As we come to our conclusion of the month of February, we consider the last of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20:17) We do not often use the language of covetousness in our confessions, but we often use words like envy or jealousy.  Even that can be a bit of a gray area, so what does this commandment really mean?

The Modern Catholic Dictionary by Father John Hardon, S.J. defines covetousness in this way: “A strong desire for possessions, especially material possessions. It implies that the desire is inordinate, with allusion to the prohibition in the Ten Commandments not to covet what belongs to someone else.”  I draw your attention to the word “inordinate” in this definition.  It is not bad for us to desire things, such as money, reputation, health, etc.  In fact, it can be very good to desire these things, but to always desire them in an ordered way.  Ordered toward what?  Since Jesus reminds us that all the commandments can be summed up as expressions of love of God and love of neighbor, this is where our desire for things must be ordered.  For example, we can desire financial stability as long as those resources do not prevent us from being generous in our support for the Church and our love of others through charity.  A disordered desire for money would be to accumulate more things and experiences just for ourselves, to the exclusion of helping others.  We should desire health so that we can be of good service to our families and those around us.  A disordered desire would be for people to be attracted to us so that we can get more attention or recognition.

This commandment calls us to be especially careful not to fall into envy.  We often notice the things others have and something stirs in our hearts.  On the one hand, we might rightly desire to also have what they have, which is not always bad.  But when we feel sadness about what someone else has been blessed with, if we wish we could take what they have, or harbor a grudge against them for what they have, we are falling into envy, and envy is sinful because it lacks charity toward another.  Here is what the Catechism has to say about envy:

2539 Envy is a capital sin. It refers to the sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin: (1866)

St. Augustine saw envy as “the diabolical sin.” “From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his prosperity.”

2540 Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility: (1829)

Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother’s progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised. (St. John Chrysostom)

To proactively guard against falling into envy, the best thing is to foster an “attitude of gratitude”, taking time each day to thank God for the blessings you have been given, those seen and unseen, always aware that they are signs of His unique and particular love for you.  Then, having given thanks for your blessings, thank Him for the blessings He has given to somebody else.  To do so is an expression of love of God and neighbor.

Father Alford     

It is no longer a surprise that we live in a time when asking for help is a sign of weakness. And nobody wants to be weak because we live in a world battered by pride and ego. We all want to be perfect in all ramifications, self-sufficient and need no one’s help for any reason at any time. This is the mentality that many of us have today. It is a self-destructive mentality and one that has done more harm than good to our societies.

As a priest, I see this attitude of “I can do it all by myself” every day in my ministries and encounters with people. This mindset contradicts common-sense experience. Too often, we face the reality of not doing certain things for ourselves sometimes because we are emotionally, spiritually, or physically weak. Other times, we are sick or advanced in years or lack particular skills. The “I can do it all by myself” mentality contradicts everything we know about Jesus Christ and the teachings that we follow as Christians. At the heart of his ministry and teachings is “help one another” (Matthew 25:44-45; Mark 10:21; Luke 3:10-11; 6:28; 12:33-34).

Recently, one of our wonderful parishioners invited me to snow-sledding with her children after heavy snow. We went to the centennial park, where we met almost a hundred other people enjoying the snow. Anyone familiar with sledding may agree with me that the most challenging part of it is climbing up the hilltop after sledding down. It can be very slippery and exhausting.

Sometime during the sledding, I was walking up the slimy mound with a little boy of about eight years old a couple of meters ahead of me. At a point, he was falling and scrabbling for something to hold on to. As he was falling, he saw me and screamed, “please help me.” Immediately I reached out and grabbed his hands and helped him up. We continued up the hill and went our separate ways.

Later that evening, as I was thinking about the day’s sledding, I remembered the little boy and how he screamed, “please help me.” Then I wondered to myself – as an adult, could I have quickly asked for help as the young man did? In other words, am I able to ask for help when I need it, or does pride overcome me so much that I would instead fall and maybe get injured than ask for help?

The “please help me” that the young man screamed is a sign that he is human. As human beings, we are social by nature. That means we are dependent on others at various times and in different situations every day of our lives. But unfortunately, very often, especially as adults, we think of it as a weakness to ask for help. In other words, we consider it a weakness to be human. When this happens, we become less humans. God bless that little boy for reminding me that it is okay to ask for help.

