We here in the US have a Catholic Church that is relatively young compared to the countries of Europe and some other parts of the world, so it make sense that we do not have a huge number of American saints, although that number has been increasing in recent years. Today, we celebrate one of our American saints - St John Neumann. He was born in the early 19th century in Bohemia, a country we don’t really think about in our modern world. It is now a part of the Czech republic. When he decided that he wanted to become a priest, he was told that his diocese in Bohemia had a overabundance of priests, so he decided to immigrate to the US and become a priest there. Neumann was very skilled at languages, so he was a very useful priest to the Catholic immigrant population in the young United States. He eventually joined the missionary order of the Redemptorists, where he became provincial. Neumann became the 4th Bishop of Philadelphia. He established the first system of Catholic schools in the US, which thrived in the parishes of his archdiocese. He died at the young age of 49. Here is a quote from St John Neumann that I really like: “As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also.”As Jesus called Philip and Nathaniel in the Gospel today to follow him, as he called John Neumann and each one of us to be his disciples, let us respond to that call with joy and enthusiasm and creativity. St John Neumann was an immigrant himself who ministered to a primarily immigrant population. Next week, we recognize National Migration Week in our Church, which we have none for nearly 50 years. We think of immigrants, refugees, and those caught up in human trafficking. The theme of this week is Creating a Culture of Encounter. Pope Francis states that since our faith is an encounter with Jesus, we are called to do what Jesus does: to encounter others.
J. Let us reflect on how this call to encounter is calling us in our faith.
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