St. Boniface

Feast date: Jun 05

St. Boniface was very bold in his faith and was well known for being very good at using the local customs and culture of the day to bring people to Christ. He was born in Devonshire, England, in the seventh century. He was educated at a Benedictine monastery and became a monk, and was sent as a missionary to Germany in 719 instead of becoming abbot for his monastery.

There, he destroyed idols and pagan temples, and built churches on the sites. He was eventually made archbishop of Mainz, where he reformed churches and built religious houses on those sites.

He was martyred on June 5, 754 while on mission in Holland, where a troop of pagans attacked and killed him and his 52 companions.

One story about St. Boniface tells about when he met a tribe in Saxony that was worshipping a Norse deity in the form of a huge oak tree. Boniface walked up to the tree, removed his shirt, took an ax, and without a word, chopped it down. Then he stood on the trunk, and asked: “How stands your mighty god? My God is stronger than he.”

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Jesus hands us a big aspiration today: that we might become one as He and the Father are one. He also desires for us to be one with Him. I recently studied Ephesians with my son, and we were discussing the image of Christ as the head of the body and us as the parts. My son responded with: “We are like the cells.” I had never heard that description before, but it seems fitting to share today.

Our bodies are made up of roughly 30 trillion cells, varying due to a number of factors such as age and weight. When you look at a body, you don’t see 30 trillion cells, you see one body. Jesus is asking us to become one – to work together, to serve our purpose, to understand we are not alone and that together we can form something amazing: His body, the Body of Christ. Cells can be distinguished from one another, but are designed to be a part of something bigger. 

Bacteria, on the other hand, is a unicellular organism. It is a singular cell, and it can drain a body’s cells of energy and healthy function. Satan is the bacteria in the Body of Christ. He tries to get you to follow him, to isolate yourself, lose function, and lack nutrients. The “healthier” we are, the more resistant we will be to Satan.

Science books call cells building blocks. We are called to build the Kingdom of God here on earth. You and I, we each have a part in this building up of the Body of Christ. When people see us, they should see Jesus. When we realize that our actions, prayers, and thanksgiving become His, we can understand that through Him we have become one with the Father through the Holy Spirit.

As the cells of Jesus, people should not be able to see us without seeing Him. Jesus as the head then speaks for us, hears for us, and thinks for us. We must rely on Him. We also must value each other. Our collective unity in the Body of Christ is what makes us strong. Jesus’ oneness with the Father enables Him to heal and perform miracles beyond our comprehension. Jesus cannot be Who He is without the Father.  

Similarly, we cannot be who we are as the Body of Christ without Jesus. He is the key to us reaching the glory of heaven. God the Father gives us a place in the Body of Christ. As part of this Body, we participate in the oneness of the Father and the Son. Our unity with Christ is important to how we build the Body of Christ on earth. Let’s make sure we are nourishing ourselves with the Eucharist and the Word, so that all who meet us will come to know Jesus.

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St. Francis Caracciolo

Feast date: Jun 04

“Zeal for Thy house has consumed me!”

Born in Villa Santa Maria, Italy on October 13, 1563, Francis Caracciolo was given the name Ascanio at his baptism.  His mother was a relative of St. Thomas Aquinas. He lived a virtuous life as a youth and seemed inclined towards a religious vocation. When he was 22 he contracted a form of leprosy which he begged God to cure him of.  He promised to follow what seemed clear to him as his calling to the priesthood immediately upon being cured.

He was cured instantly upon making the promise, and left immediately for Naples to study for the priesthood.  On his ordination he joined the confraternity of The White Robes of Justice, who were devoted to helping condemned criminals to die a holy death, reconciled with God.

Five years after he went to Naples, a letter was delivered to him which was in fact addressed to another Ascanio Caracciolo, a distant relative.  The letter was an appeal from Father Giovanni Agostino Adorno, of Genoa, to this other Ascanio to join him in founding a religious order. Reading the lettter he realized that the vision of Fr. Adorno was in total compliance with his own ideas for a religious institute and he interpreted this as a sign of God’s plan.

He responded to the letter and the two men spent a few weeks together in retreat to draw up the institutions and rule. The congregation was approved by Pope Sixtus V on July 1, 1588.

