From Season to Season

I'm excited to announce the release of my new book, Lights for a Waiting World: Celebrating Advent With the Saints . This small volume is published by Abbey Press Publications and includes a foreword by Bishop Robert Morneau and original prayers by Fr. Harry Hagan, O.S.B. From the official description: "The four-week season of Advent is a time of miracles. These days have the power to transform us, if we can be open to the graces of the season. In this book, readers watch and wait for Christ’s coming with the saints, whose lives embodied so many of the Advent virtues." To learn more, visit: http://www.onecaringplace.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_20820 An eBook version is also available: http://www.onecaringplace.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_20820E

I will now praise the godly, our ancestors, in their own time, The abounding glory of the Most High’s portion, his own part, since the days of old. —Sirach 44:1-2 Knowing our family stories from the past is an important part of understanding who we are today. This is as true of the Church, as it is of your own family. Although we most often think of the saints as the figures of our “family” history who left the most important mark on the Church, it’s important to realize that the life of every Christian forms an essential part of our family’s story. Among those we hold most dear are those saints honored as “Doctors of the Church.” This select group of 36 saints includes some of the greatest minds in the Church’s history, such as Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Hildegarde of Bingen, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Francis de Sales, and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. But this list also includes saints who are less-known but whose contributions to our understan...

There has been lots of “saint making” going on during the Easter Season. Beyond the highly anticipated beatification of El Salvador’s Oscar Romero and the canonization of four new saints on May 17, the Church celebrated the beatification of Blessed Luigi Bordino , an Italian member of the Brothers of St. Joseph Cottolengo, on May 2, Blessed Luigi Caburlotto , the Italian priest who founded the Daughters of St. Joseph, on May 16, and, on May 23—the same day as the beatification of Oscar Romero— Blessed Irene Stefani , a Consolata Missionary Sister who served in Tanzania and Kenya. The Second Reading for the Pentecost Mass “During the Day” reminds us that, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7). We see this truth a...

The L ord is close to the brokenhearted; And those who are crushed in spirit he saves. The L ord redeems the lives of his servants; No one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.  - Psalm 34:19, 23 Sacred Scripture reminds us that God “knows how we were formed; that we were made of dust” (Psalm 103:14). These simple, unsophisticated words are in fact a profound statement of faith. They acknowledge that all that we have and are is a gift of God. Beyond this, we are also reminded that we are all made of the same “stuff”—we are all capable of every sinful act the human mind can imagine. Our shared, broken human nature is the great equalizer. Mercy is that compassion or forgiveness that is shown toward someone, even when it is within one’s power to punish or harm the offender. To say that God is all-merciful is to acknowledge that God also has absolute power. For our part, we show mercy because we remember that we are like other people. Many of us have a stereotype of sai...

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them Because they were troubled and abandoned… Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; So ask the master of the harvest To send out laborers for the harvest.” - Matthew 9:36-38   Compassion is not a uniquely Christian virtue, but it is a spirit of empathy for the suffering of others that is a fundamental part of how we Christians are to love. Ultimately, to have compassion isn’t just about being kind; rather, it means to share in the sufferings of another person. Pope Benedict XVI reflected that the mandate to love one another demands that we “acknowledge our responsibility towards those who, like ourselves, are creatures and children of God…If we cultivate this way of seeing others as our brothers and sisters, solidarity, justice, mercy and compassion will naturally well up in our hearts" ( Message for Lent , 2011) Women religious have always stood with th...

My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they will collapse on the way.   - Matthew 15:32   For many in our day, this Advent season will go by unnoticed; even Christmas will be little more than another day. The cold of winter, the gnawing pangs of hunger, the stress of the holiday season, and the insecurities of an unstable economy are all realities of Advent. The pressures of day-to-day life can eclipse the promise that Advent brings to a tired world. It is only by the grace of God that any of us are able to endure the trials and challenges of life in a world where many fight to survive.             For Catholics in England living during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the world seemed as though it had been turned upside-down. The “Old Religion” had been outlawed in favor of the...

