Saint Raphael Kalinowski

Saint Raphael Kalinowski

   Saint Raphael was born  in 1835 as Joseph, son of Andrew and Josepha Kalinowski in present day Lithuania. Saint Raphael felt a call to the priesthood early in his life, but decided to complete his education. He studied zoology, chemistry, agriculture, and apiculture at the Institute of Agronomy in Hory Horki, Russia, and at the Academy of Military Engineering in Saint Petersburg, Russia. 

Saint Raphael became a Lieutenant in the Russian Military Engineering Corps in 1857. During his post he was responsible for the planning and supervised construction of the railway between Kursk and Odessa. He was promoted to captain in 1862 and stationed in Brest-Litovsk. In Bret-Litovsk he started, taught, and covered all the costs of a Sunday school, accepting anyone interested.

In 1863 he supported the Polish insurrection. He resigned from the Russian army and became the rebellion's minister of war for the Vilna region. He only took the commission with the understanding that he would never hand out a death sentence nor execute a prisoner. He was soon arrested by Russian authorities, and in June of 1864 he was condemned to death for his part in the revolt. Fearing they would be creating a political martyr, they commuted his sentence to ten years of forced labour in the Siberian salt mines. Part of his sentence was spent in Irkutsk, where his relics have been moved to sanctify the new cathedral.

Upon his release in 1873, he was exiled from his home region in Lithuania. He moved to Paris, France, and worked there as a tutor for three years. In 1877 he finally answered the long-heard call to the religious life, and joined the Carmelite Order at Graz, Austria, taking the name Raphael. He studied theology in Hungary and then joined the Carmelite house in Czama, Poland. He was ordained on January 15, 1882.

Saint Raphael worked to restore the Discalced Carmelites to Poland, and for church unity. He founded a convent at Wadowice, Poland in 1889, and worked alongside Blessed Alphonsus Mary Marurek. He was a noted spiritural director for both Catholics and Orthodox. He was considered  an enthusiastic parish priest and spent countless hours with his parishioners in the confessional. Saint Raphael died in 1907 and was cannonized by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 500

Reading 1

RV 5:1-10

I, John, saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne.

It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.

Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice,

“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”

But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth

was able to open the scroll or to examine it.

I shed many tears because no one was found worthy

to open the scroll or to examine it.

One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.

The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed,

enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”

Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne

and the four living creatures and the elders

a Lamb that seemed to have been slain.

He had seven horns and seven eyes;

these are the seven spirits of God sent out into the whole world.

He came and received the scroll from the right hand

of the one who sat on the throne.

When he took it,

the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders

fell down before the Lamb.

Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense,

which are the prayers of the holy ones.

They sang a new hymn:

“Worthy are you to receive the scroll

and break open its seals,

for you were slain and with your Blood you purchased for God

those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.

You made them a kingdom and priests for our God,

and they will reign on earth.”

Responsorial Psalm

PS 149:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6A AND 9B

R. (Rev. 5:10) The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Sing to the LORD a new song

of praise in the assembly of the faithful.

Let Israel be glad in their maker,

let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.

R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Let them praise his name in the festive dance,

let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.

For the LORD loves his people,

and he adorns the lowly with victory.

R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Let the faithful exult in glory;

let them sing for joy upon their couches;

Let the high praises of God be in their throats.

This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.

R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Gospel

LK 19:41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,

he saw the city and wept over it, saying,

“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–

but now it is hidden from your eyes.

For the days are coming upon you

when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;

they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.

They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,

and they will not leave one stone upon another within you

because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”