The congregation lives both and active and contemplaive life, perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament being one of the pillars of their life.  They work with the sick, poor, prisoners and as missionaries. In addition to the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, they have a fourth which forbids them to seek or accept ecclesiastical honors.

Upon making his profession, Caracciolo took the name Francis in honor of the saint of Assissi. He was noted for his ardent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, often being found in ecstasy, and frequently repeating the words of the Psalm, “Zeal for Thy house has consumed me.” He died of a severe fever on the eve of Corpus Christi in Agnone, on June 4 in 1608, with his oft-repeated words on his lips.  Those same words were found burned into the flesh of his heart when his body was opened after his death.

He was canonized by Pope Pius VII on May 24, 1807.

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St. Optatus

Feast date: Jun 04

The church remembers St. Optatus on June 4. As a convert from paganism, he is best known for his opposition to the heresy of Donatism, and his six treatises composed against them. One of them, against Parmenian, is still extant, and was mentioned by St. Jerome in his De Viris Illustribus as having been composed in six books. The treatise stresses the need for unity and is conciliatory in tone, but it criticizes Donatist teachings on Baptism, and stresses that the Church cannot be limited to Africa but is “catholic.”

Optatus was highly praised by such contemporaries as Augustine and Fulgentius of Ruspe. He died in 387 A.D. as Bishop of Milevis, Numidia, in Africa.

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In a world where any version of reality can be manufactured through an attractive social media post, how are we supposed to recognize truth when we see it? As Catholic Christians, we don’t always have to spend valuable time sorting out the truth from fiction in the world around us. We follow the Truth. The words of men are meaningless, unless they reflect the person of Truth. In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns us what will happen when we stand on His Truth. Men will hate us because we do not belong to this world, we belong to Him. We live now, so that we may live forever in the presence of God. 

As followers of Truth, we understand that as the body of Christ, what happens to one, impacts all. Just as with a wounded foot, the head cannot travel, and with a wounded heart the hand cannot reach out. Jesus Christ is our head guiding us forward, our priests are our heart sending the Blood of Christ throughout the rest of the body. When we, the body, fight among ourselves, our feet fail to move and we can no longer carry Jesus into the world. When we, the body, spend time focused on the kingdoms of this world, we fail in our mission to build the Kingdom of the world to come.

We follow the Truth, so we do not belong to this world. We live here in a state of suspension, we are called by grace to rise above this world, but we are not quite in heaven yet. Our bodies are here, but through God’s grace our souls are already reaching towards Him. We respond by building God’s Kingdom in the here and now. How? By doing the hard work of putting God first, by loving our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus is the Truth, we are to live by his example. We lead with mercy. We care for the widow and the poor, the stranger, the imprisoned, the sinner. 

This is all hard. It is tiring. Yet, as the world around us debates what and who to follow, we can rest in having already made our decision, we follow Jesus Christ. He is the one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the one who has consecrated us in the Truth. 

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St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs of Uganda

Feast date: Jun 03

St. Charles and many other martyrs for the faith died between November 15, 1885 – January 27, 1887 in Namugongo, Uganda. St. Charles and his companions were beatified in 1920 and canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

In 1879 Catholicism began spreading in Uganda when the White Fathers, a congregation of priests founded by Cardinal Lavigerie were peacefully received by King Mutesa of Uganda.

The priests soon began preparing catechumens for baptism and before long a number of the young pages in the king’s court had become Catholics.

However, on the death of Mutesa, his son Mwanga, a corrupt man who ritually engaged in pedophilic practices with the younger pages, took the throne.

When King Mwanga had a visiting Anglican Bishop murdered, his chief page, Joseph Mukasa, a Catholic who went to great length to protect the younger boys from the king’s lust, denounced the king’s actions and was beheaded on November 15, 1885.

The 25 year old Charles Lwanga, a man wholly dedicated to the Christian instruction of the younger boys, became the chief page, and just as forcibly protected them from the kings advances.

On the night of the martyrdom of Joseph Mukasa, realizing that their own lives were in danger, Lwanga and some of the other pages went to the White Fathers to receive baptism. Another 100 catechumens were baptized in the week following Joseph Mukasa’s death.

