A Twenty First Century Saiont

A 21st Century Saint
A Reflection of Franciscan Priest and Martyr Mychal Judge OFM
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Saints Sergius and Bacchus
www.missionstsergius.org

On September 11, 2001 a son of Saint Francis paid the ultimate sacrifice while doing the job that he believed Christ called him to do. Fr. Mychal Judge OFM was the chaplain of the New York City Fire Department and had answered to call when extremist militants destroyed the World Trade Center and claimed the lives of over 3000 American citizens. There are many people who feel that, just a Christ died in order to save the all people and and so many martyrs died believing and living according to the teachings of Christ, Fr. Mychal also died believing that hwat he was doing was what Christ would have done. Michael Ford, in his FR. MUCHAL JUDGE, AN AMERICAN HERO, writes some of Fr. Michal’s words which are words we should all live by and use often.
Fr. Mychal has often said “Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love”? When asked why he was a priest and how he viewed his life he responded "The life I have is not what I planned on, but I had no idea what life I'd have. You just don't know, so you just go and take one day at a time. I don't get into tomorrow because God hasn't created it yet. So I live in today as best I can for the glory of God and His people." Describing his day he said I start the day with this prayer, 'Lord, show me, take me, mold me, fashion me, show me what You want, take me where you want me to go, let me meet who You want me to meet, tell me what to say and keep me out of Your way.'Many believe that Fr. Mychal should be declared a saint but that is unlikely to ever happen if the Church of Rome continues to proclaim their current teachings. Through the centuries they have almost successfully buried many saints from the the early church history from common knowledge for the same reasons that they will probably never canonize Fr. Mychal.
The reason, he like Saints Sergius, Bacchus, Polyeuct, and Nearchus, and so many others was an openly gay man.
The saints I mention above all have dates assigned to them on the Roman calendar but most people have never heard of them.
Nearly 3,000 participated in his funeral Mass Sept. 15. He is buried in the friars' plot of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa, N.J.
I would like to suggest that you visit a web site dedicated to Fr. Mychal where so many more inspiring stories about the brother of St. Francis who lived a saintly life can be found at: www.SaintMychal.com and also plan to see the wonderful documentary about his life entitles SAINT OF 9/11.