13 September 2022 - Tuesday of 24th week of Ordinary Time - St John Chrysostom - 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14 and 27-31A; Luke 7:11-17

       As we hear the Gospel message today of a dead man who is brought back to life by Jesus after Jesus is moved by pity at the desperate situation of his mother, we may reflect up the different ways people are brought to the faith and the different realities that exist in the members of our faith.  Our Catholic Church is a very diverse body of faith.  It has been diverse since the days of the Early Church. We only have to think about the diversity of the group of apostles.  But the Catholic Church is also one body, which is addressed in the reading from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians today.  We are all in solidarity as members of the Body of Christ into which all believers are baptized.  But, as individuals, we are all important to that one Body of Christ as well.  Some of us are called as prophets or apostles.  Some of us are administrators or teachers or healers.  Each member of the Body of Christ has unique talents, abilities, and spiritual gifts.

     St John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople from the last half of the 4th century, is the saint we celebrate today.  He was in the second group of Early Church fathers who were named to be Doctors of the Church. John was known for his great teaching and preaching skills. The name assigned to him, “Chrysostom,” means “golden mouthed.” Politics brought him to be Archbishop of Constantinople, but he was direct and honest in the way he preached to the people, not catering to the rich and influential of society. The Gospel message he preached reached out to the poor in justice and integrity.  In fact, he once said: “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the Church door, you will not find him in the chalice.” His honesty and his candor finally caught up to him when he was sent into exile by the Emperor where he died in 407.  

      John Chrysostom started his life as a monk, yet his gifts of preaching and teaching, as well as his declining health, brought him to serve the Church as a Bishop.  He is remembered today more than 1,600 years after his death as one of the patriarchs of the Early Church.  St John Chrysostom, we unite our prayers to your prayers today as we remember you and the other members of the Early Church who passed down the faith to us.