In Preparation for Novemeber 1st: let us align ourselves with the angels and saints as we journey toward the day of Universal Sanctification!

October 12: New Saints!

Today Pope Benedict XVI will canonize four new saints: Mary Bernard Bütler, Gaetano Errico, Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception (Anna Muttathupadathu), and Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán. These saints have known us for a long time, but do we know them? Let's get to know them better and make them our friends!
Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception is the first woman of India to be canonized.At her beatification, John Paul II said:

"...the path to holiness for Sister Alphonsa was clearly a different one. It was the way of the Cross, the way of sickness and suffering.Already at a very young age, Sister Alphonsa desired to serve the Lord as a religious, but it was not without enduring trials that she was finally able to pursue this goal. When it became possible, she joined the Franciscan Clarist Congregation. Throughout her life, which was a brief thirty-six years, she continually gave thanks to God for the joy and privilege of her religious vocation, for the grace of her vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

From early in her life, Sister Alphonsa experienced great suffering. With the passing of the years, the heavenly Father gave her an ever fuller share in the Passion of his beloved Son. We recall how she experienced not only physical pain of great intensity, but also the spiritual suffering of being misunderstood and misjudged by others. But she constantly accepted all her sufferings with serenity and trust in God, being firmly convinced that they would purify her motives, help her to overcome all selfishness, and unite her more closely with her beloved divine Spouse. She wrote to her spiritual director: 'Dear Father, as my good Lord Jesus loves me so very much, I sincerely desire to remain on this sick bed and suffer not only this, but anything else besides, even to the end of the world. I feel now that God has intended my life to be an oblation, a sacrifice of suffering' (20 November 1944).

She came to love suffering because she loved the suffering Christ. She learned to love the Cross through her love of the crucified Lord. Sister Alphonsa knew that by her sufferings she shared in the Church’s apostolate; she found joy in them by offering them all to Christ. In this way, she seemed to have made her own the words of Saint Paul: 'I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church' . She was endowed by God with an affectionate and happy disposition, with the ability to take delight in ordinary and simple things. The weight of human suffering, even the misunderstanding or jealousy of others, could not extinguish the joy of the Lord which filled her heart. In a letter written shortly before she died, at time of intense physical and mental suffering, she said: 'I have given myself up completely to Jesus. Let him please himself in his dealings with me. My only desire in this world is to suffer for love of God and to rejoice in doing it' (February 1946)."

For the Vatican's biography on St. Alphonsa click here!

Our Founder, Bishop Giaquinta had a deep love for India. In 1975, the Pro Sanctity Movement began to form in Kerala. Today, the movement has fully blossomed with many members committed to spreading the universal call to holiness! Bishop Giaquinta's prayer for India expressed his desire for the holiness of her people.

O mother India,
a prayer is lifted up to Christ for you:
may your children become
brothers and sisters in faith and love.
Behold the reason for which we sing:
Kerala, palms’ land,
Kerala, India’s jewel:
Ascend over your people;
You are a symbol of holiness.

(Giaquinta, excerpt from Hymn to Kerala)

With the recent violence against the Catholic Church in India, let us pray for our brothers and sisters with our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI:"While I firmly condemn every attack against human life, whose sacredness demands the respect of all, I express my spiritual closeness and solidarity to the brothers and sisters in the faith who have been so harshly tried. I implore the Lord to accompany and sustain them at this time of suffering and to give them the strength to continue in the service of love on behalf of all. I ask religious leaders and civil authorities to work together to re-establish among the members of the various communities the peaceful coexistence and harmony that have always been a hallmark of Indian society."

St. Alphonsa, Pray for us!

In Preparation for Novemeber 1st: let us align ourselves with the angels and saints as we journey toward the day of Universal Sanctification!