Everyday Heroes

  "Not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Many years ago, one of our friars, Earl Gallagher, now dead, witnessed helicopter gunships firing on a group of Salvadoran refugees trying to cross a river into Honduras. Without thinking he jumped into the river and began to drag people to safety, especially children. Risking his own life without a second thought, he escaped death but became a target of the authorities in Honduras because he wrote to the NY Times about the slaughter in order to expose the awfulness of the crime against helpless people. 

At the same time, Earl assured everyone who would listen that he had no desire to become a martyr. Rather, he insisted that anyone would have done the same thing. Hearing him tell the story, I knew he believed what he said but also knew why he was a great man of faith. Earl was not looking for attention, nor did he want to be hero. He only did what the Gospel demanded.

Today, remember that God counts the hairs on your head.

What qualities do you think mark the lives of our faith heroes?

The Persistent Widow

  "Because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her." Lk 18:5

Weariness afflicts us all from time to time. An adult child can't find a job or worse, a path of peace to walk. A marriage has become drudgery or a friend seems always to be needy, and no matter how often we try to stay positive, our energy seeps away and life becomes an unending series of tasks to complete, not an adventure. We smile thinly when friends ask how we are, but the best part of the day is getting in bed and going to sleep. Some of our struggles come to everyone, but others seem never ending and we wonder where God is in all that is happening within and around us.

We can be sure that God will always be as faithful to us as he was to the Jews of old. While we might grow weary and seek solace in places and people that offer only temporary relief, God will not abandon us, and Jesus' coming among us is the proof.

Today, take a few moments to remember how faithful God has been to you.

What circumstances in life make you most tired and doubtful?

Humility

 "All men are my nature foolish." Wis 13:1

Humility is a constant in the Bible, but it is an illusive concept and practice. Not an attempt to diminish ourselves or consider ourselves only from the perspective of our failures, humility is the willingness to recognize and be attentive to God as the center of all that is. More, humility demands we allow ourselves to be consumed with and in God, and this humility frees us from the fear of death. Knowing that God wants to be with us forever, not because of our accomplishments, but because God created us, we celebrate being chosen, not with pride, but with a radical gratitude about being made in the image and likeness of God.

The the 19th century art critic, John Ruskin, insists that we can recognize authentically humble people by their fascination, not with themselves, but with the God who acts through them. "Really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.” And again, "The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don't mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do." (Ruskin)

Today, be honest and honor God for all that God is: Creator, Savior, Friend.

What most frightens you about being humble?

St Frances Xavier Cabrini

  "Stand erect and raise your heads because you redemption is at hand." Lk 21:28

Two things marked the early life of Mother Cabrini. She was frail and sickly as a child and only four of her 10 siblings survived adolescence, but neither situation shuttered her imagination. When her father would read to his children about the great men and women who left their homelands to go around the world as missionaries, Frances dreamed of joining them. Frances' faith was bigger than her weakness.

Faithful to her parents until their death, Frances helped them on their farm and went to school, but soon after their death she began to explore a religious vocation. Rejected at first because of her poor health, Frances persevered and soon the local bishop asked her to found a new congregation of religious women. Sure that Frances' efforts would benefit the local church, the bishop was excited by Frances' new congregation, but Frances had bigger ideas. Soon after making vows, she added the name Xavier to Frances, after the famous Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier, and went to Rome to establish a convent. Soon after, still hoping to go the Orient as a missionary, Frances was asked to help Italian immigrants in the United States. Resistant, she asked the Pope Leo XIII for help in discernment, and the Pope assured her that she should go West to the United States, and from this point her life exploded with activity and zeal.

St Frances Xavier Cabrini was a brilliant organizer and administrator. She founded 68 missions and, though she hated ocean travel, crossing the Atlantic more than thirty times. Her work took her to New York, South America, Chicago and New Orleans, and all of this with failing health. A woman of our times, Frances Xavier continues to inspire women and men of the 21st century with passion and zeal.

Today, pray for the young to accept the call to discipleship.

To whom do you listen for advice and encouragement?

St Josaphat

  "Pray always without becoming weary." Lk 18:1

In the 17th chapter of St. John's gospel, Jesus prays that his disciples may be one, but even a cursory glance at the history of the church reminds us that unity is not uniformity. There are 23 rites, many of which have multiple subdivisions. "In the Roman Catholic Church each of these rites possesses its own hierarchy, differ in liturgical and ecclesiastical discipline, and possess their own spiritual heritage." l In other words, while the liturgy, language, law and spirituality may differ markedly, the Christ who is their center is the same. It is this unity that St. Josaphat worked so hard to attain.

Josaphat, working to heal the Great Schism (1054) between Eastern and Western churches, spent his entire life in pursuit of the unity for which Jesus prayed. At Vatican II, the Council fathers made it clear that Christian unity remained one of it's principal concerns.2 How very important then to listen to Jesus' command to pray always without becoming weary. No matter how painful and frustrating our divisions might be, we must continue to pray and work for Christian unity.

Today, quietly examine the issues that divide your family and/or your parish and ask God for a path of unity and peace.

What do you think are the marks of unity in the Church?

St Martin of Tours

  "The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our Faith.'" Lk 17:5

Faith, though a great and free gift, is fragile. Frequently, especially when we are moving along in life confidently and without too much effort, we forget how central God and God's love for us is to our everyday life. When we remember to pray, we pray too quickly or by rote, and everything becomes more important than our spiritual lives. We rush to get things done, don't even see friends and family in need, and find ourselves focusing on others faults rather than their good qualities. Although there are dozens of reminders along the way, we fail to see them and without realizing it, our faith wavers.

While none of us wants to be tested, neither can we deny that the challenges we face strengthen us. When a parent falls ill, a friend struggles with mental illness or old friends divorce after many years of marriage, we pause and wonder. What is happening within and around us? What ought to be our faith response? When we have been walking at God's pace, attending to God's way in our lives, the responses come naturally and simply. Pray. Be with hurting friends and family as companions. Don't instruct. But when we have taken faith for granted, we find ourselves muddled, overly upset, angry and confused. What should we do? Pray. Slow down. Listen. Ask for an increase in faith.

Today, take five minutes to sit in God's presence without an agenda

What kinds of situations most test your faith?

St Leo the Great

  "I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me." Phil 4:13

St Leo the Great, better known to most as the Pope whose eloquence convinced Attila the Hun not to destroy Rome, must have had a big dose of the strength St. Paul talks about in today's his letter to the Philippians. An authentic relationship with Christ can do this. When we enter the mystery of Jesus as truly God and truly human, his power becomes ours and enables us to live in ways we could never imagine.

St Leo's faith was such that, while on a mission to Gaul, he was elected by the people to be bishop of Rome and Pope. It was everyday people who recognized in Leo the kind of faith they knew was necessary to direct the church at a very turbulent time. Leo not only effectively moved the church to recognize the importance of Rome as the seat of church authority, he did it peacefully, an effort that effectively won for him the title Great.

Today, ask God for the strength to live your baptismal vocation with peace and power.

What believers do you think of as Great/