October 1 My Dear Children, We Celebrate October as the month of the Most Holy Rosary.
"Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today." -
Saint Padre Pio
October 1 My Dear Children, Today is the Feast of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus – The Little Flower. “Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word and the doing of the least actions for love.”
- The little way of Saint Therese of Lisieux
October 2 My Dear Children, Today is the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels! Heavenly Father, your infinite love for us has chosen a blessed angel in heaven and appointed them our guide during this earthly pilgrimage. Accept our thanks for so great a blessing. Grant that we may experience the assistance of our holy protector in all our necessities.
Image by CatholicTradition.org Loving angel and guide, watch over us with the tenderness of your angelic heart. Keep us always on the way that leads to heaven and cease not to pray for us until we have attained our final destiny. Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, rule and guide. Amen.
October 2 Message from Our Lady of Medjugorje – Queen of Peace “Dear children, I love you with a motherly love and with a motherly patience I wait for your love and unity. I pray that you may be a community of God’s children, of my children. I pray that as a community you may joyfully come back to life in the faith and in the love of my Son. My children, I am gathering you as my apostles and am teaching you how to bring others to come to know the love of my Son; how to bring to them the Good News, which is my Son. Give me your open, purified hearts and I will fill them with the love for my Son. His love will give meaning to your life and I will walk with you. I will be with you until the meeting with the Heavenly Father. My children, it is those who walk towards the Heavenly Father with love and faith who will be saved. Do not be afraid. I am with you. Put your trust in your shepherds as my Son trusted when He chose them, and pray that they may have the strength and the love to lead you. Thank you.”
October 4 My Dear Children, Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. www.catholiccompany.com/stfranciscross + www.saintfrancisofassisi.org
October 5 My Dear Children, Today is the Feast of Saint Faustina and the Divine Mercy. “Let the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy. My daughter, write about My mercy towards tormented souls. Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable mercy. Write: before I come as a just judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.� -
Diary of Saint Faustina
Saint Faustina pray for us. Jesus I trust in you!
“Tell My daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls.� -
Diary of Saint Faustina
October 6 Sunday Gospel The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” - Luke 17:5–10
October 7 My Dear Children, Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. "I come from heaven, I am the Lady of the Rosary. I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and to ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord anymore, for He is already too grievously offended by the sins of men. People must say the Rosary. If people do as I ask, many souls will be converted and there will be peace."
Our Lady of Fatima
My Dear Children, I will keep the following promises to those who pray the Rosary. 1. To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces. 2. Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace. 3. The Rosary will be a powerful armor against Hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy. 4. The Rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies. It will draw the hearts of men and women away from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Souls will sanctify themselves by this means. 5. Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary will not perish. 6. Whoever recites my Rosary devoutly reflecting on the mysteries, shall never be overwhelmed by misfortune. He will not experience the anger of God nor will he perish by an unprovided death. The sinner will be converted; the just will persevere in grace and merit eternal life. 7. Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite my Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces and will share in the merits of the blessed. 9. I will deliver promptly from purgatory souls devoted to my Rosary. 10. True children of my Rosary will enjoy great glory in heaven. 11. What you shall ask through my Rosary you shall obtain.
12. To those who propagate my Rosary I promise aid in all their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court. 14. Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. 15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.
October 8 My Dear Children, A Psalm of David The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
October 9 My Dear Children, Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Denis, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers during the Middle Ages who were credited with particularly strong intercessory power.
Image by Henri Bellechose
You are wisdom, uncreated and eternal, the supreme first cause, above all being,sovereign Godhead, sovereign goodness, watching unseen the Godinspired wisdom of Christian people.Raise us, we pray, that we may totally respond to the supreme, unknown, ultimate, and splendid height of your words, mysterious and inspired. There all God's secret matters lie covered and hidden under darkness both profound and brilliant, silent and wise. You make what is ultimate and beyond brightness secretly to shine in all that is most dark. In your way, ever unseen and intangible, you fill to the full with most beautiful splendor those souls who close their eyes that they may see. And I, please, with love that goes on beyond mind to all that is beyond mind, seek to gain such for myself through this prayer. Amen. -
Saint Denis, The Cloud of Unknowing, 14th century
October 10 My Dear Children, In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not Her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal. - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
October 11 My Dear Children, Today is the Feast of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God. - Luke 1:35
Madonna Della Stella by Fra Angelico Jesus, the Son of God, wants us to honor His Mother. Lets consider three things on this Feast of the Maternity of Our Lady: 1. Mary is the Mother of God. The greatest joy of a mother is to see her son honored and respected. Mother Mary experienced that joy. She knew that Jesus was God from the Archangel Gabriel's message: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you and therefore the Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God." Yes, the Son of Mary is called the Son of the Most High, the Son of God. As soon as Mary gave her "fiat", the second person of the Blessed Trinity took a body and soul in her most chaste womb. From the very first instant of their existence the body and soul of Christ were united to His Divinity. Jesus has two natures, divine and human. He is One Divine person who is true God and true Man. This is what we celebrate today; Mary gave Jesus His human nature, which was instantly joined to His divine nature. Therefore Mary is and can be called the Mother of God!
