St. James, Apostle

St. James was born in Galilee, the son of Zebedee and the brother of John (Matt. 4:21). His mother may have been the Salome mentioned in Mark (Mk. 15:40) and Matthew (Mt. 27:56). James was a fisherman, as were his father and brother, and it was while he was preparing his nets that our Lord called him to follow him (Matt. 4:21–22). Our Lord nicknamed the brothers Boanerges, or Sons of Thunder, probably because both had manifested their tempers; when a certain Samaritan village refused to accept Jesus and his teaching, the brothers suggested that they should call down fire from Heaven and destroy it (Luke 9:51–56). Together with Peter and John, he witnessed two important moments in our Lord’s life: the transfiguration on Mount Tabor (Mark 9:2–8) and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32–42). Tradition maintains that after Pentecost James evangelized Samaria and Judea, and even traveled as far as Spain. He was arrested and beheaded by order of Herod Agrippa I in 44 (Acts 12:1–2), and supposedly he was buried in Jerusalem. James was the first of the apostles to die for Christ, thereby making good his “We can,” when our Lord, in today’s Gospel (Matt. 20:20–28), asks him and John: “Can you drink of the cup as I am to drink of?” To distinguish him from the other James, also an apostle, he is often called “the Greater,” to indicate either that he was called by our Lord before the other or that he was the elder.

St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest

St. Sharbel Makhluf is the first Maronite saint to be included in the Latin Church’s calendar. He was born, the youngest of five children, in the tiny mountain village of Bika’Kafra, Lebanon, on May 8, 1828. At his baptism, he was given the name Youssef (Joseph). His family was of peasant stock and were members of the Maronite Church. Young Youssef was brought up in a religiously devout family; his paternal uncle was a deacon in the parish church, and two of his maternal uncles were monks of the Lebanese Maronite Order. Youssef learned to read and write by attending classes held in the town square beneath the large church oak. When not in class, he helped in the fields or watched over the family’s small flock. As he grew older, he joined the church choir in singing the office and the liturgy. He made frequent visits to his uncles at the Monastery of St. Anthony at Qozhaya, and there he joined in singing the monastic office. In time, he too thought of becoming a monk, but his mother was of a different opinion. He was needed in the fields, and she did not want to lose her youngest child. But Youssef had a mind of his own and knew what he wanted in life, and thus he awaited his hour.

One Sunday morning in 1851—he was now twenty-three years of age—without revealing his plans to anyone, he rose early, and taking nothing with him quietly left home and walked all day to the Monastery of Our Lady of Mayfuq. No one greeted him on his arrival; he had not notified them of his coming. When he did meet a monk, he merely informed him: “I would like to become a monk.” After a short interview, the superior accepted him as a postulant. Eight days later, he received the habit and changed his name to Sharbel, after an early martyr of Antioch. For his second year of noviceship, he was sent to the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, a four-hour walk away. There he pronounced his vows in 1853, and subsequently he was sent to study theology, in preparation for the priesthood, at the Monastery of St. Cyprian of Kfifan. There he spent six years and was fortunate in having Fr. Nehmetallah Kassab El Hardini (1808–58) as his spiritual director. Fr. El Hardini was not only an excellent spiritual guide but was also known for his holiness. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

Sharbel was ordained on July 23, 1859, and shortly thereafter returned to the monastery at Annaya. He spent the next sixteen years there. When he was not working, he was praying; he kept prolonged fasts, ate but one meal a day, and preferred silence. He had two favorite books, the Bible and Thomas à Kempis’s Imitation of Christ. A desire gradually grew within him to give himself more completely to God, and thus he requested to live as a hermit. Permission was granted in 1875, and he moved into the Annaya hermitage, where he spent his remaining twenty-three years. He became a man of ceaseless prayer. He celebrated his last Mass on December 16, 1898, during which he felt a pain in his chest. When he completed the consecration, he suffered a stroke. He died on December 24. During his life, the local people looked upon him as a saint and in this they were not in error, for miracles soon began occurring at his tomb. His fame spread not only among Maronites, but throughout the entire Catholic Church. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1977.

Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time—Year C

Lectio

    Luke 11:1–13

Meditatio

“When you pray, say: Father …”

    I once read that all the sound waves of our earth go out into the cosmos. If we could invent a “collector” strong enough, we could conceivably collect and listen to Jesus, in person, praying the Our Father. Be that as it may, I think the apostles were spellbound to witness Jesus’ absorption and joy in prayer, and as friends would, asked him to show them how to do this. Jesus gave us a precious jewel that can never be surpassed in beauty and meaning when he gave us this prayer.

