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Showing posts with the label St. John Paul II

The Most Holy Trinity is an Exchange of Divine Persons

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The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is May 30th. The Divine Family that is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is the central mystery of our Christian faith. The mystery of the Trinity is the life that dwells in us and sustains us. ___________ "God in his deepest mystery is not a solitude but a family, since he has in himself fatherhood, sonship and the essence of the family which is love." — St. John Paul II The Exchange of Persons in the Trinity The three-leaf clover used in religion classes to explain the mystery of three Divine Persons in one God does not begin to penetrate the incomparable majesty, boundless love, and total communion, which the Church in her Tradition and creeds ascribes to the Trinity. To the early Church Fathers the idea of perichoresis (the exchange of Persons in the Trinity), was indispensable to understanding God. This sublime, metaphysical concept is central to John Paul’s Theology of the Body. The inner life of Fa

Divine Mercy Sunday | 2021

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April 11, 2021 Saint Faustina received visions of our Lord, in which, Jesus instructed her to tell the world of His infinite Love and Mercy. She recorded these visions in her diary; later published under the title Divine Mercy in My Soul: The Diary of St. Faustina . Here, St. Faustina writes of Jesus’ desire to establish a solemn feast dedicated to spreading the Divine Mercy of Christ to all humanity: "On one occasion, I heard these words: 'My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day, the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day, all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened.'" Our Lord

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Priest and Miracle Worker

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Memorial - September 23rd Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, (1887-1968) better known as Padre Pio, was the 20th century Capuchin priest, stigmatic and mystic, who during his lifetime, was a spiritual father to innumerable souls. He is the only priest in the history of the Church to receive the stigmata — the divine marks of predilection — from our Lord’s Passion and Death. Thus, for much of his priesthood, Padre Pio suffered the spiritual, emotional and physical anguish of Christ’s holy wounds. In addition, he was given the miraculous gifts of bilocation, transverberation, (a divine piercing of the heart indicating union with God) the odor of sanctity, the ability to read souls, the ability to see and communicate with spiritual beings, (i.e. guardian angels, demons, the departed) and the capacity to write and comprehend languages foreign to him. Moreover, his brother Capuchins testified under oath that he levitated, healed by touch, and experienced divine ecstasies while praying, as w

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Martyr of Charity

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Memorial - August 14th I prayed very hard to Our Lady to tell me what would happen to me. She appeared, holding in her hands two crowns, one white, one red. She asked if I would like to have them—one was for purity, the other for martyrdom. I said, ‘I choose both.’ She smiled and disappeared.” St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe was only 10 years old when he experienced this vision of Our Lady near his poor family home in Zduńska Wola, Poland. In time, both crowns would come to pass for him, and always the Blessed Mother would be by his side as he received them. Born Raymund Kolbe in 1894, Maximilian entered the Conventual Franciscans in 1907, just three years a er his encounter with Mary; when he professed his first vows in 1911 at the age of 16, he took the name Maximilian. At the profession of his final vows in 1914, he also adopted the name “Mary” in order to show his devotion to the Mother of God. It was while he was0 studying for his doctorate in theology in Rome in 1919 that Ko

Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), April 19, 2020, Year A

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for  Sunday’s readings ) Don’t you hate ultimatums? Most of us have encountered (and maybe issued) them at one time or another. They usually begin with “unless” or “if” and threaten dire consequences if one’s expectations or demands are not met. Thomas issued an ultimatum, inflexible conditions that had to be met in order for him to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to the other Apostles. It would be interesting to speculate as to why Thomas refused to believe—interesting but pointless. Ultimatums generate frustration. Usually people throw up their hands and get angry. The inclination is to say, “Fine! Have it your way!” and then sit smug and wait for the inevitable comeuppance. Jesus did not take that attitude. On the contrary, he accepted Thomas as he was, and accommodated his weak faith. He gave a very gentle reproof, to the effect that it

Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

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You ask me a method of attaining perfection. I know of love — and only love. Love can do all things. — St Thérèse of Lisieux October 1st, is the feast day of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, more popularly known as St Thérèse of Lisieux, "the Little Flower." Although just an obscure cloistered Carmelite nun, she has achieved universal appeal since her death in 1897. This beloved saint is the patron of foreign missions, missionaries, against tuberculosis, AIDS sufferers, illness and loss of parents. Her perfect trust in God, deep faith and patient suffering is an example for us to follow. Saint Pius X called St. Thérèse the "greatest saint of modern times." Marie Thérèse Martin was born at Alençon, France on January 2, 1873, the youngest of five daughters. Her father, Louis Martin, was a watchmaker, and her mother, Zélie Martin, who died of breast cancer when Thérèse was four, was a lace maker. (On October 18, 2015, Pope Francis canonized

St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Priest, Stigmatic, Mystic, and His Miraculous Abilities