2. As Mother of God she claims the greatest dignity
next to God. As Mother of God, Mary enjoys the greatest dignity next to that of God Himself. A weak helpless maiden becomes the Mother of the all powerful and eternal God. A creature becomes the Mother of the Creator! Every title on earth fades to nothing when compared with the title, "Mother of God." 3. As Mother of God we must honor and venerate her above all other creatures in Heaven and on earth. Because Mary is the Mother of God, because she enjoys a place next to God Himself, it is only right that we honor and venerate her above all creatures. Of course we don't adore or worship her as God. Only God is adored and worshiped. We do honor, venerate and respect her and hope everyone will do the same. Mary, our Mother, Mother of Jesus, true God and true man, lead us and the world to the Sacred Heart of your Son. Amen. - Deacon John
The Divine Maternity of Mary When Mary of Nazareth conceived in Her womb the Word of God, conception was the effect of the fullness of Her grace and of an action of the Holy Spirit which occurred in Her soul first of all, thereby making of Her flesh a tabernacle and a sanctuary. The dignity of the Mother of God is Her great sanctity, it is the incomparable grace which raises Her above all the Angels, the grace in which She was predestined and created for this glorious purpose.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints By the acts of Her blessed Maternity, She bordered on divinity while remaining entirely human. In this way
She seems to exhaust, as it were, the power of God — the fullness of the grace accorded Her cannot be surpassed. It is easier for us to conceive of the greatness of Mary, however, when we consider Her maternity of the Mystical Body, the Church, which like Herself is entirely human, and composed of persons who are very far indeed from being what our Savior was, a Divine Person incarnate. We understand better what Mary is for the Church by listening to Saint Louis Mary de Montfort, Apostle of the Cross and of the Rosary of Our Lady. As Mary was necessary for God in the Incarnation of the Word, so She is necessary for Him to sanctify souls and bring about their likeness to Christ, and She is much needed by us, in our great infirmity: The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through Her virginal hands...; such is the sentiment of the Church and its holy Fathers. Mary, being altogether transformed into God by grace and by the glory which transforms all the Saints into Him, asks nothing, wishes nothing, does nothing contrary to the eternal and immutable Will of God. When we read then in the writings of Saints Bernard, Bernardine, Bonaventure and others, that in heaven and on earth everything, even God Himself, is subject to the Blessed Virgin, they mean that the authority which God has been well pleased to give Her is so great that it seems as if She had the same power as God; and that Her prayers and petitions are so powerful with God that they always pass for commandments with His Majesty, who never resists the prayer of His dear
Mother, because She is always humble and conformed to His Will. If Moses, by the force of his prayer, stayed the anger of God against the Israelites in a manner so powerful that the most high and infinitely merciful Lord, being unable to resist him, told him to let Him alone that He might be angry with and punish that rebellious people, what must we not, with much greater reason, think of the prayer of the humble Mary, the worthy Mother of God, which is more powerful with His Majesty than the prayers and intercessions of all the Angels and Saints both in heaven and on earth? The sin of our first father has spoiled us all, soured us, puffed us up and corrupted us... The actual sins which we have committed, whether mortal or venial, pardoned though they may be, have nevertheless increased our concupiscence, our weakness, our inconstancy and our corruption, and have left evil remains in our souls... We have nothing for our portion but pride and blindness of spirit, hardness of heart, weakness and inconstancy of soul, revolted passions, and sicknesses in the body... Let us say boldly with Saint Bernard that we have need of a mediator with the Mediator Himself, and that it is the divine Mary who is most capable of filling that charitable office. It was through Her that Jesus Christ came to us, and it is through Her that we must go to Him. If we fear to go directly to Jesus Christ, our God, whether because of His infinite greatness or because of our vileness, or because of our sins, let us boldly implore the aid and intercession of Mary, our Mother. She is good, She is tender, She has nothing in Her that is
austere and forbidding, nothing too sublime and too brilliant... She is so charitable that She repels none of those who ask Her intercession, no matter how great sinners they have been; for, as the Saints say, never has it been heard, since the world was the world, that anyone has confidently and perseveringly had recourse to our Blessed Lady and yet been repelled. - Saint Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary
October 12 My Dear Children, "Blessed are you for believing." Pope Francis consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary today in Saint Peter's Square. The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima was flown in from Portugal for the occasion. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us!
October 12 My Dear Children, Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar. The earliest recorded apparition of Our Blessed Mother tells us that in the early day of the Church, Saint James the Greater was spreading the Gospel in Spain, but making very little progress. He was dejected and questioning his mission. In the year 44, the Mother of God, who was still living in Jerusalem at the time, bi-located and appeared to Saint James in a vision to boost his morale. During this vision, Our Blessed Mother appeared on top of a column or pillar, which was being supported by angels. That pillar is now venerated in the Cathedral-BasĂlica de Nuestra SeĂąora del Pilar in Zaragoza, Spain. Numerous miraculous healings have been reported in its presence.
