A Dynamic Trio: St. Augustine, St. Monica & St. Ambrose

A Dynamic Trio

Today it seems fitting to talk about not one Saint, but a dynamic trio of saints. I’ll begin with the first two: St. Augustine whose feast is today (28 August), and St. Monica, whose feast was yesterday.  St. Augustine, of course, is one of the greatest theologians, a bishop, Doctor of the Church, and subject of one of the best-known conversion stories in the history of Christianity.

The story of St. Monica is also well-known, how she “stormed Heaven” with her fervent prayer over many years on behalf of her wayward son in his less-than-saintly days, and how after he had at last returned to Christ and His Church she died in great contentment. St. Monica has long been an inspiration to parents worried about the spiritual welfare of their offspring, and she is a powerful intercessor on their behalf.  

A Team Effort

We need to bear in mind, however, that as essential as her prayers were, they were not enough . . .

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Greater Love: St. Maximilian Kolbe

What Do You Do?

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15.13)

Picture yourself in the death camp at Auschwitz. You’re standing in formation with all your fellow prisoners.  The Nazis who run the camp offer a harsh disincentive to escape: for every inmate who breaks out of the camp the guards pick out ten other prisoners at random and starve them to death.  

As it happens, there has been such an escape, and the prisoners have been called together for the purpose of choosing the ten. The guards finish selecting their victims, and before it even begins to sink in that you are not among those chosen for the starvation bunker you see one of those who were chosen break down, begging to be released because he’s a husband and father. What do you do . . . .?

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The Church Militant, Spiritual Warfare, and St. Equitius

The Church Militant

   The Church Militant means our Church, here and now.

  There’s a battle raging, and we’re all part of it, like it or not.  The growing intensity of the Culture War that’s engulfing our society is just a surface manifestation. The real war has been underway since Satan was cast out of Heaven. In my recent post on St. Ignatius Loyola we looked at the idea of being a “Soldier for Christ”.  

This is not simply an analogy. In fact, we could argue that the wars we fight in this world are the images of the great eternal combat, the true war, between the army of God and the forces of the Devil . . .

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On the Roster: Death and Hope

On the Roster

Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

There were two elderly men, Bill and Steve.  They were devout Catholics who also had a life-long love of the game of baseball.  They played together when they were young and coached their sons’ teams later in life.  In their old age they avidly watched games together.

Eventually, Bill passed away.  Some time later, he visited Steve in a dream.

“Steve! Steve! This is Bill!”

“Bill! Is it really you?”

“Yes! God has allowed me to visit you this one time.”

“Where are you Bill?”

“I’m in Heaven!  Oh Steve, it’s amazing here.  I can’t describe it.”

“That’s wonderful Bill, just incredible!  Listen, though, can you tell me one thing?”

“What is it, Steve?”

“Is there Baseball in Heaven?”

Bill pauses for a moment.  Then he slowly answers,

“Well, there’s good news and bad news . . . ”

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