Today is the Feast Day of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a Capuchin Franciscan friar, who was martyred during the Catholic Counter Reformation in 1622 (some 100 years after the start of the Protestant Reformation). Fidelis had been evangelizing in Graubünden, now a canton of eastern Switzerland, which at the time was a stronghold of Calvinism. He was meeting with a great deal of success in receiving people into full communion with the Catholic Church. While journeying on a local road he encountered soldiers under the command of the local Calvin leadership. They demanded Fidelis (Latin for “faithful”) renounce Catholicism, which he refused to do. The soldiers then murdered him. The Protestant minister who had participated in Fidelis’ martyrdom was converted by this circumstance, made a public renunciation of Calvinism and was received into the Catholic Church Continue reading
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Today’s 
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. We’re not celebrating “perfect family Sunday.” Offered as a point of humor, let us remember Jesus was without sin and Mary, by God’s grace was kept free from sin – not such claim was made for Joseph. He wasn’t perfect, but he was holy. And so celebrate and consider holiness this Sunday as we are all called to remember that it was into a family that God sent his Son. A family that has its ups and downs, joys and sorrows, agreements and disputes, and all the things that are tossed into the cauldron called family life. A family like yours in many ways. A family that was holy, not perfect. My point being, that holiness lives and grows apart from perfection and perhaps even thrives best among the flawed and messy. And in family life, that means something far different than a Norman Rockwell painting. 
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