Today is the feast of St. John Nuemann. His story is an amazing one. He was born in Bohemia in 1811. Apparently, Bohemia is now part of the Czech Republic. Prior to this it was its own country surrounded by Austria, Moravia, and Bavaria. Before writing this reflection, I just thought it was part of the title of a great song by Queen….who knew.
Back to St. John. He developed a strong desire to be ordained a priest but, believe it or not, there were too many priests in Europe at the time and no bishop was willing to ordain him. Rather than giving up, he learned English and left his home for America where the bishop of New York granted his request to become a priest. He was one of 36 priests serving 200,000 Catholics in New York State and Pennsylvania. His church had no steeple or floor but he spent most of his time walking from village to village visiting his congregants. As a bishop he had the luxury of being picked up by a manure cart when he visited one of the parishes in his diocese.
He was made the bishop of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in the 8 years he served as bishop, he completed or began 80 churches. He is widely considered to be the founder of Catholic education in the United States.
It seems fitting then that St. John Neumann’s feast day is today. A day on which the readings focus on love vs hate, good vs evil and service to others instead of being self-centered. When St. John was denied the priesthood he responded by giving up everything he knew in his homeland and traveled to a land he knew little about. To sacrifice comfort for service. To be Christ to those who had no access to the Christian faith.
In the first reading St. John the Evangelist states that true love is shown in deed and truth and not just in word or speech. The word love is thrown about freely in our society, often with little awareness of its true meaning. That is, that real love is putting another person ahead of yourself. It happens when a Father gives up a Saturday round of golf to go see his daughter in a 1st grade dance recital. It is when a high school senior sits with a freshman at the lunch table. When a spouse prepares a meal for the family. Or when a shopper returns the cart to the store rather than leaving it in the parking lot.
Hate, on the other hand, is the focus on self. And in focusing on one self, we ignore the needs of others. And when we come to the realization that we are not treating others as God would intend, we have two options. We can either learn to serve others as Christ would have us do, or continue to make our “needs” a priority in our lives. This leads then to separation from others and a separation in our relationship with God. And how often do we learn to hate the very person we have wronged because it justifies our behavior. And hatred of God leads to a hatred of others.
This is what Cain experienced when God revealed to him the truth that his offering was not sufficient. His response was hate for God and then he turned that hatred onto his brother, Abel. Ending in Cain murdering Abel. We see hate turn to murder throughout the Bible. Including some of the heroes of scripture. David murdered Uriah after David’s adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Moses’ anger towards an Egyptian soldier led to his killing the soldier and Moses retreating into the desert. Saul is known for his persecution of Christians before his salvation and becoming perhaps the greatest of Christ’s disciples.
But most of us are not murderers…but we still show hate. When we join in with the ridicule of another because it pumps up our standing with the group. When we repeat gossip about someone because it inflates our image of ourselves. When we turn embarrassment into a personal attack on another. And hatred divides us. Both between people and in our relationship with God.
My wife and I used to live in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania, in the United States. We loved it. The mountains, the people, the snow! But when our first daughter was born, we realized that our children would not know family as they grew up. So we made the decision to move to the Chicago area, where Elise’s family lives. It was very hard leaving the place we had learned to call home. But, in the end, the sacrifice was the right move for our family. We all grew and matured in ways we would not have been able to had we stayed in Pennsylvania.
St. John Nuemann demonstrated self sacrifice by the passion he had for showing compassion for those he served. He taught that you cannot love with compassion and without sacrifice. Putting others before yourself necessitates that sacrifice. You cannot support the homeless without giving up time spent in a hobby. You cannot be pro life and pray at an abortion clinic without risking ridicule and attack. And you cannot redeem the sins of all without the sacrifice of the cross.
