Homily for the Memorial of
Sts. Cornelius &
Cyprian
Sept. 16, 2021
Collect
Christian Brothers, St.
Joseph’s Home, New Rochelle, N.Y.
“May
we be strengthened in faith and constancy and spend ourselves without reserve
for the unity of the Church” (Collect).
In mid-3d century, today’s saints proved their faith and constancy by suffering in separate places in separate persecutions: Cornelius at Rome in 253, Cyprian at Carthage in 258. They labored, separately, for the unity of Christ’s flock against heresy in Rome and the danger of apostasy in Carthage. Cyprian lent his support to the Roman Church thru his letters and fed his African flock with eloquent treatises still treasured today, like one on the Our Father. He’s ranked as one of the pre-eminent Fathers of the Church.
In
our time the Church still faces persecution:
from Islamist extremists in Nigeria and Pakistan, for instance; from
Hindu extremists in India; from a dictator in Nicaragua; from a hostile,
decadent culture in the West. A news
item earlier this week noted at least 95 physical attacks on Catholic churches
and property so far this year in our country, besides all the slanders and
legal harassment we must deal with—in the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc. Something I saw online recently labeled what
happened to Card. Pell as a “vendetta.”[1]
You
know the threats against unity: from the
“right” like the Lefevrists and their sort; from the left-pushing who seem to want
to create a new Church with new doctrine, discipline, and morals.
If
we follow Cornelius and Cyprian, we’ll pray for our brothers and sisters in
physical or moral danger, wherever they are.
We’ll maintain our loyalty to the successor of Pope Cornelius on Peter’s
chair; he’s the one charged by Jesus to “strengthen his brothers” (Luke 22:32)—that’s
“faith and constancy”--to keep us united with Christ and one another.
[1] CathNews - Cardinal
Pell was victim of ‘political vendetta’, posted 9/3/21. CathNews is
“a service of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.”
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