Feast Day: September 16^th | Patronage: | Iconography: Cornelius: Holding Cruciform Staff and Tiara of a Pope, Carrying Book of one who preaches the Gospel and Horn (from his name, which means “battle horn”); Cyprian: Wearing Vestments of a Bishop, including the Pallium and holding a Crosier, Book of one who preaches the Gospel, and Crown or Palm of martyrdom

St. Cyprian was killed, martyred, for the crime of impiety!  Consider this early account of his martyrdom:

When the bishop appeared the proconsul asked him: ‘Are you Thascius Cyprian?’ The bishop replied: ‘I am.’ ‘And have you acted as leader in a community of impious men?’ ‘I have.’ ‘The sacred emperors have ordered you to sacrifice.’ ‘I will not sacrifice.’ ‘Consider your position.’ ‘Do what is required of you. I have no need to deliberate; the issues are clear.’ Galerius consulted briefly with his advisers and reluctantly pronounced sentence in the following words: ‘You have lived in an irreligious manner for a long time now and have gathered about you a large congregation of criminals and unbelievers. You have shown yourself hostile to the gods of Rome and the rites by which they are worshipped. … Your death will be an example to those whom you have gathered into your criminal conspiracy. Your blood will uphold the law.’

[from the “Proconsular Acts of the martyrdom of St. Cyprian”, 258 AD]

Killed for “impiety” because he didn’t worship the gods of the surrounding culture. He chose to give his highest love, and honor, and fealty to the One True God, no one else. We will suffer, like Christ, and like Cyprian, when we make this same choice! Am I ready for that?

We have a letter that Bp. Cyprian wrote to Pope Cornelius (one of the main reasons we celebrate them both on September 16^th), and it offers us a key way that Cyprian practiced this courageous-faithfulness before called to make the ultimate sacrifice: 

Cyprian sends greetings to his brother Cornelius,

My very dear brother, we have heard of the glorious witness given by your courageous faith. On learning of the honor you had won by your witness, we were filled with such joy that we felt ourselves sharers and companions in your praiseworthy achievements. After all, we have the same Church, the same mind, the same unbroken harmony. Why then should a priest not take pride in the praise given to a fellow priest as though it were given to him? What brotherhood fails to rejoice in the happiness of its brothers wherever they are?

     Words cannot express how great was the exultation and delight here when we heard of your good fortune and brave deeds: how you stood out as a leader of your brothers in their declaration of their faith. You led the way to glory, but you gained many companions in that glory; being foremost in your readiness to bear witness on behalf of all, you prevailed on your people to become a single witness. We cannot decide which we ought to praise, your own ready and unshaken faith or the love of your brothers who would not leave you. While the courage of the bishop who thus led the way has been demonstrated, at the same time the unity of the brotherhood who followed has been manifested. Since you have one heart and one voice, it is the Roman Church as a whole that has thus borne witness….

     Divine providence has now prepared us. God’s merciful design has warned us that the day of our own struggle, our own contest, is at hand. By that shared love which binds us closely together, we are doing all we can to exhort our congregation, to give ourselves unceasingly to fasting, vigils and prayers in common. These are the heavenly weapons which give us the strength to stand firm and endure; they are the spiritual defenses, the God-given armaments that protect us. Let us then remember one another, united in mind and heart. Let us pray without ceasing, you for us, we for you; by the love we share we shall thus relieve the strain of these great trials.

[“Letter by St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr”, Epistle 60,1-2, 5]

Two simple things that St. Cyprian did that prepared him to give witness to Christ: First, recognizing and encouraging others when they choose courageous-faithfulness. Do you and I notice when someone makes a certain choice because they are a Christian? Do we tell them how inspiring their action was, that we want to emulate their faith in that way? And secondly, do we simple expect trials to come our way, or have we imbibed in some way, or just in some area of our lives, a “prosperity gospel” that assumes crosses are for other people, that reacts with dis-belief when God allows our Christianity to cost us?

