We know all the names Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, or just Santa, every time you see a representation of St. Nicholas, he is usually pictures as a plump man with a white beard and a red costume. But how many people out there know who the true Nicholas was, or why he was given the title of saint?

Born around the year 270, in Parara, Lycia (present day Turkey), stories were already told of his devotion to the Lord even as an infant. It is said that as a baby, on Wednesdays and Fridays, he would refuse to feed on his mother’s milk; exercising a perfect obedience to Our Lord. His faith would continue to increase in fervor and he would eventually join the monastery of Holy Sion near Myra. He would later become bishop of Myra, and during this time, would find himself imprisoned for his faith under the rule of Diocletian, though he would one day be freed during the ascension to power of Constantine.

The present day theme of Santa Claus bearing gifts to children stem from St. Nicholas’ divine charity. There are many stories of people in need finding that gifts of gold had been delivered to them during the night. One story relates how he helped three daughters of a devout Christian by providing them with dowries so that they could get married rather than end up in prostitution. The traditions and stories of his acts of kindness stretch all the way from the countries of Turkey and Greece all the way up to Germany and the Netherlands.

St. Nicholas died in Myra on December 6 of the year 343 and was originally buried in the cathedral where he had been bishop. Around the year 1087, a group of European merchants broke into the cathedral, stole the relics and translated his bones to Bari, Italy.

So many times in life, things just don’t go the way we want them to. Has anyone ever had this happen to them? Where all week, while it’s nice and sunny outside, you plan for a weekend project, but when the weekend arrives, it’s raining? Or like having my favorite sports team, with all those sports “stars”, have a horrible season? I’m a Dolphins fan, but you Browns fans know what I’m talking about. Some friends I know will get mad, as if they had control over the elements, while others want to give up and just ride the bandwagon for the team that wins the championship. But as Catholics, most of us know to encourage one another with the consoling words, “Offer it up”.

What exactly are we offering? And where is it going exactly? Protestants and unfortunately some Catholics find it hard to believe in Purgatory, but it exists. And while there is no direct mention of it in scripture, but the topic has been discussed and confirmed during the Councils of Lyons II, Florence and Trent. In the Old Testament, in the book of Maccabees, Judas sends a collection to the Temple after a battle, for the souls of those soldiers who fell in battle.

The bible also mentions that we’ll be cleansed like gold goes through a fire to remove any imperfections. Through reason we can see that Purgatory does exist. Our goal here on earth is to become saints and reach heaven. However, with the way being so narrow that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, most of us fall short by a venial sin or two.

Some theologians have argued that Purgatory is not a place but a state of being. They are in Purgation, or a state of having those small imperfections “purged” from their soul in order to merit heaven and all its glory. I’m not worried either way, because whether a place or a state of being cleaned, the end result is that we’ll pass through heaven’s gates and partake in the eternal communion with the saints.

And while there is said to be fire like in Hell, there is quite the difference. For in Hell, the fire is suffered in the despair that one will never see the face of God. In Purgatory rather, the flames are also suffered while suffering the loss of God, but only temporarily. The flames are also endured with the consolation that salvation will come.

That’s why we tell people to “Offer it up”. At that moment we offer our sufferings to unite with those who suffer in Purgatory. Not only to remind ourselves that there are souls in need of our prayers, but also to recall that our sufferings here are only temporary and not worth adding more venial sins to our confession list by breaking the golf club over our knees out of anger after we’ve hit our third ball in a row right into the pond. God bless!

There aren’t too many activities in this world that I would miss if I never had the opportunity to partake in them. Take skydiving for example. That’s for sure not on my bucket list. What I would like to do, given the opportunity, the money, the time off from work, and the everything is completely safe, would be to go on another pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

I say “again”, because yes I did get to see the sights and trace the steps of Jesus as he walked towards Calvary, but I was only 5 years old at the time. It’s hard to remember some of the places that are recalled in the Bible where Jesus stayed, preached and lived over two thousand years ago when my biggest concern was having to be quiet as the priest explained things on our tours.

I do recall a few things from that time. Whether from the stories that my parents told or whether I actually remember them the way they were, they’ve stuck with me and I won’t soon forget them. Among my memories was the trek through Hezekiah’s Tunnel. The other kids were either afraid of the darkness or weren’t interested in walking in water up to their waist, but I was all for it. The only exception was that since I was the smallest person there, the water came up to my chest. At one point, my father had to pick me up because the water got even deeper. It never crossed my mind at the time that I was walking along the aqueduct that provided ancient Jerusalem with a source of water during the siege by the Assyrians. I was more worried about anyone watching as my mom changed me out of my wet clothes on the bus ride back to the hotel.

