24th Week, Wednesday, Sept 17th; St Robert Bellarmine
1 Tim 3:14-16 / Luke 7:31-35
Paul talks about Christianity: The mystery of our faith is great.
The father of modern Russia is Nikolai Lenin. His desk still remains as it was when he died. A yellowing calendar page preserves the date: January 21, 1924. Not far from the calendar rests the book Lenin was reading when death took him. English-speaking people are surprised when they read its title. It's a book of essays by Ludwig Feurerbach called “What Is the Meaning of Christianity?”
Paul speaks about Christianity's meaning in today's reading. It boils down to this: God became man in the person of Jesus. He lived among us, died for all of us, and ascended to heaven. This same Jesus will come again in glory to be our judge at the end of time.
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What book will lie open on our desk when death comes for us?
Do we try to grow in our faith by reading? "Christianity can be condensed into four words: Admit, Submit, Commit, Transmit."
Samuel Wilberforce
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We hear today the core of St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy. The Church is the community of the living God that makes Christ visible to the world. At a time when Christians had no temples or churches, he speaks of the living Church, the body of the faithful, which must bear witness to the truth. Then, he quotes a hymn in honor of Christ, who is at the core of our faith, for the truth is Christ present in the community. Is Christ visible in the Church? Is he credible in us as a community?
Opening Prayer
Lord our God, you call your Church to be an open house, a community of welcome in which people can encounter your Son. Let your Son continue in us his deadly struggle against all evil and turn death and suffering into springs of life and joy. May thus the world believe that he is alive among us and that he is the Lord who lives forever.
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Saint Robert Bellarmine
Feast day September 17
It is said that Robert Bellarmine was so short that he used to stand on a stool to be seen over the high pulpits of Europe. But he was a giant in many other ways.
Robert, born in Italy in 1542, was the third of ten children in a family in which prayer and serving others were priorities. He entered the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, in 1560. Robert was a brilliant student at the Roman College and eventually taught at the University of Louvain in Belgium. His sermons and his defense of the faith were so powerful that people were attracted from all over, and many were converted. Robert was ordained in 1570, became rector at the Roman College in 1592, and was named superior of the Naples province in 1594. By 1598, he was named a cardinal, and in 1602, he became archbishop of Capua. He was called to Rome in 1605 to work in defense of the Church against heresies. Robert, who was advisor to five popes, was involved in many controversies. One involved the teachings of the scientist Galileo, who was also Robert’s friend. In 1931, Robert was declared a Doctor of the Church.
Like Saint Robert, let us use all our gifts from God. May we study hard, pray often, and serve others so that the world will see the greatness of our God.
