Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 20, 2025 Column Father De Celles
Congratulations to Sister Transfiguration. On Monday, September 17, I was honored to be present at the Profession of Final Vows of Sister Mary of the Transfiguration Rivera in the religious order “Servants of the Lord and Our Lady of Matara,” which you might recognize as the “nuns in the blue habits.” Baptized as “Anilia,” Sister is the daughter of long-time Parishoners Ben and Ileana Rivera (congratulations to them too!).
Sister grew up at St. Raymond’s and was active in our Homeschool Group before she attended Ave Maria University. After graduating from Ave in 2018 she immediately entered the Servants as a Postulant. What a blessing to have this vocation flower in our parish. Please keep Sister Transfiguration in your prayers, and pray for vocations to consecrated life from our parish.
New Home for New Chesterton Academy. I am very excited to tell you that last week it was officially announced that the new Chesterton Academy of Christ the King will be located at St. Lawrence Catholic Church on Franconia Road in Alexandria. This is just 14 minutes away from St. Raymond’s.
You may remember that I am on the Boad of Advisors to Christ the King. This new classical Catholic school will open in the Fall of 2026.
Charlie Kirk. The last week has been filled with news about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old devout Christian, husband and father of 2, and founder of Turning Point USA. Since a teenager Charlie was active in politics, but more importantly he actively promoting a dialogue of ideas, approaching them from a common sense, conservative and Christian perspective but always striving for a respectful exchange even with his opponents. He was famous for his very popular podcasts and his touring of College campuses to debate all comers. He was not only a huge support to conservate young people, but also an instrument of conversion, clarification and deprograming many young people confused by the leftist academia and news/social/entertainment media.
Above all he was a devout and unapologetic Christian. Although he professed an Evangelical Protestantism, his wife was a practicing Catholic, and he often expressed respect for Catholicism. As an advanced autodidact and a devout seeker of the truth, I was convinced he was “not far from” becoming a Catholic.
His assassination is a dark, and important, event in our national history. Millions of young people feel a deep personal loss as well as an attack on an icon of their beliefs, and millions of older folks, like me, see it as the latest bloody attacks on true American ideals, including free speech, true tolerance, and religious freedom.
Some on the left have been blaming Kirk for his own murder (“he deserved it,” “Hateful thoughts …lead to hateful actions”) and many have even celebrated it. Still others are blaming conservative rhetoric for the assassination. This is despite the fact that the assassin was clearly motivated by his leftist ideals and his romance with a male identifying as a woman.
Moreover, it seems pretty clear that violence is a more an instrument of the Left than the Right in our country. A recent poll found that 42 percent of self-identified “Liberals” think that “violence can sometimes be justified…to achieve political goals,” whereas only 6 percent of conservatives agreed with that.
This tracks with the ideological foundations of today’s “mainstream” Left, which is rooted in Marxism. Historically Marxism foments hate between economic classes, the rich and the poor. But the Marxist model has easily been adapted to pit women against men, racial minorities against whites (and Asians), “lgbtq” people against normal heterosexuals. Moreover, it specifically embraces violence as a necessary tool of change, as well as lying and authoritarianism.
Mainstream conservative movements, on the other hand, are founded either on Christian or Enlightenment principles (or a combination of both), which reject violence in favor of free and respectful debate. That is not to say that some conservatives are not violent or disrespectful—we are all sinners. But violence, lies and authoritarianism are not principles of “the Right.”
So how do we respond to Charlie’s assignation and the continuing violence and lies of the Left? Excuse me if I quote myself in last Sunday’s homily:
“We turn to the Most Holy Cross of Jesus. And we remember, “father, forgive them.” “Love your enemies.” And we remember that from the Cross comes the Resurrection, from suffering, glory.
“And we remember that the message of real love and peace and truth
that is at the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ is still the answer for the troubles and sufferings in this world, and a pledge of glorious happiness in the next.
“We do not pick up the sword, we do not subjugate, we do not stigmatize our enemies. Yes, we can fight them, but not with bloody violence, but with words of reason and truth, and always with the forbearance and mercy of charity. We fight like St. Paul fought the good fight. And like Christ himself, and with Christ,
we fight and conquer sin, and death itself.
“And we don’t fall for the lie that words of disagreement are violence.
Words are not violent. No, violence is violence.
“And yes, sometimes violence must be met with the violence of self-defense, but we do not need to resort to that when we’ve only begun to fight back like Charlie did—with straightforward debate and courageous and charitable truth-telling.
“…We are not alone…We are Christians. We embrace the Cross, and place our faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ.”
Our Lady of Ransom. This Wednesday, September 24th, is the Feast of Our Lady of Ransom. Many of the newcomers to our parish don’t know much about this devotion, so…
During the 13th century Muslim pirates from northern Africa would regularly raid and capture ships from Christian countries and then hold the captured Christians for ransom, forced conversion, and/or for the slave trade.
So on the evening August 1, 1218, the Blessed Mother appeared separately to three very different men in Barcelona, Spain: to St. Peter Nolasco, the son of a wealthy Spanish merchant and veteran of various battles against the “Moors” (Muslims) occupying southern Spain; to King James I of Aragon; and to our own beloved patron St. Raymond of Peñafort, who was Peter’s confessor. Our Lady told each of them that St. Peter was to found a religious order that would dedicate itself to the ransom of Christian captives of Muslims. The members of this new order would take a vow to offer themselves personally/bodily, when necessary, as ransom or as security for the freedom their fellow Christians. St. Peter obeyed the Our Lady, and with the political and financial support of the King and under the wise guidance of St. Raymond, the order was founded and proceeded in its mission. The order is officially named the “Order of the Virgin Mary of Mercy of the Redemption of Captives,” so that Our Lady of Ransom is also sometimes called “Our Lady of Mercy,” and the order is commonly called “the Mercedarians.”
The apparition of Our Lady of Ransom to St. Raymond of Peñafort is pictured in the beautiful mural located in our sanctuary above our statue of Blessed Mother.
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles