A Penitent Blogger
Home schooling, vocations, etc.
Bishop Kevin Rhoades, Bishop of Harrisburg, had a great homily Saturday at a Mass for Home School Families:
"For years I have been impressed by the faith, dedication, and commitment of Catholic home school families. Since becoming bishop, I have continued to be edified by home school families throughout our diocese. And today I am happy to celebrate Mass with you here at the Cardinal Keeler Center.
"I consider the growing movement of Catholic home schoolers as complementary to our Catholic schools and a sign of the vitality of the Church today. Parents committed to their vocations as catechists of their own children have a tremendous influence on their faith formation. You help your children to know and love the Lord Jesus, to place Him at the center of their lives and to make your family truly 'a domestic Church.' I wish to thank you for your dedication to the holy mission of evangelization and catechesis in the home.
"I expect that in the future I will see more and more priestly and religious vocations coming from our home school families. Families of faith are the seedbed of vocations in the Church.
"Perhaps, because of your counter-cultural choices, you have felt a little like Jesus in today’s Gospel. Our Lord’s relatives said Jesus was out of his mind. You have probably heard some criticism from others because of your commitment to the faith and to home-schooling. Jesus’ relatives, like many people today, were too worldly minded. They regarded Jesus’ total commitment to building the kingdom as excessive. People thought Jesus insane for His complete dedication to His mission from the Father and for his lifestyle: His poverty, His celibate chastity, His life of prayer and loving service. Many who follow Jesus’ example – think for example of many saints – have been taken for madmen. They were 'mad' in a sense.
"Saint Paul called himself 'a fool for Christ.' Saint Francis considered himself 'God’s troubadour.' The saints were insane – insane with love for Jesus Christ and His Church.
"One of these great saints crazy with love for Jesus was the virgin and martyr Saint Agnes, whose feast we celebrate today. Her contemporaries surely thought she was crazy. In the materialistic and decadent Roman culture of the late third century, a culture not so unlike our own, Agnes, born of a wealthy Roman family, and known for her physical beauty, resolved as a young girl to live a life of purity, consecrating her virginity to God. Like Jesus’ relatives said of Jesus: 'He is out of his mind,' Agnes’ relatives probably said the same about her. One of the young men attracted to her beauty and upset that she rebuffed his advances, reported her as a Christian to the authorities. She was arrested and confined to a house of prostitution. Still, even when threatened with torture, she was not intimidated. She retained her purity. She suffered martyrdom, most likely beheaded, at the young age of 12 or 13. Popular devotion to her quickly grew and Constantine’s daughter had a basilica built in honor of Saint Agnes over the catacombs where she was buried.
"I say to all the children and young people here, holiness doesn’t depend on length of years. There are many young saints like Agnes. Holiness is a gift that God offered to Agnes and offers to you and to me. Just think of young Agnes’ great courage – it seems to surpass our human nature. But the Holy Spirit was with her. God gave her the grace to be chaste, to be courageous, to be faithful, to be a virgin and a martyr. May her prayers help you to imitate her virtues in a culture not that unlike late 3rd century Roman culture. Agnes’ external beauty was one thing. Her internal – her beautiful soul – was something else. And that’s what really matters.
"Even if others think we’re crazy for wanting to follow Jesus and to be faithful to the virtues of the Gospel, we can take heart that many thought the same about the saints and about Jesus Himself.
"May we never be afraid to be fools for Christ!"
Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades
Bishop of Harrisburg
(from the website of the Diocese of Harrisburg)
"For years I have been impressed by the faith, dedication, and commitment of Catholic home school families. Since becoming bishop, I have continued to be edified by home school families throughout our diocese. And today I am happy to celebrate Mass with you here at the Cardinal Keeler Center.
"I consider the growing movement of Catholic home schoolers as complementary to our Catholic schools and a sign of the vitality of the Church today. Parents committed to their vocations as catechists of their own children have a tremendous influence on their faith formation. You help your children to know and love the Lord Jesus, to place Him at the center of their lives and to make your family truly 'a domestic Church.' I wish to thank you for your dedication to the holy mission of evangelization and catechesis in the home.
"I expect that in the future I will see more and more priestly and religious vocations coming from our home school families. Families of faith are the seedbed of vocations in the Church.
"Perhaps, because of your counter-cultural choices, you have felt a little like Jesus in today’s Gospel. Our Lord’s relatives said Jesus was out of his mind. You have probably heard some criticism from others because of your commitment to the faith and to home-schooling. Jesus’ relatives, like many people today, were too worldly minded. They regarded Jesus’ total commitment to building the kingdom as excessive. People thought Jesus insane for His complete dedication to His mission from the Father and for his lifestyle: His poverty, His celibate chastity, His life of prayer and loving service. Many who follow Jesus’ example – think for example of many saints – have been taken for madmen. They were 'mad' in a sense.
"Saint Paul called himself 'a fool for Christ.' Saint Francis considered himself 'God’s troubadour.' The saints were insane – insane with love for Jesus Christ and His Church.
"One of these great saints crazy with love for Jesus was the virgin and martyr Saint Agnes, whose feast we celebrate today. Her contemporaries surely thought she was crazy. In the materialistic and decadent Roman culture of the late third century, a culture not so unlike our own, Agnes, born of a wealthy Roman family, and known for her physical beauty, resolved as a young girl to live a life of purity, consecrating her virginity to God. Like Jesus’ relatives said of Jesus: 'He is out of his mind,' Agnes’ relatives probably said the same about her. One of the young men attracted to her beauty and upset that she rebuffed his advances, reported her as a Christian to the authorities. She was arrested and confined to a house of prostitution. Still, even when threatened with torture, she was not intimidated. She retained her purity. She suffered martyrdom, most likely beheaded, at the young age of 12 or 13. Popular devotion to her quickly grew and Constantine’s daughter had a basilica built in honor of Saint Agnes over the catacombs where she was buried.
"I say to all the children and young people here, holiness doesn’t depend on length of years. There are many young saints like Agnes. Holiness is a gift that God offered to Agnes and offers to you and to me. Just think of young Agnes’ great courage – it seems to surpass our human nature. But the Holy Spirit was with her. God gave her the grace to be chaste, to be courageous, to be faithful, to be a virgin and a martyr. May her prayers help you to imitate her virtues in a culture not that unlike late 3rd century Roman culture. Agnes’ external beauty was one thing. Her internal – her beautiful soul – was something else. And that’s what really matters.
"Even if others think we’re crazy for wanting to follow Jesus and to be faithful to the virtues of the Gospel, we can take heart that many thought the same about the saints and about Jesus Himself."May we never be afraid to be fools for Christ!"
Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades
Bishop of Harrisburg
(from the website of the Diocese of Harrisburg)
posted by Penitens | 1:21 PM
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