Feast Day: March 4^th 

Just about exactly 6 years ago, in March of 2016, I was on a short trip to Lithuania with some fellow seminarians and one beautiful day we met up with a seminarian I knew there from the diocese of Vilnius, who began to show us around the city.  Linas, said young man who is still in seminary, showed us around to the various churches and shrines of the city – including the original painting of Divine Mercy! – and happily passed onto us an invitation from the bishop to join him for dinner.

Among many memories, one that comes back to me now is our visit to the Cathedral in the center of the main square of Vilnius.  Inside the massive white church, off to the right-hand side of the nave is a large chapel where statues of kings from Lithuanian history surround an altar.  Red and black marble hangs from the walls, glorious white arches hold the roof high above your head, and above the altar and tabernacle is a fascinating painting of St. Casimir, depicting the young prince with three arms.  Above said depiction, a relief carving of Our Lady holding the infant Jesus, looks down upon the scene.  St. Casimir is buried beneath the altar, having been reinterred there in 1634, 150 years after his death.

I certainly want to make mention that his three-handedness was not a physical attribute of the young, pious, prince of Lithuania, but a depiction of his generosity – “when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3) – and purity – for he holds a lily in both right hands.  Certainly his life matches both virtues: he was generous with the poor, electing to wear simple and humble apparel against the wishes of his father, King (of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania) Casimir IV.  Similarly, the younger Casimir also held off the designs that would have placed him in an arranged marriage with Kunigunde of Austria (daughter of Emperor Frederick III, the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope in Rome).  He was the grandson of Wladislaus II Jagiello, the King of Poland who introduced Christianity to Lithuania, and his uncle was Wladislaus III, the King of Poland and Hungary who died at the battle of Varna in 1444 defending Christendom against the Turks.  Of course, these and other royal ancestors indicated that Casimir was destined for the throne, and glory.  Yet he dodged the arranged marriage, evaded various military takeovers that would have expanded his kingdom, and seemed to have a general disposition against such political maneuvering.  

Some say this was from a premonition of his approaching death at only 25, but many others propose another possibility.  We see in him a final stand-out virtue: devotion to God, and it is from this, and all the above indicators, that some think Casimir was considering religious life. He never did join an order, and his being the heir apparent to the throne of both Poland and Lithuania certainly put pressure against such a vocation, yet his simplicity, humility, evident prayerfulness, and avoidance of marriage, all point to the stirrings or at least contemplation of a celibate life devoted to God.  Years after his death, in his coffin was discovered a hymn to Our Lady, Omni die dic Mariae. Some say it was sung at his funeral; some say he was its author, though a more likely candidate was St. Bernard of Cluny a few hundred years before.  In any case, it was a hymn that resounded, and I suppose still does, through the heart of the youthful leader.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin only got a few minutes to visit the tomb of this tremendous, saintly, young man, but has the happy occasion to re-encounter him this week, and to be reminded of the intensity with which the Lord asks us to follow Him.  All our lives cover different ground, but the destination is the same: union with God.  If I’m not taking that seriously in all my choices now, will I when eternity approaches?

Omni die dic Mariae
Mea laudes anima:
Ejus festa, ejus gesta
Cole devotissima.

Contemplare et mirare
Ejus celsitudinem:
Dic felicem genitricem,
Dic beatam Virginem.

Ipsam cole, ut de mole
Criminum te liberet,
Hanc appella, ne procella
Vitiorum superet.

Haec persona nobis dona
Contulit coelestia;
Haec regina nos divina
Illustravit gratia.

Daily, daily sing to Mary,
Sing, my soul, her praises due:
All her feasts, her actions honor
With the heart’s devotion true.

Lost in wond’ring contemplation,
Be her majesty confessed:
Call her Mother, call her Virgin,
Happy Mother, Virgin blest.

She is mighty in her pleading,
Tender in her loving care;
Ever watchful, understanding,
All our sorrows she will share.

Advocate and loving mother,
Mediatrix of all grace:
Heaven’s blessings she dispenses
On our sinful human race.

Many years ago, I heard somebody speaking in general about the Gospels and the impact they are meant to have on our lives and he said the following clever line: “The Gospels were given by Jesus to comfort the afflicted, while at the same time afflicting the comforted.”  In other words, the message of the Gospel is both a source of peace and an invitation to ongoing conversion.  Most of us are all for being comforted by the Gospel, but we are not so excited about being challenged by the Gospel, preferring to skip over those words or somehow concluding that they apply to somebody else.