My parents may be able to say for sure where we were this other time, but I also remember our group carrying a large wooden cross along the streets of Jerusalem. I believe also that at one time I “helped” to carry the cross. There were always at least four or five people holding onto the cross as we weaved through the crowded streets. As one person grew tired, another would step in to take their place so they could rest. I find it a good meditation point that Jesus had to do this on his own, after being beaten, for so long before Simon came into the picture.

Speaking of pictures, by dad took plenty of photographs that I won’t soon forget that I visited this center-point of our faith. There are photos of me holding a newborn baby goat, riding a camel, and racing the Priest who was our guide on our pilgrimage. As the story goes, he had arthritis pretty bad in his knees. But as we were getting close to the point of our next stop, he and I would race to see who got there first. I think he let me win a few times.

Throughout life we all experience changes. Some are for the better, like getting that raise or promotion, while others are for the worse, like finding yourself at the unemployment line. Some changes are planned for, for example a couple going through pre-marriage talks with the priest in preparation for the holy sacrament of Matrimony. Other changes happen quickly and without warning, like the family finding out that the couple eloped…I mean a tornado. Tornadoes happen quickly and without much warning. Some changes bring sadness, like receiving news of the loss of a loved one. Some changes can bring optimism for a better future.

I was witness to a possible change for a better future when I attended a small dinner/fund raiser to support the Heartbeat Bill. While I’m not a person to understand all the legal vocabulary behind the Bill, it basically states that upon the discovery of a “detectible heartbeat”, the infant is recognized as a living person and that they have full constitutional rights as a citizen. The speaker at the dinner stated that with detection of the heartbeat developing very early on in the pregnancy, this Bill could save up to 26,000 babies from being aborted in Ohio. She used the example of a bus-load of children everyday for a year.

The Bill has already passed the House and is on its way to the Senate later this month. It has faced arguments from the pro-choice side for obvious reasons, but apparently some opposition has formed from the pro-life side as well. Some people say it’s not enough, others say it’s too much and will get rejected. I know for us Catholics, life starts at conception, and this Bill still leaves a window of several weeks for the mother to make the wrong choice to abort the child. I still believe that this is a step in the right direction and also a step in getting closer to fully reversing Roe Vs Wade.

For the longest time, I never considered researching the possibility that I have a Saint whose feast day is the same as my birthday. I had looked a few years ago at one of the calendars that are available at the Church, but never found that a Saint was celebrated the same day as my birthday, which is June 4th. Last year, I realized that the Dominican calendar is slightly different than the Roman Rite, so I decided to see if they had any Saint whose feast day fell on 6/4.

As it turns out, I’m in a Dominican Parish for a reason. June 4th is the feast day of St. Peter of Verona (Also known as St. Peter Martyr). Born in Verona, Italy around 1206, he was born into a family who were believers of the Manichaean heresy. Through God’s providence, he was sent to Catholic school in Northern Italy and later attended the University of Bologna, where he would meet St. Dominic. While there, he converted to the Catholic Faith and entered the Order of Preachers to become one of St. Dominic’s first followers.

Sometimes called “a second Paul”; after his conversion, he spent a great deal of his time traveling through Italy preaching the Doctrine and denouncing the errors of the day, mainly of the Manichaean propaganda being spread at the time. Among their erroneous beliefs was the thought that God only created the heavens and that an evil being was the creator of the material world. St. Peter Martyr preached in Rome, Florence, Bologna and Genoa, and where he went, crowds of people would gather to listen.

At one point, upon returning to Milan from the city of Como, a group of heretics attacked him along the road and one known as Carino brought an ax down on Peter’s head. While that blow would have been enough to kill any man, St. Peter got up onto his knees, and taking the blood coming down from his scalp, he wrote the words “Credo in unum Deum” which means “I believe in one God”. He was then killed by another blow to his side, and upon his death, was carried to Milan where his body is still at rest at the Dominican church there dedicated to St. Eustorgius.

It happened that his martyrdom also brought the conversion of Carino, the Manichaean who dealt the first blow to St. Peter.

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he states, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:6-7) Again in Philippians 12, Paul tells them to, “Work out your salvation in fear and trembling.”

