Episode Transcript  

One

A Modern-Day Saint

We can be tempted to think that saints belong to another place and time, Europe, a thousand years ago. You can visit their tombs on pilgrimage, read about their miracles, but becoming a saint today? That feels impossible. Blessed Stanley Rother shatters that illusion.

He was born in 1935 and grew up on a farm near Okarche, Oklahoma, right off Highway 81. I grew up on farms up and down highway 81 in Yankton, SD.

After high school, instead of taking over the family farm, he entered seminary for the Diocese of Oklahoma City. Back then, seminarians had to master Latin. Stanley couldn’t. After six years of struggle, the seminary dismissed him. He went home, worked on the farm and spent time in prayer, seeking the will of God. But he didn’t give up. He got a Latin tutor and with help from Bishop Victor Reed, he transferred to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland. There, he persevered, and in 1963, he was ordained a priest.

Two

The Power of Friendship

In the early 60s Pope John XXIII had asked North American dioceses to send missionaries to Central America. Fr. Stanley volunteered. In 1968, he was sent to Guatemala, to a poor farming village inhabited by the Tz’utujil, (Sue-too-heal) a Mayan people. The Tz’utujil language is very difficult. Yet this same man who couldn’t learn Latin learned Tz’utujil fluently.

As a missionary, he didn’t just celebrate Mass and administer sacraments. He farmed beside his people. He introduced irrigation, taught better planting methods, fixed engines, built homes, whatever they needed. One local said, “If we ate weeds, he ate weeds. If we ate fish, he ate fish.” And he got sick doing it. But that’s what won their hearts. To them, he was no outsider. “He was one of our own.”

Mission volunteers later marveled that seeing Fr. Stanley walking through the village “like the stories in the Bible about Jesus,” with crowds gathering around him, people reaching to touch him, and laughing children trailing behind to hold his hands.  The local people came to trust and revere him deeply. In their eyes, he was far more than a visiting missionary, he was their Shepherd.

Three

Danger

Guatemala was in the grip of a long civil war. The military, seeking to root out Marxist rebels, enacted a scorched-earth policy. Entire villages were burned. Civilians, especially the indigenous poor, were tortured and killed. Priests, teachers, and health workers were often accused of helping the rebels simply for serving the poor.

“The reality is that we are in danger,” Fr. Stanley wrote in mid-1980, noting that several foreign priests had already been murdered. He watched his own parishioners abducted in the night. Over thirty were killed or disappeared. He hid those targeted. He confronted commanders. He knew: by staying with the poor, he was risking his life.

But he stayed.

Four

Martyrdom

In early 1981, word came: Fr. Rother was on a death list. His bishop ordered him home. He obeyed, but only for a time. “A shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger,” he told his family and the Bishop. So, he returned to Guatemala in time for Easter.

Just a few months later, on the night of July 28th, masked men broke into his rectory. They tried to abduct him. He resisted with his fists, his hands were found bruised and bloodied. When they couldn’t drag him out, they shot and killed him. He was 46. He was martyred because he lived the Gospel. He loved the poor. He refused to abandon them.

Pope Francis declared him a martyr on December 1st, 2016, recognizing he died “in odium fidei” in hatred of the faith. He was beatified on September 23rd, 2017.

Five

A Shepherd’s Example

Fr. Stanley Rother didn’t stay because it was easy. He stayed because he loved. He gave his life to help his people get to heaven. So what are we willing to do to help our loved ones get there?

Most of us have children, friends, or spouses who’ve drifted from the faith. We’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work. We feel helpless and tempted to give up. But Stanley didn’t give up. He didn’t just invite people to come to church, but he broke into their lives. He ate what they ate. He worked in their fields. He fixed their broken machines. And through friendship, he built bridges to Christ.

If you want to bring someone back to Christ and the Church, start by breaking into their life. Be present. Be interested. Be helpful. Know them on their terms. And then, when the time is right, invite them into your life with Jesus. The most important thing to do is to invite them to pray. If they have a concern, promise to pray for them. Then invite them to pray. Encourage them to start simple, an Our Father every day and to speak to God in their own words, friend to a friend.

And if you sense they are open, invite them to Confession and Mass. Accompany them to both. Don’t give up. Because the shepherd doesn’t flee. He stays. He loves. And if necessary, he lays down his life.

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