Holy Legend, much of it recorded by the Venerable Sister Maria de Agreda, visionary who recorded six volumes on the life of The Blessed Virgin, directly from mystical visions and communications with Our Lady, tells us the following story of Our Lady of Pillar. Before Our Blessed Lady departed from Jerusalem to take up her abode in Ephesus, she ordered and arranged many things, both by herself and the holy Angels, to provide for the needs of the Church in her absence. The most effectual service Our Blessed Mother offered was her continual prayer—prayer that has continued unceasingly for all Christians since that time. The Blessed Virgin—help of Christians-- offered special prayers for Saint James, head of the Church in Jerusalem, as she knew that he would be the first to shed his blood for Christ as a martyr. While Mary was in Ephesus before her Assumption, Jesus appeared to her during her daily prayers for guidance, and asked her to go with the angels to visit James in Zaragoza. Jesus instructed his mother to tell James that he was to return to Jerusalem to be martyred. The tradition of the shrine of El Pilar, is that Our Lady was carried on a cloud by the angels to Zaragoza during the night. While they were traveling, the angels built a pillar of marble, and a miniature image of Our Lady. Our Lady gave the message of Christ to Saint James and added that a church was to be built on the site where the apparition took place, as Jesus had instructed. The pillar and the image were to be part of the main altar. She instructed: “This place is to be my house, and
this image and column shall be the title and altar of the temple that you shall build.” Special graces and protection would be granted to the people of Zaragoza in exchange for a pure devotion to Our Lord and Our Lady. The church was built as instructed, commissioned by Saint James, and the citizens of Spain began to celebrate Mass at the little church and to venerate Our Lady through the image left there by her and the angels. For twelve years before Our Lady’s Assumption into heaven the people of Spain were venerating Our Lady as Our Lady of the Pillar. Numerous reconstructions followed, and the present church (Raised to a Basilica by Pope Pius XII), was completed in 1681. It is the first church to be devoted to Our Blessed Mother. In November of 1987, Pope John Paul II undertook a pilgrimage to Spain where he visited the Basilica at Zaragosa. On that occasion he said: “Today I have fulfilled my desire to kneel, as a devoted son of Mary, before her holy pillar… The Christians of Spain have seen in this pillar a clear analogy with the pillar that guides the journeying of the people of Israel towards the promised Land (cf. Nm 14:14), that accompanies the new Israel, the Church, in her pilgrimage towards the promised Land, Christ the Lord. Our Lady of the Pillar is a radiant beacon… The Pillar is considered a symbol of the Spaniard’s strong faith, and is also an indication of the journey that leads to knowledge of Christ through apostolic predication.”
The holy pillar of Mary itself is miraculous in that the jasper from which it is constructed cannot be matched anywhere in the world. The statue, which is fifteen inches high, depicts representations of Our Lady with the child Jesus, Who holds a dove. Many miracles have been reported before the statue and pillar. Among its many prodigies is the fact that, in almost 2,000 years, the statue has never needed dusting. In 1936, during the Spanish civil war, bombs were dropped on the shrine. Miraculously, the two bombs that landed on or in the basilica failed to detonate, whereas all the bombs in the surrounding areas exploded. The bombs are housed in the basilica today, a powerful demonstration of Our Lady’s protection. We are reminded, as we venerate Our Lady of Pillar, of the unending intercession and prayer Our Blessed Mother offers for us. This prayer and heavenly care— watching over the Church and each of its members— began before Our Lady left the earth, and continued following her glorious Assumption into heaven. We pray today for continued protection, grace, and refuge in the loving and sacred heart of Mary. O Virgin Mother of El Pilar, deigning to appear to Thy beloved disciple, Saint James, promising him the victory over paganism, and blessing so abundantly his labors for the spread of the True Catholic Faith, secure for us also, who are the children of that same Faith, the victory over our many foes and the paganism that is
laying waste the harvest of souls in our day.
Through the intercession of your Apostle, Saint James, the "Son of Thunder", may we as clouds flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost, establish everywhere the true devotion to your Immaculate Heart that Jesus wills for the conversion of all sinners. Amen.
Image by Francisco Goya
October 13 My Dear Children, As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” -
Luke 17:11–19
October 14 The Via Matris - The Way of the Mother. From the throne of the Cross, the Savior focused the world's attention on His Mother: "Behold Thy Mother!" The Via Crucis and the Via Matris are closely associated. Christ prophesied: "And, if I be lifted up will draw all unto myself." His Mother, standing at the foot of the Cross also draws all unto herself. The Way of the Cross and the Way of the Mother, center on the same subject, but one as seen through the eyes of His Mother. God inspired Simeon in the temple prophesied about the Child Jesus and laid the direct biblical foundation for the Via Matris, encouraging Christians to contemplate Mary in her sorrows. "And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His Mother: 'Behold, this child is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.'" The reason Simeon gave was not founded on the fact that Mary was Immaculate or the Mother of Jesus, not that she was to be Queen of heaven and earth, but specifically as a tender object of meditation for all future ages "that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." The Via Matris, depicting the seven main sorrows of
Mary is set up in churches and chapels that Christians may mediate, be inspired, and be encouraged while dwelling on Mary's sword-pierced heart. In more recent times, at Fatima, when Our Lady asked for meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary as one "request" which will bring about the conversion of Russia, and peace, one of the children, now Sister Lucy, answered the difficulty of laymen meditating on a given subject: "It is very easy! Who, for example, cannot think of the sufferings of Our Lord and the Sorrows of Our Lady who stood near the Cross of Jesus on Calvary? Who cannot spend fifteen minutes near the most tender of Mothers and reflect on these thoughts?" Note well! Sister Lucy, like Simeon, spoke of the sufferings of Jesus and the Sorrows of Our Lady as one, all a part of Calvary. Like the Via Crucis, the history and origin of the Via Matris lie buried in the obscurity of the Middle Ages. The Franciscans initiated the Way of the Cross, and the Servants of Mary (Servites), founded like the Franciscans in the 13th century, brought the Way of the Mother in its present form before the public. Although the devotion was practiced for centuries in Servite churches, it was not until 1937 when the Sorrowful Mother Novena was established that the devotion became popular in the U.S. The Via Matris I. The Prophecy of Simeon Reflect on the sorrow of Our Blessed Lady, when She
presented Her Divine Child in the temple and heard from the aged Simeon that a sword of grief should pierce Her soul. II. The Flight into Egypt Reflect on Her sorrow when, to escape the cruelty of King Herod, She was forced to fly into Egypt with St. Joseph and Her beloved Child, and pray for those who kill the children today by abortion. III. The Loss of Jesus in the Temple Reflect on Her grief when, in returning from Jerusalem, She found that She had lost Her dear Jesus, Whom She sought sorrowing for three days. IV. Mary meets Jesus on the Way Reflect on Her meeting Her Divine Son, all bruised and bleeding, carrying His Cross to Calvary, and seeing Him fall under its heavy weight. V. Jesus Dies on the Cross Reflect on Her standing by, when Her Divine Son was lifted up on the Cross and the blood flowed in streams from His Sacred Wounds. VI. Mary Receives the Dead Body of Jesus Reflect on Her sorrow, when Her Divine Son was taken down from the Cross, and placed in Her arms.
