once strong in the faith grow worldly and fall-away, but the lands that received the Gospel from them, with zeal and love, bring it back to their fathers in the faith. Enough of me, let us read what Br. Jonas tells of the early days of St. Columbanus [“The Life of St. Columban”, by the Monk Jonas, #9-11, (7^th century)]:

After he had been many years in the cloister he longed to go into strange lands, in obedience to the command which the Lord gave Abraham: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, into a land that I will shew thee.” Accordingly he confessed to the venerable father, Congall, the burning desire of his heart and the longing enkindled by the fire of the Lord, concerning which the Lord says: “I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what will I, if it be already kindled?”‘ [*King James Version translation of Luke 12:49, The Vulgate, which is quoted here, reads “quem volo ut ardeat”]. But he did not receive the answer which he wished, for it was hard for Congall to bear the loss of so great a comfort. At length, however, the latter began to conquer himself and to think that he ought not to consider his own need more than the necessities of others. Nor was it done without the will of the Almighty, who had educated His novice for future strifes, in order that He might win glorious triumphs from his victory and secure joyful victories from the phalanxes of slaughtered enemies. 

The abbot accordingly called St. Columban and although sorrowful, he considered the good of others before his own good, and bestowed upon him the bond of peace, the strength of solace and companions who were known for their piety. Having collected a band of brethren, St. Columban asked the prayers of all, that he might be assisted in his coming journey, and that he might have their pious aid. So he started out in the twentieth [*or thirtieth, MSS differ] year of his life, and under the guidance of Christ went to the seashore with twelve companions. Here they waited to see if the mercy of the Almighty would allow their purpose to succeed, and learned that the spirit of the all-merciful Judge was with them. So they embarked, and began the dangerous journey across the channel and sailed quickly with a smooth sea and favorable wind to the coast of Brittany. Here they rested for a while to recover their strength and discussed their plans anxiously, until finally they decided to enter the land of Gaul. They wanted zealously and shrewdly to inquire into the disposition of the inhabitants in order to remain longer if they found they could sow the seeds of salvation; or in case they found the hearts of the people in darkness, go on to the nearest nations.

Accordingly, they left Brittany and proceeded into the Gallic lands. At that time, either because of the numerous enemies from without, or on account of the carelessness of the bishops, the Christian faith had almost departed from that country. The creed alone remained. But the saving grace of penance and the longing to root out the lusts of the flesh were to be found only in a few. Everywhere that he went the noble man preached the Gospel. And it pleased the people because his teaching was adorned by eloquence and enforced by examples of virtue.

So great was his humility and that of his followers, that just as the children of this world seek honor and authority, so they, on the contrary vied with one another in the practice of humility, mindful of that saying: “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,” and of the text in Isaiah: “But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Such piety and love dwelt in them all, that for them there was only one will and one renunciation. Modesty and moderation, meekness and mildness adorned them all in equal measure. The evils of sloth and dissension were banished. Pride and haughtiness were expiated by severe punishments. Scorn and envy were driven out by faithful diligence. So great was the might of their patience, love and mildness that no one could doubt that the God of mercy dwelt among them. If they found that one among them was in error, they strove in common, with equal right, to restrain the sinner by their reproaches. They had everything in common.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin will return to obedience again this week. For now, let it suffice to say that we find in Columbanus’ obedience to his superior – though so difficult at the time – in God’s providence was actually the necessary foundation for the other virtues that he would need to bring the Gospel to Gaul. You can’t have one virtue; they all come together! But also, that lesson learned in his own life, was exactly the lesson that he would teach the Gauls, building upon the foundation of obedience to the Christian creed, up to the joy of a real relationship with God in His Church. Isn’t it often the case that a hard-earned lesson that God has taught us comes back to be exactly what we’re called to give to another?!  

This week as we commemorated All Soul’s Day, it reminded me a book entitled a journey of the mind to God by Saint Bonaventure.  When I was discerning with Franciscans, I recall reflecting on spirituality of St. Francis and his experience in Mount La Verna in Assisi Italy.