I find Matthew 25 to be one of those sections of the Gospels that proves this anecdote to be true, especially verses 31-46 titled “The Judgement of the Nations.”  Jesus begins by commending those who practice the works of mercy toward those in need, pointing to the following comforting conclusion: “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Mt 25:40) We can see Jesus in every person to whom we reach out in charity to serve, and the Lord makes it clear that this will be to our benefit, especially at the judgment we all must face at the end of our lives.  Jesus then goes on to offer a very challenging teaching, as He concludes the following when we fail to serve those around us: “what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” (Mt 25:45)  

I cannot read these words without feeling extremely uncomfortable, for I know there have been times when I have been guilty of not serving Jesus by turning away from those in need.  And there are so many needs in the world around us.  Here at the Cathedral, we see people regularly who are at a difficult point in their lives.  It can be easy to just keep our head down and pass by.  At the end of our lives, we will have to account for those intentional acts of dismissal, as we see in the case of the rich man who ignored Lazarus at his doorstep each day.  So how should we respond?

I do not have the time or space to really address the material needs of those we encounter.  We have an obligation, to be sure, but that does not necessarily mean directly giving money to everybody who asks, especially since there are several organizations in Springfield that exist to assist with meeting their various needs.  One of the things that we can keep in mind is a fundamental principle that underlies all of the commandments that have to do with loving our neighbor – every human being has worth and is to be treated with dignity.  One of the simplest ways to respect a person’s dignity is to acknowledge their existence.  Looking somebody in the eye and smiling at them, perhaps even giving them a greeting, sends the simple but profound message: “I see you, and you are good.”  We should not underestimate how this seemingly minor gesture can make a difference in somebody’s day, especially when their existence is virtually ignored by those who pass uncomfortably by.  This is a practice that does not just have to be for those who are poor.  We can do it with those we encounter at the grocery store, while going for a walk, or as we come in and out of church – anywhere!  To be sure, the commandments invite us to many other forms of charity and service, but this simple practice can be a good way to cultivate an awareness of the goodness of those around us, seeing them through the eyes of Christ as a brother or sister in the Lord, and seeing the Lord Himself who is hiding, waiting to be served by us.

Father Alford     

Recently in one of my homilies, I explained the need to be present in one’s parish church in some concrete ways and encouraged people to find more ways to be a strong presence in their Church. I found it necessary to deliver this sermon for a couple of reasons. First, I have had several encounters with people who explain that they do not feel any strong connection to their parish church. Many of these people attend Masses regularly and receive the sacraments. Some of them are even so generous to the Church with their resources.

Another reason to reflect on this topic is that many of us have forgotten how a parish church should be a community. As a community of Christ’s faithful, members need to know each other and grow in friendship. This friendship with each other encourages and strengthens a relationship with Christ. A one-hour church service every week can hardly achieve this friendship goal with each other, a goal that is a critical element in our lives as members of the Body of Christ.

Making financial contributions to the parish, attending Masses, and receiving the other sacraments in the Church is very important in our membership in the Body of Christ. But these are not enough, except when they are the only things we can offer.

What else can WE DO?

A few days after that homily, a parishioner reached out to me and asked what he could do in addition to contributing financially to the Church, attending Masses, and receiving other sacraments as needed. I explained to him that there are too many ways to be a strong presence in one’s Church. This visible presence creates opportunities for friendships with one’s fellow brothers and sisters in the faith, thereby enabling a stronger relationship with Christ.

Altar Service – in our parish Church, every baptized Catholic is welcome to serve at the altar. In the last couple of months, we have trained more altar servers. Some of these people heard that sermon and indicated an interest in serving. We need more people in our altar service, especially middle school, and high school-aged children.

Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, and especially USHERS! We also need people to manage our camera during 10:00 AM Mass on Sundays. These are opportunities to be a more visible presence in one’s parish community.

Here in our Cathedral parish, we also have the bible study groups and the choir – although the choir has not resumed fully since the covid. Beyond these ministries, with the pastor’s approval, individuals can also form new ministries and groups in their parish community. These are allowed so long as they help people understand their Catholic faith better and increase opportunities for a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you have any questions about how you can be a more visible presence in our parish Church, contact any of our priests or Vicki Compton at the parish office.