– Fr. Dominic has been impressed numerous times by the faith, sacrifices, joy, or hope of others. As a priest, he gets to see faith alive in people’s hearts on so many occasions, but I often fail to thank them, or mention that they have inspired me. I hope to learn from St. Cyprian how to do that! One quick story: at World Youth Day, like St. Cyprian, I was moved by the witness of my Holy Father, Pope Francis. It’s so easy to get confused or cynical by something we hear about him, yet when I saw him at WYD I was moved to tremendous gratitude that Christ has entrusted his Church to a Pope, a Papa for all of us. And, his reflections throughout that week were so centered on Christ, on the joy that comes from Christ, on the love He has for us. I am grateful for his witness of those truths again to me!

“Let us pray.”  These are the words that the priest says immediately following the Gloria (when there is one), inviting the faithful to unite with him as he prays what is Opening Prayer, or more technically called the Collect.

There are a few things worth mentioning as we consider the Collect.  The GIRM (remember, when I use that acronym, I am referring to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal) explains that the Collect is one of the “presidential prayers.”  “These prayers are addressed to God by the Priest who presides over the assembly in the person of Christ, in the name of the entire holy people and of all present.” (GIRM, §30) This is an important point that can sometimes go overlooked.  When the priest is reciting prayers at Mass, more often than not, he is doing so in the name of all who are present.  When we hear the Opening Prayer, we can sometimes zone out and not pay much attention, treating it as though we are listening to Father pray.  It’s as though he is saying: “Listen to me pray.”  No, we unite ourselves with the priest who is praying on our behalf, praying for us and with us to God.  “”Let us pray.”  I will develop this point further when we get to the Eucharistic Prayer, but it is important for us to have that understanding of these prayers in general.

But what is the significance of this prayer?  Two sources are helpful in our understanding this prayer.  First, we can look at what the GIRM says:

Next the Priest calls upon the people to pray and everybody, together with the Priest, observes a brief silence so that they may become aware of being in God’s presence and may call to mind their intentions. Then the Priest pronounces the prayer usually called the “Collect” and through which the character of the celebration finds expression. (GIRM, §54)

Another source I sometime refer to when reflecting on the prayers of the Mass is a little booklet I found online called Explanation of Prayers and Ceremonies of Holy Mass, which is a collection of reflections taken from conferences given by Dom Prosper Guéranger, a former Benedictine Abbot of Solesmes.  Though these reflections were written about the Mass celebrated according to the Missal of 1962, many of the elements still apply very well.  Here is what he says about the Collect, that it is:

the Prayer in which he sums up the desires of the Faithful, and presents them under the form of a petition. The word Collect comes from the Latin colligere, which means to bring together things previously existing apart. The importance of the Collect is great. Hence, holy mother Church urges us to listen to it with all respect and devotion.

What both of these explanations offer is that this is a time during which we bring our various intentions to the liturgy to be offered up in one prayer of petition to the Father.  Thus the pause after the priests says: “Let us pray.”  Recall how when describing the Penitential Act, the pause seems hardly adequate to call to mind our sins, so too here.  I think it presumes that we have done a little bit of preparation for this moment, perhaps as we pray before Mass.  In addition to examining ourselves regarding our need for conversion, we can also consider the various intentions we want to bring to this Mass – people to pray for, situations that seem unresolved, gratitude for blessings received, etc.  In that brief moment, we present those intentions we have already thought about to the Lord through the priest who collects the prayers of everybody and offers them up on our behalf in one prayer.

Feast Day: August 24^th | Patronage: Neurological Diseases, Skin Diseases, Butchers, Tanners,  | Iconography: Bearded as an Apostle; Wearing Tunic and Cloak (often red for a martyr); Carrying Book of Scroll because he brought St. Matthew’s Gospel to Mesopotamia, Parthia, Lycaonia, and Ethiopia; Holding Knife or otherwise indication of his being flayed alive.

One quick clarification first of all: Bartholomew and Nathanael have always been considered two names for the same apostle from the earliest ages of the Church. Bartholomew is a family name (“Bar” [“Son of”] “Tolmai”), so it would make sense that he would be called by another name as well, and since St. John’s Gospel closely link Nathanael and Philip (whereas the Synoptic Gospels link Bartholomew and Philip), it is evident these two names are for the same man.

