CATHOLIC FEAST DAYS

FEAST OF ST, MARY MAGDALENE JULY 22

 “Your faith has saved you; go in peace!”

 “Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”

He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The others at table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” But he said to the woman, your faith has saved you; go in peace!” Luke 7:44-50

 REFLECTION

Jesus does not acknowledge his critics but addresses the repentant woman and praises her for her great love and faith and sends her on her way sanctified and redeemed.  From that moment, Mary Magdalen became a faithful disciple and witness all the way to Calvary.

“So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little”

Does this mean if I am not a great sinner I will love Jesus less, not necessarily.  I believe Jesus points out to Simon that this woman’s love is so dramatic because her love for God and her desire to be made whole is so strong.

Do we have that desire to be made whole again? Her Faith has saved her not on her own but through the grace of God.  Pray for that faith.

Jesus asks Simon, “Do you see this woman?  I place the emphasis on the word see because Jesus has told us “they have eyes but do not see and ears yet they do not hear” Mark 8:18

Jesus reminds us to focus, to see and listen, less we miss God’s presence especially in others. Do we miss God’s invitation due to noise and clutter in our world?

MARY MAGDALENE IN SCRIPTURE

In the 6^th Century, Saint Pope Gregory the Great identified St. Mary Magdalen as the woman who anointed Christ’s feet with perfume in the home of Simon the Pharisee.  In the New Testament Mary Magdalen is mentioned among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to Him. Luke 8:2-3

Mary Magdalene is named as standing at the foot of the cross. “There were also women who ministered to him, looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome” Mark 15:40   

  …by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary wife of Clopas and Mary of Magdala. John 19:25

Mary Magdalene was the first to see the resurrected Christ, “When he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons” Mark 16:9

Mary Magdalene followed the burial of Jesus to the tomb and saw where He was buried, and came on Sunday to anoint Him. She was rewarded with His appearance and commissioned to go evangelize and spread the Good News.  He is Risen! 

“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,”Rabbouni,”which means Teacher

DO NOT CLING TO ME 

Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary then went and announced to the apostles, “I have seen the Lord, and what he told her”. John 20: 15-18

REFLECTION

When Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection, “Do not cling to me.” John 20:17.  Jesus invites us along with Mary Magdalene to enter into the experience of faith which goes beyond what can be discovered by our “senses.”

Remember Jesus’ words to Thomas after the resurrection behind closed doors, “Blessed are those who have not seen and believe.”  John 20:29

Our first parents, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden spread death where there was life.  Mary in the garden of the Resurrection announced life from the Holy Sepulchre, a place of death.

Saint Mary Magdalene is an example of true and authentic evangelization; she is an evangelist who announces the joyful central message of Easter. ”He is Risen!”

 

July 6 we celebrate liturgically the feast of Saint Maria Goretti.   I remember this feast because my granddaughter did research on a Confirmation name back in grade school and chose St. Maria Goretti for her Confirmation name.

SAINT MARIA GORETTI

Maria Goretti (October 16, 1890 – July 6, 1902) is an Italian virgin-martyr. Having died at the age of 11, she is the youngest canonized saint in the Catholic Church’s long and storied history.

She was born on the eastern side of Italy to a farming family, but increased poverty forced the family to move to the western side of the country when she was only six.

When Maria was nine, her father died tragically from Malaria.   This was a terrible time of trial and suffering for the whole family.  The Gorettis had to share a house with another family, the Serenellis, in order to survive. Aside from having the responsibility of caring for her family, Maria had to also cook and clean for her two next door neighbors–Giovanni Serenelli and his son, Alessandro–who assisted her mother with the farm tasks.

The Serenelli family was what we would call today a very dysfunctional family. Alessandro Serenelli, the young man (20) who attacked Maria was part of this terrible mess. Giovanni, his father, was an alcoholic and his mother died in a psychiatric hospital when he was only a few months old, apparently after trying to drown Alessandro when he was a newborn.

