CATHOLIC FEAST DAYS

NOTE: BECAUSE THIS FEAST FELL IN LENT THIS YEAR THE UNITED COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS MOVED THIS SOLEMNITY TO APRIL 8

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you”

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary

REFLECTION

 The plan for our salvation originates with God; the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David.

 This fulfills the prophecies of the Savior born of a virgin and born in the line of David and he will rule over the house of David forever. 2 Samuel 7:16

 And coming to her, the Angel said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you”

 REFLECTION

The angel Gabriel addresses Mary with an expression full of grace, (kecharitomene), Mary is not becoming full of grace; Mary is full of grace now! Mary was preserved from Original Sin from her conception through anticipated merits of Jesus’ Passion and death. 

 But Mary was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. 

 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,^* and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

 But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God

 REFLECTION

 Mary questioned the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” Mary would not have asked such a question unless she had made a vow of perpetual virginity which Joseph was willing to accept as conditions of their marriage.   

 Mary’s virginal conception by the power of the Holy Spirit assures us our Savior will have both a Divine Nature and a Human nature. Only God can make adequate atonement for a Divine offense.  And only one with a Human nature may atone on behalf of all humanity  Jesus has both a Divine nature and a Human nature.

 And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. Luke 1:16-36

 REFLECTION

 The Angel Gabriel, gave Mary a sign of God’s omnipotence by announcing Mary’s elderly cousin, Elizabeth, afflicted with sterility all her life is now six months pregnant. Mary did not gloat and hang out with her girlfriends but hurried to her cousin Elizabeth to see how she could be of service to her elderly cousin.

When the pregnant Mary meets her pregnant cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth greets her by saying, “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” LUKE 1:43

And the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy! Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant.

When the Ark of the Covenant was brought before David, he danced joyfully in the streets of Jerusalem, saying “How can the ark of the Lord come to me!” 2 SAMUEL 6:9   Now John the Baptist danced in Elizabeth’s womb when greeted by Jesus in Mary’s womb.

 REFLECTION

Do we dance at least figuratively in Jesus’ presence?

Do I say to God be it done according to your will as Mary did?

If not, why not?

God has a mission for me like He did for Mary.

 Do I seek God” plan/mission for me. 

God loved me into existence for a reason. God is a lifelong search. Search for that reason!

MARY THE NEW ARK OF THE COVENANT

MARIAN PRAYER

MEMORARE

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary,

 that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection,

implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided.

Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother;

to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions,

 but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION 

FOSTER FATHER OF JESUS

 St. Joseph, skilled and trusted craftsman of the town of Nazareth, was a faithful practicing Jewish man from the line of David. The Bible pays Joseph the highest compliment by calling him a “just man.” Matthew 1:19

By saying Joseph was “just,” the Bible means that he was one who was completely open to all that God wanted him to do and did it faithfully.

Joseph, betrothed to Mary, faced with Mary pregnant during engagement period and not by him had to hurt him severely. Joseph didn’t want to out Mary publicly to charge of adultery.  Joseph planned to separate from Mary “quietly” because he was “a righteous man, unwilling to expose her to shame” Matthew 1:19.

 When it was time for his wife to give birth, Joseph could not find an Inn but was forced into a shelter for animals.

DO WE GOSSIP ABOUT THE SINS OF OTHERS? 

DO WE HAVE A PLACE FOR JESUS IN OUR INN?

 WHAT HELP DO WE GIVE TO SHELTER THE HOMELESS?

When King Herod threatened their infant son. Joseph and the Holy Family had to flee in total uncertainty to a foreign land.  Joseph trusted in God that he and his family would be cared for.

  FLIGHT INTO EGYPT

DO WE TRUST IN GOD IN PERIL?                       

After Herod’s death Joseph safely returned Mary and Jesus to Nazareth. Matthew 2:13-16

JOSEPH AND MARY FIND JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

 On a Passover trip in Jerusalem, Jesus got separated from Mary and Joseph. After three days, Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple listening and teaching.  They brought Jesus home to Nazareth, where Jesus grew in wisdom and grace and obedience to earthly parents.  Luke 2:41

“And Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them” Luke, 2:51. As head of the Holy Family, Joseph was protector, counselor, and consoler of the Holy Family in every need. St. Joseph is intercessor and patron saint of families.