The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) tell us that Bartholomew was one of the Twelve, but tell us little more. St. John’s Gospel gives us a fuller account of his call. Recall that Jesus first called Andrew (one of John the Baptist’s disciples) who then brought to Jesus his brother Simon (Peter). Then Our Lord calls Philip, also from Bethsaida, and it was Philip who convinced Nathanael that he had found the Messiah:

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” [John 1:43-51]

Now, this is a famously cryptic passage! What does it mean that Nathanael was “under the fig tree”, and why does Jesus’ knowledge of this convince him so suddenly to become Christ’s disciple (especially given his unenthusiastic response to Jesus being from Nazareth. Here is a place where we have to know the Old Testament in order to understand the New Testament because the references that hearken back to God’s covenant with Israel are rampant!

Just to focus on three (skipping past all the ways Philip recognized that Jesus fulfilled the writings of Moses and the Prophets): Jesus immediately calls Nathanael “an Israelite … in whom there is no deceit!” Now, this comment refers back to the fact that Israel is the new name given to Jacob in Genesis 32 after he wrestled with God [“Israel” means “he strives with God”], whereas his birth name, “Jacob”, means “he takes by the heel”, which is exactly what he did to his brother Esau when the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah were born, but it also has the connotation of someone who cheats or backstabs, which was something that Jacob did consistently in stealing the birthright and blessing meant for Esau, as well as in his dealings with Laban, his father in law. Back to Nathanael, who Jesus says is an Israelite without deceit; unlike so many of us, this is a man who does not connive to get his own way, doesn’t fall to mixed motives in his relationships or faith. What a beautiful grace Jesus sees in him!

But, of course, there is more! Nathanael, puzzled at this soul-reading, asks Jesus “How do you know me?”, and Jesus responds with the tremendous line, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” What does this mean?! It refers back to the prophecy of Micah about the age of the Messiah: 

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. [Micah 4:3-5]

Why do countries, or individuals, strive and scheme against each other? Because we all operate out of fear, I guess deep down a fear that we will not have enough, or be enough. But what if we lived entirely in confidence on our Heavenly Father ? His Love could replace those fears within us with the fruits of His Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, etc. Notice that this was what the Lord worked to instill in Jacob, and what Jesus recognized in Nathanael, and for this reason, what happened to Jacob in Genesis 28 – when he had a vision of heaven with the angels descending towards him, and back to Heaven – is offered in even greater abundance to Nathanael, and every disciple of Christ. “Truly, truly, I say to you [you all], you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

– Fr. Dominic is still facing catching up on email, articles, visits, and everything else after his trip to World Youth Day. More to come about that pilgrimage, for this week I am praying for those fears to be supplanted by the faithful love of God.

At all of our Sunday Masses, except during the seasons of Advent and Lent, the Church invites us, after having acknowledged our sins, to raise our hearts in praise to God as we sing the Gloria.  That movement strikes me as something that is quite profound.  It is a reminder to us that we, who are weighed down by our sinfulness, have been given the gift of Jesus to save us from our slavery to sin.  This is the very message that the angel of the Lord delivered to the shepherds on the night that Christ was born in Bethlehem: 

Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

The very next line provides the scriptural foundation for the angels intoning this great hymn that we sing at this point of the Mass: “And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:13-14)

I find this transition from sorrow for sin to immediately giving glory to God a helpful reminder to us to not be so down on ourselves when it comes to our sinfulness.  Sure, it is appropriate to have a proper sadness for our lack of correspondence to God’s will.  But thanks be to God for the gift of Jesus and the infinite mercy He offers to us out of His love for us.  The society in which we live would have us fixated on ourselves, how we do not measure up, how we miss the mark.  But the Church, as a loving mother, does not want us to wallow in self-pity, but invites us to raise our hearts to the glory of God, whose “light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

In a previous article, I wrote about the importance of joining our hearts and voices to the praise of God during the times of the liturgy when the Church invites us to sing.  This is especially true in the Gloria!  How unfortunate if we choose to remain silent during this great hymn in which we glorify the God who has saved us.  The only reason I can think we do not join in this hymn is that we are stuck in being too focused on ourselves and not on God.  “I can’t sing.”  “I don’t want to sing.”  “I don’t know the music.”  This past Sunday I was talking with a former parishioner from my first assignment as a priest.  She told me that she is not a good singer, but she at least whispers along because she wants to join in the music, limited as her musical ability may be.  I found that to be a beautiful expression!  Even if we do not have a good singing voice, or know how to sing, we can all at the very least whisper as we join the song of the angels in giving glory to God for saving us from our sins.  So at the next Mass you attend where we sing or recite the Gloria, sing, speak, or even whisper.  If we are truly aware of God’s goodness to us and the mercy He offers to us, then we think of the words of that familiar song: “How can I keep from singing?”

