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Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Feb 5, 2008

Saint of the Day: St. Agatha – February 5

St. Agatha was a virgin martyr around the year 251 in Catania, Sicily. That is all we really know about her. She was honored widely in many parts of Europe and, centuries later, legends were written about her martyrdom. However, The Catholic Encyclopedia gives little credit to this story, since it appears that it was written much later to depict heroism and miracles without any real historical information.

The legend is almost stylized. She was a beautiful young woman from a noble family who refused the advances of a Roman official. She was tortured and put through many trials but was steadfast in her faith. While it is unfortunate that we know so very little about St. Agatha, it is telling that such a male dominated society as Rome would focus on the importance of young women and their great courage.

Women played a significant role in the development of early Christianity. St. Paul refers to the deaconness Phoebe and to other prominent women leaders. There is good historical evidence that well-to-do Greek and Roman women were among the first believers. Widows, who generally had very little power and wealth, would find a secure place in Christian communities, which saw to their needs.

Perhaps the best legacy of St. Agatha and these brave women, a legacy that we can truly celebrate, is a commitment to and a concern for the women and girls in our midst. Despite the advances made in industrialized societies, the lot and fate of women and girls is one of continued oppression and exploitation throughout the world. While I could recount some of the cultural celebrations observed on St. Agatha’s feast day or mention that she is invoked to protect people from eruptions of Mt. Etna, there is a greater import in the brief historical note that gives us her name and documents her martyrdom. The power and strength of God are manifest in the feminine.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Feb 4, 2008

Mardi Gras / Carnaval – A Non-Moveable Feast?

Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, has often been a raucous holiday throughout the Catholic world. In New Orleans we have “Fat Tuesday” – literally Mardi Gras. In Rio de Janeiro and Venice, the day before the beginning of the Lenten season of preparation for the Easter Triduum is called Carnival, or Carnaval in Portuguese.

The Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro has become a major part of the economy, due to the tourist trade and large expenditures for floats, constumes, and neighborhood performance groups. Although the celebration was only introduced in 1845 by European elites imitating the Parisian celebration, Carnival has taken on a life of its own and has incorporated African and Amerindian elements. In 2008, Carnival will attract 700,000 tourists and $510 million dollars. Like New Orleans, the party can start a whole week before the actual day of Carnival.

Of course there are always problems with success. The key one for Mardi Gras is that the date is 50 days before Easter. This means that the actual date of Carnival floats in relation to the date of Easter, following the lunar calendar. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring. For Brazil, Carnival marks the end of the southern hemisphere’s summer vacation season. If Carnival comes too early, as it does this year, on February 5, the vacation and tourist trade can dry up. In fact, the date of Carnival can range from February 3 to March 9 – a span of 5 weeks.

The big problem is that when Carnival is over, the party is over. Lent begins with its fasting, penance, and almsgiving. Big parties are not in keeping with the season. The hotel and tourism industry in Brazil are concerned that this will mean a huge economic loss. The “summer” economic season would end 7 weeks early. There is a movement in Brazil to make Carnival the first Sunday of March to avoid these economic dislocations. The Secretary General of the Brazil’s Catholic Conference of Bishops, Dom Dimas Lara Barbosa, is not opposed in principal to moving the date to January so that the festival will not occur during Lent.

January seems a little to close to Christmas and New Years and so there has been some thought of turning Carnival into a purely secular festival. But then again, it wouldn’t be Carnival if it were. On the other hand, many of our Protestant cousins would probably remind us that Carnival seems to have gone beyond any deep religious significance anyway.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Feb 2, 2008

Saint of the Day: St. Blaise, Bishop & Martyr – February 3

Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God protect you from all ailments of the throat and from all forms of evil. Amen.’ ~Blessing given on the feast of St.Blaise

St. Blaise was martyred for the faith around 316. That is all we actually know about him. However, his feast has been celebrated from the very early centuries. The Catholic Encylopedia and other scholarly sources reject the Acta or Deeds of the life of St. Blaise as history and regard them as legend. According to this old story, St. Blaise was bishop of Sebastea in Armenia and was tortured and executed under the persecution of Licinius after he had been discovered in the countryside. As he was being led off by his captors, a mother brought him a baby who was choking on a fish bone. St. Blaise prayed for the baby, who was immediately cured.