We can see from just these two instances that Paul was a fan of sports and used them quite a bit in his examples and teachings. In keeping to his plan, I started thinking of comparing the way we should all prepare for the season of Lent with how college football players prepare for the combine and NFL draft. And now that we are half-way through the season, I figure that it’s better to start late than never.

First, it must be understood that these collegiate players had to start their training somewhere. Most likely, they started in high school or earlier, worked on basics and rules, then developed the skills the more they practiced. In that same light, we should be willing to start small in our prayer life if that is an area we need to work on. Father Blau mentioned in a homily that we can’t just go from “no prayer” to spending a full hour in deep meditation. His advice is to start small. An example would be to find the daily Gospel reading for the day, read it, and then spend a few moments reflecting on its meaning in your life. Sometimes we may need to read the same passage more than once, and that’s okay. This way, we don’t become overwhelmed by trying to do too much all at once.

Another important step is practice. Unless divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit, none of us are going to become saints overnight. Just as these football players put in hours of practice each week, so we should also try to keep a regular prayer schedule. It may take some time to get to where it doesn’t feel painful to prayer for half an hour, but no one gets through a football practice without a few bruises either. What may start out as a chore, with time and determination, will turn into a good habit that we will miss should we go one day without.

Once we get into a good practice schedule, we should try to find ways to further develop our spiritual lives. No player out there allows himself to reach a certain level and then just sit there. If he does, he’ll get replaced by the next player trying for his spot on the roster. And while we have no fear of being replaced, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of contentment.

One last thought as we take to the spiritual field of our prayer lives it that, like Fr. Blau also said, prayer is part “saying”, and another part “doing”. Our actions speak so clearly to those outside of the faith, that any misstep on our part can leave a bad impression. Example: What good does it do to have a Right to Life bumper sticker on your car if you’re going to drive like you want to run everyone else off the road?

There have been times these past few months where I’m not too sure of what to write about to when it comes to my lector’s notes. Last month, as I talked about why we celebrate the lives of the Saints, I mentioned that they came from all walks of life. Today I feel it is appropriate, being that today is the Remembrance of Pearl Harbor, to focus on a saint that, though dedicated to his duties, still understood that his true calling was to God.

St. Martin of Tours was born around the year 316 to pagan parents in what would be present day Hungary and Yugoslavia. His father was an officer in the Roman army who was transferred to an area of Northern Italy when Martin was still young. It was there that he learned of Christianity and would be drawn to it more and more as he grew up there. At fifteen years of age, like any son of a Roman veteran officer, he too joined the ranks of the army.

It was during this time that he became forever remembered in paintings and tradition. Sulpicius Severus, St. Martin’s friend and biographer, describes how Martin, while riding into town with his troop, saw a poor beggar outside the gates with little to keep him warm. Seeing him there shivering, he noticed that no one who passed did anything to help the man. And while he had nothing with him but the clothes he was wearing, he knew he had to do something. Taking his sword he cut his own woolen cloak in two pieces, one he gave to the poor beggar, and the other he wrapped around himself.

That night St. Martin had a vision of Jesus surrounded by angels. He heard Jesus as he addressed the angels say, “Martin, as yet only a catechumen, has covered me with his cloak.” He knew right then that he needed to be baptized. There was an episode at the age of twenty, where barbarians were invading Gaul. Instead of joining his fellow troops this time, he informed the Emperor Julian that he was now a soldier for Christ, and that it was no longer right to fight for the Roman Empire. Not being pleased with this remark, Julian had him imprisoned. Shortly after though, a truce was reached between the warring factions, and St. Martin was released from prison.

From there he went to Poitiers, where St. Hilary was bishop and who made Martin a deacon. St. Martin would later return to his homeland and convert his mother and other members of the town he grew up in, so great was his zeal for the Church. He faced many difficulties from the Arians and other heretics, but after time he found himself with a small piece of land that turned into a monastery. From there, after almost 10 years of fostering the faith in so many followers, he was semi-tricked into becoming Bishop of Tours.

During his religious life, he fought against many pagan traditions and is attributed with a great decline of paganism in his part of Gaul. He was a dedicated soldier of Christ, who up until his point of death, he would tell Our Lord, “If thy people still need me, I will not draw back from Thy work. Thy will be done.” Today he is the patron saint not only of soldiers, but also of France, the Pontifical Swiss Guards, and of innkeepers, as well as for beggars and reformed alcoholics. And as knights, he is a great example of being a soldier for Christ. Let us also remember to pray for the men and women who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, many of whom became saints as they gave their lives in defense of this country.