Feast Day: February 21^st

Alas, it is shameful to speak of it! It is shameful to relate such a disgusting scandal to sacred ears! But if the doctor fears the virus of the plague, who will apply the cauterization? If he is nauseated by those whom he is to cure, who will lead sick souls back to the state of health?

– St. Peter Damian, Liber Gomorrhianus, ~1051 AD, to Pope St. Leo IX

Sometimes it is helpful to look back and realize that a prior age was worse than our own.  It pulls us out of the worries and concerns that grab at our own attention, and reminds us that “it’s been worse”, and we can probably make it through things this time around as well.  Such was the case of the Church in the 11^th century.  One tale tells enough: in 1032, Theophylactus of Tusculum – the nephew of Pope Benedict VIII and Pope John XIX, and a grandnephew of Pope John XII – ascended to the throne of St. Peter after his dad gave a sufficient bribe to the Roman populace.  He was 20 years old.  Don’t get me wrong, I hold nothing against 20-somethings, I am currently one myself, but they’re usually not ready to govern the universal Church, and the newly minted, Pope Benedict IX would prove that point.

Later popes would decry his “unspeakable acts of violence and sodomy.” Historians from then till now would call his papacy a disgrace, and one vividly compares him to a demon sitting on St. Peter’s chair.  He was driven out of Rome in 1036, but fought his way back into the city, only to be thrown out again in 1044, with Pope Sylvester III chosen to replace him.  Benedict brings armies to bear against Sylvester, expelling him from the city, seizing the papal tiara again for himself.  But the story just gets worse: he then chooses to marry his cousin – which apparently was more inimical to being pope than his many prior sins – so he sells the papacy to Fr. John Gratian (his poor godfather), who becomes Pope Gregory VI.  

It is at this point in this whole sordid tale that our saint this week enters the scene.  The Benedictine monk, Peter Damian, had grown up poor in Ravenna, through many twists and turns became a remarkable professor of theology only to give it up for the life of a hermit, at which point he began to take upon himself legendary penances and began to write the passionate letters calling for reform that he would be known for.  The Lord was at work in this feisty monk’s heart, and he became widely known for his holiness, and was eventually pressed by his fellow monks to lead, and reform, their monastery.  He writes to the new Pope Gregory VI, exhorting him to work on reforming the Church, in particular the rampant immorality within the priesthood, which had been so especially evident in his papal predecessor. 

Gregory, as it would happen, did not have the chance.  Benedict IX changed his mind, wanted the papacy back, and fights his way onto the throne again, leaving Gregory VI ousted along with Sylvester III.  Notice we now have three men claiming to be pope.  Archdeacon Peter calls for a council, and beseeches the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, to intervene.  The German emperor crosses the alps, takes control of the city (which, to summarize, now had 3 men claiming to be pope, holding positions at St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major, and sending whatever gang of nobles/armies had sided with them, to fight each other in the streets of Rome…), and convenes a council at Sutri.  Gregory humbly admits he only got the papacy because he told Benedict that he would pay him (though he didn’t), and agrees to resign.  Sylvester also came to the council, and is strong-armed into forgoing his claim to be pope.  Benedict, as we might expect, didn’t come, and didn’t resign, but was dismissed from the papacy as well and Emperor Henry asked the Archbishop of Bamberg to become pope, taking the title Clement II.  

Clement, though, died a few months later – poisoned, whether purposefully or unintentionally – and, don’t you know, Benedict IX shows up, and claims to be pope again.  Henry decides a certain Bp. Poppo should become pope, forcibly places him on the papal throne as Pope Damasus II, but this latest Pope dies even more quickly, just 23 days later.  Thankfully, nobody was about to back Benedict again, so Damasus was followed by a legitimate, capable, and holy man, Bruno of Egisheim-Dagsburg, the Pope Saint Leo IX who received Peter Damian’s letter where we began this article.  Leo would agree with the fiery monk, and work to reinforce clerical celibacy, outlaw simony as means to Church offices, dispel heresies, and reform monastic life.  Leo wasn’t perfect, but he was a saint in the middle of a sinful time.

St. Peter Damian was the same: a saint living in a world of sin.  As much as we wish such sins would never happen, he wouldn’t have been the saint he was without fighting to stay true to the Lord through it all, and miraculously, Jesus could bring great saints out of such horrible times.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin prays that he would have only a bit of the courage and fidelity of St. Peter Damian (though he also prays that he would never have to face such despicable days.) 

Last Sunday, I shared that my favorite passage in the Bible was found in our Second Reading from St. Paul, where he explains his unworthiness to be called an apostle, especially in comparison to all of those to whom Jesus had appeared after the Resurrection.  Despite that unworthiness, though, St. Paul comes to the following conclusion: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been ineffective.” (1 Cor 15:10) These words were an encouragement to me as I was beginning seminary formation, and they continue to be so now for me as a priest.

At the heart of this passage is the phrase: “the grace of God.”  God’s grace, which is a sharing in His very life, makes all the difference in our lives.  His grace enables us to do what we would otherwise not be able to do on our own.  With that understanding, St. Paul is also able to say the following: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)  This passage is a very popular one, and often quoted by Christians as a sign of our faith in the power of God’s grace, despite our weakness and unworthiness.  In a blog article that I recently read, I came across an explanation of this passage that really resonated with me:

This verse is so misused because many Christians interpret “all things” as “anything,” not “all the things Paul has talked about.” It’s not a blanket endorsement that God will support anything we set out to do and empower us to do whatever impossible things we can imagine. It’s an assurance that we can do whatever God calls us to do, not whatever we decide to do.  (https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/philippians-4-13)

This is an important clarification.  God’s grace is always sufficient to help us in accomplishing His will.  A central part of that will is to follow His commandments.  What He commands is never impossible, for with God’s grace, all things according to His will for us are possible.

I bring this up in particular with regards to the Church’s teaching on the 6^th and 9^th Commandments that deal with our human sexuality.  Many in society protest that what the Church asks of her children in this area is unreasonable and, in fact, impossible.  Because living a life of chastity can be so challenging in a hypersexualized world, the conclusion that our culture draws is: “You are not capable of living what the Church teaches, so we should just lower our expectations, make permissible that which the Church teaches against in the area of sexual morality.”  I will admit, there is something true about this conclusion.  You and I and not capable of this by our own strength.  This is where St. Paul’s words come in: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.”  It is God’s will for us to live the virtue of chastity well according to our state in life, and His grace makes it possible.  The Church seems to be the only voice in our culture that tells us this is indeed possible – with the caveat that we understand that His grace will be sufficient and thus effective in our living this virtue and every other virtue His will invites us to live.

And so the question with which I leave you is this: “Do you believe this?”  Perhaps we would do well to consider the scene in the Gospel of the man who brought his son to Jesus to heal him.  Jesus tells the father (and us) the following: “All things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23) Let our response to the question about believing that God’s grace can make possible what seems impossible in living chastity that same response the father had to Jesus: “I do believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

Father Alford     

This Monday, February 14, we shall celebrate what has become one of the most widely celebrated feasts in the secular world and Christendom – St. Valentine’s Day. Some of us will be celebrating St. Valentine’s Day as a Christian fiesta, keeping in mind the stories of sacrificial love surrounding the figure of St. Valentine. Many others worldwide will be celebrating this feast as a day of appreciation and expression of romantic love.

Whichever way, the question about the origin of this feast, its historicity, and Christian authenticity has remained a matter of debate among authors, historians, and Christian theologians, especially outside of the Catholic faith. Whoever plans to celebrate this feast may want to know if the feast of St. Valentine is genuinely Christian and if the figure of St. Valentine is a myth or a historical person. Who was he if he existed in time and space like the rest of the saints? Did he die a martyr’s death out of love? What kind of love?

There are many stories and understandings of the figure of St. Valentine and his feast. After some research, I have found out that many people argue that this feast is one of those regular feasts of saints in the Catholic church – saints who truly existed in time and space. Some people who hold this opinion believe that the feast spread so widely beyond the Christian world in the late medieval times with lots of superstitious practices attached to it. One of these superstitions is the romantic love that this feast represents for many people all over the world.

