All Saints Novena 2012 day 9

All Saints Novena Day 9

Dear Lord we are so grateful to you for granting us these 7 amazing saints as models.  Let their example of love and sacrifice guide our own paths to heaven and encourage us to bring all of our brothers and sisters with us.  Amen   

All Saints Novena 2012 day 9

All Saints Novena Day 8

Meet  Anna Schaffer          (1882-1925)

 She was born in Germany to a devout Catholic family.  After her first communion she vowed to spend her life serving God.  At the age of 16 Jesus told her she would have to endure great suffering and she agreed to accept it.  In 1901 she was severely burned in an accident at her workplace.  As a result she was bedridden and extremely poor.  She later saw St Francis and after that she bore the stigmata, the wounds of Christ.  In spite of such suffering she still offered consolation in word and letter to all who would turn to her.  In a letter written 8 months before her death she is quoted as saying:  “The most important thing for me is to pray and suffer for the holy Church and her Pastors.  Whenever I receive Holy Communion, I fervently pray to our beloved Redeemer to continue protecting his holy Church and her pastors, to grant me the most agonizing martyrdom and to accept me as a little victim of reparation”  

Taken from:  http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/sunday-times/the-sunday-times-magazines/122-spirituality/15552-blessed-anna-schaffer-a-life-of-pain-and-suffering

Lord, how much I complain over the smallest inconvenience.  Teach me to offer my sufferings to you and to give encouragement in word or deed whenever I possibly can

All Saints Novena Day 7

Meet Kateri Tekakwitha      (1656-1680)

She is the first Native American  saint   She was born in what is now Auriesville New York and fled to Canada as a result of persecution.  She was baptized at the age of 20.  She was known for her life of prayer and penitential practices.  It was reported that people loved being around her when she prayed because they could feel the presence of God and see her face become more beautiful.   Kateri’s motto became “who can tell me what is most pleasing to God that I may do it?”  She loved the rosary and praying before the blessed sacrament.  At 23 she made a vow of perpetual virginity.  Her last words were “Jesus I love you”

Taken from;     http://conservation.catholic.org/kateri.htm

Lord, teach me to deny myself more willingly for your sake and teach me to see more fully just how beautiful you are and communicate your beauty to others. 

All Saints Novena Day 6

Meet Marianne Cope  

     Born in Germany then moved to New York, she spent several years teaching and founding hospitals there.  She felt called due to her devotion to St Francis and the request she received by letter to tend the poor and those with leprosy there.  She did so cheerfully and with great energy and compassion. 

Taken from:  

http://blessedmariannecope.org/Biography%20SMC%20final.pdf

Dear Lord grant me compassion to serve those in need without counting the cost, knowing you will provide what is needed.

All Saints Novena Day 5

Meet Maria del Monte Carmelo Salles y Barangueras       (1848-1911)

María Carmelo Sallés y Barangueras, a religious born in Vic in Spain in 1848, filled with hope in spite of many trials, she, on seeing the progress of the Congregation of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching, which she founded in 1892, was able to sing with the Mother of God, "His mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation" (Lk 1:50). Her educational work, entrusted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, continues to bear abundant fruit among young people through the generous dedication of her daughters who, like her, entrust themselves to God for whom all is possible.        Taken from                            

http://www.zenit.org/article-35779?l=english

 Lord, help me to teach those around me of your love

All Saints Novena Day 4 

Meet Fr.  Giovanni Battista Piamarta   (1841-1913)      

He was  known for his passion for helping young people leave the streets and find opportunities for work.  He knew that if a young person could find  work and meaning. 

“The new blessed's apostolic work has many facets and embraces many areas of social life: from the world of work to that of agriculture, from education to the publishing sector. He has left a great mark on the Diocese of Brescia and on the entire Church,” John Paul II commented.

“Where did this extraordinary man of God find the energy for all his numerous activities? The answer is clear: assiduous and fervent prayer was the source of his tireless apostolic zeal and beneficial influence which he exercised on everyone he approached. He himself said, as the accounts of his contemporaries recall: "With prayer one is strengthened by the strength of God himself ... Omnia possum". Everything is possible with God, for him and with him,” the Pope added.

Taken from:     http://www.zenit.org/article-35749?l=english

Lord, give me the desire to pray more fervently and to more willingly help those around me, feeling needs as deeply as you do. 

All Saints Novena Day 3

Meet  Pedro Calungsod   

  

(1654-1672)

Born in the Phillippines he was a missionary catechist of the Jesuit mission in the Marianas.  In 1672 he was killed for his faith along with fellow missionary  Blessed Diego San Luis Vitoris.  They were killed because the chief of a tribe in Guam where he was preaching did not want his daughter baptized, but with the Christian mother’s consent, they baptized her.  Many people native to the area were converted to Catholicism as  a result of their missionary efforts. 