VII. Jesus is Placed in the Tomb Reflect on Her following His Sacred Body as it was borne by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus to the sepulcher. After meditating on the Seven Sorrows of Mary, recite three Hail Mary's in honor of Our Blessed Lady's tears. Honoring Her 7 Sorrows Hail, Mary, full of sorrows, the Crucified is with thee; tearful art thou amongst women, and tearful is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of the Crucified, give tears to us, crucifiers of thy Son, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. O Mary, Mother of Sorrows, I beseech thee, by the bitter agony thou didst endure at the foot of the Cross, offer to the Eternal Father, in my name, thy Beloved Son, Jesus, all covered with Blood and Wounds, in satisfaction for my sins, for the needs of Holy Church, the conversion of sinners, the relief of the souls in Purgatory, and for the special grace I now implore. (mention your request) Prayers in Honor of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary O God, come to my assistance: O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father... As it was in the beginning ... 1. I grieve for you, O Mary most sorrowful, in the affliction of your tender heart at the prophecy of the holy and aged Simeon. Dear Mother, by your heart so afflicted, obtain for me the virtue of humility and the gift of the holy fear of God. Hail Mary... 2. I grieve for you, O Mary most sorrowful, in the anguish of your most affectionate heart during the flight into Egypt and you sojourn there. Dear Mother, by your heart so troubled, obtain for me the virtue of generosity, especially toward the poor, and the gift of piety. Hail Mary... 3. I grieve for you, O Mary most sorrowful, in those anxieties which tried your troubled heart at the loss of your dear Jesus. Dear Mother, by your heart so full of anguish, obtain for me the virtue of chastity and the gift of knowledge. Hail Mary... 4. I grieve for you, O Mary most sorrowful, in the consternation of your heart at meeting Jesus as He carried His Cross. Dear Mother, by your heart so
troubled, obtain for me the virtue of patience and the gift of fortitude. Hail Mary... 5. I grieve for you, O Mary most sorrowful, in the martyrdom which your generous heart endured in standing near Jesus in His agony. Dear Mother, by your afflicted heart, obtain for me the virtue of temperance and the gift of counsel. Hail Mary... 6. I grieve for you, O Mary most sorrowful, in the wounding of your compassionate heart, when the side of Jesus was struck by the lance before His Body was removed from the Cross. Dear Mother, by your heart thus transfixed, obtain for me the virtue of fraternal charity and the gift of understanding. Hail Mary... 7. I grieve for you, O Mary most sorrowful, for the pangs that wrenched your most loving heart at the burial of Jesus. Dear Mother, by your heart sunk in the bitterness of desolation, obtain for me the virtue of diligence and the gift of wisdom. Hail Mary...
Let Us Pray Let intercession be made for us, we beseech You, O Lord Jesus Christ, now and at the hour of our death, before the throne of Your mercy, by the Blessed Virgin Mary, Your Mother, whose most holy soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow in the hour of You bitter Passion. Through You, O Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns world without end. Amen.
Totus Tuus – Totally Yours - unknown artist
October 15 My Dear Children, Today is the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila – also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus. Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing; God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who possesses God lacks nothing: God alone suffices. - Saint Teresa of Jesus
Saint Teresa of Avila by Francois Gerard
Christ has no body now, but yours. No hands, no feet on earth, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ looks compassion into the world. Yours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses the world. - Saint Teresa of Avila
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa - Bernini
October 16 Today is the Feast of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque -the apostle of the Divine Mercy of Jesus.
October 13 My Dear Children, "Blessed are you for believing." Pope Francis consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Saint Peter’s square with more than one hundred thousand pilgrims in attendance. The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima was flown in from the shrine in Portugal for the occasion which was celebrated around the world.
Photo : Lauren Cater, Catholic News Agency. “Our Lady of Fatima, with renewed gratitude for your maternal presence, we join our voice to that of all the generations that have called you blessed. We celebrate in you the great work of God, who never tires of bending down with mercy to mankind, afflicted by evil and wounded by sin, to heal and to save it.”
-
Pope Francis
“Proclaim openly to the whole world that It is through the Immaculate Heart of Mary God wishes to grant us His graces. It is from this Immaculate Heart that we must ask for them! The Heart of Jesus wishes the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated with His own. It is through the Immaculate Heart of Mary that peace must be asked because it is to that Heart that the Lord has confided it. How I love the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is the Heart of our Heavenly Mother. Oh, if only I could put into all hearts the fire I feel in my own which makes me love the Hearts of Jesus and Mary so much!" -
Saint Lucia of Fatima
Fatima Prayer O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of your mercy. Amen.
