Today we celebrate and honor St. Leonard of Port Moritz, a very important saint who was
born during the latter part of the 17th century, and as a young man he would enter the Jesuit
order and begin his studies for the priesthood as a Jesuit, but he would eventually leave and
become a Franciscan. When St. Leonard would finally be ordained a priest, he would be noted
for his preaching. Most particularly, he would preach devotion to the Sacred Heart, adoration
of the Blessed Sacrament, and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He would go about in
his missionary activities all about Italy at the time, and eventually he would literally burn
himself out by his austere penances and all his missionary labors for the Kingdom of Christ.
And one of the reasons that St. Leonard of Moritz was so driven to work for the salvation and the
conversion of souls, because as he taught, that the majority of adults, he taught in accord with
many of the doctors and fathers of the Church, the majority of adults are damned. And he would
try to point out, in order to bring them to their senses, they are primarily damned because of a
attitude by which they presume upon God's mercy and believe that it is easy to convert. And that
in itself belies their pride, for they think that conversion is within their own power, and yet
we know by faith it is a free gift given to us by Almighty God. There is nothing we can do that is
good unless we do so through the grace of God. And so, all good things must be attributed to the
author of that good, and that is our Lord. And so, many souls, even if they do good,
are not willing in their pride to give the credit to the one who gives them the grace to do so.
And so, he said, many, because, again, because of their libertine attitude, will lose their souls,
that is, adults. And this is in perfect accord with the teaching of St. Alphonsus de Ligori,
a doctor of the Church, who pointed out that he believed the majority of mankind were saved,
but that the majority of adults were lost. And he taught this because he said that when times are
wicked, God puts children under special care. And so, he said, many, because, again, because,
of his providence. And so, St. Alphonsus would tell us, discern the wickedness of your times
by the mortality rate of your young. We live in a world in which the mortality rate of our young
is the highest in the history of mankind, and we often don't even allude to the fact because
we don't see the death of so many, especially those who are killed by surgical and chemical
abortions. The carnage in the wombs of women is untold. And so,
most souls agree in principle to this slaughter of the youth because they know that it is indicative
of the pleasures they wish to pursue. And so, St. Leonard would teach that the primary reason
that adults do not save their soul is because they refuse to take up the royal road of penance.
And so, St. Leonard would teach the way of the cross because in reflecting upon what our Lord
did for us, we are inspired to do penance because it is indicative of the pleasures they wish to pursue.
It is the love of the Savior that inspires us to do penance. And so, we must always reflect upon
that act by which our Lord underwent the mission of his Father, that is, the act of his crucifixion
in death and his passion in order to save us from our sins. And so, let us resolve this day with all
the saints to begin to do penance. Father John Hardin pointed out that the most difficult thing
that he had in his previous life was to do penance. And so, St. Leonard would teach that the
priority of priesthood was to come to grips with the fact that the majority of adults were on the
road to perdition. And then he pointed out, as St. Leonard understood so well, that the majority of
adults are on their way to perdition not because of crass and gross sins, but because of their love
of comfort. He pointed out how he noticed in the elderly that they were willing to do anything to
hold on to their knickknacks. They were willing to do anything in order to have just enough money
to buy the latest drug that would assuage their pain.
And indeed, we do not in any way wish to condemn the works of physicians and the production of
true medicines that help those who are sick. But ultimately, we cannot escape our death.
We cannot escape the sufferings of our illnesses. We must do penance. And so, suffering, we must
endure. And so, Father Hardin pointed out that we live in a world in which the majority of souls,
not desiring to be millionaires or billionaires or gazillionaires, but simply desiring to have
to purchase the latest technological device or the latest medical advance so that they may be
delivered from their suffering, will lose their souls. And so, let us strive to try to devoid
ourselves of all that keeps us from Almighty God, all that keeps us from contemplating those
mysteries that St. Leonard would go about teaching so well. He would convert untold thousands of
souls because he truly had zeal for souls and he wished to rouse us all out of our torpor.
That is, our desire, not for the Lord and not for union with the Lord, but our desire to pursue our
happiness according to the things of this world. And so, if it was so in the time of St. Leonard of
Port Moritz, how much more so in our age of technology, in our age of untold medical advancements
that can, as it were, relieve our suffering. If it is true in a time when souls had to work,
literally, with their hands to gain the fruit of the
fields in order to take care of their bodies, how much more so is it true in a time in which the
majority of human beings never need to till a single square foot of sod in order to gain the
food that sustains the body. We live in the lap of luxury and that is causing the destruction of
souls. And so, as members of the mystical body, we must take up that banner preached by St. Leonard
of Port Moritz, the banner of penance, endured first for love of our Lord and what he did for
us, and then for love of souls, especially those souls so far from the Savior, that is, the souls
most precious to the Mother of God, as was taught by many of the Franciscan saints. The soul dearest
to the Lady at this moment is the soul furthest from her Son. And so, let us strive by keeping
close to our Lady, we will keep close to our Lord, and in keeping close to them, our Lady will use
us as instruments in the conquest of all souls. And so, as members of the mystical body, we must
take up that banner preached by St. Leonard of Port Moritz, the banner of penance, endured first for
the kingdom of Christ. And so, let us, like St. Leonard, be devoted entirely to the sacred heart
of Jesus, which loves us beyond our telling, but we must also remember that our Lord is a just God,
and so we must one day give account for how we have lived our life. Let us turn to the blessed
sacrament, worshiping our Lord and Savior, whom we cannot see, but is hidden in his final humiliation
in that most august of all sacraments. Let us turn to the blessed sacrament, worshiping our Lord and
to keep us on the road of salvation, and to give that grace to all souls. Let us turn to Mary
Immaculate, and so, especially reflecting upon that doctrine that St. Leonard labored so much to see
defined, the doctrine of her Immaculate Conception. Let us, in reflecting on her sinlessness, see our
sinfulness, so that we may constantly turn to our Mother for her help and aid, so that she may guide
us through this life, in order that we may attain salvation. Let us turn to the blessed sacrament,
and be in union with the Blessed Trinity eternally in the life to come.