Transcription

• Speaker #0

  The Sanctity of St. John Eudes, The Centenary of His Canonization, May 31, 1925-2025 My name is Eugenio Lopera. I send you my cordial and fraternal greetings. I would like to invite you to find holiness in the sanctifying decrees of John Eudes, in his life, and in his writings, as we are asked to walk in the way of Jesus. In this way, we can present him as a model for every Christian today. What is holiness? There are countless writings on Christian holiness, from the immense panoply of Holy Scripture, anthropology, theology, mysticism, spirituality, liturgy, pastoral ministry, church ministry, canon law, constitutions, hundreds of communities, and multiple hagiographies. What would an ordinary Christian think, if he had access to this immense literature? Is there something simple? Something less elaborate about living in holiness, walking in holiness. John Eudes gives us a simple answer. Holiness is living and walking like Jesus. Every baptized person can hear and do this every day of his or her life. John Eudes follows the gospel, which tells us what Jesus first did and then taught. We will look first at John Eudes'concrete path to holiness, and then at what he wrote to help us walk in holiness in Jesus'way. The Church, in several decrees, has demonstrated the holiness of John Eudes and presents him as a paradigm, a model for today's Christian. Pope Pius X, on the holy year of 1925, and with the signatures of thirty-four cardinals, issued an astonishing decree of canonization, in which he extolled, more than usual, the holiness of John Eudes, in elegant Latin, not at all sober in his praise. The Church's decrees from the hermicity of his virtues to his canonization, emphasize the excellent exercise of Christian virtues and attitudes, in apostolic works, in their foundations, in writings, and in what we can call, in general, the constant witness of an exemplary life. Holiness, as we have said, is living in the way of Jesus, that is, being, thinking, feeling, speaking and acting in the way of Jesus. The expression is biblical and embodies all the dynamism of Christian spirituality. John Eudes is very concrete, to live the states and mysteries of Jesus with our feelings, affections, attitudes and wills. If we follow the content of the church's decrees on sanctification, applying the Buddhist concept of holiness, we find that living in the manner of Jesus is a whole process of walking in holiness, from childhood to death. as a response to the action of the Holy Spirit, to the action of grace, which is the Holy Trinity in us. The exercise of virtues, faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, wealth, and other attitudes are the fruit of the living presence of the Holy Trinity, which acts freely and with immense love within us. From the formation of Jesus in us, who sanctifies, lives and reigns in our hearts. Living Jesus'way is transformed into the same experience of the Father. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. The guide, the rule for living Jesus'way, is the Word of God. To live the Word of God is to live in the way of Jesus. And from his own experience, John Eudes offers us a precious guide, unique in the Church, the rule of the Lord Jesus and the rule of the Blessed Virgin Mary. John Eudes, through listening to and practicing the Word of God, is a model, a paradigm within reach of every Christian, with nature, without strange or extraordinary things. We are not going to imitate St. John Eudes in the miracles he performed, but in fulfilling everything that is in God's Word, for example, love, forgiveness, and mercy.