On July 5, 1902, eleven-year-old Maria was sitting on the outside steps of her home, sewing one of Alessandro’s shirts and watching Teresa, her baby sister, when Alessandro threatened her with a knife if she did not do what he said; he was intending to rape her.

Maria would not submit, protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and warning him that he would go to hell.  She desperately fought to stop him. She kept screaming, “No! It is a sin! God does not want it!” He first choked her, but when she insisted she would rather die than submit to him, he stabbed her eleven times.

Though, she prevented him from violating her, Maria was mortally wounded. The next day in the hospital Maria died, while looking at a picture of the Virgin Mary and clutching a cross to her chest.   Her last words were, “I forgive Alessandro Serenelli and I want him with me in heaven forever.”

During his prison sentence Maria appeared to Alessandro and forgave him.  That act of mercy and forgiveness—that act of love—filled Alessandro with contrition for his crime.  When he was eventually released from prison, he visited Maria’s mother begging forgiveness, which she readily granted. From that point on, he lived a beautiful and converted life of holiness, eventually becoming a Franciscan lay brother.

Maria Goretti was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1947, and canonized in 1950 by the same Pope.  Maria’s mother and Alessandro were present at both ceremonies.

COMMENTARY

I share the story of Maria Goretti not only to honor her, but to cite her as an example of one who understood the horror and consequences of sin and preferred to die rather than commit a mortal sin. Today we live in a culture that has lost the sense of sin.  It is the last thing most people want to acknowledge or talk about.

In today’s hardened society, those supporting abortion, a grave sin, avoid at all cost discussing the killing and dismemberment of the innocent, our youngest and most vulnerable human beings.  Killing innocent human beings is a mortal sin against the 5^th Commandment.

Sexual sins are not the only sins but they are certainly a battle of our times. Adultery, fornication, masturbation, pornography, contraception, sterilization and abortion are real life struggles for many. These are still GRAVE SINS, despite our culture’s embrace of Moral Relativism.

Moral relativism is the philosophical theory that all morality is relative, different moral truths hold for different people.  We can all decide what is right for ourselves. You decide what’s right for you, and I’ll decide what’s right for me. No authority outside of me. In other words we play God.

Hmmm, wouldn’t that be interesting! What if it was up to each individual driver to choose the speed limit, when to turn, how to turn, when or if to stop at intersection? I suspect there would be a lot of collateral damage. to you and others.  It is the same for sin. We don’t sin alone! What we choose affects everyone in Mystical Body of Christ

“The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to “the slavery of sin.” CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH #733

For forgiveness of sins, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance. “Receive the Holy Spirit.  For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

JOHN  20: 22-23

 

REFLECTION

 Saint Maria Goretti, is a model of righteousness and encouragement to avoid sin at all cost and to forgive at all cost as well.   “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions”.  Matthew 6:15

We experience God’s mercy through the Sacrament of Confession.  It is there that we acknowledge who we are, limited, weak, and sinful creatures in need of redemption.  It is there that God forgives us of any and all of our sins.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” John 3: 16-17

The Sacrament of Penance is an enormous source of interior peace.  The priest in the person of Jesus raises his hand, and then with a blessing pronounces those amazing words, “I absolve you from your sins.”  At that moment, we know that God has heard our cry for forgiveness, and we have been pardoned of our sins.

PRAYER TO SAINT MARIA GORETTI

 St. Maria Goretti model of love and forgiveness, Help us all, especially our youth ,to flee  anything that could offend Jesus or stain our souls with sin.

Even at age of eleven you understood what it meant to love God and love your neighbor.  You did not withhold forgiveness from your attacker.  In fact you wanted him in heaven with you.

 Pray for me, that I, too, will be able to love my enemies like you did. Obtain for us victory in temptation, and grace of perseverance that we may one day enjoy with you the imperishable glory of Heaven. Amen.

SAINT MARIA GORETTI

PRAY FOR ME!