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September 23rd, is the memorial of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, (1887-1968) better known as Padre Pio, the 20th century Capuchin priest, stigmatic and mystic, who during his lifetime, was a spiritual father to innumerable souls. He is the only priest in the history of the Church to receive the stigma — the divine marks of predilection — from our Lord’s Passion and Death. For much of his priesthood, Padre Pio suffered the spiritual, emotional and physical anguish of Christ’s holy wounds. In addition, he was given the miraculous gifts of bilocation, transverberation, (a divine piercing of the heart indicating union with God) the odor of sanctity, the ability to read souls, the ability to see and communicate with spiritual beings, (i.e. guardian angels, demons, the departed) and the capacity to write and comprehend languages foreign to him. Moreover, his brother Capuchins testified under oath that he levitated, healed by touch, and experienced divine ecstasies while praying, as well as,

Homily for Trinity Sunday, Jane 16, 2019, Year C

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Fr. Thomas J. Lane S.T.D. Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture Mt. St. Mary's Seminary Emmitsburg, MD ( Click here for today’s readings ) "O Father who sought me O Son who bought me O Holy Spirit who taught me." That beautiful prayer to the Trinity is quoted in a book on Celtic prayer ( The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination page 43 by Esther de Waal). It expresses beautifully the different qualities of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. The Father sought us. That reminds me of Psalm 139, a beautiful Psalm about God seeking us and being present with us at all times. O Lord you search me and you know me, You know my resting and my rising, You discern my purpose from afar. You mark when I walk or lie down, All my ways lie open to you. Before ever a word is on my tongue You know it, O Lord through and through. Behind and before you besiege me, Your hand ever laid upon me. Too wonderful for me, this knowledge, To

Divine Mercy Sunday | 2019

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April 28, 2019 Saint Faustina received visions of our Lord, in which, Jesus instructed her to tell the world of His infinite Love and Mercy. She recorded these visions in her diary; later published under the title Divine Mercy in My Soul: The Diary of St. Faustina . Here, St. Faustina writes of Jesus’ desire to establish a solemn feast dedicated to spreading the Divine Mercy of Christ to all humanity: "On one occasion, I heard these words: 'My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day, the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day, all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened.'" Our Lord

St. Katharine Drexel, Foundress and Advocate

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Optional Memorial - March 3rd Our Lord said that it is "...easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:24).  Though such a thing is difficult, it is, however, not impossible, especially if the rich person, in this case, rich woman, sees their wealth as a gift from God, given to help bring about His kingdom on earth. For them, affluence is an opportunity. Such was the story of Saint Katharine Drexel. Born in Philadelphia into a family of wealth and privilege in 1858, Katharine had advantages that many people then, and even now, could only dream of. Her family’s fortune was made in banking. Her uncle Anthony founded Drexel University in Philadelphia. On her stepmother’s side, Katharine was a distant cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She received an excellent education, traveled widely in the United States and Europe, and, like other young women in her social class, made a grand debut i

TOB Tuesday: From the Beginning of Creation Marriage Was a Sacred Covenant Between Husband and Wife

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Editor's note: Occasionally on Tuesday we will feature posts relating to St. John Paul the Great's Theology of the Body; his reflection on our nature and life as persons made in the image and likeness of God, conjugal love, the meaning of celibacy, and the eternal beatitude to which every human being is called. ________________________________________ Saint John Paul II The link between secularization and the crisis of marriage and of the family is only too clear. The crisis concerning the meaning of God and that concerning moral good and evil has succeeded in diminishing an acquaintance with the fundamentals of marriage and of the family which is rooted in marriage. For an effective recovery of the truth in this field, it is necessary to rediscover the transcendent dimension that is intrinsic to the full truth of marriage and the family , overcoming every dichotomy that tends to separate the profane aspects from the religious as if there were two marriages: one

Feast of Sts. Francisco & Jacinta Marto (Portugal)

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On February 20th, dioceses in Portugal (together with others around the world) observe the feast of Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto. They are the youngest saints not to die as martyrs recognized by the Catholic Church. Francisco and Jacinta’s courageous witness to the faith teach us that even young children can become saints. The brother and sister who tended to their families’ sheep with their cousin Lucia Santo, witnessed the apparitions of Mary, Our Lady of Fatima. The Blessed Virgin Mary’s six appearances between May 13th and October 13th, 1917, at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, Portugal, to three poor shepherd children, was a defining moment in salvation history, presaging several significant events in the 20th century and beyond. Our Lady's urgent message speaks to us today. Mary told the children that she was sent from heaven by God with an urgent message for humanity. At that time, World War I was raging, and Europe was being torn apart by violence and bloodshed. Our La

St. Josephine Bakhita, Patron Saint of Sudan

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Optional Memorial - February 8th There are many types of slavery and also many types of freedom. For some, who appear outwardly free, the slavery is internal and has various guises, such as attitudes that entrap, hurtful emotions that have not healed, or addictions which cripple and bind. Then there are people who seem trapped, but who have actually achieved an inner freedom of spirit that nothing in the world can overcome. Saint Josephine Bakhita, who was born in the Darfur region of southern Sudan around 1868, belonged to the later. Her story began in slavery and ended in sainthood. No one knows what her parents had called her. The child, who would eventually be known as Josephine, was kidnapped by Arab slave traders when she was barely seven years old. It was they who gave her the name Bakhita which, ironically, means “fortunate” or “lucky.” For several years, her name appeared to be a cruel joke, as she was sold and resold, to an Arab chieftain and then to a Turkish milita