Our Lady of Fatima – Fatima, Portugal 1917
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Heart of Mary pray for us.
October 17 My Dear Children, Therefore, you are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment. For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the very same things. - Romans 2:1
October 18 My Dear Children, Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist! The kingdom of God is within you - Luke 16:21
Image by James Tissot
Father, you inspired your servant Saint Luke the Evangelist and Physician to set forth in the gospel the love and the healing power of your Son. In faithfully detailing the humanity of Jesus he also showed the divinity of Jesus and His genuine compassion for all human beings. May Saint Luke intercede for us that we may deepen our understanding of the gospel and grow in compassion of Jesus. Amen
October 19 My Dear Children, "Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to divine love and the future to divine providence." - Saint Augustine
October 20 Sunday Gospel Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’” The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” -
Luke 18:1–8
October 20 My Dear Children, Today is the Feast of Saint Paul of the Cross – founder of the Passionists It is an excellent and holy practice to call to mind and meditate on our Lord's Passion, since it is by this path that we shall arrive at union with God. In this, the holiest of all schools, true wisdom is learned, for it was there that all the saints became wise. - Saint Paul of the Cross
The Passionist motto is “May the Passion of Christ be always in our hearts.”
October 20 My Dear Children, Today we celebrate the Feast of Matre Admiribalis – Mother most Admirable.
In 1828, Pope Leo XII invited the Society of the Sacred Heart to found a community and school at the Trinità dei Monti, a monastery at the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome. For 300 years, the monastery had housed a community of Minims, an order founded by St. Francis of Paola in the 15th century. The Order of Minims had abandoned the property during the French Revolution, and by 1828 the buildings were in need of repair. A contingent of RSCJ went to Rome to put the property in order under an agreement with the French government, which owned the property and specified that only French nuns would occupy the site. Sixteen years after Religious of the Sacred Heart came to live at the Trinità, a young French girl, Pauline Perdrau, was admitted as a postulant to the Society. A talented artist, she asked permission of the superior of the house, Mother Josephine de Coriolis, to paint a portrait of Our Lady on a wall of a corridor that led to the sisters’ cloister. However, Mother Coriolis was hesitant, because she knew the artist was unfamiliar with fresco painting techniques. Pauline Perdrau persisted, praying to Mary for strength. She prevailed, and for months after receiving permission to begin, she devoted several hours a day to preparing the surface of the wall and painting her image of Mary. When the painting was complete, the colors were thought to be too vivid. The fresco was covered with a protective cloth to give the paint time to dry. Days
later, when the cloth was removed, the colors had softened to the shades of pink and blue and ivory that are so well known to visitors to Mater’s shrine today. To Pauline Perdrau, who later became a Religious of the Sacred Heart, the change was nothing less than a miracle. Among the many stories associated with Pauline Perdrau’s painting of Our Lady is this one: In the fall of 1846, Pope Pius IX paid a visit to Trinità dei Monti and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the fresco of Mary. “Mater Admirabilis!” exclaimed the pope, giving the painting of Mary the title it bears today. Prayer to Mater Admirabilis (prayer for strength and love) O divine Mother of Jesus, we come to you as to the spring of living, thirstquenching waters, the flame that warms us, the dawn that dispels all shadows, the Mother ever attentive to the confusion of her children. O Wonderful Mother, the road of our life is hard at times. It is not easy always to walk steadily in the path of duty. It is not easy to love our neighbor, our brother, as Jesus wants us to love him. It is not easy to keep our soul always even among the inequalities of life. It is not easy to love creatures a yet keep oneself for God alone. It is not easy to be little and humble when pride is staking its claim. It is not easy to go to the God of Light along roads that are dark with shadows. There are days everything is a burden. But You, O Admirable Mother. You make everything easy. And yet you do not take the sacrifice away from our path, any more than God took it away from yours; but you make the effort easier by making love grow. It was love, ever victorious in you,
that make you say on the very threshold of your destiny: "Be it done to Me according to thy word." And you never took back that word of consent to the love that was leading you. You never resisted suffering, but offered to its action a soul humble and gentle, utterly given to God. O Mary, may your example be my strength. Make everything easy in my life, not by taking trouble away, but by giving me love, a love always greater than the trouble. O Mother most gentle, make my heart very strong; and if you see that my love is getting exhausted too soon. I implore you to give your child some of your love and teach her again the lesson of true love. Prayer to Mater Admirabilis (prayer for peace and humility) Mater Admirabilis, to your friends you open the way of Interior Progress. In contemplating you, O Admirable Mother, the soul thrills with a holy desire to penetrate into that world of love and grace in which your would as made its dwelling. Who better than you can reveal to us this interior life? Who better than you can open us to the life of Jesus and trace in us His divine characteristics? O Mother, let us look at you; in the end a child resembles its mother when its gaze never leaves her face. You are the silent Virgin! You are the utterly humble Virgin! You are the faithful Virgin! O silent Virgin, you teach us that silence creates in us the gravity that befits our waiting on God; and are we not always waiting thus? Silence, too, must protect God's dwelling-place; such silence is both an expression of love and a protection for love. O Mother, keep calm and secluded the dwelling of our soul into
which Jesus descends every day. O utterly humble Virgin, you teach us, too, that there can be no progress without a loyal and generous tendency to humility. God's gifts are only safe in souls who attribute nothing to themselves and are conscious of their poverty. Teach us that unpretentious littleness that knows how to be docile, loves to serve and then slips willingly away. The humility of your heart rose up to God like a melody; it delighted His heart; may ours bring Him down to us. O faithful Virgin, you are the one who always responded to God's expectations, who never set the shadow of a hesitation between the call of grace and its realization. Give us that promptitude in love, that soaring eagerness of faith. May sacrifice never halt us; but in the joy which increases our gift a hundredfold, may we answer every grace that solicits us: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord!" Mother Most Admirable, pray for us!