Feast Day: August 14^th | Patronage: Families, Prisoners, Amateur Radio Operators, Journalists, Political Prisoners, Pro Life Movement, Recovery from Drug Addiction | Iconography: Gray Beard, Franciscan Habit and Cord, Nazi Concentration Camp Uniform, Holding Crucifix, Rosary or Image of Our Lady, White Crown for Purity, Red Crown for Martyrdom, Palm of Martyrdom, Newsletter of Militia Immacolata.

Last week we reached the critical moment of Fr. Kolbe’s life. 10 prisoners are destined to die. He is not one of them. Yet this was the man who, as a child, had a mystical encounter with Our Lady, who offered him either the crown of purity or the crown of martyrdom, to which he asked for both. He had been assigned to the worst work-details and had barely survived a second bout of tuberculosis in the Invalid’s Block a week before, usually a death sentence. Routinely inviting others into prayer and offering confession to his fellow prisoners, he had suffered patiently a double-dose of the guards hatred. 

Francis Gajowniczek sobs “My wife and my children”, now assigned to starvation and death. But then there is a disturbance in the ranks. A prisoner pushes forward from the back. Rifles are raised. The dogs strain against their leashes. Capos shout for him to stop. Fritsch reaches for his weapon. Fr. Kolbe steps out of line, his face firm, serene. “I want to talk to the commander.” Marvelously he is not shot as he continues forward. He looks Fritzsch straight in the eye, “Herr Kommandant, I wish to make a request, please.” Fritzsch is further stupefied as Kolbe continues “I want to die in place of this prisoner. … I have no wife or children. Besides, I’m old and not good for anything.” “Who are you?” Asks the incredulous German. “A Catholic Priest” replies Prisoner #16770. Silence blankets the parade ground. 

“Request granted.”

Gajowniczek marvels that he is allowed back in line and can only thank Maximilian Kolbe with his eyes, “I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me – a stranger.” Br. Ladislaus saw the ten victims marched away. “I saw that Father Kolbe was staggering under the weight of one of the others as he upheld this man who could not walk with his own strength.” Wotjkowski, barely surviving the day himself, is rooted to the spot, “I’ve just seen a saint made.” Mleczko, though unable to witness Fr. Kolbe’s final days directly, recalls that the other prisoners kept a prayer vigil for their ten condemned brothers, walking past the slit through which little could be seen of their undergrown starvation bunker. Others heard the guards coming and going from the cell, checking who had perished, screaming at Kolbe to not watch them with his piercing gaze, troubled by his patience and prayerfulness as death approached. He survived for two weeks and was finally murdered by an injection of carbolic acid. Starvation and dehydration were taking too long and the cell was needed for others. And thus, on the evening of August 14^th, as the Catholic Church began its celebration of Our Lady’s Assumption into Heaven, another saint entered the panoply of those who lived lives with a love like Christ’s.

Gajowniczek would survive the war and return to his wife and two sons. He was present at Fr. Kolbe’s beatification and canonization, and his memory of St. Maximilian Kolbe is a fitting final word, and a reminder to all of us of the simple choices that led this simple priest to an extraordinary final choice: “I observed him [at] evening in the Block praying fervently and inviting others to join him – a very dangerous activity. I participated in prayer sessions he organized, and once was among his listeners at a conference he gave right outside the Block. Another day a bunch of us were shoveling manure out of a pit. Father Kolbe was beaten very cruelly by an SS guard who hit him many times in the face while his attack dog also assaulted Father, biting him seriously. Father Kolbe bore all this not just with patience but with dignity. … I recall that when he was put down for a better work squad – that of washing potatoes in the kitchen – he expressed his happiness openly to us and his gratitude toward God and the intercession of the Virgin Mary.”

– Fr. Dominic has loved St. Maximilian Kolbe ever since reading a child’s biography of the saint on multiple family car-rides. The dramatic eyewitnesses that tell his final hours to us this week (and next) are collected in Patricia Treece’s captivating biography, A Man for Others: Maximilian Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz, in the Words of Those Who Knew Him.