It's a
Feria,
4th Class, with the color of
White. In this episode: the meditation: "Sin of the Ears", today's news from the Church: "Belgium: A Bishop in Favor of Married Priests", a preview of the Sermon: "Why Was Mary Assumed Into Heaven", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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Sources Used Today:
- "Sin of the Ears" — From Trinity Sunday to the Assumption
- "Belgium: A Bishop in Favor of Married Priests" (FSSPX.news)
- "Why Was Mary Assumed Into Heaven" (SSPX Sermons)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook:
Saint John Berchmans is a refreshing kind of saint because, honestly, almost nothing dramatic happened to him.
He didn't found a religious order.
He wasn't martyred.
He didn't travel to distant countries as a missionary.
He never even became a priest.
John simply became extraordinarily good at doing ordinary things well.
He was born in 1599 in the Belgian town of Diest, the son of a shoemaker. His family wasn't wealthy, and as a teenager John sometimes had to work simply to continue his education. Eventually he encountered the newly founded Society of Jesus and became fascinated by the Jesuit way of life.
His father wasn't thrilled.
The family needed him, and joining a religious order meant giving up whatever career might have helped support them. John entered anyway, convinced that God was calling him.
What happened next is almost wonderfully uneventful.
John studied.
He prayed.
He served Mass.
He helped around the house.
He followed the community schedule.
And he tried to do every one of those things as well as he possibly could.
That became his spirituality. John believed you didn't need to go searching for enormous sacrifices if God had already placed a hundred small opportunities for holiness in front of you every day. He became known for saying, in essence, that his greatest penance was simply ordinary community life faithfully observed.
Eventually his superiors sent him to Rome to study philosophy at the Roman College. John was an excellent student, but people remembered him even more for his cheerfulness. He wasn't gloomy or overly serious. He loved jokes, enjoyed friendships, and somehow managed to combine intense devotion with being genuinely pleasant to live with.
Then his life ended almost without warning.
After participating brilliantly in a public academic debate, John became sick with what was probably dysentery. Within days, it became clear that he was dying.
He was only twenty-two.
As death approached, John reportedly held three things close to him: his crucifix, his rosary, and the book of Jesuit rules he had tried so faithfully to live.
That little detail really sums him up.
There was no dramatic final sermon. No great unfinished mission. Just a young man who had tried to love God in whatever happened to be in front of him.
His tomb can still be visited in Rome at the Church of Saint Ignatius, while his heart was returned to his native Belgium and is preserved in Leuven.
For students especially, John Berchmans became a wonderfully approachable patron. His life suggests that sanctity doesn't always require doing something extraordinary.
Sometimes it means doing your homework, showing up on time, being cheerful, saying your prayers, and doing today's duty well.
Saint John Berchmans, joyful patron of students and saint of ordinary things, pray for us.
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What is the SSPX Podcast?
The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.
What is the SSPX?
The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
Although the traditional Latin Mass is the most visible and public expression of the work of the Society, we are committed to defending Catholic Tradition in its entirety: all of Catholic doctrine and morals as the Church has always defended them. What people need is the Catholic Faith, without compromise, with all the truth and beauty which accompanies it.
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