 

 

 

MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS

MONTH OF JULY

BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD

WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD

JOHN 1:29

BACKGROUND

Devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus is as old as Christianity. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.  Just as Eve, the mother of all life, whose name means Life, was taken from the side of Adam, the Church and all the life giving sacraments flow from the pierced side of Jesus.

In the first century, Pope St. Clement I wrote “Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious it is; it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.”

The Blood of Christ is the source of salvation for the world. God chose the sign of blood, because no other sign is so eloquent to express the supreme love of life given for others. This donation is repeated in every Eucharistic celebration, in which alongside the Body of Christ, His precious blood is made present; the Blood of the new and eternal Covenant, shed for all, for the redemption of sins.

 SCRIPTURE

 The Bible regards blood as the symbol and source of life. Leviticus 17:14 states, “For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life

Blood in the Old Testament was a key component in the system of atonement instituted by God. The lifeblood of a sacrificial animal offered in sacrifice represented the life of the individual making atonement.

In the very first letter of St. Peter, Vicar of Christ, Peter addressed the need for reverence for the “precious blood” of Christ, “realize that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ” I Peter 1:17-19.

God’s holiness and justice demanded that sin be punished. The offering of an animal and even our own death are not sufficient sacrifices to pay for sin. Atonement for the infinite offense against God requires a perfect, spotless sacrifice. Jesus Christ, the one perfect God-man, came to offer the pure, complete and everlasting sacrifice to make payment for our sin. Christ poured out his life in the ultimate atoning sacrifice for our sin and the sins of the world. “for this is My blood, the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:28

In the scourging at the pillar, our Lord spurt out His divine Blood.  Pilate displays the blood-covered Body to the crowds: Ecce homo (Behold the Man)! As we go through Jerusalem’s streets we follow the bloody footsteps to Golgotha. Precious blood trickles down the cross until a soldier opens the sacred side.

Water and Blood flow from that side to wash us clean in the blood of the Lamb

 PRAYER

 Lord Jesus, You became Man that you might suffer your Passion and Death even to the draining of your most precious blood so you might prove to us your love for us. 

 Protect us, dear Jesus.  Strengthen our weak human wills so that we will not run away from the cross, but welcome every opportunity to shed our blood in spirit in union with your Precious Blood, so that, dying to ourselves in time, we might live with You in Eternity  Amen

BLOOD OF CHRIST FALLING UPON THE EARTH,

HAVE MERCY ON US!

 

 

 

FEAST OF SACRED HEART OF JESUS

JUNE 16, 2023

 BACKGROUND

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries we find the first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart. It was the Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries that the devotion began. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is of great antiquity in the Church. It was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, however, who made this devotion widespread.

In Jesus’ appearance to Margaret Mary in the 17th century, June 1675, Jesus disclosed he wanted to share the wonders of His love and the treasures of His goodness to all the world.

Jesus told Margaret Mary, “Behold the Heart that has so loved men, instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part of mankind only sacrilege, contempt, indifference and ingratitude.” Jesus asked her for a feast of reparation to His Most Sacred Heart.

Revelation of the Sacred Heart  to St. Margaret Mary 

COMMENTARY

June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This specific feast day is celebrated the first Friday after the feast of Corpus Christi. .

The “heart” has been the symbol of love almost forever. Valentine cards are filled with hearts, boxes of candy come in heart shape boxes, we cover our hearts at the national anthem so is it any surprise that Jesus divine and human wants us to focus on His heart pierced for our salvation. Jesus gave us His all. Jesus is the model of love, service, and compassion for us in service to our fellow man.

After Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque received apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus she told her Mother Superior and asked what she should do. Mother Superior advised Margaret Mary to tell the Priest in Confession and ask his advice.

The priest told Saint Margaret Mary to ask Jesus what he confessed in his last confession. Next confession the priest asked Saint Margaret what Jesus said. Margaret Mary, uncomfortably, answered, “Jesus said “I don’t know, I have forgotten them!”

