One of the small pleasures of a life informed by the liturgical life of the Church is when a number of great saints’ feast days pile up, one after the other. There is the sustained joy of special seasons like Easter or Christmas, but the one-off celebrations of particular saints gives us great opportunities to marvel at and strive for different graces and virtues throughout the year. We are in one such stretch right now, with Pope St. Pius X, St. Bartholomew, the Queenship of the Blessed Mother, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux all cropping up in a five-day span.

As we celebrate this week, these saints each point us toward a virtue that can inform the way we approach the upcoming Beacons of Light initiative in the Archdiocese. Pope St. Pius X dedicated a significant portion of his pontificate to restoring the beauty of the Liturgy and passing down such treasures to new generations of disciples. We must remember that our celebrations of the Mass should never be bogged down with the secular, but instead outwardly model the inward reality that every time we come to the
altar of the Lord we are standing at the place where Heaven and earth meet. Praise God, the redistribution of our resources will allow us to celebrate beautiful Masses with transcendent music, prayerful proclamation of the word, and inspired preaching
that lifts the mind and heart to our Creator.

St. Bartholomew, like the other Apostles, was so enflamed with love for Christ that he went out to the ends of the earth to make new disciples and bring souls to salvation. By moving past maintenance and focusing on mission, we can share in the beauty of our foundational call as disciples: to share what we have received in Christ, no matter the cost. St. Bernard could be remembered for any number of awe-inspiring achievements, but it is worth focusing on the fact that he sought reform of the clergy of his day through penance and community life. It’s easy to fool ourselves into thinking that the priesthood and parish life are much more advanced in the twenty-first century, but nothing that we do will ever bear fruit unless it is rooted in a deep desire for holiness and the willingness to seek, and accept, conversion from God.
 
Finally, in moments of fear, anger, and resentment, we would do well to turn to the Blessed Mother and ask for her to intercede for us that we might grow in abandonment to Divine Providence. Mary is exalted as Queen not because of some talent or
skill, but rather because she gave an absolute and unconditional “yes” to the call that God placed in her life. She responded in generosity to a mission that she must have felt was well beyond her, and if there’s not a lesson for us in that, then we are truly lost.
 
As we begin this third century as the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the lives of the saints remind us that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Even as restructuring and modern difficulties surround us, we cannot forget the fact that God will never abandon His Church. Turn to them in this auspicious hour and remember Our Lord’s final words to a fledgling Church at the moment of His Ascension: “Behold, I am with you always. Even unto the end of the age.”
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC