Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-12-03, Memorial, St Josaphat, bishop & martyr

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From: Luke 17:11-19

The Ten Lepers

[11] On the way to Jerusalem He (Jesus) was passing along between
Samaria and Galilee. [12] And as He entered the village, He was met
by ten lepers, who stood at a distance [13] and lifted up their voices
and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." [14] When He saw them He
said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they
went they were cleansed. [15] Then one of them, when he saw that he
was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; [16] and he
fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a
Samaritan. [17] Then said Jesus, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are
the nine? [18] Was no one found to return and give praise to God
except this foreigner?" [19] And He said to him, "Rise and go your
way; your faith has made you well."

Commentary:

11-19. The setting of this episode explains how a Samaritan could be in
the company of Jews. There was no love lost between Jews and
Samaritans (cf. John 4:9), but shared pain, in the case of these
lepers, overcame racial antipathy.

The Law of Moses laid down, to prevent the spread of the disease, that
lepers should live away from other people and should let it be known
that they were suffering from this disease (cf. Leviticus 13:45-46).
This explains why they did not come right up to Jesus and His group,
but instead begged His help by shouting from a distance. Before curing
them our Lord orders them to go to the priests to have their cure
certified (cf. Leviticus 14:2ff), and to perform the rites laid down.
The lepers' obedience is a sign of faith in Jesus' words. And, in
fact, soon after setting out they are cleansed.

However, only one of them, the Samaritan, who returns praising God and
showing his gratitude for the miracle, is given a much greater gift
than the cure of leprosy. Jesus says as much: "Your faith has made you
well" (verse 19) and praises the man's gratefulness. The Gospel
records this event to teach us the value of gratefulness: "Get used to
lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day.
Because He gives you this and that. Because you have been despised.
Because you haven't what you need or because you have.

"Because He made His Mother so beautiful, His Mother who is also your
Mother. Because He created the sun and the moon and this animal and
that plant. Because He made that man eloquent and you He left
tongue-tied....

"Thank Him for everything, because everything is good" ([St] J. Escriva, "The
Way", 268).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

FEAST OF THE DAY

St. Josaphat was born around the year 1580 in Eastern Europe and
was raised in the Eastern Orthodox faith. In the year 1595, the
Orthodox bishop of Brest-Litovsk, and five other bishops broke away
from the Eastern Orthodox and sought to be reunited with Rome.
This had a great effect on Josaphat, and he joined the movement
and dedicated the rest of his life and even his death to the cause.

Josaphat became a Basilian monk, and was ordained to the
priesthood. He soon became well known as a preacher and as an
ascetic. Josaphat's work gave him a reputation and, although he was
relatively young, he was asked to be bishop of the diocese of
Vitebsk. Josaphat implemented a system of synods, catechetical
instruction, reform of the clergy and coupled with his own example,
won many hearts to union with Rome.

Unfortunately, as many hearts that Josaphat helped convert, just as
many were solidified in opposition against him. Josaphat was
criticized for his actions and despite warnings of danger, he
continued his work. Josaphat returned to his home in the city of
Vitebsk, and while he was there the opposition took action. After
being verbally harassed, he was removed from his home by a mob
and killed. His body was thrown into the river, but it was retrieved
and later buried in Biala, Poland. In 1867, he became the first saint
of the Eastern Church to be canonized by Rome.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

You people of Vitebsk want to put me to death. You make ambushes
for me everywhere, in the streets, on the bridges, on the highways,
and in the marketplace. I am here among you as a shepherd and you
ought to know that I should be happy to give my life for you. I am
ready to die for the holy union, fir the supremacy of St. Peter and of
his successor the Supreme Pontiff. -St. Josaphat

TODAY IN HISTORY

607 Boniface III ends his reign as Pope

TODAY'S TIDBIT

An ascetic, like Josaphat, exercises self-discipline in all forms for the
love of God and spiritual improvement. This usually deals with
curbing physical wants, but also may deal with curbing internal
wants. An ascetic seeks to conform all his or her appetites to right
reason and the law of God. Asceticism is not an end in itself, but is
directed to allowing a more perfect love of God.

INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray through the intercession of St. Josaphat for the
Ecumenical movement seeking to rejoin the East and the West.

In 1867, he became the first saint
of the Eastern Church to be canonized by Rome. (St. Josaphat)

Yeah, but he also became a "Uniate," so that cancels it out. ;-)

Thought for the Day

Take away all evil and much good would go with it. God's care is to bring good out of evils that happen, not to abolish them.

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

**Yeah, but he also became a "Uniate," so that cancels it out. ;-)**

I'm not understanding the significance here. Can you exlain.

The Word Among Us

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Meditation
Luke 17:11-19

Children have a game they play, called “Opposite Day.” On Opposite Day, everything that is said must be interpreted as the exact opposite. Stop means go; up means down; run means walk; and work means play. After reading about the ten lepers, we might think that Jesus was playing Opposite Day as well. He worked this miracle of healing in a way opposite to what we usually picture.

For instance, in the story of the paralytic who was let down through the roof (Luke 5:17-26), Jesus saw the faith of the paralytic’s friends and told the man, “Your sins are forgiven.” It wasn’t until after he sensed that charges of blasphemy were rising up against him that he healed the man physically. But today’s reading is just the opposite. First, he healed the men’s leprosy and then he told the one former leper who returned to thank him, “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19), indicating the spiritual healing of forgiveness and salvation.

As shocking as it sounds, nine of those who were healed did not return to thank Jesus. We don’t know any more about these nine, but we can assume that such lack of consideration kept them from being “made well” on the spiritual level. By not going back to Jesus, they missed out on the greater healing. While it’s true that Jesus wants to heal us physically, he is just as interested—if not more so—in our spiritual healing. Ultimately, all ten of these people died, and their mortal bodies decayed. Yet, we know that at least one of them was lifted up to heaven because he was “made well.”

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we encounter Jesus’ power to remove our sins and to tell us, “Your faith has made you well.” Our part is easy. We simply need to go to him and ask for forgiveness and then try to sin no more. Jesus does the rest. He forgives, he heals, he mends our relationship with him. Jesus makes us well. If he can do so much, how can we not do the little bit required of us?

“Jesus, I believe that by virtue of your authority as Son of God, you have the power to forgive us our sins. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I confess my sins and I ask you to make me well.”

In the year 1595, the Orthodox bishop of Brest-Litovsk, and five other bishops broke away from the Eastern Orthodox and sought to be reunited with Rome. This had a great effect on Josaphat, and he joined the movement and dedicated the rest of his life and even his death to the cause.

St. Josaphat was a member of the clergy who were Eastern Orthodox originally, but sought reunification with the Western Church. Therefore, he is referred to as a "Uniate" by the Orthodox, a deragatory term sometimes synonymous with "traitor."

Thanks for pulling that other thread. Can't figure out why my computer was giving me "Proxy Error" Maybe I accidentally got offline and thought I was still online.

Anyway, thanks!

i sort of figured it out from my high school Latin:

uniate -- to be in union

Catholic Online Saints
St. Josaphat of Polotsk
Feastday: November 12

Josaphat, an Eastern Rite bishop, is held up as a martyr to church unity because he died trying to bring part of the Orthodox Church into union with Rome.

In 1054, a formal split called a schism took place between the Eastern Church centered in Constantinople and the Western Church centered in Rome. Trouble between the two had been brewing for centuries because of cultural, political, and theological differences. In 1054 Cardinal Humbert was sent to Constantinople to try and reconcile the latest flare up and wound up excommunicating the patriarch. The immediate problems included an insistence on the Byzantine rite, married clergy, and the disagreement on whether the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son. The split only grew worse from there, centering mostly on whether to except the authority of the Pope and Rome.

More than five centuries later, in what is now known as Byelorussia and the Ukraine but what was then part of Poland-Lithuania, an Orthodox metropolitan of Kiev and five Orthodox bishops decided to commit the millions of Christians under their pastoral care to reunion with Rome. Josaphat Kunsevich who was born in 1580 or 1584 was still a young boy when the Synod of Brest Litovsk took place in 1595-96, but he was witness to the results both positive and negative.

Many of the millions of Christians did not agree with the bishops decision to return to communion with the Catholic Church and both sides tried to resolve this disagreement unfortunately not only with words but with violence. Martyrs died on both sides. Josaphat was a voice of Christian peace in this dissent.

After an apprenticeship to a merchant, Josaphat turned down a partnership in the business and a marriage to enter the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Vilna in 1604. As a teenager he had found encouragement in his vocation from two Jesuits and a rector who understood his heart. And in the monastery he found another soulmate in Joseph Benjamin Rutsky. Rutsky who had joined the Byzantine Rite under orders of Pope Clement VIII after converting from Calvinism shared the young Josaphat's passion to work for reunion with Rome. The two friends spent long hours making plans on how they could bring about that communion and reform monastic life.

The careers of the two friends parted physically when Josaphat was sent to found new houses in Rome and Rutsky was first made abbot at Vilna. Josaphat replaced Rutsky as abbot when Rutsky became metropolitan of Kiev. Josaphat immediately put into practice his early plans of reform. Because his plans tended to reflect his own extremely austere ascetic tendencies, he was not always met with joy. One community threatened to throw him into the river until his general compassion and his convincing words won them over to a few changes.

Josaphat faced even more problems when he became first bishop of Vitebsk and then Polotsk in 1617. The church there was literally and figuratively in ruins with buildings falling apart, clergy marrying two or three times, and monks and clergy everywhere not really interested in pastoral care or model Christian living. Within three years, Josaphat had rebuilt the church by holding synods, publishing a catechism to be used all over, and enforcing rules of conduct for clergy. But his most compelling argument was his own life which he spent preaching, instructing others in the faith, visiting the needy of the towns.

But despite all his work and the respect he had, the Orthodox separatists found fertile ground with they set up their own bishops in the exact same area. Meletius Smotritsky was named his rival archbishop of Polotsk. It must have hurt Josaphat to see the people he had served so faithfully break into riots when the King of Poland declared Josaphat the only legitimate archbishop. His former diocese of Vitebsk turned completely against the reunion and him along with two other cities.

But what probably hurt even more was that the very Catholics he looked to for communion opposed him as well. Catholics who should have been his support didn't like the way he insisted on the use of the Byzantine rite instead of the Roman rite. Out of fear or ignorance, Leo Sapiah, chancellor of Lithuania, chose to believe stories that Josaphat was inciting the people to violence and instead of coming to his aid, condemned him. Actually his only act of force was when the separatists took over the church at Mogilev and he asked the civil power to help him return it to his authority.

In October 1623, Josaphat decided to return to Vitebsk to try to calm the troubles himself. He was completely aware of the danger but said, "If I am counted worthy of martyrdom, then I am not afraid to die."

The separatists saw their chance to get rid of Josaphat and discredit him if they could only stir Josaphat's party to strike the first blow. Then they would have an excuse to strike back. Their threats were so public that Josaphat preached on the gospel verse John 16:2, "Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God." He told the people, "You people want to kill me. You wait in ambush for me in the streets, on the bridges, on the highways, in the marketplace, everywhere. Here I am; I came to you as a shepherd. You know I would be happy to give my life for you. I am ready to die for union of the Church under St. Peter and his successor the Pope."

But aside from words, Josaphat insisted that his party not react in anyway that did not show patience and forbearance. When the separatists saw that they were not getting the violent response they had hoped for they decided to wear Josaphat and the others down as they plotted more direct action. A priest named Elias went to the house where everyone was staying and shouted insults and threats to everyone he saw, focusing on calumniating Josaphat and the Church of Rome.

Josaphat knew of the plot against him and spent his day in prayer. In the evening he had a long conversation with a beggar he had invited in off the streets.

When Elias was back the next morning of November 12, the servants were at their wits' ends and begged Josaphat's permission to do something. Before he went off to say his office he told them they could lock Elias away if he caused trouble again. When he returned to the house he found that the servants had done just that and Josaphat let Elias out of the room.

But it was too late. The mistake had been made. Elias had not been hurt in anyway but as soon as the mob saw that Elias had been locked up they rejoiced in the excuse they had been waiting for. Bells were rung and mobs descended on the house. By the time they reached the house, Elias had been released but the mob didn't care; they wanted the blood they had been denied for so long.

