Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

Luke 17:1-6

He said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Reflection on the gospel reading: Today’s gospel reading gives us a collection of sayings by Jesus about sin and faith. Jesus shows himself to be a realist about the human condition, that sin inevitably will occur, but he also teaches us that despite the inevitability of wrong doing, we are not powerless. He observes that we have a responsibility to avoid harming others, particularly those who are the weakest and most dependent. Paul the apostle elsewhere in scripture instructs us that God allows us weakness that we can learn to trust God. Perhaps reflective of that perspective on sin and grace, Jesus calls us to be full of faith and trust that great things will come to pass.

Saint of the day: Josphat was born in 1580 at Volodymyr, Lithuania (modern Ukraine) and was called at birth, John Kunsevyc. His father was a municipal counselor, and his mother was known for her piety. Josphat was raised in the Orthodox Ruthenian Church which, on November 23, 1595 in the Union of Brest united with the Church of Rome. He was trained as a merchant’s apprentice at Vilna and was offered partnership in the business, including a marriage to his partner’s daughter. Feeling the call to religious life, he declined both. A monk in the Ukrainian Order of Saint Basil (Basilians) in Vilna at age 20 in 1604, he took the name brother Josaphat. He became a Byzantine rite priest in 1609.

Josaphat’s superior, Samuel, never accepted unity with Rome, and looked for a way to fight against Roman Catholicism and the Uniats, the name given those who brought about and accepted the union of the Churches. Learning of Samuel’s work, and fearing the physical and spiritual damage it could cause, Josaphat brought it to the attention of his superiors. The archbishop of Kiev removed Samuel from his post, replacing him with Josaphat.

A famous preacher, he worked to bring unity among the faithful and encouraged Christians to come back to the Church. Bishop Josaphat believed unity to be in the best interests of the Church, and by teaching, clerical reform, and personal example Josaphat won the greater part of the Orthodox in Lithuania to the union. Never completely suitable to either side, Roman authorities sometimes raised objection to Josaphat’s Orthodox actions. Josaphat became Archbishop of Polotsk, Lithuania in 1617.

While Josaphat attended the Diet of Warsaw in 1620, a dissident group, supported by Cossacks, sat up an anti-Uniat bishop for each Uniat one, spread the accusation that Josaphat had “gone Latin,” and that his followers would be forced to do the same, and placed a usurper on the archbishop’s chair. Despite warnings, Josaphat went to Vitebsk, a hotbed of trouble, to try to correct the misunderstandings, and settle disturbances. The army remained loyal to the king, who remained loyal to the Union, and so the army tried to protect Josaphat and his clergy.

Late in 1623, an anti-Uniat priest named Elias shouted insults at Josaphat from his own courtyard, and tried to force his way into the residence. When he was removed, a mob assembled and forced his release. Mob mentality took over, and they invaded the residence. Josaphat tried to insure the safety of his servants before fleeing himself, but did not get out in time, and was martyred by the mob. He was struck in the head with a halberd, shot and beaten with staves on November 12, 1623 at Vitebsk, Belarus. His body thrown into the Dvina River but later was recovered. His death was a shock to both sides of the dispute, brought some sanity and a cooling off period to both sides of the conflict. Josphat was buried at Biala, Poland and his body was found incorrupt five years after death.

Spiritual reading: There is only one true prayer, only one substantial prayer: Christ himself. There is only one voice which rises above the face of the earth: the voice of Christ. The voice reunites and coordinates in itself all the voices raised in prayer. (Jesus: The Word to be Spoken by Mother Teresa)