(Optional) Memorial of Saint Peter Damian, bishop and doctor of the Church
(James
3:13-18; Mark 9:14-29)
Today the
Church remembers St. Peter Damian. He
was a monk, scholar, and reformer. Recently
he has been cited for sounding the alarm on clerical sexual abuse in the eleventh
century! Raised on a farm, Peter was
shocked by rampant homosexuality among priests and even bishops. He wrote a letter to the reform-minded Pope
Leo IX describing the abuse in direct terms.
Ecclesial
corruption reached all-time highs during the tenth and eleventh centuries. Many clerics were living openly with their
wives and children. Ecclesial offices
were being bought and sold. One of the
worse popes in history, Benedict IX, occupied the Chair of Peter for much of half
a century. His name was connected to
rape, murder, bribery, adultery, and sodomy.
Only because of ascetical men like Peter Damian and the reforming popes
Leo IX and Gregory VII was the Church saved from dissolution.
The Letter
of James today provides sure wisdom to avoid corruption. We want to develop humility and avoid
jealousy and selfish ambition. We also
need to be people of peace and generous in showing mercy. At the same time we should endeavor to be constant
in seeking and defending the truth.
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