GOD’S VALIANT CHAMPIONS: 3 ADMIRABLE SAINTS!

Please listen to Father Broom's talks on these great  Saints

The saints are heroes of God and at the same time splendid examples for us to follow in their path of virtue, and also to invoke their powerful intercession.

In these critical days in which our religious liberty is being jeopardized, now more than ever we need to lift up our minds and hearts to these shining stars in God’s firmament and be drawn magnetically to imitate their heroic virtue.

We will present three “Valiant champions of God and 5 of the virtues that they can encourage us to emulate.  Off we go!!!

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

Of all the compliments that Jesus gave in His three year Public ministry, the words exalting the virtue of John the Baptist, were among the most sublime. “Of all men born of women, none was greater than John the Baptist.”  From this spiritual goldmine of virtue, in the person of John the Baptist, what can we gather?

1.    HOLY AND CONFIDENT MOTHER.   You can know the fruit from the tree.   Old and way beyond the age of child-bearing, upon learning of her pregnancy, Elizabeth rejoices in this great gift of God.  Hoping against all hope and trusting in God’s promise, despite her many years, her pregnancy culminates in the birth of JOHN THE BAPTIST. May pregnant and doubting women invoke St. Elizabeth for greater confidence in God who is the origin, author, and sustainer of human life form conception until natural death!

2.    MARY’S WORD OF SANTIFICATION AND JESUS AS REDEEEMER.   Upon the visitation, Mary greets Elizabeth and the baby in her womb--- John the Baptist—leaps for joy!  This sanctified encounter of these two holy women results in the baby John being purified from the stain of Original sin, through the word of Mary and the silent but efficacious presence of Jesus the Redeemer!

3.     PRAYER AND PENANCE IN THE DESERT.   To accomplish any mission, preparation is indispensable! John spent long years in the silence of the desert, where his spirit was fortified.  The fortification of his spirit came about through long hours of prayer and demanding acts of fasting and penance.   Jesus said that certain devils can be expelled only through prayer and penance.

4.    HUMILITY.  Upon entering the scene of his public ministry, John manifests a profound humility. Humility is nothing more than recognizing that all the evil is my own doing whereas all the good I have been able to accomplish is simply collaboration with God’s grace. Listen to the unction of the words of the Baptist on humility.  “He must increase and I decrease.”   Then, “I am not worthy to untie his sandal strap.”  Still more, “I am no more than a voice that cries out in the desert: prepare the way for the Lord.” Finally, “once the wedding groom comes, I disappear.” Humility is the rock foundation of an authentic life of holiness.

5.    FORTITUDE.  Confronted by the wickedness of King Herod who publically flaunted his adulterous, incestuous relation, having taken his Brother Philip’s wife and living with her, only the Baptist had the courage to confront him and rebuke him.  The end result of this was imprisonment, and decapitation.   Why did John die? For the most noble of reasons: to denounce adultery, but also to defend the indissoluble character of Holy Matrimony.  St. John the Baptist prays for us!

ST. JOHN FISHER--- ENGLISH BISHOP MARTYR

                                              

1.    INTELLECTUAL TRAINING AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION.   In a world in which there is a sea of information but at the same time widespread ignorance, this great saint--- like that of Cardinal Newman—point to the importance of a solid intellectual /spiritual formation. Priest, Bishop, Vice-Rector of Cambridge University in England, John Fisher studied the truth, assimilated the truth and died for the truth.

2.    EXEMPLARY PRIEST AND BISHOP.  At 25, he was ordained to the priesthood, and immediately carried out his responsibilities with dedication, with true love of God and neighbor. At 35, he was already named as Bishop of Rochester, and with intense zeal tended his flock, of a rather poor diocese. He visited the parishes of his diocese, encouraged the priests to carry out their mission as true shepherds of souls, and had a very tender heart especially for the poor.

3.    DEFENDER OF TRUTH.  The Protestant Revolution already exploded in Europe--- in Germany with Martin Luther. In response to the errors that Luther was disseminating, poisoning thousands of minds, Fisher wrote four enormous volumes to refute the Lutheran errors; this made the young Bishop famous!  His friend Erasmus with words of admiration said of Fisher:  “There is not a man more cultured, more admired, nor more holy.”

4.    FRATERNAL CORRECTION.  In one of the Synods, Bishop John Fisher had the courage to denounce worldliness in the clerical life and especially did he condemn those who sought out high ecclesiastical positions merely as posts of honor and praise!

5.    FORTITUDE AND PALM OF MATRYRDOM.  When King Henry VIII announced his intention to leave his wife and arrange a new marriage with Ann Boleyn, the King wanted all of England to support him in this decision. All of the Bishops collapsed under the pressure of the Kingly mandate, except one BISHOP JOHN FISHER. Despite the coaxing and allurements to cave in to human respect, Fisher held his ground, resulting in imprisonment in the infamous tower of London and eventually beheading!  This took place on July 6 (now the memorial of Saint Maria Goretti) Fisher was 57 years old!

SAINT THOMAS MORE/ “CHAMPION OF CONSCIENCE”

1.    INTENSE PRAYER LIFE.  Few are aware of the intense prayer life of Sir Thomas More. Up way before dawn, he would spend a long period of time in prayer before starting his day. He loved the Psalms and the meditation on the Passion of Christ. His deep union with the Lord, through a profound prayer life, filled him with great lights and formidable strength to accept the cross and martyrdom that the Lord would offer him!

2.    ORNAMENT OF THE DOMESTIC LIFE.   One of the beautiful titles for St. Joseph, in the Litany to St. Joseph is “Ornament of the domestic life”.  Unlike Fisher—priest and Bishop—More chose the marriage vocation and lived it to the full with his wife and four children!  A faithful spouse, loving and tender father, witty conversationalist, and superb and genius statesman--- More teaches fathers how to really live out their marriage vocation in an increasingly “Fatherless” world!

                    

3.    INTELLECTUAL FORMATION/PERMANENT FORMATION.  Like Fisher, St. Thomas More was endowed with a keen intellect. He was lawyer, writer (Utopia, his most famous), statesman, politician, but especially man of God and saint. May this man who cultivate so many of his God-given talents, encourage us likewise to cultivate our intellects, so that we will pursue the Truth and the truth will set us free!

4.    CHAMPION OF CONSCIENCE.  Like Fisher and like the Baptist, More was confronted with a dilemma--- either to accept the entreaties of accepting Henry VIII’s adulterous relation and accepting Henry as the new head of the Church of England or to forfeit his life.  Many tried to coax More into some type of compromise, so as to save his life. But, St. Thomas More firm in his convictions, rooted in the Truth, following a well-formed and enlightened conscience, like Fisher and the Baptist chose death over life. Like the other two saints, St. Thomas More was beheaded on June 22, 1535, with the words: “I am the King’s loyal servant, but God’s first.”

5.    LOVE FOR GOD OVER LIFE!  One of the most marked contrasts between the saints—and especially the martyrs who shed their blood for Jesus—and the majority of humanity—is that the martyrs love life as a precious “Gift” from God. However, they treasure their “Friendship” with God and the life to come more than their physical life.   That is why Dominic Savio could say, “Death rather than sin.” Or St. Maria Goretti could endure 14 stabbings rather than sin. That is why St. Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises in his meditation on the three grades of humility, insisted on preferring death rather than mortal sin; death rather than venial sin; finally, a willingness even to suffer humiliations so as to imitate the Master all the more closely. For that reason before dying St. Thomas More encouraged the nervous masked swordsman, “Be not afraid, for you send me to God.” Finally, this champion of conscience cried out to the crowd:  “I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”