Other people believe that St. Valentine’s Day is a Christian myth manufactured in medieval Europe to encourage fraternal charity and generosity to the poor among Christians. Several people who hold this opinion are indifferent about whether the figure of St. Valentine is a myth or a historical person. Some observe the feast as a Christian fiesta of sacrificial love. In contrast, others treat it as a secular feast of romantic love.

Still, people like Lisa Bitel, a history professor at the University of Southern California, have an interesting view of this feast. They believe that the feast of St. Valentine commemorates one of the three Valentines that lived in Rome, Umbria, and Africa in the third century. While this opinion argues that St. Valentine’s Day remembers one of these three early Christians, it denies that any of them is associated with the romantic love that the feast has come to represent for many people.

However, there is a common belief that the saint or saints associated with St. Valentine’s Day died as martyrs. Their association with romantic love may be a superstition or a misunderstanding of the love associated with their martyrdom. But the popular understanding of St. Valentine’s Day among Christians in many parts of the world as a commemoration of sacrificial love should be highly encouraged. This is because martyrdom is one of the highest expressions of love – that love, which is the primary vocation of every Christian. The expression of this sacrificial love should be seen in our lives and actions as Christians.

Feast Day: February 8^th

In my research for our saint this week, I realized that Pope Benedict XVI had already written her story, weaving it into his encyclical on Christian hope.  Seeing that I could do no better myself, and realizing how providential this discovery was in light of our current thirst for hope, I’ll let our Pope Emeritus do the teaching this week: 

Paragraph 2: Christianity was not only “good news”—the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.  Yet at this point a question arises: in what does this hope consist which, as hope, is “redemption”? The essence of the answer is given in the phrase from the Letter to the Ephesians quoted above: the Ephesians, before their encounter with Christ, were without hope because they were “without God in the world”. To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God. 

Paragraph 3: The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life. Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. 

Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father’s right hand”. 

Now she had “hope”—no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her “Paron”. On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice. 

On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter’s lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin first heard the story of St. Josephine Bakhita in a set of readers in the 2^nd or 3^rd grade filled with saint-stories and meant to teach reading-comprehension.  This week, inspired by her example, he will practice hope by carrying sufferings with Jesus.  

My first assignment as a priest involved being a part of a pastoral team of four priests serving three parishes in Effingham and Shumway.  As a brand new priest, I was always impressed with how well the people remembered the priests who had served their parishes over the years.  I found that most of the memories were from things that the priests had done in the parishes, and much less about what they said.  So if the people remembered something a priest said many years later, it must have been very impactful.  One parishioner shared a story about a homily given by one of their former priests that they remembered very clearly, and it is something I too have remembered all these years later.

The priest began his homily by talking about various types of snakes that exist in the world.  In particular, he spoke about poisonous snakes.  After listing off some of the more deadly species of snakes, the priest made the following point: “But of all of the poisonous snakes in the world, there is one snake that is more deadly than all – the gossip snake!”  Wow!  What a creative way of delivering an important message, namely, the deadly nature of gossip.

I bring this story up as we begin this month to look at the second set of the Ten Commandments.  The Fifth Commandment states very succinctly: “You shall not kill.”  As we know from our consideration of a few of the first four commandments, there is much more to these commandments than meets the eye.  Jesus Himself addresses this commandment specifically when He says:

You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. (Matthew 5:21-22)

In his catechesis on this Commandment, Pope Francis explains how the sin of gossip can fall under the Fifth Commandment:

Therefore, not only must one not make an attempt on the life of others, but one must not even pour on him the poison of anger and hit him with slander, nor speak ill of him. And here we arrive at gossip. Gossip can also kill, because it kills the reputation of the person.

Since hearing about the idea of the “deadly gossip snake” so many years ago, I have come to see how very true this is.  Gossip can be deadly and as Christians, we should be very careful about how we speak about other people, regardless of whether what we have to say is true or not.  What you say about somebody in resentment, pain, or frustration may feel good in the moment, but it invites the person to whom you are speaking to take on the same attitude, thus spreading the poison.  In those moments when we are tempted to gossip, we would do well to remember the advice of St. Paul: “Never let evil talk pass your lips.  Say only the good things men need to hear, things that will really help them.”  (Eph. 4:29) I can almost guarantee that gossip is not something others need to hear or will ever help them, so when tempted to gossip, just keep quiet and speak to the Lord about it.  You may just help to save the other person’s reputation…and your soul. Father Alford