The following May, King Mwanga learned that one of the boys was learning catechism. He was furious and ordered all the pages to be questioned to separate the Christians from the others.  The Christians, 15 in all, between the ages of 13 and 25, stepped forward. The King asked them if they were willing to keep their faith. They answered in unison, “Until death!”

They were bound together and taken on a two day walk to Namugongo where they were to be burned at the stake. On the way, Matthias Kalemba, one of the eldest boys, exclaimed, “God will rescue me. But you will not see how he does it, because he will take my soul and leave you only my body.”  They executioners cut him to pieces and left him to die alone on the road, which took at least three days.

When they reached the site where they were to be burned, they were kept tied together for seven days while the executioners prepared the wood for the fire.

On June 3, 1886, the Feast of the Ascension, Charles Lwanga was separated from the others and burned at the stake. The executioners slowly burnt his feet until only the charred remained. Still alive, they promised him that they would let him go if he renounced his faith. He refused saying, “You are burning me, but it is as if you are pouring water over my body.”  He then continued to pray silently as they set him on fire. Just before the flames reached his heart, he looked up and said in a loud voice, “Katonda! – My God!,” and died.

His companions were all burned together the same day all the while praying and singing hymns until they died.

There were 24 protomartyrs in all. The last of the protomartyrs, a young man named John Mary, was beheaded by King Mwanga on January 27, 1887.

The persecutions spread during the reign of Mwanga, with 100 Christians, both Catholics and Protestants, being tortured and killed.

St. Charles Lwanga is the patron saint of African Catholic Youth Action.

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During Lent, especially as it was getting closer to Easter, I always found it hard to continue with “what I gave up for Lent”. The idea of having ice cream, chocolate, or whatever I decided I was going to do without that year, was just too much. I would go crazy once Easter finally got there. I realized that we shouldn’t only go crazy for the physical, tangible things we’ve missed all Lent long, but we also need that energy in our faith lives knowing that our debt has been paid by Jesus’ death and resurrection. The faith life of the “modern” age has become stale, especially with all the shiny technology or the other ways people find “happiness”. But in reality, having Faith in God is what brings happiness.

St. Charles Lwanga and his companions had joyful, unshakable faith even when facing martyrdom for their Christian beliefs, challenged by their ruler who sought power over the Buganda region of modern day Uganda. Their faith was tested every day and yet they were unfailing in their love of God. They found comfort and happiness knowing that God had given them new life through His Son’s death and resurrection. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus talks to His Father saying “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.” Jesus is calling out to the Father telling Him that He has given us the tools to have unshakable faith.

During this Easter season, let’s celebrate knowing that the saints who have come before us were living examples of unshakable faith. We can look at their lives to see what we can do to grow in our joyful faith in God. Take comfort knowing that they have been saved by Jesus’ rising again, just as we have. Let’s take that Easter joy and bring it out into the world so we can be better messengers of God’s Word in our community.

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Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Feast date: Jun 02

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is also known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which translates from Latin to “Body of Christ.” This feast originated in France in the midthirteenth century and was extended to the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. This feast is celebrated on the Thursday following the Trinity Sunday or, as in the USA, on the Sunday following that feast.

This feast calls us to focus on two manifestations of the Body of Christ, the Holy Eucharist and the Church. The primary purpose of this feast is to focus our attention on the Eucharist. The opening prayer at Mass calls our attention to Jesus’ suffering and death and our worship of Him, especially in the Eucharist.

At every Mass our attention is called to the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ in it. The secondary focus of this feast is upon the Body of Christ as it is present in the Church. The Church is called the Body of Christ because of the intimate communion which Jesus shares with his disciples. He expresses this in the gospels by using the metaphor of a body in which He is the head. This image helps keep in focus both the unity and the diversity of the Church.

The Feast of Corpus Christi is commonly used as an opportunity for public Eucharistic processions, which serves as a sign of common faith and adoration. Our worship of Jesus in His Body and Blood calls us to offer to God our Father a pledge of undivided love and an offering of ourselves to the service of others.

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Sts. Marcellinus and Peter

Feast date: Jun 02

On June 2, the Catholic Church remembers two fourth-century martyrs, Saints Marcellinus and Peter, who were highly venerated after the discovery of their tomb and the conversion of their executioner.

