Memorial of Blessed Methodius Dominic Trcka

 "The salvation of the just comes from the Lord. He is their helper in time of trial."
(Ps 36:39)

Blessed Methodius, Martyr.

Blessed Methodius was born in Frydlant (Czech Republic) in 1886. After ordination in 1910, he spent the early years of his ministry as a parish missioner. He was nominated first Vice-Provincial of the Greek Catholic vice-province of Michalovce in 1946. On the night of 13-14 April, 1950, all religious communities were suppressed by the Czech government. Fr. Methodius was arrested, tortured and condemned to twelve years imprisonment. He was put in solitary confinement for singing a Christmas carol, and in those harsh conditions, he contracted tuberculosis. He died 23 March, 1959 and was beatified by his Holiness Pope John Paul II, in 2001.

Prayer

Lord our God,
you gave to Blessed Methodius your priest and martyr
outstanding bravery in the face of trials and torture.
With the help of his prayers,
may we remain faithful to the Gospel of truth
and come with him to contemplate your face for all eternity.
We make this prayer through Our Lord Jesus Christ your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Gerard

J.M.J.A.

Feast of St. Bartholomew

St. Bartholomew the Apostle


by Matteo di Giovanni

(From New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia)

One of the Twelve Apostles, mentioned sixth in the three Gospel lists (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14), and seventh in the list of Acts (1:13).


The name (Bartholomaios) means "son of Talmai" (or Tholmai) which was an ancient Hebrew name, borne, e.g. by the King of Gessur whose daughter was a wife of David (2 Samuel 3:3). It shows, at least, that Bartholomew was of Hebrew descent; it may have been his genuine proper name or simply added to distinguish him as the son of Talmai. Outside the instances referred to, no other mention of the name occurs in the New Testament.

Nothing further is known of him for certain. Many scholars, however, identify him with Nathaniel (John 1:45-51; 21:2). The reasons for this are that Bartholomew is not the proper name of the Apostle; that the name never occurs in the Fourth Gospel, while Nathaniel is not mentioned in the synoptics; that Bartholomew's name is coupled with Philip's in the lists of Matthew and Luke, and found next to it in Mark, which agrees well with the fact shown by St. John that Philip was an old friend of Nathaniel's and brought him to Jesus; that the call of Nathaniel, mentioned with the call of several Apostles, seems to mark him for the apostolate, especially since the rather full and beautiful narrative leads one to expect some important development; that Nathaniel was of Galilee where Jesus found most, if not all, of the Twelve; finally, that on the occasion of the appearance of the risen Savior on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Nathaniel is found present, together with several Apostles who are named and two unnamed Disciples who were, almost certainly, likewise Apostles (the word "apostle" not occurring in the Fourth Gospel and "disciple" of Jesus ordinarily meaning Apostle) and so, presumably, was one of the Twelve. This chain of circumstantial evidence is ingenious and pretty strong; the weak link is that, after all, Nathaniel may have been another personage in whom, for some reason, the author of the Fourth Gospel may have been particularly interested, as he was in Nicodemus, who is likewise not named in the synoptics.

No mention of St. Bartholomew occurs in ecclesiastical literature before Eusebius, who mentions that Pantaenus, the master of Origen, while evangelizing India, was told that the Apostle had preached there before him and had given to his converts the Gospel of St. Matthew written in Hebrew, which was still treasured by the Church. "India" was a name covering a very wide area, including even Arabia Felix. Other traditions represent St. Bartholomew as preaching in Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Armenia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, and on the shores of the Black Sea; one legend, it is interesting to note, identifies him with Nathaniel.

The manner of his death, said to have occurred at Albanopolis in Armenia, is equally uncertain; according to some, he was beheaded, according to others, flayed alive and crucified, head downward, by order of Astyages, for having converted his brother, Polymius, King of Armenia. On account of this latter legend, he is often represented in art (e.g. in Michelangelo's Last Judgment) as flayed and holding in his hand his own skin. His relics are thought by some to be preserved in the church of St. Bartholomew-in-the-Island, at Rome.

Michelangelo's St. Bartholomew is seen to the right

of Christ in the Last Judgment (fresco 48 x 44 feet),

located in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican.

St. Alphonsus - Patron of Arthritis Sufferers

For video, click here: A Blessing for Arthritis Sufferers 

Gerard

J.M.J.A.

Feast of St.Maximilian Kolbe

St. Maximilian Kolbe

Homily given on the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe, August 14, 2010

by Fr. Patrick Greenough, OFM Conv.

Stepping Out



Auschwitz was a concentration camp and an extermination camp.

For most Jews it was an extermination camp.

As soon as they arrived they were singled out.

Told to strip and go into the showers.

Except they were not showers.

They were extermination bunkers where they were killed by cyclone B

Suffocated to death in a matter of minutes.

Exterminated like so much vermin.



The others were sent to the concentration camp.

There they were stripped of their clothes and their heads were shaved.

They no longer had names.

Instead they were branded with numbers like animals.



When they cleaned the latrines and carried the sewage in wheelbarrows if the filth from the sewage splashed up on their face they could not stop to wipe it off.

If they did they were beaten.

So even normal, human actions and attitudes were not allowed.



In that way their humanity was stripped from them.

And they became like animals.



Until one day when a prisoner escaped!

All of the prisoners from his cell block were forced to stand for 8 hours in the hot summer sun with no food or water.

If they fell over from exhaustion they were dragged away and piled up like a pile of sticks

The rest were eventually sent to bed with no food.

The next day they were lined up again and this time the commandant began to pick them out one by one like dogs for the starvation bunker, until one man stepped out of line.

It was Maximilian Kolbe!

By his stepping out of line it was the ultimate statement that he was not an animal.

He was a human being with free will who inspite of the hatred and the beatings and starvation still chose to love!



What in the world wants to take away our humanity and turn us into animals?

Advertising treats us like animals who cannot control our appetites.

Pornography treats us like animals who cannot control our desires.

Everytime we give into our basest desires and instincts we are no more than an animal.



But we are made in the image and likeness of God!

We have a dignity that no one can take from us.

To say that we are made in the image and likeness of God is to say that Love is the reason for our existence for God is Love.

Love is our true character.

Love is our true self.

Love is our name!



Nothing could keep Maximilian from loving.

Not hatred, not beatings, not even death by starvation!



Each one of us should not be afraid to step out of the assembly line of life and declare that we are not consumers, we are not animals, we are not social security numbers.

we are human beings made in the image and likeness of God



And that love and nothing else is the reason for our existence and the motivation of all we do!



For love is our name!

Gerard
J.M.J.A.