St Cyril of Alexandria
Dear Sally, Believe me, my very dear niece; I know what you are going through. Between swim training, working 2 jobs, and an active (plus, I hope, healthy) social life, keeping God on the radar screen is no small challenge. Our Lord too understood this: “The world will give you trouble,” he warned, but then he added, “but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33) He is the first one interested in giving meaning to all of your endeavors and staying close beside you every step of your adventurous life. I know that you know this. But I detect that you have lost sight of the secret to making it a reality. I will remind you (that’s what solitarily confined uncles in far away prisons are for, didn’t you know?): the Eucharist. My dear niece, Jesus Christ became a man many hundreds of years ago in order to bring his divine light and love into our very living rooms. The Eucharist, that same true presence of Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity is nothing less than the extension of that incarnation into the living rooms of all times and places. It was the secret to the remarkable life of today’s saint, and it ought to be the secret to what will certainly be your remarkable life. Cyril became bishop of one of the most important cities of the ancient world – Alexandria, Egypt. Founded in the fourth century BC by Alexander the Great (Alexander loved naming cities after himself), it had become an intellectual and economic powerhouse of Mediterranean civilization. Along with Jerusalem, Rome, Antioch, and (a bit later) Constantinople, it was one of the great Patriarchates of the early Church. The bishop of Alexandria was a big dog, so to speak, and had a lot of pull. Cyril used that pull to defend Christian truth against one of its most vicious attackers: Nestorianism. Nestorius was a benighted monk-priest who became bishop of Constantinople. Unfortunately, he began touting the idea that Jesus Christ was really two separate persons: Jesus the human being, whose human nature was inhabited by Jesus the Son of God, as someone inhabits a house, or a god makes himself present in a temple. Of course, if that teaching were true, then the whole edifice of Christian doctrine (the incarnation, Mary’s divine motherhood, the atonement, the redemption, etc.) would collapse like a sand castle at high tide. Cyril challenged Nestorius, contacted the Pope, and presided over a Church Council (in Ephesus in 431) in order to root out the insidious doctrine. He ended up being thrown into prison for a time, but was eventually vindicated, and the heresy was defeated. The point I wanted to make was that St Cyril’s heroic (and inspired) defense of Christ’s true personhood (one divine person in two natures), derived in great part from his profound devotion to the Eucharist, which he also defended at great length. If Christ the God-man is the fulcrum of human history (which he is), then the Eucharist (his sacramental presence throughout history) ought to be the fulcrum of every human life, yours included. Spending 15 minutes a day with the Lord who loves you and waits for you in the Tabernacle will – I guarantee it – transform the entire fabric of your busy and frazzling routine. Thirty minutes would be even better. Gotta go. Love, Uncle Eddy
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Br. Juan Pablo Pedraza Ramírez, LC is from Ofusagasugá, Colombia. In his search for the truth, Br. Juan was led to the Church, prayer, and the sacraments. When he attended a vocational retreat, he discerned immediately that he was not being called to the diocesan priesthood, but upon his first encounter with Fr. César Pérez, LC, he knew in his heart that he was meant to be a Legionary priest. Br. Juan entered the candidacy program and then the novitiate, and today, he is a first-year humanist at LC Cheshire. For him, seeing the life of a single Legionary priest revealed to him the entire charism of the Legionaries of Christ—Br. Juan hopes he can clearly reflect Christ and the Legionary charism in much the same way.
Fr. Brian Hoelzen, LC grew up in Seattle, Washington, and was ordained in 2015. He feels fortunate to have served and studied in exciting destinations both abroad and in the United States, including Spain, Italy, Mexico, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Indiana, Georgia, Michigan, and Louisiana. Fr. Brian is a member of the Legionaries of Christ Territorial Directorate community in Atlanta, from which he collaborates in various territorial projects and serves as chaplain to the Regnum Christi developing localities. As a complement to his work, Fr. Brian is currently researching the interplay between charism, organizational health and personal flourishing.
Maria Reinagel is a Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi (1993) serving as Director of the Office for Consecrated Life in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, where she also ministers through spiritual accompaniment in the Ohio Valley. A poet whose writing was born out of her own journey through suffering and healing, Maria recently published her first book, Father, I Am Full of Your Glory: My Path to Healing Through Poetry. (can be found in the Regnum Christi store) She is continuing to discern how God is calling her to serve through this new ministry of writing — offering her words as a testimony to the healing love of Christ and a balm for those seeking meaning in suffering.