Consequently, St. Blaise has been associated with the relief of throat ailments, both physical and spiritual. (Spiritual aliments would include things like gossiping, coarse language and lying.) When I was a boy in the 1950s, this day was marked by the blessing of throats with crossed unlighted candles. For those of us who were altar boys, it took a little reminder that after the Last Gospel (the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel), the final blessing and the prayers for the conversion of Russia (they must have been heard after all), we had to return to the communion rail and accompany Father for the blessing of the throats. Like many of the Latin rituals, its beauty and the sweet beeswax smell of the new candles was somewhat marred by the rapid droning of the blessing and a certain assembly line efficiency, as we made several circuits of the communion rail.

As nice as it was, we never focused on his witness as bishop and martyr. There was just enough documentation to verify that St. Blaise was an historical figure and to spare him from the fate of St. Christopher, whose legend was quietly declared a myth. Everything else about St. Blaise is veiled in legend and the mists of time.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Feb 2, 2008

Feast of the Day: The Presentation of Christ in the Temple – February 2

St. Joseph & Prophetess Anna; St. Mary, the Christ Child, & the Prophet Simeon

The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple is February 2 and is known in the West as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Around 450 in Jerusalem, people began holding lighted candles during the Liturgy on this day and it became known as Candlemas. The feast has always had more prominence in the East. However, it has been celebrated in the West since the 11th Century. It marks the formal end of the Christmas season.

The presentation commemorates the ritual purification of Jewish mothers on the 40th day after birth and the redemption offering for first born sons. (Luke 2:22-40) At the temple, the Holy Family meet Simeon who had prayed for the coming of the Messiah and had been assured by God that he would not see death until he had seen the Savior of Israel.

28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,
35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36 There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,
37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.

40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

There is really not much more to say, except to note the gratitude of Simeon and Anna and the bewilderment of Joseph and Mary. For those of us who have had the joy, bewilderment, and sleep deprivation characteristic of new parents, the experience rings true. So do the words of prophets in our lives – those strange outsiders who many times see our children more clearly than we can.

As glorious as the Canticle of Simeon is, there is a prayer that I learned when I was a new father:

“Lord, please help me to see my children the way other people do.” It is always unsettling – always a revelation.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Jan 31, 2008

Saint of the Day: St. John Bosco – January 31

St. Giovanni M. Bosco (1815-1888) is commonly known in English as St. John Bosco or as Don Bosco. The English honorific title of Don for a professor is well suited to a man who changed the teaching method from one of violence to one of encouragement and respect.

St. John Bosco was born in a cabin and grew up in poverty after the death of his father when Giovanni was still very small. He worked in the fields and as a shepherd and went to school as he could. From an early age, St. John Bosco had dreams about working with boys and bringing them to a better moral and social condition. As a young priest, he acted on this calling and started working with boys who had been imprisoned due to abandonment, neglect, abuse, and delinquency. Conditions in the mid-1800s in Italy were not unlike those chronicled by Dickens during the same period in England.

Although the bishop approved of his work, St. John Bosco met resistance and harassment from the public. He was forced to move his small chapel and school several times. The public saw these boys as a threat and as basically worthless. Finally, St. John Bosco was able to establish a school and workshop to give the boys training in printing and other trades of the early industrial revolution. The boys gravitated to him and his instruction because he showed that he cared about them and their physical well being. After grinding 12 hour days in the factories, the boys came to night classes to get the fundamentals of education and the faith. The patron of his schools, and later of the order he founded, was St. Francis de Sales – another visionary educator who focused on the love of God.

It is important to remember that Italy was going through immense turmoil at the time and the Church was losing political control of the Papal States in the center of the peninsula. Anti-clericalism was very strong as Italy made its way to political unification under a secular government. The work of St. John Bosco and his order, the Salesian Society, started a ministry based on social and economic development through technical and vocational education. Those boys and young men who had been considered disposable had their dignity restored and became productive members of society with a moral and religious foundation.

St. John Bosco’s work continues today among the lowest ranks of society all around the world in the schools and workshops of the Salesians of St. John Bosco.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Jan 28, 2008

Saint of the Day: St. Thomas Aquinas – January 28

St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor (c. 1225 – 1274), has been and continues to be one of the most influential forces shaping Catholic theology and philosophy. He was born at Roccasecca castle, the home of his father, Count Landulf, in the Kingdom of Naples. His mother was Theodora, Countess of Theate, and was related to the Hohenstafuen dyanasty of Holy Roman emperors. St. Thomas’s uncle, Sinbald, was the abbot of the first Benedictine monastery, Monte Cassino, and the family planned for him to succeed his uncle as abbot.