Taken from   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Calungsod

Lord, I may think of myself as too young or to timid share my faith with others.    Help this young man’s courage inspire me to stand up for my faith. 

All Saints Novena  2012  Day 2

Meet Saint Fr. Jacques Berthieu     

(1838-1896)

He was ordained a priest in 1864   and before finishing his novitiate he was assigned to the missions in Madagascar in 1875.  He became a highly successful missionary, nearly tripling the number of mission stations on the north side of the island. 

There were a series of wars between 1883 and 1896 due to the government’s fear of British and French colonialism.  Fr. Berthieu was attacked and killed during one of  these uprisings.  He was told that he would be spared if he would renounce his faith in Christ but he refused. 

Taken from:     http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=6266

Lord, I may not be called to be a missionary in a remote part of the world, but help me spread your love in my corner of it.  Give me the strength to stand up for my faith when I am questioned about it, to be ready to give a strong and loving witness for you

Please join Pro Sanctity in preparing for all saints day 2012!!!   We will be praying a novena that allows us to get to know our 7 newest saints, the ones canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 10-21-12

All Saints Day Novena 2012 Day 1

For the first day of our Novena let us pray with the first paragraph of Bishop Giaquinta’s prayer Grant us Saints

Grant us people of God, people for whom God is everything

Grant us people filled with love for you;

People who never look without seeing you,

Never listen without hearing you,

Grant us people able to rescue the world from its materialism

by impressing it with the evidence of your salvation

As I was praying with this today, I found the holy spirit asking me how well I fit that description.  Am I someone for whom God is everything?  Am I filled with love for him and do I constantly look and see His face?  Listen and hear his voice? 

Lord, I want to be a saint and with your help I can be Help me want to be a saint more and trust you more to help me achieve this life long goal.  Help me be more aware of you with every person and situation I encounter.  And through the next 7 days as I learn about new saints inspire me and convince me more fully of your love and constant help

Explosive Gospel series

October 14, 2012

Explosive Gospel for the Year of Faith

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 143

He replied and said to him,
"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth."
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
"You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
At that statement his face fell,
moreover, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
-------------------------------
Reflection"

Almost everyday I have the opportunity and privilege to listen to persons share their inner stories, and it never ceases to amaze me that when they voice discontent, distraction, sense of God being there but feeling Him faraway...they say things like, "I just don't have the clarity that I need. It does not seem that God is answering me." Their sadness troubles me, and in my own heart, I too lament. "Why does it have to be this way? Where is the Lord in all of this? Why am I feeling overwhelmed? How can I handle this situation or that situation? I feel sad and disorientated...” Strange?

The passage of Mark seems to be about possessions and stuff, but I believe it is really about the lack of allowing oneself to be possessed by the Lord. In the spirit of our Lady, who paused, pondered and discovered that in relating all to the Lord, the Holy Spirit filled her with the clarity of what was truly important, what were the priorities, directions, answers, security... She felt lifted up and concluded with rejoicing. On the other hand, I cry, and I walk away sad - similar to the rich young man who had many possessions.

Perhaps if the rich young man had shared his dilemma and difficulty of letting go of his possession with the Lord, he would have looked up in and seen the loving gaze of the Lord. Sharing it with the Lord would have lifted him up in hope, aware that the Lord would show him how to sell all and give to the poor. In the same vein, I too must tell Jesus everything. This gospel invites me to let go of my chief possessions, my ego. Oh what a burden is my self reliance, the "I have to figure it out syndrome" that makes me sad! Instead, I am invited to turn to the Lord with everything in my heart, especially the questions. It is time to stop looking at myself, in its place see the Lord gazing on me in love, and receive the real treasure of union and communion with him. This awareness is truth and is heaven on earth!

In addition, what about those persons who come to me to share their inner lives of discontent and distraction, of feeling far away from the Lord?  I invite them to turn their eyes to the Lord more often, assisting them to habitually look up and see him looking at them, they too will find "heaven on earth" in the loving presence of the Lord in the midst of their daily life. His love will give clarity in their decisions in union with him, and deep inner security in a real friendship with Him who is not faraway but as close as a lover to a beloved can be.

 Oh Lord, I give it all to you, all my inner needs that I hold onto like possessions. I pray for those who come to me, that they too will see your face and gaze of love giving them the real answer to all their need of your love! Lord, I do believe in your love, help my unbelief. Amen.

Explosive Gospel series

Welcome to the Year of Faith!!!  What a wonderful gift of renewal the church has given us.   Below is a link to the USCCB page on the topic.  Please share your thoughts here on the new year

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/year-of-faith/