Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

HILARY OF POITIERS:

How much more is it necessary, he shows, that pardon be returned by us without measure or number. And we should not think how many times we forgive, but we should cease to be angry with those who sin against us, as often as the occasion for anger exists. Pardon’s frequency shows us that in our case there is never a time for anger, since God pardons us for all sins in their entirety by his gift rather than by our merit. Nor should we be excused from the requirement of giving pardon that number of times [i.e., seventy times seven], since through the grace of the gospel God has granted us pardon without measure. read more

Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

St. Maximilian Kolbe – Sketch by Brie Schulze

Saint Maximilian Kolbe is a tremendous example of how God’s grace can move us to acts of love for our brothers.  With all the extraordinary things Fr. Kolbe did during his life – his extraordinary leadership, the extraordinary impact he had on the Catholic world in a terrible moment of persecution, spreading the devotion to the Immaculata, etc – he was still able to see the true value of his life.  He did not consider himself more important or more deserving to remain alive than any of the other prisoners in Auschwitz.  With all the wonderful things he had accomplished, and all the wonderful works he could still do for the Lord, God’s grace permitted him to see that the ultimate value of his life was only to be found in laying it down for someone else. read more

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We have a tendency to exaggerate the virtue of the Holy men and women who went before us.  While we must certainly say that the Canonized Saints exhibited heroic virtue, that does not mean they were not also sinners like us in need of a savior.  In fact, had the Saints not needed a savior, they would not even be Christian.  God’s grace works hiddenly within us to perfect what He wants to perfect in us so long as we cooperate with His work.  Sometimes we may be distressed to witness the lack of perfection or even the apparent total lack of goodness in our hearts and in our lives.  This too is the work of grace, inviting us to allow God to do His work within us.  The ups and downs of our spiritual and human life can lead us to a point near hopelessness  – this is something even Elijah the Holy Prophet of God experienced.  He was ready to throw in the towel, to give up and die.  He saw how much of a poor sinner he was and how he “was no better than his fathers.”  God responds to this sadness and exhaustion not with a new teaching or with a rebuke, but with something very simple: food. read more