Pastor’s Letter: August 25, 2024

Pastor’s Letter: August 25, 2024

23 Aug 2024 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings to you all this day! The school year is well under way and there are many joyful voices in our buildings—a great sign of life and vigor here! I always remember back to when I was in grade school and was serving at Mass. The priest, who was very influential on me, commented one day at Mass when there was a child crying and a couple more who were a bit restless…he smiled and said, “I love hearing these sounds of life in the church!” I have often thought of that line through the years and certainly am thankful for those moments when we can recall the gift of our young people. We truly are blessed here in this place!

This week, we’ll finish up a bit more about St. Philomena and St. John Vianney…as well as that connection between Blessed Pauline Jaricot and Archbishop Fulton Sheen. As we said last week, St. John Vianney would often ask St. Philomena to have the miracles take place away from the church, so that no one would attribute those good works to him. Fr. Paul O’Sullivan writes that was the one favor that St. Philomena didn’t grant him! =)  (Saint Philomena the Wonder-Worker, p.55).

In addition to healing miracles, there were also some wonderful stories of conversion and renewal through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. “When great sinners came to him, after exhorting them to sorrow and moving them to repentance, he used to send them to the altar of St. Philomena to ask her to obtain their conversion” (p.51). One story in particular serves as a great example of their saintly teamwork. There was a man who had long been away from God and the Church, having not been to Mass since his First Communion. A friend of his asked him to come to church and meet St. John Vianney. As the man relates, when he saw the good priest, “His eyes met mine for one instant, but that glance went right to my heart…I bent my head and covered my face with my hands.” St. John Vianney said to him, “You must get rid of the burden at once. Go on your knees, tell me your poor life. Our Lord will take the burden, my friend.” The man started his confession, saying, “Little by little, I felt relieved, then consoled, and finally completely at rest. When I had finished, the saintly priest added: ‘Come back tomorrow, but now you will go to the altar of St. Philomena and tell her to ask of God your conversion’.” Fr. O’Sullivan shares that his conversion was one of the most known at the time. He went on to live a very faithful life and “was crowned with a happy death” (p.52-53).

Concluding our reflections on this wonderful and fruitful saintly friendship, Sister Marie Helene Mohr, S.C. shares in her book, Saint Philomena Powerful With God, a reflection from the famous Cardinal Manning: “When Archbishop of Westminster, Dr. Manning, later Henry Cardinal Manning, spoke of the bond of devotion the celebrated Curé of Ars had with his ‘dear little Saint’: ‘Mysterious and wonderful is the sympathy which thrills through the communion of saints, unbroken by distance, undimmed by time, unchilled by death! The youthful saint went forth from her mother’s arms to die for Christ; the lictor’s ax cropped the budding lily, and pious hands gathered it up and laid it in the tomb; and so fifteen centuries went by, and none on earth thought upon the virgin martyr who was following the Lamb withersoever He went, till the time came when the Lord would have her glory to appear; and then He chose a champion for her in the lonely toil worn priest to whom he had given a heart as childlike, and a love as heroic as her own; he gave her to be the helpmate of his labors, and bade her stand by him to shelter his humility behind the brightness of her glory lest he should be affrighted at the knowledge of his own power with God” (p.62-63).

How does Archbishop Fulton Sheen fit in this story? That connection goes back through St. John Vianney’s friend Blessed Pauline Jaricot. Jaricot had a great heart for people, and she worked to establish groups to meet various needs and accomplish spiritual works, including the Living Rosary, The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and The Holy Childhood, an association focused on rescuing babies (O’Sullivan, p.26). When she started the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (known today as one of the Pontifical Mission Societies), Jaricot had the goal of supporting missionary work around the world, including at that time a good chunk of what is today the U.S. She asked members to offer daily prayer and a weekly money donation (would be about a penny a week at the time) for the good of the missions. Some might know that a good portion of Archbishop Sheen’s life was spent working for The Society for the Propagation for the Faith. In her book, My Uncle Fulton Sheen, Joan Sheen Cunningham shares that Archbishop Sheen was named national director for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1950:  “Sheen considered the period he served at ‘the Prop’ (as he fondly called it) one of the most joyful of his life…” Sheen served in the role until 1966.  (p.74).

All these connections and great works remind us of the joy of living and growing together as a family of faith. You never know…someone right here might partner with St. Philomena for some great works in our own day! One of our school students could establish the next great work of evangelization. Our parish family could lay the ground work that another saint down the road will build upon. Without a doubt, in God and united together in faith, all things are truly possible! Know of my prayers for you all this week!

In Christ,

Fr. Luke