Whither our Sanctity?
If you were to consult a catalogue of saints, you would not find the name of Zacchaeus listed. Do you recall who he was—the wealthy tax collector who was so short that he had to climb a sycamore tree to see Jesus when he passed through Jericho. Was he if fact a saint? I would say “yes,” not on my own whim be on the authority of Saint Paul’s description of the ideal Christian, the “saint”: “May God . . . powerfully bring to fulfilment every good purpose . . . that the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, may be glorified in you.”[1] Well, isn’t that exactly what Zacchaeus did? “He brought to fulfilment every good purpose” when, as he told Jesus, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”[2] So, let us invoke today the patronage of Saint Zacchaeus, the patron saint of Bay Street billionaires, that they—and we—shall use our financial resources to aid the poor and to compensate the defrauded.
Stories of conversion are always attractive, and there are some striking ones in the New Testament. The man born blind, for instance, as he fell at the feet of Jesus, exclaimed, “Lord, I believe.”[3] And the Gerasene demoniac “went away, proclaiming throughout the whole region, how much Jesus had done for him.”[4] Saint Paul, of course, is the classic case of an abrupt change of heart who fell to the ground “at once, with a crash,” only to rise a new man. It was different with Peter—and, for that matter, with the other Apostles—whose conversion was not completed until Pentecost. The history of the Church, too, exhibits similar patterns. Brother André seems to have been an instance of the abrupt alteration, while Saint Augustine, like John Henry Newman, experienced a slow ascent to faith, “a lingering out, sweet skill.”[5]
And ourselves? How do we fit into these instances of conversion? In theory, our mode of life was decided for us at baptism, which signalled a total following of Christ, but that commitment has later to be consciously ratified. Thus, Saint Paul’s words to those Thessalonians still have to be completed in us today, however strong our initial commitment may have been. “May God . . . powerfully bring to fulfilment every good purpose . . . that the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, may be glorified in you.
[1] 1 Thess 1.13.
[2] Lk 19.8.
[3] Jn 9.39.
[4] Lk 9.39.
[5] “. . . Whether at once, as once at a crash Paul,/Or as Austin, a lingering-out sweet skill,/Make mercy in all of us. . . .” Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Wreck of the Deutschland.
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
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Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
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My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
First Holy Communion: Sermon from May 16, 1943
Here is a sermon from the good old days by +Rev. Msgr. Vincent Nicholas Foy (August 14, 1915 – March 13, 2017), from 1943. Readers may recall that Pope Saint Pius X, by the decree Quam Singulari in 1910, lowered the customary age of reception of Holy Communion – after the rigours of the plague[…]Continue reading→
In the Glorious Light of Easter, Alleluia!
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour[…]Continue reading→
An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→
Europe’s Long Descent
(As we meditate on this day on Christ’s burial, and His descent into hell, it is fitting to ponder here with contributor Peter Marcus how the world seems to be heading there as well. The difference is that, although God cannot ‘redeem’ hell, nor those therein, He can and did redeem the world. There is[…]Continue reading→