There was an intimate union of heart and mind among the members of the Holy Family. Jesus chose to fulfill all the duties of a faithful Son.

Mary showed all the signs of respect and love of a devoted wife.  St. Joseph cherished all the experiences common to family life and provider through his carpentry skills. Work has dignity,

 HOW DO WE DEAL WITH SEPARATION OF LOVED ONES?

 DO WE NEED TO CONTACT SOMEONE THAT WE HAVEN’T FOR A LONG TIME

 HOW ARE WE LIKE JOSEPH?

In this hidden life of Jesus, we see the beginnings of his obedience to his spiritual and human father.  This obedience wipes out the disobedience of Adam.  As the disobedience of Adam brought about death, the obedience of the New Adam, Jesus, brings life, eternal life.

God the Father plants His Son in this most perfect Holy Family that will ready Him for His mission.  As the old saying goes, “Bloom where you are planted.”

TODAY WE LIVE IN CULTURE OFDEATH. DO WE CHOOSE LIFE OR DEATH?

DO WE CHOOSE LIGHT OR DARKNESS?

DO WE DISOBEY LIKE ADAM OR OBEY LIKE JESUS, THY WILL BE DONE?

PATRON SAINT OF A HAPPY DEATH

 We do not know when Joseph died but there is no mention of him during Jesus’ public ministry  Is it any wonder that the Church declared Joseph the patron saint of a happy death? Joseph died in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Jesus and His mother Mary were not only supporters and consolers who supported Joseph’s frail body, but also provided powerful, soothing graces that refreshed the heart and soul of the dying Saint. St. Joseph can help us at our time of death by reminding us not to fear death but to rest in the arms and support of the Holy Family!

 PRAYER TO ST JOSEPH

 O glorious St. Joseph, Saint of the workbench, skilled and trusted craftsman…Cheerfully toiling side by side with Jesus, Teach us to value lives of hidden splendor.

We implore thy powerful intercession in obtaining for us from your Divine son all spiritual blessings, particularly the grace of a happy death. 

 O Guardian of the Word Incarnate, we have confidence that thy prayers on our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. In Jesus’ name we pray! Amen.

SAINT JOSEPH PRAY FOR US

 

IN UNITED STATES  CELEBRATED ON SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS JANUARY 2-8

RISE UP IN SPLENDOR, JERUSALEM YOUR LIGHT HAS COME
THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHINES UPON YOU.
ISAIAH 60:1

Star of wonder, star of light Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to Thy perfect light
Guide us to Thy perfect light

BACKGROUND

The Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the oldest Christian feasts. Throughout the centuries, it has celebrated a variety of things. The Greek word Epiphany (επιφάνεια), means appearance or manifestation. It describes Jesus’ first appearance to the Gentiles. Like many of the ancient Christian feasts, Epiphany was first celebrated in the East.

The feast of the Epiphany in the East celebrated four different events, the Nativity of Christ; the visitation of the Wise Men, the Baptism of the Lord; and Christ’s first miracle, at the wedding in Cana. Each of these events are a theophany or revelation of God to man.

At the Nativity, the angels bear witness to Christ. At the visitation of the Magi, Christ’s divinity is revealed to the Gentiles—the other nations of the earth. At Christ’s Baptism, the Holy Spirit descends and the voice of God the Father is heard, declaring that Jesus is His Son. At the wedding in Cana, the miracle reveals Christ’s divinity;

Eventually, the celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany was separated out in the West, into separate feasts of Christmas, Epiphany, Baptism of Jesus, and Marriage feast at Cana.

In 1991 the United States Bishops reduced the number of non-Sunday Holy Days to six. One of those Holy Days, the Epiphany, was transferred to the Sunday between January 2 and January 8.

COMMENTARY

“Arise! Shine, for your light has come, the glory of the LORD has dawned upon you. Though darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds, the peoples. upon you the LORD will dawn, and over you his glory will be seen. Isaiah 60:1-6

Today’s Old Testament reading in the liturgy of the Mass, Isaiah 60:1-6, is chosen partly because it mentions non-Jews bringing gifts in homage to the God of Israel. The passage also celebrates the Divine Light emanating from Jerusalem and foresees all the nations acknowledging and enjoying that Light and walking by it.

The Magi were most likely a caste of Persian priests who served Kings using their skills in interpreting dreams and watching movements of stars. Stars were believed to be signs from God, announcing important events. .

