saints

Recent mockery of Catholic devotion—particularly claims that Catholics worship wood or a “burnt god,” referring to the devotion to Black Nazarene in the Philippines—does not arise from a genuine engagement with Catholic teaching, but from a misconception of it.

On December 28, the Church remembers a tragedy that jars the sweetness of the season, the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

Most saints arrive wrapped in stained-glass serenity. St John of the Cross does not. He comes barefoot, half-starved, with ink-stained fingers and a mind so luminous that even his jailors could not extinguish it.

On September 2o, when the Church commemorates the feast of the 103 Korean Martyrs, we remember that their path to holiness passed through Malaysia.

Born and named Francesco Possenti on March 1, 1838 to a big family in Italy, his mother Agnes passed away when he was four years old. There are thirteen of them siblings and he was the eleventh.

A Dominican friar, philosopher, scholar and theologian, the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, is observed every January 28. He is a patron of students and all universities.

The work of evangelization is tedious and overwhelming, especially during the earliest years of the
Church. Such was the predicament faced by Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. Reaching out to
budding Christian communities is hard work for only one man, and so he acquired help from his friends.
Today, January 26, we remember his two closest confidants: Saints Timothy and Titus.

Lorenzo Ruiz was hung upside-down over a pit. He was physically abused to coerce him into giving up his faith. If he would renounce Christianity, the Japanese would spare him and set him free.

St. Paschal exhibited humility throughout his service, akin to his time as a shepherd.

Saint Isidore the Laborer

His papacy was confronted by the need for internal reform of the church, the expansion of Protestantism, and the Ottoman advance in Europe spreading the faith of Islam.

Cyril can be considered one of those people Athanasius referred to as "brothers, who mean what we mean and differ only about the word consubstantial," notwithstanding his lack of amity with the most notable orthodoxy defender against the Arians.

Scholastica used to suggest observing the rule of silence and avoiding interactions with people outside the monastery.

St. Arnold Janssen made his entire life’s work about missioning, going beyond traditional boundaries and overcoming the political struggles of his time just to make the Good News known.

May such a tangible reminder of Mary’s mantle of protection continue to inspire us to come to her aid in
times of need.

We are known across the globe as un pueblo amante de Maria, “a people in love with Our Lady.”
 

The cross used for him is an x-shaped one, commonly known as the decussate cross. Nowadays, Christians venerate it using the name Saint Andrew’s Cross.

Reflection Date: November 1, 2023
Saints guide ordinary Christians to extraordinary lives.

Tradition also credits Luke as the first person who painted icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary, making him not just the patron saint of doctors and surgeons but also of artists and painters.

Saint Mary MacKillop inspires us to struggle for justice and equality.