From Season to Season

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me. —Matthew 25:35-36 In 1995, Saint John Paul II canonized two very different saints from the Czech Republic. The first was Jan Sarkander , a Jesuit priest and martyr who was killed by militant Protestants in 1620, partly because he refused to reveal what he had heard in the confessional. The other person canonized in that ceremony was Zdislava (or Zedislava) of Lamberk, a wife and mother whose commemoration is celebrated on January 1. Zdislava was born in the early part of the thirteenth century in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic). There are stories about her piety as a child and of her desire to live a life of prayer and solitude. However, her family prevailed upon her to marry Count Havel of Lamberk, with whom she had four children. Zdislava lived a life centered on prayer and charity. She was especially devoted...

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...

Do not be satisfied with loving God by yourselves alone; make all those around you love him also, and pray that everyone will love Him . —Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini There have been a lot of things vying for our attention these past few weeks: the Ebola crisis (both in Africa and closer to home), Halloween, All Saints/All Souls weekend, and election day, to name but a few. When we add to this all the day-to-day responsibilities we each bear—especially family and professional obligations—our faith can become more and more remote and the special days that pepper the Church’s calendar can seem quite insignificant or, perhaps, quaint, at best.    Certainly the saints can seem remote. Most of the saints—even the best known—have names that sound strange to our ears and lived centuries ago in places which we will never visit. And yet, this week, we have the opportunity to reflect on a saint who is very close to us, not only in terms of when she lived her life, but w...