Josaphat came out in the courtyard to see the mob beating and trampling his friends and servants. He cried out, "My children what are you doing with my servants? If you have anything against me, here I am, but leave them alone!" With shouts of "Kill the papist" Josaphat was hit with a stick, then an axe, and finally shot through the head. His bloody body was dragged to the river and thrown in, along with the body of a dog who had tried to protect him.

The unsung heroes of this horrible terrorism were the Jewish people of Vitebsk. Some of the Jewish people risked their own lives to rush into the courtyard and rescue Josaphat's friends and servants from the bloodthirsty mobs. Through their courage, lives were saved. These same Jewish people were the only ones to publicly accuse the killers and mourn the death of Josaphat while the Catholics of the city hid in fear of their lives.

As usual violence had the opposite affect from that intended. Regret and horror at how far the violence had gone and the loss of their archbishop swung public opinion over toward the Catholics and unity. Eventually even Archbishop Meletius Smotritsky, Josaphat's rival, was reconciled with Rome. And in 1867 Josaphat became the first saint of the Eastern church to be formally canonized by Rome.

St. Josaphat is one of the patron saints of the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic rite, whose church was formed when this union took place.

One Bread, One Body

<< Wednesday, November 12, 2003 >>

St. Josaphat

Wisdom 6:2-11

Psalm 82

Luke 17:11-19

View Readings

THE DEGREES OF THANKSGIVING

“He threw himself on his face at the feet of Jesus and spoke His praises.” —Luke 17:16

We start off in life thanking others in order to be polite. Then we thank others, even God, in order to be just. We say such things as: “At least you can say ‘Thanks.’ ” Then the Lord calls us to thank God by faith rather than by sight (2 Cor 5:7) — to thank God when we don’t see a reason to thank Him. Then the Lord calls us to live lives of such profound and constant thanksgiving that our thanksgiving is an act of faith by which we accept salvation (see Lk 17:19).

For Christians, thanksgiving is not just a day, or even many actions; it is the atmosphere in which we live, the very fabric of the Christian life. Because God became a human being, died on the cross for us, and rose from the dead for us, we have reasons to be thankful which will always take precedence over even the worst circumstances. Thus, we should give “thanks to God the Father always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:20). We should never stop thanking God — to the point that we thank our way right through death and enter the courts of heaven with thanksgiving (Ps 100:4). There we will prostrate ourselves before God’s throne, worship Him forever, and exclaim: “Amen. Praise and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving...to our God forever and ever. Amen!” (Rv 7:12)

Today, let us accept God’s grace to move our thanksgiving up a notch. Then let us keep increasing our thanksgiving to the Lord to the point that we will thank our way into the heaven of eternal thanksgiving.

Prayer: Father, send the Holy Spirit to teach me new dimensions of thanksgiving.

Promise: “Authority was given you by the Lord and sovereignty by the Most High, Who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels!” —Wis 6:3

Praise: St. Josaphat led several churches from disunity to obedience to the Pope.

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	You Are More Powerful Than You Think
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Wisdom 6:2-11 / Lk 17:11-19

Today's Old Testament reading is a stern warning to those in positions of authority that they will be held accountable for the power the Lord has put in their hands. But before we relax too much and count ourselves outside that august group, we'd better face the fact that God has put a surprising amount of power into the hands of every one of us.

Even the least of us is possessed of remarkable powers, to encourage or discourage, to stifle life or to revive it, to engender hope or to foster despair. And we do much of that without even noticing or intending it. That realization is both startling and tantalizing: What could we achieve in our own little orbit of friends, neighbors, and relations, if we consciously set out to use those powers that are already in our hands?!

That's the bottom line for today's meditation: You have a chance to make a lasting contribution to the building of God's kingdom here and now. Don't let it pass you by.

St. Josaphat

Ecclesiam Dei: The Encyclical letter of the Pope of Rome (Pope Pius XI) ON St. Josaphat

*And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;*

This is an excellent lesson. How often we raise our voices in prayer, pleading with God to give us something that we believe is good for us. And when that prayer is finally answered, we need to be like this Samaritan and thank God for His response.

**This is an excellent lesson. How often we raise our voices in prayer, pleading with God to give us something that we believe is good for us. And when that prayer is finally answered, we need to be like this Samaritan and thank God for His response.**

Exactly!