Serving with Truth

The Pope’s missionary intention for July is that “Christian volunteers in mission territories may witness to the love of Christ.”

The United Nations declared 2001 the International Year of Volunteers, and on this occasion Blessed John Paul II expressed his gratitude for all of those who dedicate their lives to the poor. He said:

Thanks to the many forms of solidarity and of service that they promote and make concrete, volunteer workers make society more attentive to the dignity of the human person and his/her many expectations.

… Dear Brothers and Sisters, who make up this "army" of peace spread over the face of the earth, you are a sign of hope for our times. Wherever situations of hardship and suffering appear, make bear fruit the hidden resources of dedication, goodness and heroism in the heart of the human person.

Making myself the spokesman for the poor everywhere, I want to say "thank you' for your steadfast dedication.

In his message, the late Pope explained why it is that volunteers dedicate their lives to others. It is “the innate movement of the heart,” he said, “that inspires every human being to help his fellow man.” Have you ever felt that rush of joy after helping someone in need? Well that is natural, John Paul II said, because it is in giving that we reach perfect fulfillment.

That “good feeling” is not why we serve, though. We serve because Jesus did when He walked the earth, and we serve because God calls us to do the same. We serve because the fruits of our charity bring justice and peace to mankind, and we serve because every human person deserves to be loved. We serve because our charity is a form of evangelization, introducing others to Christ.

Blessed John Paul II tells young people: “You are not alone”

It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.

Dear young people, in these noble undertakings you are not alone. With you there are your families, there are your communities, there are your priests and teachers, there are so many of you who in the depths of your hearts never weary of loving Christ and believing in him. In the struggle against sin you are not alone: so many like you are struggling and through the Lord’s grace are winning!

-Blessed John Paul II, Address at Vigil in Tor Vergata, August 19, 2000

St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, Pray for Us!

"The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart" (Responsorial Psalm). These words of the Responsorial Psalm clearly reflect the experience of Augustine Zhao Rong and his 119 companions, martyrs in China. The testimonies which have come down to us allow us to glimpse in them a state of mind marked by deep serenity and joy.

Today the Church is grateful to her Lord, who blesses her and bathes her in light with the radiant holiness of these sons and daughters of China. Is not the Holy Year the most appropriate moment to make their heroic witness shine resplendently? Young Ann Wang, a 14-year-old, withstood the threats of the torturers who invited her to apostatize. Ready for her beheading, she declared with a radiant face:  "The door of heaven is open to all", three times murmuring:  "Jesus". And 18-year-old Chi Zhuzi, cried out fearlessly to those who had just cut off his right arm and were preparing to flay him alive:  "Every piece of my flesh, every drop of my blood will tell you that I am Christian".

The other 85 Chinese men and women of every age and state, priests, religious and lay people, showed the same conviction and joy, sealing their unfailing fidelity to Christ and the Church with the gift of their lives. This occurred over the course of several centuries and in a complex and difficult era of China's history. Today's celebration is not the appropriate time to pass judgement on those historical periods:  this can and should be done elsewhere. Today, with this solemn proclamation of holiness, the Church intends merely to recognize that those martyrs are an example of courage and consistency to us all, and that they honour the noble Chinese people.

            -Homily of Blessed John Paul II, Canonization Mass on October 1, 2000

Yesterday was the feast of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, who were canonized by Blessed John Paul II. Let us take this opportunity to ask for their intercession, especially now, as the Church faces continued persecution in China.

Did You Know?: Blessed John Paul II and the Saints

Did you know that Blessed John Paul II canonized and beatified more people than any other Pope in Church History?

He celebrated 147 beatification ceremonies during his pontificate, proclaiming 1,338 Blesseds; and he celebrated 51 canonizations, proclaiming 482 saints. That total exceeds the number of canonizations and beatifications made by all other Popes combined!

These Saints were welcomed into the presence of God after death because they lived heavenly lives on earth. In recognizing them, Blessed John Paul II inspired the Church with countless models of truth and holiness. In his 1993 encyclical, Veritatis Splendor, he wrote:

The Church proposes the example of numerous Saints who bore witness to and defended moral truth even to the point of enduring martyrdom, or who preferred death to a single mortal sin. In raising them to the honour of the altars, the Church has canonized their witness and declared the truth of their judgment, according to which the love of God entails the obligation to respect his commandments, even in the most dire of circumstances, and the refusal to betray those commandments, even for the sake of saving one's own life.

To view a list of these Saints and Blesseds, check the Holy See’s website. And in order to learn more about the Saints and Blesseds canonized and beatified by Blessed John Paul II, check back here at Open Wide the Doors.

