Community of St. Joseph Cathedral & Holy Cross Church

06/25/2026

Blessed Jutta of Thuringia

Saint of the Day for June 25
(c. 1200-1260)
Blessed Jutta of Thuringia’s Story
Today’s patroness of Prussia began her life amidst luxury and power but died the death of a simple servant of the poor.

In truth, virtue and piety were always of prime importance to Jutta of Thuringia and her husband, both of noble rank. The two were set to make a pilgrimage together to the holy places in Jerusalem, but her husband died on the way. The newly widowed Jutta, after taking care to provide for her children, resolved to live in a manner she felt was utterly pleasing to God. She disposed of the costly clothes, jewels, and furniture befitting one of her rank, and became a Secular Franciscan, taking on the simple garment of a religious.

From that point her life was utterly devoted to others: caring for the sick, particularly lepers; tending to the poor, whom she visited in their hovels; helping the crippled and blind with whom she shared her own home. Many of the townspeople of Thuringia laughed at how the once-distinguished lady now spent all her time. But Jutta saw the face of God in the poor and felt honored to render whatever services she could.

About the year 1260, not long before her death, Jutta of Thuringia lived near the non-Christians in eastern Germany. There she built a small hermitage and prayed unceasingly for their conversion. She has been venerated for centuries as the special patron of Prussia.

Reflection
Jesus once said that a camel can pass through a needle’s eye more easily than a rich person can enter God’s realm. That’s pretty scary news for us. We may not have great fortunes, but we who live in the West enjoy a share of the world’s goods that people in the rest of the world cannot imagine. Much to the amusement of her neighbors, Jutta disposed of her wealth after her husband’s death and devoted her life to caring for those who had no means. Should we follow her example, people will probably laugh at us, too. But God will smile.

Blessed Jutta of Thuringia is the Patron Saint of:
Prussia

Franciscan Media
Saint of the Day
Grave monument of Blessed Jutta of Thuringia
Image: Grave Monument for Jutta, wife of count Louis II of Thuringia | Saint George Parish Church, Thuringia | photographed by Wolfgang Sauber

06/24/2026

06/23/2026

Saint John Fisher
June 23

(1469 – June 22, 1535)
Saint John Fisher’s Story
John Fisher is usually associated with Erasmus, Thomas More, and other Renaissance humanists. His life therefore, did not have the external simplicity found in the lives of some saints. Rather, he was a man of learning, associated with the intellectuals and political leaders of his day. He was interested in the contemporary culture and eventually became chancellor at Cambridge.

John Fisher had been made a bishop at 35, and one of his interests was raising the standard of preaching in England. Fisher himself was an accomplished preacher and writer. His sermons on the penitential psalms were reprinted seven times before his death. With the coming of Lutheranism, he was drawn into controversy. His eight books against heresy gave him a leading position among European theologians.

In 1521, Fisher was asked to study the question of King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his brother’s widow. He incurred Henry’s anger by defending the validity of the king’s marriage with Catherine, and later by rejecting Henry’s claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England.

In an attempt to be rid of him, Henry first had John Fisher accused of not reporting all the “revelations” of the nun of Kent, Elizabeth Barton. In feeble health, Fisher was summoned to take the oath to the new Act of Succession. He and Thomas More refused to do so because the Act presumed the legality of Henry’s divorce and his claim to be head of the English Church. They were sent to the Tower of London, where Fisher remained 14 months without trial. Finally both men were sentenced to life imprisonment and loss of goods.

When the two were called to further interrogations, they remained silent. On the supposition that he was speaking privately as a priest, Fisher was tricked into declaring again that the king was not supreme head of the church in England. The king, further angered that the pope had made John Fisher a cardinal, had him brought to trial on the charge of high treason. He was condemned and executed, his body left to lie all day on the scaffold and his head hung on London Bridge. More was executed two weeks later.

John Fisher’s liturgical feast is celebrated on June 22.