St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, Canada’s First Female Saint

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On January 12th the Catholic Church in Canada celebrates the memorial of Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, a 17th century French missionary who came to the New World in order to serve the poor. She founded the Congregation of Notre-Dame in Montreal dedicated to teaching, evangelization and works of charity, a hospital and schools. Beloved by Quebecois, she was called "the Mother of the Colony". She was born on Good Friday 1620, in Troyes, France, the sixth of twelve children to Abraham Bourgeoys and Guillemette Gamier, and baptized the same day. Her middle-class family was deeply religious. Her father died when she was young. At 19, Marguerite’s mother died. The following year, on October 7, 1640, during a procession in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, while looking at a statue of Mary, Marguerite had a divine vision that would change her life. She later recounted: "We passed again in front of the portal of Notre-Dame, where there was a stone image [of our Lady] above t

Saint André Bessette of Montreal

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January 6th is the optional memorial of Saint André Bessette. God raised up this poor, uneducated, sickly man to be a model of holiness and obedience. Brother André was born Alfred Bessette on August 9, 1845, near Quebec, Canada. When he first entered the Congregation of the Holy Cross, he was of such poor health that they weren't sure what job he could do, so, they made him the doorkeeper. Brother André like to say: "When I joined this community, the superiors showed me the door, and I remained forty years." It was as a doorkeeper that he came into contact with the poor and the sick and commenced his ministry as a healer. More and more people started coming to Brother André and his guidance was always the same. He told them to pray especially to Saint Joseph. Brother André had a great devotion to the foster father of Our Lord and he extolled others to seek St. Joseph's intercession. Soon, Brother André’s reputation for piety and as a healer grew, and people trav

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

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Feast Day - December 12th   When Saint John Paul II declared Our Lady of Guadalupe to be patroness of both Mexico and the Americas, he was not merely acknowledging the miracles that took place on a hill near Mexico City in 1531. He was confirming in a powerful way the lesson that Our Lady had already taught when she chose a poor Indian peasant to be her ambassador of faith. He emphasized that all the Americas — north, south, central and the Caribbean — are one, and that all the peoples therein need to be treated equally. He pointed to the fact that the Blessed Mother, through her appearance as Our Lady of Guadalupe, is the Mary of the Magnificat, who stands with the lowly and the poor. And finally, the Pope reminded us that it was Mary’s wish to invite all people, both those native to Mexico and those who came there from Europe, to a profound conversion together in the name of her Son, Jesus. The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a beautiful one. It began near present-day Mexi

The Church’s "Great" Popes Lived Out Heroic Virtue

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Three Popes in the history of the Church have been honored with the designation "the Great". Pope St. Leo I (440–61), Pope St. Gregory I (590–604), and Pope St. Nicholas I (858–67). This is not, however, the result of official Church decree. The pontiffs so named have been duly singled out through the popular acclaim of the faithful on the occasion of their deaths and over time by tradition. Since his passing in April 2005, Pope St. John Paul II has been variously accorded the title. Pope St. Leo the Great Pope St. Leo, one of the best-known popes from the 1st millennium, was a native of Tuscany, and initially served as a deacon under Pope St. Celestine I. Leo was a force to be reckoned with in diplomatic proceedings, which is why Pope Sixtus III sent him to resolve various disputes as a deacon. Leo's skills as an administrator enabled him to deal judiciously with the disintegration of the Roman Empire and guide the Church successfully through various conseque

St. Juan Diego, Messenger of Our Lady of Guadalupe

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Optional Memorial - December 9th  Juan Diego, whose life is inextricably linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe, was the first indigenous American saint canonized by the Catholic Church. In his remarks in Mexico City on July 31, 2002, St. John Paul II said that Juan Diego "accepted Christianity without giving up his Indian identity" and is a "model of perfectly inculturated evangelization." To underscore the saint’s importance in that regard, present at the canonization were the members of 64 indigenous Mexican tribes. He was born in 1474, in a place called Cuauhtitlan, located about fourteen miles north of present-day Mexico City. Living at first under the rule of the Aztecs, he witnessed the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes in 1521. When Franciscan missionaries arrived from Spain three years later, Juan Diego — whose native name was Cuauhtlatoatzin, “the eagle who speaks”— and his wife were among the first natives to receive Baptism. Juan Diego was an extre

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, December 3, 2017, Year B

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Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Advent begins with us looking at the eventual end of the world. The passage in today’s Gospel account is taken from St. Mark’s report of Jesus speaking to His disciples about the end of the world, telling them (and us) to be watchful and alert because we do now know when the Last Day will dawn. No one does. Advent, I say, begins with us looking at the end of the world. Advent ends with a beginning, the beginning of the kingdom of God that has been established here on earth by the One whom God has sent to us as our Messiah, Christ Jesus, the Son of God whose nativity we are about to celebrate. It is right that we should be anxious and concerned about the judgment of God on the Day of Judgment. But we should not be held in the grip of fear. Why? Because God’s judgment is that we are worth saving. God’s judgment comes to us in His grace and mercy, His grace and mercy given us in His Son, Jesus Christ.