Although the biographical details of the two martyrs are largely unknown, it is known that they lived and died during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. In 302, the ruler changed his tolerant stance and pursued a policy intended to eliminate the Church from the empire.

Diocletian and his subordinate ordered the burning of Catholic churches and their sacred texts, as well as the imprisonment and torture of clergy and laypersons. The goal was to force Christians to submit to the Roman pagan religion, including the worship of the emperor himself as divine.

It was at the mid-point of this persecution, around 303, that a Roman exorcist by the name of Peter was imprisoned for his faith. While in prison, tradition holds that Peter freed Paulina, the daughter of the prison-keeper Artemius, from demonic influence by his prayers.

This demonstration of Christ’s power over demons is said to have brought about the conversion of Paulina, Artemius, his wife, and the entire household, all of whom were baptized by the Roman priest Marcellinus.

After this, both Marcellinus and Peter were called before a judge who was determined to enforce the emperor’s decree against the Church. When Marcellinus testified courageously to his faith in Christ, he was beaten, stripped of his clothes, and deprived of food in a dark cell filled with broken glass shards.

Peter, too, was returned to his confinement. But neither man would deny Christ, and both preferred death over submission to the cult of pagan worship.

It was arranged for the two men to be executed secretly, in order to prevent the faithful from gathering in prayer and veneration at the place of their burial. Their executioner forced them to clear away a tangle of thorns and briars, which the two men did cheerfully, accepting their death with joy.

Both men were beheaded in the forest and buried in the clearing they had made. The location of the saints’ bodies remained unknown for some time, until a devout woman named Lucilla received a revelation informing her where the priest and exorcist lay.

With the assistance of another woman, Firmina, Lucilla recovered the two saints’ bodies and had them re-interred in the Roman Catacombs. Sts. Marcellinus and Peter are among the saints named in the Western Church’s most traditional Eucharistic prayer, the Roman Canon.

Pope St. Damasus I, who was himself a great devotee of the Church’s saints during his life, composed an epitaph to mark the tombs of the two martyrs. The source of his knowledge, he said, was the executioner himself, who had subsequently repented and joined the Catholic Church.

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When I got married, I thought I understood what that meant and how to have a happy marriage. All you need is love! The love that I had for my husband on our wedding day was great. I couldn’t imagine loving him more. It’s now 45 years later, and my understanding of love has expanded. I realize that what I knew then (on the day we wed) was nothing. I never dreamed of the love we have now because I didn’t know it was possible. 

As I read today’s Gospel, I was reminded of my confidence in understanding love those many years ago. The disciples basically tell Jesus, “Now we understand.” After three years with Jesus, on the night of the Last Supper, they think they understand what He has been telling them, but they have only just begun. 

Jesus tempers their confidence by telling them that they will desert him, be scattered in fear, be alone, and have troubles. When Jesus is crucified, resurrected, and ascends to Heaven, they will know more. When the Holy Spirit comes, they will know more. As they preach the Good News, they will know more. Each step along the way, God will reveal more of Himself to them. But at the Last Supper, they think they understand. Peter can’t believe that he will deny Jesus three times. None can conceive that they will desert Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. No matter what they understand at the table, it isn’t enough. There is more. 

We can be like that. We can get overconfident that we know God. We study Scripture, receive the sacraments, spend time in prayer, and read spiritual books—all to grow in faith. When we get complacent, our good spiritual practices can become stale, and we seem to be just going through the motions. We can be deaf to God’s calling because we think we understand, so we stop learning and growing. 

I know God now, and yet, I don’t. I know more than I did five years ago, but this is not the end. I want more of God in my life, and God wants to give me more. He wants to give you more. When we approach with humility and docility, he will shower graces upon us like the dewfall. Perhaps we will be tempted to say, “Now I understand!” And God responds, “Really? Guess what? There’s more!” 

Jesus invites us to always ask for more. Whatever your current relationship with God, there is more. If you are just beginning the spiritual journey, He has more. If you have been on the journey for decades, He has more. The nature of your relationship with Him changes, evolves, goes deeper. It is not the fanfare of your wedding day, but rather the comfort of sitting with your beloved in silence, knowing you are loved. 

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