Reflection
Today many questions are raised about Christians’ and priests’ active involvement in social issues. John Fisher remained faithful to his calling as a priest and bishop. He strongly upheld the teachings of the Church; the very cause of his martyrdom was his loyalty to Rome. He was involved in the cultural enrichment circles as well as in the political struggles of his time. This involvement caused him to question the moral conduct of the leadership of his country.

“The Church has the right, indeed the duty, to proclaim justice on the social, national and international level, and to denounce instances of injustice, when the fundamental rights of man and his very salvation demand it” (Justice in the World, 1971 Synod of Bishops).

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Saint of the Day
Drawing of Saint John Fisher
Image: from a book entitled The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey | Authors: George Cavendish, Hans Holbein, and Bruce Rogers

06/22/2026

Saint of the Day
Saint Thomas More
June 22

(February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535)
Saint Thomas More’s Story
Thomas More’s belief that no lay ruler has jurisdiction over the Church of Christ cost him his life. Beheaded on Tower Hill, London, on July 6, 1535, More steadfastly refused to approve King Henry VIII’s divorce and remarriage and establishment of the Church of England.

Described as “a man for all seasons,” Thomas More was a literary scholar, eminent lawyer, gentleman, father of four children, and chancellor of England. An intensely spiritual man, he would not support the king’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, breaking with Rome, and denying the pope as head.

More was committed to the Tower of London to await trial for treason: not swearing to the Act of Succession and the Oath of Supremacy. Upon conviction, More declared he had all the councils of Christendom and not just the council of one realm to support him in the decision of his conscience.

Reflection
Four hundred years later in 1935, Thomas More was canonized a saint of God. Few saints are more relevant to our time. In the year 2000, in fact, Pope John Paul II named him patron of political leaders. The supreme diplomat and counselor, he did not compromise his own moral values in order to please the king, knowing that true allegiance to authority is not blind acceptance of everything that authority wants.

King Henry himself realized this and tried desperately to win his chancellor to his side because he knew More was a man whose approval counted, a man whose personal integrity no one questioned. But when Thomas More resigned as chancellor, unable to approve the two matters that meant most to Henry, the king had to get rid of him.

Saint Thomas More is a Patron Saint of:
Attorneys
Civil Servants
Court Clerks
Lawyers
Politicians
Public Servants

Franciscan Media
Painting of Saint Thomas Moore
Image: Sir Thomas More | Hans Holbein the Younge

06/21/2026

Crippling Our Fears…for a Change!

- By Fr. Nnamdi Moneme, OMV
A homily for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is it not amazing how we can have so many experiences of God’s faithful love for us and still succumb to fears in our daily lives? We are afraid of what people will say or think about us. We are afraid of being rejected, criticized, and persecuted, etc. We are afraid of failing and disappointing loved ones. We are afraid that our efforts will not be appreciated by others. These are only some of the fears that linger in our hearts.

But we don’t have to let fear cripple us always. We can actually cripple fear too if we learn the lesson that Jesus offers us in the tenth Chapter of Mathew’s Gospel from which today’s Gospel is taken. Jesus does not just command us to avoid fear: “Have no fear of them.” He also shows us how we can cripple fear itself.

First of all, we must open our hearts and minds to the words that Jesus speaks to us even in the dark and frightening moments of our lives and be ready to echo these words to the world, “What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light.” Even in the darkest moments, Our Lord Jesus continues to communicate words of healing, hope, forgiveness, strength to us and these words are not just for us but are meant to be conveyed to all others by our own words and actions even if they have or may reject us, “As you enter the house, salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.”

Secondly, we must live with the conviction that God is so one with us that He knows us very well as well as all that we are going through, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. But even the hairs on your head are all numbered.” By virtue of the Incarnation, the Word of God has united Himself to every one of us and He shares in all our experiences too except sin. We must live with this conviction that God knows us as well as our past failures, current worries, present strengths, and future achievements as well as all that we are going through presently. In Jesus Christ, God has experienced what we experience today and gives us the grace to follow in His footsteps, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master…If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household.”