“…and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage… they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” Matthew 2:11

COME LET US ADORE HIM, CHRIST THE LORD!

Gold was a gift for Kings; frankincense was offered to God in Temple worship. Myrrh was used by the High Priest as an anointing oil. Exodus 30:23. It was also the Jewish custom of anointing, preparing a dead body for burial, a foreshadowing Jesus’ death and burial.

REFLECTION

What Mary and Joseph must have thought with all this attention! Some came in worship, some hunted their son in hatred and some like today, were indifferent.

There are those who seek God, find God, and serve Him, (Mary and Joseph), and those who seek God but haven’t found Him yet (the Magi). Which am I? Or am I indifferent?

“Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Isaiah 9:2Do I seek the Light? Do I radiate that light to the rest of the world?

Are my eyes open to the many Epiphanies in my own life? Do I look each day for His manifestation? How does God manifest Himself to me today?

I think about the guidance of the Holy Spirit, leading the wise man back another route. Do I call on the Holy Spirit for GPS assistance as I make my way home to the Father?

Let us walk in the LIGHT, radiating Jesus’ love by selfless service, unconditional forgiveness and compassionate care

CHRISTUS VINCIT, CHRISTUS REGNAT, CHRISTUS IMPERAT

CHRIST CONQUERS, CHRIST REIGNS, CHRIST RULES.

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

INTRODUCTION

We have been on a journey the past twelve months as we traveled through the Christian Church Year. The Liturgical year begins on the First Sunday of Advent, and ends today with the Feast of Christ the King.

During the Liturgical year, we re-live the life of Christ. We follow in His footsteps as he walked the dusty trails of Galilee, gathered disciples, opened blind eyes, made the lame to walk, taught the multitudes, was crucified, rose again and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

Is Christ the King, King of my life?

The Feast of Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to assert the sovereignty of Christ and His Church over all forms of government, to remind Christians of the fidelity and loyalty they owe to Christ, who by his Incarnation and sacrificial death on the cross makes us adopted children of God and future citizens and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven
The title “Christ the King” has its roots both in the Old Testament and New Testament. In most of the Messianic prophecies given in the Old Testament books of Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel, the Messiah is represented as a King.

“I saw in the night visions, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
Daniel 7:13-14

From the very beginning of the New Testament at the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel says to Mary, “He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,* and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:32-33

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray: “Thy Kingdom come . . .” immediately followed by “Thy will be done.” In the Semitic style of parallelism one sentence explains or expands another. And so, the definition of the Kingdom is “a community of people who do God’s will on earth as perfectly as it is done in heaven.”

REFLECTION

The Kingdom of God is a space. It exists in every home where parents and children love each other. It exists in every region and country that cares for its weak and vulnerable. It exists in every parish that reaches out to the needy. It exists in every work place where one is kind and patient with their fellow workers.

The Kingdom of God is a time. It happens whenever someone feeds a hungry person, shelters a homeless person, or shows care to a neglected person. It happens whenever we overturn an unjust law, or make peace instead of war
The Kingdom of God is a condition. Its symptoms are love, justice, and peace. Jesus Christ is king! We belong to his Kingdom when we try to walk with him, when we try to live our lives fully in the spirit of the Gospel and when that Gospel spirit penetrates every facet of our living.

At our Baptisms we hear these words of anointing, As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so too may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.

As priest we offer sacrifice, as prophet we offer witness, and as King we offer service to others.

“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.” Matthew 20:28 We too are called to be a people of service who reach out to embrace the enemy and the stranger, a people who will endlessly forgive, a people who will reach out in compassion to the poor and to the marginalized….

PRAYER
To Jesus Christ our Sovereign King
who is the world’s salvation,
All praise and homage do we bring
and thanks and adoration

Your reign extend O King benign,
to every land and nation;
For in your kingdom Lord divine
Alone do we find salvation

To you and to your Church, great King
We pledge our heart’s oblation;
Until before your throne we sing
In endless jubilation

Christ Jesus, Victor!
Christ Jesus, Ruler!
Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer

COME FOLLOW ME, YOUR SOVEREIGN KING

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

A CLOUD OF WITNESSES
REVELATION 7:9

We here on earth are the pilgrim Church, working hard to be saints, 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.

A saint is blessed… someone who is set apart for God’s special purposes and responds to that call. In Matthew 5, Sermon on the Mount, we hear what those blessings are.