At the age of 5, St. Thomas was sent to Monte Cassino to begin his studies. At 16 he was sent to the University of Naples, where he came under the influence of the Order of Preachers – the Dominicans -who were innovators in a new style of religious life very different from that of traditional orders such as the Benedictines. St. Thomas upset his family by announcing his intention of joining the Dominicans. This action not only destroyed the family’s ambition to retain the power and prestige of Monte Cassino, but it was almost akin to running off with a band of hippies. Unable to convince him to renounce this foolishness, his family kidnapped him and held him for a year in the family castle of San Giovanni. Finally, Pope Innocent IV intervened and St. Thomas joined the Dominicans at 17.

St. Thomas and the Dominicans of his time introduced an entirely new way of approaching the faith. For 12 centuries, the Church teachers of the faith appealed to the authority of the scriptures and previous teachers such as St. Augustine or other Fathers of the Church. The scholastic movement, embodied by St. Thomas and his teacher St. Albert the Great, began with an open inquiry based on logic and reason. The traditional Faith was accepted as true, but thoughtful and logical reason were presented as to why it might not be true. Ultimately, various statements of belief were upheld, not only on the authority of the Church or tradition, but by reason and logic as well.

The format of the scholastic argument is the back bone of St. Thomas’s two major works, The Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles. It is hard for us as post-modern people to imagine what a daring and threatening approach this was for the time. In fact the 1200s were a time of immense change in Europe. Trade and communications with the East had been reopened and with them came a flood of new and ancient knowledge. Trade and commerce increased the power and prestige of market towns at the expense of the countryside. Monastic schools gave way to early universities. The great Cathedrals began to dominate the landscape. The traditional clergy were overshadowed by the two great orders of mendicant friars (the begging brothers) – the Dominicans and the Franciscans.

St. Thomas, and his contemporary members of the scholastic movement, absorbed and transformed Islamic and Greek philosophy, science, technology, and mathematics. In particular, the Thomistic school of scholasticism is known for reviving the philosophy of Aristotle and its logic.

Over the centuries, scholastic philosophy would evolve and change in a variety of ways and St. Thomas – contrary to his own method – became the authority. Instead of being a fresh and bold inquiry, scholasticism degenerated into a catalog of arguments and answers to be memorized and repeated. In the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, scholasticism and Thomism were disregarded by secular philosophies reliant only on reason. Thomism was also marginalized in training programs for priests.

In the late 1800s, there was a movement to restore Thomism as a defense against the secular philosophies of the Enlightenment and to renew some intellectual vigor in Catholic circles. It was an attempt to come to grips with the modern world and met heavy resistance. In the early 1900s, Thomism began to assume some prominence and neo-Thomism emerged with a renewed interest in the relationship between faith and reason. It is a long and complicated story, but it reflects the enduring importance of the work of St. Thomas and the changing moods of society and philosophy.

The core question persists. What can we know of God through reason? The second question follows. How reasonable is our faith?

If we want to honor a man who was a mystic, a saint, and an intellectual, it seems that we have to take on the openness of his inquiry and the wonder he beheld in faith.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Jan 26, 2008

Saints of the Day – Sts. Timothy and Titus – January 26

Everybody needs friends – a real support network. St. Paul was no exception and he was very fortunate to have Timothy and Titus, not only as helpers and proteges in his missionary work, but as very close friends.

Their story, as told in the Acts of the Apostles and the Pastoral Epistles, shows their work on behalf of the Gospel. Yet there is so much more between the lines. Timothy went to be with St. Paul when he was under house arrest in Rome. St. Paul was anguished about Timothy’s own arrest. St. Paul made sure that Titus was not circumcised in Jerusalem – that he did not have to conform to that church’s notion that Baptism was not enough to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

St. Paul could be lonely, discouraged, and moody like anyone else dealing with fatigue, mistrust, and the problems of the Christian communities which he founded. Even though his vocation was startling, miraculous and public, St. Paul wavered. He bargained with God. He was thoroughly human.

Timothy caught a lot of grief for being young and having to somehow soothe the roiling in various communities of the Faith. Titus had the unenviable task of delivering letters from St. Paul which were not exactly “good news” for the recipients. Unlike the postal service, he couldn’t excuse himself and take off. He had to stay and work things out.