 REFLECTION

In this culture of death, let us spend the month of June in Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, lifting up our Nation, indeed the whole world, to the One in whom we place all of our trust. His Heart still beats with Mercy and Love for the world.

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us of Jesus’ humanity as well as His divinity and the significance of His sacrifice.

Jesus suffered, He felt pain, He literally laid down his life for us …. The cross is not about how much Christ suffered but how much God loves us.

Suffering (passion) is part of human condition. Love and suffering go together, like hand in glove. You love until it hurts, just ask a caregiver caring for a loved one. It wasn’t easy for Jesus to do the Father’s will. “Father if possible remove this cup from me, but not my will thy will be done. Luke 22:42 Let us too will our prayers, our love and our lives for the salvation of mankind.

ACT OF REPARATION TO SACRED HEART OF JESUS     

ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE

 ADORABLE Heart of Jesus, infinitely rich in mercy, heal the wounds of our souls. We humbly prostrate ourselves before Thee to express the sorrow that fills our hearts for the coldness and indifference we have so often embraced….

ADORABLE Heart of Jesus, source of true contrition and ever merciful to the penitent sinner, impart to our hearts the spirit of penance, and give to our eyes a fountain of tears, that we may sincerely bewail our sins now and for the rest of our days.

ADORABLE Heart of Jesus, source of true contrition and ever merciful to the penitent sinner, impart to our hearts the spirit of penance, that we reject our sins now and for the rest of our days. Strengthen our weakness, confirm our resolutions of amendment, that nothing in life or death may ever again separate us from Thee. Amen.

JESUS MEEK AND HUMBLE OF HEART
MAKE MY HEART LIKE UNTO THINE!

John (the) Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins…

 REFLECTION

 John’s baptism does not forgive sins but prepares the hearts of people to acknowledge their guilt and readies them for God’s mercy that the Savior promises…Jesus is that Savior.

JOHN THE BAPTIST’S TESTIMONY TO HIMSELF.

 SCRIPTURE

And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites [to him] to ask him, “Who are you?”  he admitted “I am not the Messiah.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?”^* And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”

 So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.”

….^*“I baptize with water;^* but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” ^*JOHN 1:19-28

VOICE CRYING OUT IN DESERT

 INTRODUCTION

 The Baptism of Jesus is not just another story of Jesus told in all four Gospels but THE STORY.  It says all we need to know about who Jesus is and our relationship to Him.

Jesus is our Savior and we are the ones He came to save. Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21, and John 1:29-34

 The Old Testament, the promise, and the New Testament, the fulfillment, come together. The call to repentance by the prophets of the Old and call to repentance of John the Baptist in the New. We also have the Passover lamb that delivered the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt in the Old and the Lamb of God who delivers us from our sins in the New.

REFLECTION

 John the Baptist asserts he is not the Messiah, the expected one.  John could have out of pride taken their adulation and sycophancy, but no, he told the truth.  There was no deceit in John the Baptist.  John was all about truth. Repent, the kingdom is coming, be ready, prepare yourselves, your salvation is at hand.

John bears witness.  What kind of witness are we?  John the Baptist knew his place in the Divine Plan.  Do we know our place?

BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD

 JOHN THE BAPTIST’S TESTIMONY TO JESUS.

 SCRIPTURE

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,^* who takes away the sin of the world He is the one of whom I said, A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him,^* but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” JOHN 1:29-34

 Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Matthew 3:13-15

 REFLECTION

 John protests that he should be the one baptized by Jesus but Jesus says let it be done for now for sake of righteousness.  What is this thing called righteousness?

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. Jeremiah 23:5

In the New Testament Joseph foster father of Jesus is described as righteous. And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. Matthew 1:19

 Righteousness may be described as oneness with God….no separateness between my will and God’s will. So Jesus is telling John the Baptist it is the Father’s will for a time.  Let it be!