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.

With Jesus’ help, we are able to become “perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48. With Jesus, the impossible becomes possible. 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!

HEBREWS 12:1-2

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

The Holy souls in Purgatory, Church Suffering, 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…see God face to face in the Beatific Vision.

Souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves but they can pray for us that we may have fortitude and perseverance in our journey home.

REFLECTION

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, resolving to do better- to be better.

Perhaps, this week look up in book or internet a saint to reflect on. Ask 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 you may know 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.

ALL SAINTS DAY NOVEMBER 1
COME, LET US WORSHIP!

 

SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI FEAST DAY OCTOBER 4

INTRODUCTION

Wednesday October 4 is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. Most of us know in general about Francis love for God’s creation, the animals, BROTHER sun, SISTER moon, and all that God has made. Many parishes will be blessing pets today. Pets are gifts from God to lift our spirits on our journey. Thank God for our pets!

BACKGROUND

In 1182, Francis was born to a wealthy cloth merchant of Assisi, Pietro Bernardone, and his French wife, the Lady Pica. Francis was a young man of charm and wit with a consuming desire to be a knight after the fashion of his heroes, the legendary knights’ errant of the court of King Arthur and the court of Charlemagne.

In his twentieth year, Francis rides off to battle against the neighboring city of Perugia. Assisi is routed and Francis is taken prisoner. While in prison, Francis becomes ill. Francis is ransomed by his Father and released from prison.

After imprisonment and ill health, the world had lost some of its splendor for Francis. It is in this desperate desolation that Francis begins to hear new voices within his old voices of vain glory and legendary tales of courtly love. God’s voice became louder and clearer.

One day Francis hears God’s voice, “Francis! if you wish to know my will… all that now seems sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter… but all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness and exceeding joy.”

Another time while praying in the chapel of San Damiano, Francis hears, “Francis repair my house which is falling into ruin.” Francis begins selling his Father’s goods to raise money for repairs then resorts to begging for stones of the townspeople. Enraged at his son’s begging, Pietro drags his son before the Bishop.

Francis strips himself of his clothes before the Bishop and lays them at his father’s feet and utters the most dramatic words of his life,

“Listen to me everybody! Until now I have called Pietro Bernardone my father. But now that I am determined to serve God, I return not only his money but all the clothes I have from him. From now on, I can walk naked before the Lord, no longer saying “my father,” Pietro Bernardone, but, ‘our Father who art in heaven!‘

Thus begins the journey of Francis from his father’s house to the house of his heavenly Father. For Francis the Heavenly Father is fully revealed in Jesus Christ and thus the journey home is in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. .

Francis began to understand better God’s call to “rebuild his Church” was more specific vocation to rebuild the spiritual life of the Church by bearing witness in imitation of Christ to the saving power of the Gospel

FRANCIS EMBRACES LEPER

One day Francis was riding across the plains of Assisi, he perceived a leper coming straight towards him. In Francis’ day a leper had to ring a bell and shout, “Unclean.” Society had embedded in Francis an incomparable loathing for all persons afflicted with this illness.

As Francis saw the leper approach his first reaction was horror then he remembered the resolve he made to attain perfection and to be a soldier of Christ meant victory over one self. Francis dismounted his horse, kissed the leper, and gave him alms.

In this decisive moment of illumination Francis suddenly perceived in this leper the embodiment of God’s beauty, a human being to be loved and cared for tenderly.

By embracing the leper, the Saint learned to embrace all people just as Jesus did. For Francis the meaning of Creation is found in the person of Jesus Christ. It is in and through Jesus Christ that we discover the meaning of our own humanity and that of every other creature.

ST FRANCIS ASSISI PEACE PRAYER

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;
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.

REFLECTION
HOW AM I DOING WITH THE LEPERS IN MY LIFE????

FEAST DAY OCTOBER 1

On September 30th, 1897, a young Carmelite nun living in France succumbed to the effects of tuberculosis, dying in obscurity, known only to her sisters in religious life.

Yet, this particular Carmelite would prove different in this respect. Within years of her death, her spiritual autobiography, Story of a Soul would captivate the Church. Miracles attributed to her intercession began to be reported.