The feast of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Certainly, at a superficial glance, Frassati's lifestyle, that of a modern young man who was full of life, does not present anything out of the ordinary. This, however, is the originality of his virtue, which invites us to reflect upon it and impels us to imitate it. In him faith and daily events are harmoniously fused, so that adherence to the Gospel is translated into loving care for the poor and the needy in a continual crescendo until the very last days of the sickness which led to his death. His love for beauty and art, his passion for sports and mountains, his attention to society's problems did not inhibit his constant relationship with the Absolute. Entirely immersed in the mystery if God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor: thus we can sum up his earthly life!

…Today's celebration invites all of us to receive the message which Pier Giorgio Frassati is sending to the men and women of our day, but especially to you young people, who want to make a concrete contribution to the spiritual renewal of our world, which sometimes seems to be falling apart and wasting away because of a lack of ideals. By his example he proclaims that a life lived in Christ's Spirit, the Spirit of the Beatitudes, is "blessed", and that only the person who becomes a "man or woman of the Beatitudes" can succeed in communicating love and peace to others. He repeats that it is really worth giving up everything to serve the Lord. He testifies that holiness is possible for everyone, and that only the revolution of charity can enkindle the hope of a better future in the hearts of people.

               -Blessed John Paul II, Beatification Mass of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

In his Wednesday catechesis last week, Pope Benedict XVI said that deep joy is the fruit of imitating God’s Son. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was full of that joy, and he carried it with him as he served the poor, spent time with friends, and knelt in front of the altar. Like the “Man of the Beatitudes,” we should kindle our relationships with God and carry the fruits of that intimacy with us, wherever we go.

Blessed Pier Giorgio, Pray for Us!

Let Freedom Ring!

Today we celebrate Independence Day! On this day in 1776, the United States declared independence from a tyrannical England—solidifying the young country’s commitment to liberty and justice for all.

Today also marks the end of the Fortnight for Freedom, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ campaign to help the faithful understand how important religious liberty is to America and to point out the current threats to our most precious freedom.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop of Washington D.C., His Eminence Cardinal Donald Wuerl said, “We have always had these rights – they are guaranteed in our Constitution…We need to lift up for people to see, that some of [these rights] are being eroded.”

Dioceses throughout the country held Bible Studies, rallies, and other educational events in order to “lift up” the challenges our Church faces today. And at noon Eastern (9am Pacific) today, all houses of worship are asked to ring their bells—to “let freedom ring.” The faithful will be united, and they will make their presence known.

Most appropriately, the Fortnight will close with the sacrifice of the Mass—our highest form of prayer. This closing Mass will be celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here in Washington, D.C. The celebrants and the congregation will offer up their efforts and ask God for His favor in securing the right to religious freedom in America.

Let us pray with them today, that our right to live like Christ in the public square is upheld and protected.

St. Thomas the Apostle, Pray for Us!

He was the only one not there when, after the resurrection, Christ came for the first time into the Upper Room. When the other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, he would not believe it. He said: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe” (Jn 20:25). A week later, the disciples were gathered together again and Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the closed door, and greeted the Apostles with the words: “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:26), and immediately he turned to Thomas: “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing” (Jn 20:27). Thomas then answered: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28).’

…The divine Master had often announced that he would rise from the dead, and in many ways he had shown that he was the Lord of life. Yet the experience of his death was so overwhelming that people needed to meet him directly in order to believe in his resurrection: the Apostles in the Upper Room, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the holy women beside the tomb. . . Thomas too needed it. But when his unbelief was directly confronted by the presence of Christ, the doubting Apostle spoke the words which express the deepest core of faith: If this is the case, if you are truly living despite having been killed, this means that you are “my Lord and my God”.

In what happened to Thomas, the “school of faith” is enriched with a new element. Divine revelation, Jesus’s question and man’s response end in the disciple’s personal encounter with the living Christ, with the Risen One. This encounter is the beginning of a new relationship between each one of us and Christ, a relationship in which each of us comes to the vital realization that Christ is Lord and God; not only the Lord and God of the world and of humanity, but the Lord and God of my own individual human life. One day Saint Paul would write: “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach. Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:8-9).

                -Address of Blessed John Paul II at the 15^th World Youth Day, August 19, 2000.

St. Thomas, we often call you “Doubting Thomas,” for your lack of faith in the risen Lord. But really, we can learn so much from your intimate encounter with Jesus Christ.

St. Thomas, please intercede for us on this feast day of yours, that we may enter into the presence of Christ with open hearts and like you, sincerely pronounce the words of faith: “my Lord and my God.”