The French saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” applies to Christian communities from the very beginning to the present. As much as St. Paul and his friends relied on prayer, their friendship was a sacrament that many of us have experienced. Most of the time it is all too easy to forget that we are more than church members. To survive and reach past our own limitations and those of others, true devoted friends are the sacrament of God’s presence.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Jan 25, 2008

Feast of the Day: Conversion of St. Paul – January 25

January 25 is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (Acts 22). Most of us are familiar with the story. Saul – his original name – was a Pharisee who was persecuting the very first Christians. (At that early stage believers called themselves Followers of the Way. The name Christian would come about later in Antioch)

St. Paul was on his way to Damascus with documents authorizing him to arrest and bring back Christians to Jerusalem for trial by the religious authorities. Scripture makes no reference to a horse, which is usually part of the depiction of the scene in which St. Paul is blinded by a bright light and falls to the ground. He hears a voice utter the now famous words “Saul, why are you persecuting me.” In the exchange, St. Paul asks who it is that is speaking to him – the response, “I am Jesus, the Nazarene..”

According to scripture, we know that Paul was from Tarsus and that he was also a Roman citizen. His letters to the early congregations (churches) are the oldest documents in the New Testament. They reveal a man who is thoroughly Jewish in his mode of thinking and speech. Yet he is Christianity’s link to the larger Hellenistic world.

For those who like to emphasize the important role of St. Peter in the development of the Church, it can come as a shock that he and St. Paul disagreed so strongly about the incorporation of non-Jews, or gentiles. Some of us contemporary Catholics – with a certain sense of ironic humor – see this conflict as the first among many between a Pope and a theologian.

What is most significant about St. Paul’s conversion is his acceptance by the leadership of the early Christian community. Although they had substantial reasons to distrust his sincerity, they forgave an enemy – even one who had been an accomplice in the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr. They forgave a man who arrested and imprisoned their family members and friends. The book of the Acts of the Apostles shows that the leadership and the community had their misgivings, but they helped the repentant Saul to demonstrate his conversion, acting as mentors, teachers, and friends. Some helped more than others, and many not at all, yet it was enough. And as they say… the rest is history.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Jan 24, 2008

Saint of the Day: St. Francis de Sales – January 24

St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is an interesting counterpoint to John Calvin (1509-1564) who preceded him. Both men are united by the City of Geneva. Calvin was its spiritual leader and made it a great center of the Reformation and St. Francis de Sales would become bishop of Geneva, although his headquarters were in Annecy, since Geneva no longer permitted Catholicism. Both men were well educated. Their fathers had intended for them to be lawyers and high government officials. Both studied theology and were perplexed by the issue of predestination – that certain people were saved and others were not because it had all been determined by God from eternity.

The notion of predestination overwhelmed St. Francis as a young student at Paris and almost crushed him, because he felt that he had been damned from all eternity for all eternity. He became physically ill and depressed and could barely get out of bed. Calvin dealt with it by assuming that he and members of his Reformed Church had been predestined for salvation.

St. Francis left his bed and in prayer at church, in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother, he affirmed his belief in God as a God of love. Our salvation rests on our faith and reliance on a God of love; on God who is love. This transformative experience would lead not only to a long life spent reforming and re-establishing Catholicism, but more importantly, suffusing that Catholicism with the gentleness of the Love of God.

This focus on divine love renewed a sense of spiritual priorities as seen in the Gospels. Exterior practices and observances, including penance and mortification, were second to a conversion of the mind, heart, and spirit. He led many back to Catholicism not so much by his learned teaching and writing but by the simplicity of his life as a bishop and his comfort in visiting the small towns and the countryside of his diocese at risk of his personal safety.

It might be easy for Catholics to focus on the triumph of St. Francis as a major figure in the Counter-Reformation, but this would miss the point of his life. St. Francis called people to an authentic Christianity based on the history and tradition of the Catholic Church. Yet his focus on the faith and its sacraments was a focus on the Divine Love. It was a protest against the emptiness of a faith based on predestination and severity and it was also a re-affirmation of a joyous faith of love as presented in the Gospels. His life and teaching presented a path of profound reformation and conversion for all Christians and those who seek God with a sincere heart.

St. Francis de Sales’ spirituality became a centerpiece for the religious order of The Visitation that he would found with St. Jane Frances de Chantal and for centuries of Catholics who would follow. St. Francis de Sales also inspired the founding of the Oblates of St. Frances de Sales and the Salesians of St. John Bosco.

His great works include: Introduction to the Devout Life, Treatise on the Love of God, and The Catholic Controversy.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Jan 23, 2008

Leaps of Faith – Church Bulletin Bloopers

Faith is never supposed to be deadly dull. This is the first of a series of items supposedly taken from Church bulletins. Additional contributions are welcome. Keep the faith lively!