Thirdly, we must also live with that conviction that God loves us just as we are and we do not need to pretend to be something or someone else, “Fear not therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows.” The frightening moments of our lives is the time when the Spirit of love within us will surely speak to give witness to Jesus Christ, “When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Lastly, we also live with the conviction that God will surely reward us for whatever good that we do or endure for the sake of Jesus Christ. Jesus, who assures us that “we will be hated by all for His name’s sake,” also assures us that He will approve us before the face of the Father for what we do for His sake even if the entire world should condemn and criticize us, “So everyone who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.”

The young prophet Jeremiah in today’s First Reading is facing the frightening prospect of death at the hands of his people for his prophetic message calling them to submit to the approaching Babylonian force. His friends become his persecutors, “All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine.” But he is aware of God’s presence with him, “But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion.” He sees his trial as God “testing him and probing his mind and heart.” He cripples his fear by praising God, “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord.”

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our fears overcome and cripple us despite God’s amazing blessings in our lives when we begin to doubt God’s words and His promises to us. The same words of Jesus that calmed storms and drove out demons are meant to set us free from fear if we listen to them with faith as the words of the Risen Christ and willingly reflect these words to others by our own words and actions. Compromise with the world or seeking to just blend with the crowd only makes our fears increase. Fears cripple us when we see God as distant and uncaring, not knowing us and what we are going through. We are crippled by fears when we doubt God’s unconditional love for us and think that we have to do something good to win His love and show others that we are worthy of love. Lastly, fears overwhelm and stifle us in the midst of God’s gifts when we are not doing things for the sake of Christ and seeking our rewards from Him alone.

I remember lying down prostrate on the floor as the Litany of Saints was being sung at my priestly ordination. My legs were trembling at the thought of being ordained a Catholic priest. I was thinking, “Am I really ready for this? Would I be faithful to the end? What would people say about me?” Listening to the list of saints being chanted, I pondered how all those saints, beginning with Mama Mary, the Queen of Martyrs, dealt with different forms of fears too. They all faced fears that I could not even imagine: fears from the malice of wicked men and temptations from demons, and fears from their own weaknesses. Their fears did not cripple them but they crippled their fears by “the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.”(Rev 12:11) My fears dispelled as I sensed that hope that divine grace offered by the blood of the Lamb was more than enough for me to follow the footsteps of the saints.

Our Eucharist today as always is a participation in the blood of the Lamb who says to us, “Do not be afraid.” The Eucharistic sacrifice is where the God-man, who knows us more than we know ourselves, loves us as we are, shares in our frightening experiences, and assures us that our faithful witness to Him before others will never be in vain.

Let our life of witness be strong by sharing with others His words and fruits of the graces that we receive, by living in that conviction that He knows us perfectly and loves us unconditionally, and that He has assured us of our heavenly reward. This is how we can cripple our fears…for a change.

Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!

06/18/2026

Venerable Matt Talbot
Saint of the Day for June 18
(May 2, 1856 – June 7, 1925)

Venerable Matt Talbot’s Story
Matt Talbot can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism. He was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years—until he was almost 30—Matt was an active alcoholic.

One day he decided to take “the pledge” for three months, make a general confession and begin to attend daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt’s first seven years after taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking.

Most of his life Matt Talbot worked as a builder’s laborer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. He prayed the rosary conscientiously. Though his job did not make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions.

After 1923, Matt’s health failed, and he was forced to quit work. He died on his way to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later, Pope Paul VI gave Matt Talbot the title venerable. His liturgical feast is celebrated on June 19.

Reflection
In looking at the life of Matt Talbot, we may easily focus on the later years when he had stopped drinking for some time and was leading a penitential life. Only alcoholic men and women who have stopped drinking can fully appreciate how difficult the earliest years of sobriety were for Matt.

He had to take one day at a time. So do the rest of us.

Venerable Matt Talbot is the Patron Saint of:
Alcoholics
Recovery from Substance Abuse and Addictions
Sobriety

June 18
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Saint of the Day