In 1914, just seventeen years after her death, Pope Pius X signed a decree introducing her cause for beatification. She was proclaimed a Venerable Servant of God on August 14, 1921, and beatified by Pope Pius XI on April 29, 1923. On May 17, 1925, that Blessed Thérèse was canonized by Pope Pius XI, becoming Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.

At the hundred year anniversary of her death,(1997) Pope John Paul II declared this formally obscure Carmelite nun to be one of the Doctors of the Church, a title given to only a privileged few of the Church’s saints.

At the heart of Therese’s understanding of the spiritual life is the principle that holiness can be appreciated and accomplished not only in the performance of mighty deeds but in a willing surrender to the purposes of God as we engage in seemingly ordinary experiences of life.

THE LITTLE WAY OF THE LITTLE FLOWER

Thérèse didn’t want to just be good; she wanted to be a SAINT. “I have always wanted to become a saint. God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint”.

She thought there must be a way for people living hidden, little lives like hers. A turning point in her thinking came during a trip with her Father. They stayed at a hotel with an elevator/lift.
That lift persuaded her that she did not have to do all the heavy climbing to the arms of Jesus.
Therese gave us “the elevator metaphor”…God would come down to her and lift her up to Him

“for I was far too small to climb the steep stairs of perfection. So I sought in Holy Scripture some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words: “Whosoever is a little one, come to me.” It is your arms, Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to heaven. And so there is no need for me to grow up: I must stay little and become less and less.” Story of a Soul

Therese discovered through God’s grace that one does not have to journey to lands hostile to the Faith and suffer martyrdom to know what it means to suffer for the sake of the Gospel.
Opportunities to know and serve the Lord will find us wherever we are. When they do, will we rise to the occasion to seek to serve the Lord? Therese took every chance to sacrifice, no matter how small it would seem. She smiled at the sisters she didn’t like. She ate everything she was given without complaining…so that she was often given the worst leftovers.

At the heart of Therese’s understanding of the spiritual life is the principle that holiness can be appreciated and accomplished not only in the performance of mighty deeds but in a willing surrender to the purposes of God as we engage the seemingly ordinary experiences of life.
St. Therese said before she died at age 24, “After my death I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints. My mission is to make God loved”

REFLECTION

St. Therese’s “Little Way” is an inspiration to us all. It is hard to think of ourselves, as we age, as children, especially in our senior years. But, We must be child-like (wholly trusting) in God our loving Father. “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3

At the heart of Therese’s understanding of the spiritual life is the principle that holiness can be appreciated and accomplished not only in the performance of mighty deeds but in a willing surrender to God’s will as we engage in ordinary experiences of life.

Do we make that surrender when our food is served cold, when we are tempted to curse the person who cuts in front of us on the highway or grocery store, can we love our neighbor and wish them no harm, when our computers go berserk, do we ask for patience, when a person insults us, do we turn the other cheek? Daily we are faced with our will vs God’s will. How are we doing?

St. Therese discovered through God’s grace that one does not have to journey to foreign lands and suffer martyrdom to know what it means to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Opportunities to know and serve the Lord will find us wherever we are, and when they do, will we rise to the occasion to seek to serve the Lord? How about in our family?

POST SCRIPT

LOUIS AND ZELIE WITH THERESE

Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin, parents of St. Therese, married in 1858.Within the next fifteen years, Zelie bore nine children, seven girls and two boys. “We lived only for them,” Zelie wrote; “they were all our happiness.”

This happiness turned to shock and sorrow as tragedy relentlessly stalked their little ones. Within three years, Zelie’s two baby boys, a five year old girl, and a six-and-a-half week old infant girl all died. Although suffering had left its mark on mother and father, it was not the scar of bitterness.

Louis and Zelie had already found relief and support in their faith. The series of tragedies had intensified the love of Louis and Zelie Martin for each other. They poured out their affection on their five surviving daughters; Marie, 12, Pauline, 11, Leonie 9, Celine, 3, and their new-born, Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin.

Zelie and Louis Martin’s lives show us that when we live with love, we grow in holiness. Pope Benedict named them “Blessed” in 2008. Pope Francis officially Canonized them both as saints in 2015. They are the first married couple to ever be canonized together.

This Canonization of Louis and Zelie Martin is a beautiful sign of support for Christian Families especially in this secular world that mocks faith and worships idols like fame and fortune. Pray for your family and other families that they may remain faithful to the Gospel, despite the turmoil and noise of this world.