Sunday, January 25, 2009

Monday, January 26, 2009

From Saint and Thought For Every Day, by Blessed James Alberione

Sts. Timothy and Titus
Bishops

     St. Timothy was born at Lystra (Asia Minor) of a pagan father and a Jewish mother.  When St. Paul went to preach the Gospel in the city of Lystra, Timothy was converted by him.  Paul chose the virtuous youth as companion in his travels and later consecrated him Bishop of Ephesus.  Because of his opposition to certain idolatrous ceremonies, St. Timothy was beaten and stoned to death in the year 97.
     With St. Timothy, let us confess the divinity of Jesus Christ.
     
     St. Titus was also a disciple and companion of Paul.  The great Apostle consecrated Titus Bishop of Crete.  The zealous Bishop of Crete died at the age of 94.
     Let us ask St. Titus to obtain for us the grace of living justly and prayerfully.

The Authority of the Apostles

     Apostles are "messengers," they are "sent."  Jesus Christ was the Apostle of the Father.  He said:  "As the Father has sent me, so I also send you."  And so the apostles are the legates, the ambassadors who speak in the name of Christ, and must be listened to as Christ would be:  "He who hears you, hears me.  He who receives him whom I have sent, receives me."

From A Year With Blessed James Alberione, Compiled by J. Maurus

God Governs All

     When we exclude the doctrine of divine Providence, life loses all meaning and becomes a blind race at the mercy of physical forces and human malice.  On the contrary, when faith in Providence is alive, history receives a definite, superior and profound meaning:  it is God who directs and guides everything, and not just a mechanical successive crisscrossing of individual interests and passions.
     Please teach history well:  in the light of reason and faith.
     Faith in Providence enables us to discover God who cares for things great and small:  atoms and the hair on our heads, the lilies of the field and development of the physical, intellectual and moral world;  from creation to consummation, life is cheered up by a light that proceeds from eternity, universal judgment, and from the certainty of an eternal justice.

What Strikes Me Most Today is the last paragraph above, when Blessed James talks about discovering God, the development of the physical, intellectual and moral world, and especially the line, "from creation to consummation, life is cheered up by a light that proceeds from eternity."  These are some of the lessons in Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body.  Obviously this space is too small to discuss any significant aspect of this vital subject, but I can recommend what I have found to be the best source for Theology of the Body:  it is a website by Sr. Anne Flanagan, FSP.  Click on this link to learn more from Sr. Anne.  You will find outstanding information there, very well presented, and even learn about other resources such as having the awesome Sr. Anne come speak in your area on Theology of the Body or other topics!

What strikes you most today?  Please click on "COMMENTS" below to add your thoughts.



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1 comment:

  1. Easter AlmuenaJanuary 26, 2009 at 6:02 AM

    Wonderful, wonderful blog! God be praised!

    The sisters here in Honolulu celebrated with a number of families the conversion of St. Paul. We had prayers and then fellowship afterwards. It was an evening of joy.

    Sr. Gerome, one of the sisters present last night, was the one who mentioned your blog. I would like to visit this site again. I am sort of on sabbatical leave now, but I hope you will be able to come and visit my blog. I will "see" you later...

    God bless you abundantly!

    ReplyDelete

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Why?

Why a blog? Why St. Paul? Why do I think I have any business doing this?
We are all on a spiritual journey. We all want that journey to lead us to heaven, to eternity with God. For this journey, we need one another.
The journey so far has led me to read and learn about so many forms of authentic Catholic spirituality - Ignatian, Benedictine, Carmelite, Dominican, Franciscan, etc. My biggest problem was that I came to love each one tremendously. I began reading more and more, spending more and more time at the Daughters of St. Paul bookstore on Watson Road here in St. Louis. Who would have thought my greatest conversion story would take place in a bookstore? Mine was not quite as sudden or dramatic as St. Paul on the road to Damascus, but getting to know the Daughters of St. Paul affected me no less significantly.
The sisters are Eucharistic by nature. The first time I entered the chapel in their bookstore, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and one of the sisters was on her knees, gazing at Christ, with an indescribably beautiful smile on her face. I had a glimpse of heaven. I knelt at one of the other kneelers and noticed on the wall behind the monstrance the words: "Fear not, I am with you. From here I want to enlighten. Atone for sin." I had that brief moment of absolute certainty that I was on the right path.
Over the last several years I have worked my way through as many books, CD's, DVD's and conversations with the Daughters of St. Paul that time has allowed. Time is at such a premium for all of us. Years ago we were told that with advances in technology we would have much more free time on our hands. We all know this has not been the case. Our lives are busier and more hectic than ever. Even if we are unable to find time to read good books, see enlightening movies or attend lectures and discussions, maybe we could all spend a little time on the internet supporting one another on our faith journeys. Many of you know more about many aspects of Catholic spirituality than I do.
Pope John Paul the Great called us all to a New Evangelization, to share the Gospel with the world. I am hoping we can all be St. Paul in this blog space by sharing Christ with one another and with others. St. Paul travelled to many foreign and often hostile regions to evangelize the world; we are fortunate to be able to use the internet to reach even farther and more quickly.
The idea of using today's means of social communication to spread the Gospel was given to Blessed James Alberione on the night between the centuries (December 31, 1900 - January 1, 1901). He was a 16 year-old seminary student adoring Christ in the Blessed Sacrament when a special light came to him from the Host. Following this, Blessed James Alberione became the founder of the Society of St. Paul priests, the Daughters of St. Paul, the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd, Sisters of the Queen of Apostles, and numerous institutes that are also part of the Pauline family.
So what is Pauline spirituality? In my experience, Pauline spirituality encompasses all the teachings of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and love of all the other spiritualities and Saints of the Church. It is the members of the Pauline family who are the happiest people I know! It is loving God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit with all our hearts and souls, through the intercession of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, and St. Paul.
So why St. Paul? I can relate to St. Paul. We first meet him in the New Testament as a sinner. He has a thorn in his side that God decides is best not to take away. I sometimes wish I knew what that thorn was, but it's probably better I don't know. I like to pretend it is one of my many weaknesses or faults. If St. Paul could go from persecuting Christ and His Church to becoming the person responsible for spreading the Gospel and establishing the Church in foreign lands, the least I can do is start a blog. I have been especially inspired by my two favorite bloggers, Sr. Margaret Charles Kerry, fsp, and a Pauline Cooperator named Rae Stabosz. I believe Sr. Margaret and Rae are doing just what St. Paul and Blessed James Alberione would be doing with the internet.
In future blogs (which will be shorter than this first post!), I would like to share writings of St. Paul, Blessed James Alberione, and many others. I look forward to others sharing writings from other Catholic spiritualities and writers. An especially Pauline way of sharing is to point out to one another what aspects particularly speak to each of us.
Another Pauline trait is to pray for one another. My prayer is that we support one another on our path to holiness. Our goal is to glorify God in all that we do - so let's do it!