Saint Bonaventure was born in 1221 in Bagnoregio near viterbo, Italy, later join the Franciscan Order about 1240 and after completing his studies in the University of Paris, he taught theology for twelve years, later in 1257 he was elected Minister General of the Order of the Friars Minor at the age of thirty – six years, he remained in the office until 1273, where Pope Gregory made him a Cardinal Bishop of Albano,  he participated in the council of Lyon  where he was instrumental in bringing about the temporary reunion of the Greek Church in Rome. He died at the age of fifty – three on July 5, 1274, and after three centuries of his death, Saint Bonaventure was canonized on 14^th April 1482, he was declared a Doctor of the Church, the bull, “Triumphantis Hierusalem” of Pope Sixtus V, by elevating him to this new dignity, solemnly confirmed his merits as one of the greatest minds of the Christian Middle Ages. 

The Profound spirituality of St. Francis and his experience on the hill of La Verna where he received the stigmata is my motivation in reading this spiritual classic book. The journey of the mind to God as Bonaventure himself explain in the six chapters of the Itinerarium, are concern with search of God. As I meditate on St. Francis experience of the world, his human thoughts, the love of the creatures, Action and the inner experience of his Vision of the seraphim in the form of the Crucified Christ through deep prayer and meditation in solitude; am moved to contemplate the richness of God’s glory through this writing of St. Bonaventure. Also, I realize that it is through devotion to prayer that St. Francis journey towards God. Hence, my driving force of this Spiritual classic book is to find myself journeying towards God as Our Seraphic Father Francis did.

From personal experience it shows that our journey to God is more adventurous than we can describe. We can’t say what we live. Too much happens. Words, images and symbols fail to express our experience. When we try to describe God’s love, we fail miserably. That’s why most of us say nothing about love. Spiritual  geniuses, like St. Bonaventure his experience with God’s love through following the example of the Most blessed Father Francis, he says I breathlessly sought this peace, I a sinner, who have succeeded to the place of that most father after his death, the seventh Minister General of the brothers, thought in all ways unworthy, it happened that by divine will in the thirty-third year after the death of that blessed man I ascended to Mount La Verna as to a quiet place, with the desire of seeking spiritual peace; and staying there, while I meditated on the ascent of the mind to God, amongst other things there occurred that miracle which happened in the same place to the Blessed Francis himself, the vision namely of the winged seraph in the likeness of the Crucified. While looking upon this vision, I immediately saw that signified the suspension of our Father himself in contemplation and the way by which he came to it.

 Bonaventure starts with common experience, and he says that happiness is enjoying the highest good but the highest good is not down here among the creatures. It is above, above means beyond material, upon spiritual being. He says that when we try to ascend spiritually to God we don’t rise very far, so we know that clearly that we cannot rise up above ourselves unless a higher power lifts us up, no matter we plan our spiritual progress, nothing comes of it unless divine assistance intervenes, and the divine assistance is there for those who seek it humbly and devoutly, who sigh for it in this vale of tears by fervent prayer. Prayer, then, is the mother and beginning of the ascent to God. So, let’s pray and say to our God: teach me, O Lord, your way, that I may walk in your truth; direct my heart that it may fear your name. By Praying this way, we receive light to discern the steps of the ascent into God. Some created things are vestiges, other images; some are material, others spiritual; some are temporal, others are everlasting; some are outside us, others within us. In order to contemplate the first principles this is God. Who is most spiritual, eternal, and above us we are invited to pass through His vestiges, which are material, temporal and outside us and this will lead us in path of God. In addition to that we are also invited to enter into our soul, which is God’s image; hence we enter into the path of God, truth of God and knowledge of God.    

