The Nature of Us

"In your nature, O eternal Godhead, I shall know my own nature."

-St. Catherine of Siena

Oh St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us on this day of your feast, that we may receive grace enough to be reminded of who we are.

In The Bosom Of Holy Mother Church

In his homily for the Feast of St. George this past Tuesday, Pope Francis reflected on the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, emphasizing the importance of moving forward for our Mother the Church:

Think of this Mother Church that grows, grows with new children to whom She gives the identity of the faith, because you cannot believe in Jesus without the Church. Jesus Himself says in the Gospel: "But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep." If we are not "sheep of Jesus," faith does not come to us. It is a rosewater faith, a faith without substance. And let us think of the consolation that Barnabas felt, which is "the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing." And let us ask the Lord for this "parresia," this apostolic fervor that impels us to move forward, as brothers, all of us forward! Forward, bringing the name of Jesus in the bosom of Holy Mother Church, and, as St. Ignatius said, "hierarchical and Catholic." So be it. 

For the full text, go here. 

One Step Closer To Santo Subito!

We received very exciting news earlier this week! The medical council of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized a miraculous healing attributed to Blessed John Paul II.

If this miracle is approved by theologians and the leaders of the Congregation, our beloved pontiff could very well be on his way to canonization!

Let us continue to pray, with hope that Blessed John Paul II will soon be numbered among the Saints.

Those Who Make Them Are Like Them

Our God is in the heavens;

he does whatever he pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold,

the work of men’s hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear;

noses but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

And they do not make a sound in their

throat.

Those who make them are like them;

so are all who trust in them.

-Psalm 115: 3-8

Let Us Pray For Vocations

To consider life as a vocation encourages interior freedom, stirring within the person a desire for the future, as well as the rejection of a notion of existence that is passive, boring, and banal. In this way, life takes on the value of a "gift received which, by its nature, tends to become a good given" (Document New Vocations for a New Europe, 1997, 16, b). Man shows that he has been reborn in the Spirit (cf. John 3, 3-5) when he learns to follow the way of the New Commandment: "that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15, 12). One could say that, in a certain sense, love is the DNA of the children of God; it is the "holy vocation" by which we have been called "in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearance of our Saviour Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 1, 9-10). 

At the root of every vocational journey there is the Emmanuel, the God-with-us. He shows us that we are not alone in fashioning our lives, because God walks with us, in the midst of our ups-and-downs, and, if we want him to, he weaves with each of us a marvellous tale of love, unique and irreproducible, and, at the same time, in harmony with all humanity and the entire cosmos. To discover the presence of God in our individual stories, not to feel orphans any longer, but rather to know that we have a Father in whom we can trust completely - this is the great turning-point that transforms our merely human outlook and leads man to understand, as Gaudium et spes affirms, that he "cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself" (n. 24).  

…We need men and women who, by their witness, "remind the baptized of the fundamental values of the Gospel," and who foster "in the People of God an awareness of the need to respond with holiness of life to the love of God poured into their hearts by the Holy Spirit, by reflecting in their conduct the sacramental consecration which is brought about by God's power in Baptism, Confirmation or Holy Orders" (Vita consecrata, 33). 

Shepherd In Combat Boots

Last week Fr. Emil J. Kapaun, Servant of God, was granted the Medal of Honor for his service as a military chaplain in the Korean War. See this site for some inspiring stories recounted by the men who served and suffered beside the Kansas native in a North Korean POW camp.

Just like Blessed John Paul II, Fr. Kapaun was able to bring the hope of Christ to a dark place. Not only did he save the lives of many men, by giving up his own food and resources, but by his witness he also led many to conversion. 

The attacks in Boston earlier this week remind of us of how much darkness there is in the world. Let us ask Fr. Kapaun to pray for us, that by our witness we may be lights of hope, guiding our brothers and sisters to Christ.