October 21 My Dear Children, “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” - Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
October 22 My Dear Children, Today we celebrate the Feast of Blessed John Paul II. Open wide the doors to Christ! To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others. - Saint John Paul II
October 22 Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary of Cleophas and the Golden Legend of the Holy Kinship. Holy Kinship was a popular theme in religious art throughout Germany and the Low Countries, especially during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The Holy Kin were the extended family of Jesus descended from his maternal grandmother Saint Anne. According to this tradition, Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was grandmother not just to Jesus but also to five of the twelve apostles: John the Evangelist, James the Greater, James the Less, Simon and Jude. These apostles, together with John the Baptist, were all cousins of Jesus. The genealogy
holds that Anne’s sister, Hismeria (or Esmeria), was the mother of John the Baptist’s mother Elizabeth and of a second child, Eliud, who was in turn the grandfather of St. Servatius. The basis for this family tree rests upon the trinubium, the tradition that Anne had married three times. The exact lineage, as laid out in Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend is as follows Anna is usually said to have conceived three Marys, Whom her husbands Joachim, Cleophas, and Salome begot. These [Marys] the men Joseph, Alpheus, and Zebedee took in marriage. The first bore Christ; the second bore James the Less, Joseph the Just, with Simon [and] Jude; The third, James the Greater and the winged John. The first theologian to set forth the concept of the trinubium was Haymo of Halberstadt, in his Historiae sacrae epitome, in which he outlined the family tree described above.
Image by Geertgen tot Sint Jans – The Holy Kinship
October 23 Today we celebrate the Feast Capistrano – the Soldier Saint.
of
Saint
John
of
The nearer the Church approaches to the end of Her earthly existence, the more She seems to love to enrich Her cycle with Feasts that recall the glorious past. Indeed, one of the objects of the sacred Liturgy is to keep before our minds all that God has done for us. Remember the days of old: think upon every generation (Deut. 32: 7), said God to His people in the alliance of Sinai. It was a law in Jacob that the fathers should hand on these traditions to their children, who were in their turn to transmit them to their descendants (Ps. 77: 5). The Church has taken the place of the ancient Israel and Her annals speak, even more than those of the Jewish people, of the manifestations of Divine power. The children of the new Sion have more right than the sons and daughters of Juda to say, as they look back on the past: Thou art Thyself my King and my God, Who commandest the saving of Jacob. At the time when the defeat of the Iconoclasts was being completed in the East, a new and most terrible war was beginning in which the West was to fight for the sake of civilization and for the cause of the Incarnate Word of God. Like a sudden torrent, Islam overwhelmed Eastern Europe, reaching even to Gaul, and for a thousand years it disputed, foot by foot, with Christ and His Church, the land occupied by the Latin races. The glorious Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, which attacked this power in its very center, only succeeded in paralyzing it for the time being. In Spain the struggle continued until the triumph of the Cross was complete, but in other parts of Europe Christian princes forgot the traditions of St.
Karl the Great (Charlemagne) and St. Louis, grew weary of the holy war, and gave themselves up to the pursuit of their private ambition, so that the Crescent was able once more to defy the Christian powers and renew its plan of universal conquest. In 1453 Byzantium, the captial of the Eastern empire, fell before the Turkish janissaries, and three years later Mahomet II invaded Belgrade on the very outskirts of the Western empire. It might have been expected that all Europe would hasten to the aid of the besieged fortress, for if this last dyke were to fall, Hungary, Austria and Italy would be overwhelmed and the peoples of the North and West would share the fate of the East—that life in death, that irremediable sterility of soil and intelligence which still holds captive the once brilliant Greece. But this imminent danger only resulted in deepening the breech in Christian unity, and the Christian nations were at the mercy of a few thousand infidels. Only the Papacy was true to itself in the midst of all this egotism and perfidy. Truly Catholic in its thoughts, its labors, its sufferings, as in its joys and triumphs, it took up the common cause which had been basely betrayed by kings and princes. The powerful were deaf to the Pope’s appeals, but he turned to the humble, and trusting more in prayer to the God of armies than in military tactics, he sought for the deliverers of Christendom among the poor.
It was then that the Saint of today, John Capistrano, attained the consummation of his glory and his sanctity. At the head of a few poor men of good will, unknown peasants gathered together by the Franciscan Friars, this "poor man of Christ" undertook
to defeat the strongest and best organized army of the century. On July 14, 1456, he broke through the Ottoman lines with John Hunyades, the only one of the Hungarian nobles who would accompany him, and resupplied Belgrade; and on July 22, feeling that he could no longer endure the defensive, he threw himself, to the stupefaction of Hunyades, on the enemy entrenchments. His troops were armed with flails and pitchforks, and their only strategy was the Name of Jesus. St. John had inherited this victorious battle-cry from his master, St. Bernardine of Siena. The Psalmist had said: Some trust in chariots and some in horses: but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God (Ps. 19: 8). This Name, so holy and so powerful, proved once more the salvation of the people. At the end of that memorable day 24,000 Turks lay dead on the field of battle; 300 cannon and all the spoils of the infidels were in the hands of the Christians, and Mahomet II was seeking a distant hiding-place for his shame. The news of this victory, so like that of Gedeon, reached Rome on August 6, and Pope Callistus III decreed that thenceforth the Universal Church should keep a solemn commemoration of the Transfiguration of Our Lord on that day, for it was with the soldiers of the Cross as with the heroes of Israel: they got not the possession of the land by their own sword: neither did their own arm save them, but Thy right hand and Thy arm and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou wast pleased with them (Ps. 43: 4-5), as with Thy Beloved Son on Mount Tabor (Matt. 17: 5). Let us read the life of St. John Capistrano as related in the Liturgy:
St. John Capistrano leads the Christian forces in the Battle of Belgrade. St. John was born at Capistrano in the Abruzzi. He was sent to study at Perugia, and made such progress in learning, both sacred and profane, that on account of his eminent knowledge of law, he was made governor of many cities by Ladislaus, King of Naples. He was laboring piously to restore peace to these troubled states when he was kidnapped and put in chains. He was miraculously delivered from this captivity and made his profession according to the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi among the Friars Minor. He devoted himself to the study of Divinity and had as master St. Bernardine of Siena, whom he zealously
imitated in spreading devotion to the Most Holy Name of Jesus and to the Mother of God. He refused the bishopric of Aquila, and is most famous on account of his mortified life and his writings on the reformation of morals. He zealously devoted himself to preaching the Word of God and travelled throughout nearly all Italy, where he recalled countless souls to the way of salvation by the power of his words and the number of his miracles. Pope Martin V made him Inquisitor against the sect of the Fraticelli and Pope Nicholas V appointed him Inquistor-General in Italy, against Judaism and Mohammedanism. He converted many souls to the Faith of Christ. He did much good in the East and at the Council of Florence, where he shone like a sun, he brought the Armenians back to the Catholic Church. The same Pope, at the request of the Emperor Frederic III, sent him into Germany as Nuncio of the Apostolic See, in order that he might bring back heretics to the Catholic Faith, and the minds of princes to peace and unity. He did a wonderful work for God’s glory during the six years of his mission, and brought back to the Church by the light of his teaching and miracles almost countless numbers of Hussites, Adamites, Thaborites, and Jews. It was mainly at the entreaty of St. John that Pope Callistus III proclaimed a crusade, and St. John hastened through Pannonia and other provinces where by his words and letters he so roused the minds of princes that in a short time 70,000 Christians soldiers were enrolled. It was mainly through his advice and courage that a victory was gained at
Belgrade, where 120,000 Turks were either slain or put to flight. The news of this victory reached Rome on the 6th of August, and Pope Callistus consecrated this day forever to the solemn commemoration of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. When St. John was seized with his last illness and taken to Illak, many princes came to see him, and he exhorted them to protect religion. He piously yielded up his soul to God in the year of salvation 1456. God confirmed his glory by many miracles after his death, and when these had been duly approved, Pope Alexander VIII enrolled his name among those of the Saints. 200 years later Pope Leo XIII extended his Office and Mass to the Universal Church.
October 24 I
repeat
that
temptations
of
jealousy,
despair,
discouragement and distrust, etc, are works of the enemy. -
Saint Padre Pio
October 24 My Dear Children,
Today is the Feast of Saint Anthony Mary Claret. "Humility, obedience, meekness, and love are the virtues that shine through the Cross and the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. O my Jesus help me to imitate you! The Blessed Sacrament should be honored by hearing Mass, receiving Communion frequently, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, and making spiritual communions. The rosary should be said daily. We should meditate on the mysteries, applying them to the circumstances of our own lives." -
Saint Anthony Mary Claret
October 25
My Dear Children, Today I call you to open yourselves to prayer. Prayer works miracles in you and through you. Therefore, little children, in the simplicity of heart seek of the Most High to give you the strength to be God’s children and for Satan not to shake you like the wind shakes the branches. Little children, decide for God anew and seek only His will and then you will find joy and peace in Him. Thank you for having responded to my call. Our Lady of Medjugorje - Queen of Peace
October 26
My Dear Children, The Family. Pope Francis proposed approaching “with respect and courage the families facing difficult situations,” as well as “marriages in crisis or those who are separated.” In the last gathering of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pope urged Christians to use their everyday life to show the “beauty of marriage and the Christian family.” “The family is where one learns to love, the natural center of human life. The family is made of faces, of people that love, that talk, that sacrifice for each other, and protect life, specially the most fragile, the weakest.” The Pope also asked parents to “waste time” with their children, so they may realize that love is always free. “This icon represents generations.”
the
relationship
between
Pope Francis was delighted with the icon's message. So much so that he reminded attendees that a “society that abandons its children or marginalizes its elderly members not only carries out an act of injustice, but also sanctions the failure of that society.” http://bit.ly/1eQpiHi via Rome Reports
Married couples are the Pope's main advisers when it comes to family issues. That's why the members of the Pontifical Council for Family are largely marriages, a fact that distinguishes it from other Vatican departments. October 27
My Dear Children, Sunday Gospel Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” -
Luke 18:9–14
October 28
My Dear Children, Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Jude – Apostle and Patron of difficult cases.
Prayer to Saint Jude O most holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you universally, as the patron of hopeless cases and of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, who am so miserable. Make use, I implore you, of that particular privilege accorded to you, to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly (make your request) and that I may praise God with you and all the elect throughout eternity. I promise you, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron and to gratefully encourage devotion to thee. Amen.
October 29 My Dear Children, "As the Father sent me, so I am sending you." "Our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed certain men to be guides and teachers of the world and stewards of his divine mysteries. Now he bids them to shine out like lamps and to cast out their light not only over the land of the Jews but over every country under the sun and over people scattered in all directions and settled in distant lands. That man has spoken truly who said: No one takes honor upon himself, except the one who is called by God, for it was our Lord Jesus Christ who called his own disciples before all others to a most glorious apostolate. These holy men became the pillar and mainstay of the truth, and Jesus said that he was sending them just as the Father had sent him. By these words he is making clear the dignity of the apostolate and the incomparable glory of the power given to them, but he is also, it would seem, giving them a hint about the methods they are to adopt in their apostolic mission. For if Christ thought it necessary to send out his intimate disciples in this fashion, just as the Father had sent him, then surely it was necessary that they whose mission was to be patterned on that of Jesus should see exactly why the Father had sent the Son. And so Christ interpreted the character of his mission to us in a variety of ways. Once he said: I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance. And then at another time
he said: I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. For God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Accordingly, in affirming that they are sent by him just as he was sent by the Father, Christ sums up in a few words the approach they themselves should take to their ministry. From what he said they would gather that it was their vocation to call sinners to repentance, to heal those who were sick whether in body or spirit, to seek in all their dealings never to do their own will but the will of him who sent them, and as far as possible to save the world by their teaching. Surely it is in all these respects that we find his holy disciples striving to excel. To ascertain this is no great labor, a single reading of the Acts of the Apostles or of Saint Paul’s writings is enough." From a commentary on the gospel of John by Saint Cyril of Alexandria. Via News.Va English.
Image by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Calling of the Apostles, 1481, Sistine Chapel, Vatican.
October 30 My Dear Children, Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
October 31 My Dear Children, Homily of the Holy Father on Family Day Saint Peter’s Square, 27 October 2013 The readings this Sunday invite us to reflect on some basic features of the Christian family. 1. First: the family prays. The Gospel passage speaks about two ways of praying, one is false – that of the Pharisee – and the other is authentic – that of the tax collector. The Pharisee embodies an attitude which does not express thanksgiving to God for his blessings and his mercy, but rather self-satisfaction. The Pharisee feels himself justified, he feels his life is in order, and he judges others from his pedestal. The tax collector, on the other hand, does not multiply words. His prayer is humble, sober, pervaded by a consciousness of his own unworthiness, of his own needs. Here is a man who realizes that he needs God’s forgiveness. The prayer of the tax collector is the prayer of the poor man, a prayer pleasing to God. It is a prayer which, as the first reading says, “will reach to the clouds” (Sir 35:20), unlike the prayer of the Pharisee, which is weighed down by vanity. In the light of God’s word, I would like to ask you, dear families: Do you pray together from time to time as a family? Some of you do, I know. But so many people say to me: How can we? Prayer is something personal, and besides there is never a good time, a
moment of peace… Yes, all that is true enough, but it is also a matter of humility, of realizing that we need God, like the tax collector! And we need simplicity! Praying the Our Father together, around the table, is something all of you can do. And praying the Rosary together, as a family, is very beautiful and a source of great strength! And praying for one another!
2. The second reading suggests another thought: the family keeps the faith. The Apostle Paul, at the end of his life, makes a final reckoning: “I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). But how did he keep the faith? Not in a strong box! Nor did he hide it underground, like the lazy servant. Saint Paul compares his life to a fight and to a race. He kept the faith because he didn’t just defend it, but proclaimed it, spread it, brought it to distant lands. He stood up to all those who wanted to preserve, to “embalm” the message of
Christ within the limits of Palestine. That is why he made courageous decisions, he went into hostile territory, he let himself be challenged by distant peoples and different cultures, he spoke frankly and fearlessly. Saint Paul kept the faith because, in the same way that he received it, he gave it away, he went out to the fringes, and didn’t dig himself into defensive positions. Here too, we can ask: How do we keep our faith? Do we keep it for ourselves, in our families, as a personal treasure, or are we able to share it by our witness, by our acceptance of others, by our openness? We all know that families, especially young families, are often “racing” from one place to another, with lots to do. But did you ever think that this “racing” could also be the race of faith? Christian families are missionary families, in their everyday life, in their doing everyday things, as they bring to everything the salt and the leaven of faith!
3. There is one more thought we can take from God’s word: the family experiences joy. In the responsorial psalm we find these words: “let the humble hear and be glad” (33/34:2). The entire psalm is a hymn to the Lord who is the source of joy and peace. What is the reason for this gladness? It is that the Lord is near, he hears the cry of the lowly and he frees them from evil. As Saint Paul himself writes: “Rejoice always … The Lord is near” (Phil 4:4-5). Dear families, you know very well that the true joy which we experience in the family is not superficial; it does not come from material objects, from the fact that everything seems to be going well... True joy comes from a profound harmony between persons, something which we all feel in our hearts and which makes us experience the beauty of togetherness, of mutual support along life’s journey. But the basis of this feeling of deep joy is the presence of God in the family and his love, which is welcoming, merciful, and respectful towards all. God alone knows how to create harmony from differences. But if God’s love is lacking, the family loses its harmony, selfcenteredness prevails and joy fades. But the family which experiences the joy of faith communicates it naturally. That family is the salt of the earth and the light of the world, it is the leaven of society. Dear families, always live in faith and simplicity, like the Holy Family of Nazareth! The joy and peace of the Lord be always with you! http://bit.ly/17lHoS4