Jesus did not have Original Sin or any other sin.  Jesus’ insisted on Baptism by John for an example to others who were in need of reconciliation and new beginnings due to their fallen state, weakened wills, clouded minds, and unruly appetites. Conversion was the message,

When Jesus was immersed in the waters of John’s baptism He took on all the sins of the world, and carried them to redemption on the cross. Jesus emerged from the waters of Baptism, affirmed by the Father, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

THIS IS MY BELOVED SON WITH WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED

After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened…the Spirit of God descended like a dove… And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” JOHN 1:26-32

John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove^* from the sky and remain upon him…. Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” John 1:32-34

REFLECTIONS

 John the Baptist witnessed the Holy Spirit affirming Jesus as the one sent by God. John testified to the others gathered, this man is the Son of God.  How are we in testifying to others that Jesus is the Son of God…there is no other to follow.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Jesus is that sacrificial lamb who sacrifices himself for us that our sins may be forgiven… sin has no more dominion over mankind…Blessed be God!

 The Father affirms the Son’s mission…”This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased…Here is your Savior!

CLOSING

At our Baptisms we become adopted sons and daughters and heirs to heaven. At our Baptisms we reject Satan and all his works and empty promises. At our Baptisms we are made righteous, cleansed of our sins, infused with sanctifying grace, and configured to Christ…an initiation that sets us on our journey back home to the Father.

THINGS TO PONDER

HE MUST INCREASE, I MUST DECREASE!

JOHN 3:30

 

 

 

JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH

REFLECTION

As I look at this picture of the Holy Family, many themes come to mind. Love and faithfulness stand out…  Mary’s words of obedience to God’s messenger, “Be it done to me according to thy word,” without understanding the consequences of her fiat.  Her submission to God’s will says so much about the trust Mary had in a benevolent God that only wishes us well.

Mary conceives a Son by the Power of the Holy Spirit….the Son Mary conceived was no ordinary Son but the Son of God…Mary will bring God to the world… the Word Incarnate…God will dwell once again among His people…The Garden is refreshed with a NEW ADAM…

Joseph had his own qualms to deal with when his wife to be became pregnant and not by him.  Joseph was already a righteous man in relationship with God and did not want to do anything to embarrass or jeopardize his spouse to be so he was going to separate quietly.

Then God intervened, “behold, the angel of the Lord^* appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” Matthew 1:20

Because of the love of Mary and Joseph, the Christ child in the picture is able to hold out his arms and embrace the whole world in blessing.  A child lives what he experiences.  A loving family attached to God their creator and source can only spread the love and embrace of God the Father to others.

At one point Jesus got separated from Mary and Joseph and when found teaching in the temple he willingly left His Father’s house and went back to his earthly home in Nazereth.  “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.  And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man” Luke 2:49-51

 Jesus went home with His earthly parents and was obedient to them…He obeyed the Father’s will in honoring Mary and Joseph….How am I honoring God in my daily duties…

Not much is known about Jesus’ child hood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood in his home town of Nazareth.  We do know the Holy Family were all devout Jews honoring and worshiping God according to Jewish practices, especially holy days like Passover, Feast of Tabernacles, and Pentecost.

Mary and Joseph would have provided for their family in traditional roles of feeding and caring for their child.  In his human nature Jesus would be learning and not taking any “divine” short cuts as he assisted his earthly foster father, Joseph, in his carpentry trade.

Loving parents, loving child, the core of God’s plan for salvation of mankind, imaging the relationship of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

 In the cultural change taking place in the present-day, models are often presented which conflict with the Christian vision of the family. Christianity proclaims that God created humanity as male and female, and blessed them to form one flesh and transmit life Gen 1: 27-28; 2, 24

 The mystery of life’s creation on earth fills us with wonder and delight. The family, founded on the marriage of a man and a woman, is splendid to behold and irreplaceable in an interpersonal loving relationship which transmits life. The act of generation, must be understood in light of the parents’ responsibility and commitment to the care and Christian upbringing of their children, who are the most precious fruit of conjugal love

According to our faith, the difference between the sexes bears in itself the image and likeness of God  Genesis 1:26-27. “This tells us that it is not man alone who is the image of God or woman alone who is the image of God, but man and woman as a couple who are the image of God.