As I was Reflecting on this threefold we can become ecstatic over this trinity which remind us of the three fold events, Moses leading the Israel into the desert for three days, (Ex 3:18), then threefold daylights: evening, morning, and noon in order of brightness, and three ways that creatures exists: in matter, in human mind, and in God’s mind which Eternal Art, (Gen 1:3), so Christ provides three substantial aids: bodily, spiritual, and divine. Here I can see Bonaventure is showing us our image and likeness to God in three acts: sensation, spiritual and mind. Bonaventure uses all these reflections to ascend into God in order to love Him, with our whole mind, our whole heart and our whole soul. (Mk 12:13)

While reflecting on the possibility of the soul ascending to God, am motivated by this wondrous event that occurred in the hill of La Verna to Blessed Francis, namely the vision of the winged seraphim in the form of a crucifix. And meditating on this immediately I realized that such a vision offered me a contemplative ecstasy of Father Francis himself and the same time the way that led to it the journey of the mind to God. The six wings of the seraphim thus became the symbol of the six stages that lead man progressively to the knowledge of God through observation of the world and of creatures and through the exploration of the soul itself with its faculties, up to satisfying union with the trinity through Christ, in imitation of St. Francis of Assisi, so this vision of the six- winged seraph in the form of Christ  crucified symbolizes both St. Francis rapture in prayer andthe six stages of illumination by which the soul was disposed to pass into peace by the ecstatic elevations of Christian wisdom which are the stages towards union with God is are purgation, illumination and union. The way however is only through the most burning love of the crucified, who transformed St. Paul, “caught up into the third heaven” (2Cor 12:2), he said that “with Christ I am nailed to the cross, yet I live, now not I, but Christ lived in me” (Gal 2:19).

In addition to that the six wings of the seraphim symbolize the Bonaventure’s responsibility as the minister General of the Franciscan friars, those who are to be effective leaders of others must be men of virtue. Regarding themselves they must have virtues necessary for a blameless life. Regarding their superior, they must have the virtues that lead them to render humble obedience when obedience is required. Regarding their subjects, they may guide them correctly and bring them to grater perfection. He must teach all virtues because of the office he holds must himself possess all virtues in an eminent degree. As a religious I must be resplendent with six extraordinary virtues just as Isaiah says the seraphim that are pre-eminent in the ranks of the heavenly spirits are adorned with six wings. Perhaps therefore the Lord appeared to Our Father Saint Francis in the likeness, in the glorious vision in which he imprinted the stigmata of his passion, to show that those who are to lead his family effectively must have such spiritual wings. The six wings of the seraphim signify: zeal for justice, loving kindness, patience, exemplary life, prudent discernment and devotion to God. Each religious, too, being a responsible for my spiritual welfare and accountable to God in the last judgment needs these wings for himself. He must have them to soar to the things above so as to be fervent in justice, compassionate to fellow men for God’s sake, patient in trials, edifying others by his good example, circumspect in all things, and above all closely united to God by devout prayer. May God protect us in all things, guide us and lead us to a greater perfection and finally bring us to the soar aloft to heaven. May Jesus Christ grant us this Grace to love him and devout oneself to Him as Our seraph Father Francis.  

The Mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit, Christ is both the way and the door, and Christ is the stairway and Vehicle, like the throne of mercy over the Art of the covenant and the mystery hidden from the ages. A man should turn his attention to this throne of mercy and should gaze at his Him hanging on the cross, full of faith, hope and charity, devoted, full of wonder and joy, marked by gratitude and open to praise and jubilation. Then such a man will make with Christ a Pasch, that is, a passing over. Through the branches of the cross he will taste the hidden manna, and rest with Christ in the sepulcher, as is possible for one who is still living, what was promised to the thief who hung besides Jesus Christ: today you will be with me in paradise; for the Passover to be perfect, we must suspend all the operations of the mind and we must transform the peak of our affections, directing them to God alone. This is a sacred mystical experience. It cannot be comprehended by anyone unless he or she surrenders himself or herself to it; nor can he or she long for it unless the Holy spirit, whom Christ sent into the world, should come and inflame his innermost soul. Hence the Apostles say that this mystical wisdom is reveal by the Holy Spirit. As I reflect on the last words of St. Bonaventure’s  ‘Itinerarium,” which respond to the question of how one can reach this mystical communion with God, would make one descend to the depth of the heart: if you ask how such things can occur, seek the answer in God’s grace, not doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in the understanding; in sight of prayer not in research; seek the bridegroom not the teacher; God and not man; darkness not daylight; and look not to the light but rather to the raging force that carries the soul of God with intense fervor and glowing love. The fire is God, and the furnace is in Jerusalem, fired by Christ in the ardor of his loving passion. Only he understands this who said: my soul chose hanging and my bones death. Anyone who cherishes this kind of death can see God, for it is certainly true that: No Man can look upon me and live. So, lets us die, then, and enter into the darkness, silencing our anxieties, our passions and all the fantasies of our imaginations. “Let us pass over the crucified Christ from the world to the Father,” (Jn 13:1) so that, when the Father has shown himself to us, we can say with Philip: “it is enough for us.”(Jn 14:8) We may hear with Paul: “my grace is sufficient for you;” (12:9) and we can rejoice with David, saying: my flesh and my heart fail me, but God is the strength of my heart and heritage forever. Blessed be the Lord forever and let all people say: Amen.