There are a great many things in the world today that can generate worry. Job security, family issues, car problems, garage doors malfunctioning (that last one just happened to me as I came home from Rosary Sunday Mass), and so on. So many times I’ve started to panic as one or more of these issues crossed my path. That’s when the words of St. Pio come to my mind. “Don’t waste energy on things that generate worry, anxiety and anguish. Only one thing is necessary: Lift up your spirit and love God”.

St. Pio was born on May 25th, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy. At the age of 16, he entered the novitiate of Capuchin Friars, and four years later made his solemn profession. Early on in his life he faced hardships. Shortly after being ordained a priest in 1910, he would have to spend the next six years at his home in Pietrelcina for health concerns. Having devoted his entire life to Jesus Christ in service to his people, just two years after arriving at the Friary of San Giovanni Rotondo, he came into a closer union with Christ by receiving the wounds of our crucified Lord on September 20th, 1918.

In 2008, at the request of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican opened the archives on the Church’s investigation into then Padre Pio’s claims of having the stigmata. There is an article attached through EWTN’s website that gives the sworn statement of the saint in which he stated he was praying in the choir loft after Mass and was visited by the crucified Christ. He stated that he asked how he could be closer to Christ. Our Lord asked him to “join souls to his Passion”. St. Pio then asked him what he could do. At that moment, Jesus said,” I will unite you with my passion.”

From that moment on, St. Pio undertook the salvation of others through his sufferings, offering them up to the Lord for all the ingratitude of man. It’s here that I tell myself that for all the problems that I may have, I can never outdo Our Lord in suffering. Rather, as St. Pio did, we should unite our suffering to His, even in the smallest things, and in that way, not lose the hope for a better future.

Going through my journey to understand the vocation God is calling me to, I found time in August to visit the Benedictine monks of St. Andrew’s Abbey up in Cleveland. Around 22 monks reside in the abbey, of which about 8 or nine of them are priests, who on the weekends go out to various parishes in the Cleveland diocese to say Mass.

The theme of the retreat was “Work and Prayer in Balance”. It is a theme that for many of us has been hard to embrace these hectic and multi-tasking days. The talks over the weekend centered on how to put St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries into practice in the working environments. Discussions ranged from making one’s work a living prayer to our Lord, to dealing with co-workers of different temperaments. I’ve read some of St. Benedict’s Rule and there are sections that actually do teach monks how to deal with others in the community whose personalities just don’t blend very well together.

The idea of community was presented very strongly among the monks of St. Andrew’s Abbey. Each and every man there has a role to accomplish much like a well maintained watch. Without one of the parts, the watch itself doesn’t function properly. So it is with the monks. One washes the clothes, anther cooks, another cleans the kitchen afterwards, another buys the food and supplies for daily living, so on and so forth. It’s done in obedience to the Abbot which is also a showing of obedience to God.

The other major thing they stress is the point of consistency. Our Lord was the same in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Why is it so hard for us to imitate that? I have at times not been able to even leave the television set to one channel to watch the football game. As soon as commercial come on, I’m flipping channels. The monks on the other hand stress staying consistent even in work. One monk was given the job of washing clothes the day he joined the order, and he’s been doing that job for over the last 40 years without the need to have to jump around from position to position within the order. The weekend I was visiting, there was a young monk that just joined who had been given the task of being the barber for the community. This role was new to him, and he was nervous ( so too were some of the other monks going for haircuts), but given time and obedience in training, he’ll be just as good as the last barber who had cut hair for so many years before.

Now I’m fairly new to the Knights of Columbus, but I see much of the same elements here with this group of men as I did in Cleveland. There has always been a strong sense of community within the group, ever since the founding days. Working to improve the community one pizza sale at a time, everyone has a key role to play. And while positions change every couple years or so, the same sense of dedication to helping the community has been the constant theme of the Knights and it will not change. I’m not sure of where I am on my journey, but standing among my brother knights, I know I’m on the right road.
Thank you and God bless.

Tonight I will hand over the reigns of the Grand Knight Position to Robert McGonigle. I am leaving you all in capable hands. I’ve been honored and humbled to have worked for you all the last two years. It has been fun and challenging and I do love a challenge. (Why do you think I have so many kids?!)

God bless you all and I look forward to continuing to work with you at events.