 To families with homosexual members, the Church reiterates that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his/her dignity, while carefully avoiding “every sign of unjust discrimination”…Regarding proposals to place unions of homosexual persons on the same level as marriage, “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”.

Marriage is a gift and a promise of God. The witness of couples, who faithfully live their marriage, highlights the value of this indissoluble union and awakens the desire to constantly renew their commitment to fidelity.

PRAYER TO THE HOLY FAMILY

Heavenly father, you have given us a model of life

in the Holy family of Nazareth

Help us, O Loving Father to make our family another Nazareth

where love, peace, and joy reign

May it be deeply contemplative, intensely Eucharistic,

and vibrant with joy.

Holy Family Pray for us.

 St. Terese Kolkata

IN JESUS’ NAME WE PRAY

 

 

 

 

ALL SAINTS DAY NOVEMBER 1

All Saints day, a Holy Day of obligation in many parts of the world, is celebrated on November 1. We call these saints, the “Church Triumphant.”  “We are vast in numbers, too many to comprehend.” Revelation 7:9

We are “the pilgrim Church” on earth still making our way back home.  We are sometimes called the “Church Militant.”  We have to fight hard to overcome the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.  We, here on earth, celebrate in liturgy the “Communion of Saints” on back to back Feast Days of All Saints and All Souls Day.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT MATTHEW 5

Who is a saint?  A saint is blessed… someone who is set apart for God’s special purposes and responds to that call. Where do we find those blessings in Scripture?  In Matthew 5, of course. Saints worked hard to become what Jesus called them to be in the Sermon on the Mount:

To be poor in spirit.  To be meek.  To be merciful.  To make peace.  This is how we begin to become what Jesus called “blessed,” and who the Church calls saints.

We, too, participate in this blessedness in the measure we accept Jesus and follow Him, according to our state in life.  With Jesus, the impossible becomes possible. With Jesus’ help, we are able to become “perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48.

All Saints Day is an opportunity to give thanks for all those who have gone before us in the faith….showing us the Way to the Father.

Living saints among us could be our own family members. It could be that special family member that prays for all the other members.  It could be a family member that not only taught us the faith but lived and modeled the faith, we practice today.

On All Saints Day, let us give thanks for both the saints in glory and those on earth, who have led us to Jesus.  There is only one real sadness in life and that is not to be a saint. Don’t miss the opportunity.  Choose the narrow gate, Jesus!

HEBREWS 12:1-2

 ALL SOULS DAY NOVEMBER 2

The Holy souls in Purgatory are part of the Communion of Saints, not yet purified and perfected, but will one day enter heaven.  They are members of the Church who have died and have not yet entered into the glory of God’s presence due to some unrepentant sin or the effects of sin still remaining at the time of their death.

We believe that God in his mercy purifies them and purges them of their sins and their effects so they may worthily enter into the presence of the all Holy God, “before whom nothing unclean shall enter.” Rev. 21:27

This purgation of sins and its effects is the reason we call the souls in Purgatory the Church Suffering.  It is painful in Purgatory just as it is here on earth when God breaks us from our addictions and willfulness.  The souls in Purgatory also suffer because they are separated from full communion with God.

We can pray for these loved ones in purgatory that they soon may be purified and perfected.  Souls in purgatory cannot pray for themselves but they can pray for us.  They can pray for us that we may have fortitude and perseverance in our journey home.

It is extremely important to pray for them that they will soon see God, face to face in the Beatific Vision. They pray for us now and will intercede for us when they get to heaven.

ALL SOULS DAY NOVEMBER 2

 Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord And let perpetual light shine upon them.

May the souls of the faithful departed, Through the mercy of God, rest in peace Amen

REFLECTION

Are we ready to be canonized? What is still standing in our way?  What do we have to rid ourselves of to be more full of God? The stories of the saints encourage us to be all God has created us to be. Pray to the saints in heaven and saints in purgatory to intercede for us.

Nobody is born a saint.  The Saints in Heaven were people of appetites, longings, ambitions, vanities and eccentricities like us. The Saints walked the journey toward holiness, sometimes stumbling, sometimes falling, but always getting back up and moving on, resolving to do better- to be better.

Perhaps, this week look up in book or internet a saint to reflect on. Pray for the saint to intercede for you for some special grace that will bring you into closer relationship with Our Lord.  You may also thank a living “saint” for being a model and inspiration for you and thank God for putting that person in your life!

CLOSING PRAYER

Father, All-Powerful and ever-living God, you are glorified in your saints. 

Around your throne, the saints, our brothers and sisters, sing your praises forever. 

Bring soon the Holy Souls in Purgatory into the glory of the Beatific Vision. All bore holy witness to you in their lives on earth. In their great company, and all the angels in heaven, we, too, praise your glory, now and forever.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEAST DAY SEPTEMBER 5

 INTRODUCTION

Saints are models for us. The saints are not only models for us, they are intercessors on our behalf.  Mother Teresa is one of my favorite saints.  Years ago she inspired our whole family, teenage girls included, to spend time in the poorest of poor nations, Haiti, to work with the poor and dying.  One of the places was a hospice run by the Missionaries of Charity the order Mother Teresa founded.

We have never been the same since. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25 It is true when you give your life for another, you save your life and that life becomes more abundant.  God keeps His promises.

BACKGROUND

 Born in Skopje (North Macedonia) in 1910, MOTHER TERESA joined the Sisters of Loreto in Dublin in 1928 and was sent to India, where she began her novitiate. She taught at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta from 1931 to 1948, until leaving the Loreto order to begin the Missionaries of Charity.

In 1946, Mother Teresa had a mystical encounter with Christ on a train to Darjeeling September 26, 1946 in which He asked her to take her love for Him a large step further. He asked her to leave the convent of Loreto and begin an order which would serve the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta.

During the time of her mystical experiences leading to the founding of the new order, she experienced deep spiritual union and the sensible awareness of God’s Presence in her life.

Here is a small sample of Jesus’ words to her: “My little one – come – carry Me into the holes of the poor. –  Come be My light – I cannot go alone – they don’t know Me – in your love for Me – they will see Me, know Me, want Me…. For them I long –Wilt thou refuse?”

During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion to people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands of others nobody else was prepared to look after, has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world.

MEDITATION: PONDER THE GOOD NEWS

SHARED BY MOTHER TERESA

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Each person is Jesus in disguise. I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy.  I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.

 It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.

 People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.  The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

 Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

At the hour of death when we come face-to-face with God, we are going to be judged on love; not how much we have done, but how much love we put into the doing.

REFLECTION

We are each called and equipped by God to not only survive our personal Calcutta, but to contribute to those around us whose individual Calcutta intersects our own.   There is no need, then, to travel to far-off lands to contribute…

Wherever we are, with whatever talents and relationships God has entrusted us, we are each called not to do what Mother Teresa did, but– to love as she loved in the Calcutta of our own life.

Made in the very image and likeness of God, We on earth, are God’s love, God’s compassion, God’s will, God’s caregivers, His smile, His tears.  We must show the presence of God in this world until He comes again at the end of time.

Mother Teresa’s 1979 Nobel Peace Prize

Acceptance Speech

Lord, make me a channel of Thy peace that, where there is hatred, I may bring love;

that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that, where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that, where there is error, I may bring truth;

that, where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that, where there is despair, I may bring hope; that, where there are shadows, I may bring light;

that, where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted, to love than to be loved; for it is by forgetting self that one finds;

it is forgiving that one is forgiven; it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.