The journey of the mind to God, Saint Bonaventure completes his travel guide with a hymn of devoted love, where the perfect journey is describes, if our journey is imperfect, our second chance is purgatory, only then can we enter into Heaven (God). Hopefully we will complete our journey here on earth and die as St. Francis of Assisi died. So let us hope and pray to follow Saint Bonaventure’s steps and die in perfect love.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been writing about our Season of Stewardship and I hope my reflections have been helpful to you as you discern how the Lord is inviting you to exercise your stewardship toward the parish through your time, talent, and treasure.  Although I cannot read all (or any for that matter) of the minds of those in the parish, I am willing to bet there have been some who have thought: “That is a good idea.  I like that idea of stewardship.  I am sure somebody in the parish will step up!”  I think I am safe in saying this because that is how I have thought about invitations to step up in the past.  To be honest, there are still many times when I have that same thought.

To be sure, none of us can do everything, but every one of us can do something to be more invested in our parish.  I say this not from the perspective of desperation that that the parish needs what you have.  While what we bring to our parish family in the form of time, talent, and treasure is necessary for a vibrant parish, we need to make an adjustment to how we think about our relationship to the parish, and the Church more broadly.  It is not primarily that the Church needsyou and me, rather, you and I are the ones who need to the Church.  The Church has been given to us by Christ as the means to our salvation.  The Church has been entrusted with the stewardship of God’s grace through the sacraments which grant us the gift of His life and the hope of eternal life.  It is not that your giving money to the parish or volunteering for a ministry is somehow your doing the Church a favor.  Do not get me wrong, giving of our time, talent, and treasure is very much a gift that is very appreciated, and very helpful to the well-being of our parish.  But the ideal in our giving of these gifts is to do so from that place of gratitude which I began our reflections with a few weeks ago.  We are grateful for the gift of the Church which gives us these many helps to our relationship with the Lord and the promise of eternal life.  From that place of gratitude, and the awareness of how much we depend on God and His Church for everything, how can we not want to give back to Him and His Church?

When I was thinking about entering the seminary, I had a lot of reasons why I could not give my time, and indeed my life, to the Church as a priest.  I was not qualified enough, I was not holy enough.  I had every reason under the sun why it was not possible for me to say ‘yes’ to His invitation.  Somebody else could do it far better than I.  But the Lord spoke clearly to me in a way that has shaped that decision and many thereafter.  He made me aware of the many, many graces He had given to me in my life, how He had cared for me in so many ways, both known and unknown.  In prayer, He said very distinctly to me: “If I have done so many things for you, and now I am asking you to take this step in faith and consider being a priest, the question is not: ‘How can I possibly say yes?’  Rather, the question to ask is: ‘How can I possibly say no?’”

Perhaps as you consider the various reasons why you feel you cannot possibly say ‘yes’ to taking a step in faith toward greater stewardship in whatever form it may be, ask the Lord to reveal to you His many blessings, how He has guided you, how He has blessed you and your family, and how He has been at work in your life in ways known and unknown.  After doing that, I would not be surprised if the Lord prompts you to respond to Him the same way He did (and still does) to me: “After all you have given to me and done for me, and now that you are asking something more of me, how can I possibly say no?”

Father Alford

Feast Day: November 17^th | Patron of Bakers, Brides, Charities, Hospitals, the Homeless, Widows, Third Order of St. Francis, those Falsely Accused. 

Two Hundred years after the saintly King Stephen led Hungary towards Christ, we find another canonized saint about a dozen generations down the line. The daughter of King Andrew II (a descendent of Stephen, though the line is nowhere near a straight one) and his wife Gertrude (a princess from a noble family in Bavaria), Elizabeth was going to endure in her life a concentrated dose of the ruckus that was always erupting between kings, dukes, nobles, and everybody else that wanted power. By the age of four, she was already arranged to marry Louis IV, the future Landgrave of Thuringia. 

Now, in case you haven’t met any landgraves recently, that title means that he was technically at the level of a count in the feudal hierarchy but, unlike a typical count,a landgrave did not have a duke, bishop, or count palatine above him before the King, and ruled over a larger swath of land than a typical count. Basically, this meant that such a nobleman was treated at if he were at the rank of a duke, though was not at all part of the royal family. So, off the 4-year-old Elizabeth goes to Bavaria to be raised in the court of Hermann I of Thuringia, learning the language and culture of her future-husband’s people. Just two years later, Elizabeth’s mother back in Hungary was assassinated. Whether from political jealousy (she may have been inclined toward her German ancestry) or revenge (some member of her family had slighted, attacked, or raped someone in a Hungarian noble family), Gertrude’s death prompted Elizabeth to deepen her life of prayer.

At the age of 14, when Louis was 20, they were married. Now, I think anyone living in our day would raise an eyebrow at the thought of a 14-year-old getting married, as well as to a man 6 years her senior, and, just the thought of arranged marriages themselves.  But,we should recall the basic requirements for a valid marriage: free consent to a faithful and permanent union with your spouse, and sufficient maturity to offer yourself to your spouse in such a way that you can bear children. None of that is necessarily impeded by the arrangement that Elizabeth’s father made with Louis’ father. Both young people were asked to commit their own futures to each other, and both agreed to that commitment. Furthermore, at 14 and 20, thought they were both young, especially Elizabeth, they lived in an age of less complexity, younger responsibility, greater cultural/familial reinforcement, and a higher likelihood of an early death, so on that count too they were both able to marry. 

So, in 1221, they were married and Louis was enthroned as the Landgrave since his elder brother had died. From all accounts their marriage was a happy one. They deeply loved and respected each other. It was at this time that the Franciscans first arrived in the area, and Elizabeth quickly took upon herself the virtues of the man from Assisi especially simplicity, charity, and obedience. Before St. Francis died in 1226, he is said to have wrote her a letter of thanks for her support of his friars there. Elizabeth dedicated herself to the care of the poor around her area, distributing alms, food, even state robes and ornaments to those who needed them. Louis defended her in those acts, even entrusting her with responsibility for their lands and property when he left to join the sixth crusade. 

And then her life changed again, because Louis died from the plague on his way to that crusade. They had only been married for 6 years, and their third child had been born only days before. Now Elizabeth had no authority in the court, and was at the whim of Louis’ brother, the regent for her 5-year-old son. Furthermore, Elizabeth had come to trust a Fr. Konrad of Marburg, who she had chosen as her spiritual director, and had promised to obey. Unfortunately, though learned and ascetical, his zeal led to harshness, even brutality especially towards anyone accused of heresy, for whom he had little mercy, but also for Elizabeth and others who tried to follow his spiritual counsel. Elizabeth would take the money she did get from her dowry to build a hospital in Marburg, where, caring for the sick, she died in 1231 only having reached the age of 24. She would be canonized quickly, especially with so many stories of her love for the poor from her close companions as well as Fr. Konrad. 

– Fr. Dominic Rankin will have to return to the topic of obedience next week. In Elizabeth’s life, we see obedience at play both in her arranged marriage, and in her faithfulness to Fr. Konrad’s direction. What of that was the authentic virtue of obedience, to which we are all called, and what of it was a distortion of obedience? Our world prizes freedom above all else, with much damage and trauma being the result, but how did Elizabeth’s world elevate authority and subservience to too high of a position? What is Christian obedience, Christ-like obedience?