    As our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus is Healer, and he heals us in the deepest parts of our being, in our relationships. Jesus shares his heavenly Father with us. He shares the relationship that forms the core of the life of the Godhead with us. He wants us to know the Father as Our Father, to begin the lifelong quest for this awareness with the words of this prayer. A child can say this prayer, and Jesus wants us to realize that we will always be the children of the heavenly Father. The Father will feed us, forgive us, help us to forgive others, and protect us from trials that would overwhelm us. This relationship is so fundamental that Jesus wants his followers to have the security of his Father’s love as the grounds of their being.

    How many children, for various sad reasons, have not experienced the protection and care of their fathers or mothers and feel themselves to be painfully alone, sometimes for their entire lives? Even with a healthy upbringing, a person can often feel alone.

    We can always turn to our Heavenly Father, who waits for us to ask, seek, and knock. He waits, not with censure, but with attentive, eternal love. He waits, not with goodies, but with eternal life and joy. He waits, not to deny us, but to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Oratio

    Father, when I use the prayer Jesus gave us, I feel somehow that I am slipping my hand into yours, and that I will be safe. Life then becomes easier, because I face it with you. I thank you for sending Jesus to redeem us and let us know our real identities, that we are all your children. I ask your Son and my Savior to help me to grow in likeness to you, so that when I arrive at the shores of eternal life, it will be a true and eternal homecoming.

Contemplatio

    “… how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 1–17: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)

Saturday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Lectio
    Matthew 13:24–30

Meditatio

“Let them grow together until harvest …”

    In this parable we see our world’s reality. All around us are signs of the good seed that has been sown. So many kind and generous people have responded well to God’s invitations and dedicated themselves to helping others. Perhaps we can recognize some of these people in our own families or faith communities and among our friends and coworkers.

    Similarly we may notice others who seem to lack these motivations or goodness, whose actions and choices cause grief and do harm. Some slip into bad habits and evil ways for a time but turn again to the path of virtue. Others go from bad to worse, spiraling downward into a life of sin and vice.

The more impulsive among us might wish to rebuke, punish, and rid the world of “those evil-doers,” but today’s parable clearly indicates another approach. Letting the wheat and the weeds grow together for a time is a much gentler and more patient approach. Perhaps the weeds allow the wheat to grow stronger. Likewise, those among the weeds might benefit from the example and prayers of the virtuous.

    A profound look into our own hearts might also reveal that while we desire to be the good wheat, we may need to do some pruning right here in our own field. While we live we can always hope that both we and others may correspond to the graces offered by our patient, loving God.

The day of reckoning, however, will come for both the “weeds” and the “wheat.” While time is given for repentance and conversion, we will have to answer to God for the way we have lived. We must take seriously the call to reform and return with our whole heart to the Lord while we still have time.

Oratio

    Help me, Jesus, to be the “good soil” where the seeds of your word will take root and produce abundant fruit. May I give you glory by accepting your call to grow in virtue and grace. Give me a humble, contrite heart so that I might recognize my sins and turn again to accept your merciful forgiveness.

    May I remain strong in my Christian faith even if others around me oppose it. Let my life bear witness to you and become a sign of your saving presence at work in our world. May all who do not know you or live according to your teachings have the grace of repentance and conversion. Lord, give me wisdom to know when charity requires me to speak up on behalf of justice and truth.

Contemplatio
    Behold, such is the tender compassion of our God.
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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 1–17: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)

St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious

St. Bridget, patron saint of Sweden, was born into an aristocratic family at Finstad about 1302 or 1303. Her father was the governor of the Province of Uppland. When she was about fourteen years of age, she was married (1316) to Ulf Gudmarsson, and of that union four sons and four daughters were born. In 1335, she was invited to the court of King Magnus II to serve as principal lady-in-waiting to Queen Blanche, and she remained there for two years. After her husband’s death in 1344, she lived as a penitent near the Cistercian monastery at Alvastra, and during this period her visions and revelations, which had begun in her youth, became more frequent, and she began to record them in writing. In about 1346, she made the first plans for a new religious congregation, the Order of the Most Holy Savior, more commonly known as Brigittines, after its founder. The new congregation was established to initiate reform in the monastic life and to promote devotion to Christ’s Passion. In 1349, Bridget went to Rome to seek approval of her order, and there she worked for the pope’s return from Avignon and cared for the poor and the pilgrims in the city. After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she died in Rome on July 23, 1373, and in the following year her daughter, St. Catherine of Sweden, took her body to her homeland. Throughout her life, St. Bridget enjoyed mystical graces and revelations, many of which were connected with our Lord’s Passion. These were published in 1492 as Revelations and were held in great esteem during the Middle Ages. St. Bridget was canonized by Pope Boniface IX in 1391. The prayer of today’s Mass affirms that God revealed the secrets of Heaven to her while she meditated on the suffering and death of our Lord.