Rejoice for all the saints today; Who ran by faith the narrow way: The great and low together stand With glory crowned at God’s right hand.   How blest are those who wrought the peace; As heirs they share the Victor’s feast; And prophets by injustice slain Have claimed the Kingdom’s righteous reign. Come, ye martyrs red and virgins white, With teachers wise and students bright, All wives and husbands, monks and nuns, With bishops, priests, and deacons, come. Come, holy men and women all; With heart and voice sing praise and call To Christ who rose triumphantly That we may join your company. —Harry Hagan, O.S.B., Rejoice for All the Saints   At my grandparents’ house, many years ago, I discovered a book that changed my life: a  St. Joseph’s Daily Missal . That prayer book, which had belonged to my grandmother or perhaps my aunt or uncle was from the 1950s and was the resource for lay Catholics wishing to take part in the pre-Vatican II liturgy. ...

 Among the holy women and men honored today in the Roman Martyrology   are Saints Chrysanthus and Daria. Hardly known outside of Italy and virtually forgotten since their commemoration was removed from the Universal Calendar following the reforms of Vatican II, I came across these married martyrs a few years ago when I read a brief piece about the authentication of their relics in National Geographic , of all places. [To see a brief video on the study of the relics by National Geographic, click here .] Intrigued by what I read, I set about doing some research and prayerful reflecting and the result was this article which was published in both Lay Witness Magazine and Pastoral Review . May these two saints, whose love story includes each of us, continue to inspire us to live out our faith in heroic ways. A prayer in honor of Saints Chrysanthus and Daria + Almighty ever-living God, who gave Saints Chrysanthus and Daria the grace of suffering for Chri...

The Second Letter to the Thessalonians, which is among the source texts used for the Readings of the Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle C) is something of a problematic biblical text. Although it has traditionally been attributed to Saint Paul, writing with Saint Barnabas and Saint Silvanus/Silas (cf. 2 Thess 1:1 ), most modern scholars believe that this text (among others) was written several years after Paul’s martyrdom. Whether this letter was written by Paul or by those who had been formed by the Apostle is, however, in many ways irrelevant to the meaning of the text for the Church today. The text itself, which was certainly known to Marcion and Saint Polycarp (in the mid-second century), describes a local community that was experiencing persecution or dangers from heretical (i.e. gnostic) movements and which was at danger of losing its focus on the Faith that Paul and his collaborators had handed over to the community by their preaching and witness (cf. Raymond Brown,...

The end of September and beginning of October are marked by a series of memorials and commemorations that serve to highlight the catholicity of the Church. From the Bohemian ruler Wenceslaus and the Filipino layman Lawrence Ruiz (a husband and father) and his martyred companions from Japan (on September 28) to the great biblical scholar and Father of the Church Jerome (on September 30), the cloistered missionary-at-heart Thérèse of Liseux (on October 1) and Carthusian founder Bruno (on October 6), to the Indiana foundress Theodora Guerin (on October 3) and the Louisana pastor and missionary Francis Seelos (on October 5) to the beloved Francis of Assisi (October 4), these days (which also include celebrations of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael [September 29] and the Guardian Angels [October 2]) remind us that the possibility for true holiness isn’t limited to one way of life, gender, or historical epoch. Saint Theodora Guerin (d. 1856) The Foundress of the ...

Ordinary Time (which resumed the day after Pentecost) is the longest season of the Church year and is often dismissed by many people as being, well… ordinary. As the “Green Season,” Ordinary Time spans those late-winter weeks between the Baptism of the Lord and Ash Wednesday and the summer and fall months, ending with the great celebration of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe on the last Sunday before Advent.   Summer from the Tree of Life Chapel at First Presbyterian Church, Kirkwood, Missouri designed by Martin Erspamer, O.S.B.   On the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ordinary Time is described in this way:  The Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time… take us through the life of Christ. This is the time of conversion. This is living the life of Christ. Ordinary Time is a time for growth and maturation, a time in which the mystery of Christ is called to penetrate ever more deeply into history until all things are finally caught up in ...