14
Aug
A SAINT WHO GOT TO THE ‘HEART’ OF THE MATTER. This week, on August 19, his day of death in 1680 and now his Feast Day, we honor Saint John Eudes, Priest. He was born on November 14, 1601, in Normandy, France, the son of a poor farmer; his surname is pronounced ‘U – dez.’ Enthralled by the Church from an early age, he went to a Jesuit college when he was 14; despite his parents’ wish that he marry, he joined a French Congregation of the Oratory in 1623 and after seminary studies, was Ordained a Priest in 1625. Among his first ‘assignments’ was caring for the victims of the 1625 and 1631 plagues that struck Normandy. (Having experienced the current pandemic, we now have a better sense of what these heroic caretakers endured!) Had he contracted the plague and died, or had not been attuned to God’s call to embark on a new ministry after the plagues, we may never have heard of him! More about Saint John Eudes after praying the Collect for the holy Mass offered in his honor.
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Collect – Saint John Eudes, Priest O God, who wonderfully chose |
COMBATTING JANSENISM. Eventually, Father Eudes and his superiors became aware that his gift of preaching easily caught peoples’ attention, was understandable, and productive. He used all sorts of methods to reach people: processions, works of theater, mimes, and whatever else he could think of to preach to the unchurched, the fallen away, and the rejected. He was granted permission to begin a ‘travelling mission’ ministry: he conducted days, weeks, or even months-long missions throughout France. He was moved with great compassion and concern for the poor catechesis he found among the laity and clergy – and the horrific plight of prostitutes.
The ‘Jansenism’ heresy exacerbated all this; a Catholic Bishop, Cornelius Jansen, whose mostly orthodox ideas about the effects of Original Sin on our ability to combat temptation and accept God’s grace, were taken to extreme ends by some of his followers. They heretically held that God WITHHELD His grace from some and had predetermined who would – or would not be – saved. With such a hopeless view of salvation, many despaired and abandoned themselves to a life of debauchery with little, if any, self-esteem!
THE LOVE OF GOD CAN CONQUER ALL. To combat the hopeless despair that had paralyzed so many, Saint John Eudes promoted the then new devotion to the ‘Two Sacred Hearts:’ the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Sacred Heart of Mary. Sometimes, in their exuberance, some went a tad too far in showing reverence and respect to our Blessed Mother and seemed to have made her an equal to her Son. We now appropriately use the term ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary’ rather than Sacred. In any case, by promoting with Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (Feast Day: October 16), devotion to the compassionate, loving, merciful and forgiving Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Father Eudes helped sinners repent, clerics renew their commitment to better serve God and His Church by updating their theology and practices, and the lukewarm or inactive laity to reembrace the Faith. (We could certainly use a double dose of Saint John Eudes’ ‘medicine’ these days to bring an end to our Covid-induced sleep!)
BE WILLING TO SUFFER FOR CHRIST. In images of Saint John Eudes, he is often depicted holding two symbols of Christ’s love: the crucifix, on which Jesus suffered and died to redeem us, and a heart aflame with His love for us. He hoped to spread the Faith more firmly – and positively – by establishing seminaries that his own Order of Priests, the Eudists, would staff. However, Rome did not support this plan to start a new Order, and few Bishops accepted his offer to staff their own seminaries. His virtues were declared heroic by Pope Leo XIII in 1903; the miracles proposed for his beatification were approved by Pope Pius X in 1908, who then beatified Blessed John Eudes in 1909, and he was canonized on May 31, 1925, by Pope Pius XI. Saint John Eudes, pray for us!
With God’s love and my prayers,
Very Rev. Michael J. Kreder, VF, KCHS
A SAINT WHO GOT TO THE ‘HEART’ OF THE MATTER. This week, on August 19, his day of death in 1680 and now his Feast Day, we honor Saint John Eudes, Priest. He was born on November 14, 1601, in Normandy, France, the son of a poor farmer; his surname is pronounced ‘U – dez.’ Enthralled by the Church from an early age, he went to a Jesuit college when he was 14; despite his parents’ wish that he marry, he joined a French Congregation of the Oratory in 1623 and after seminary studies, was Ordained a Priest in 1625. Among his first ‘assignments’ was caring for the victims of the 1625 and 1631 plagues that struck Normandy. (Having experienced the current pandemic, we now have a better sense of what these heroic caretakers endured!) Had he contracted the plague and died, or had not been attuned to God’s call to embark on a new ministry after the plagues, we may never have heard of him! More about Saint John Eudes after praying the Collect for the holy Mass offered in his honor.
|
Collect – Saint John Eudes, Priest O God, who wonderfully chose |
COMBATTING JANSENISM. Eventually, Father Eudes and his superiors became aware that his gift of preaching easily caught peoples’ attention, was understandable, and productive. He used all sorts of methods to reach people: processions, works of theater, mimes, and whatever else he could think of to preach to the unchurched, the fallen away, and the rejected. He was granted permission to begin a ‘travelling mission’ ministry: he conducted days, weeks, or even months-long missions throughout France. He was moved with great compassion and concern for the poor catechesis he found among the laity and clergy – and the horrific plight of prostitutes.
The ‘Jansenism’ heresy exacerbated all this; a Catholic Bishop, Cornelius Jansen, whose mostly orthodox ideas about the effects of Original Sin on our ability to combat temptation and accept God’s grace, were taken to extreme ends by some of his followers. They heretically held that God WITHHELD His grace from some and had predetermined who would – or would not be – saved. With such a hopeless view of salvation, many despaired and abandoned themselves to a life of debauchery with little, if any, self-esteem!
THE LOVE OF GOD CAN CONQUER ALL. To combat the hopeless despair that had paralyzed so many, Saint John Eudes promoted the then new devotion to the ‘Two Sacred Hearts:’ the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Sacred Heart of Mary. Sometimes, in their exuberance, some went a tad too far in showing reverence and respect to our Blessed Mother and seemed to have made her an equal to her Son. We now appropriately use the term ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary’ rather than Sacred. In any case, by promoting with Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (Feast Day: October 16), devotion to the compassionate, loving, merciful and forgiving Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Father Eudes helped sinners repent, clerics renew their commitment to better serve God and His Church by updating their theology and practices, and the lukewarm or inactive laity to reembrace the Faith. (We could certainly use a double dose of Saint John Eudes’ ‘medicine’ these days to bring an end to our Covid-induced sleep!)
BE WILLING TO SUFFER FOR CHRIST. In images of Saint John Eudes, he is often depicted holding two symbols of Christ’s love: the crucifix, on which Jesus suffered and died to redeem us, and a heart aflame with His love for us. He hoped to spread the Faith more firmly – and positively – by establishing seminaries that his own Order of Priests, the Eudists, would staff. However, Rome did not support this plan to start a new Order, and few Bishops accepted his offer to staff their own seminaries. His virtues were declared heroic by Pope Leo XIII in 1903; the miracles proposed for his beatification were approved by Pope Pius X in 1908, who then beatified Blessed John Eudes in 1909, and he was canonized on May 31, 1925, by Pope Pius XI. Saint John Eudes, pray for us!
With God’s love and my prayers,
Very Rev. Michael J. Kreder, VF, KCHS