Sunday, March 29, 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

From A Year With Blessed James Alberione, 
Compiled by J. Maurus
Holiness:  The highest fruitfulness

     Holiness is a high tension virtue.  It is the forward thrust and the poetry of the good.  Good done unwillingly, grudgingly and by force is not holiness.
     A saint is not a failed man, a feeble, a weakling who does not know how to play his role in life.  For St. Paul holiness is the full maturity of a person, of a perfect man.
     A holy person is not an escapee, but a performer; he doesn't stagnate, but has for his motto "advance."
     Holiness is life, movement, nobility, ardour, an ardour that instead of waning, keeps on waxing.
     It is indeed so!  But it will be so, only and always, in proportion to one's faith, and determination.  The Lord is with us; and we are His cooperators.

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

To radically change one's manner of thinking, of living and of dying is the wonderful reversal desired and accomplished by Jesus Christ.  It arises especially from the beatitudes.  Those who want to die in Jesus Christ crucify their flesh with all its concupiscences.

What Strikes Me Most Today

What strikes me most today is the line, "A holy person is not an escapee, but a performer."  I have never heard it put this way before, but it makes sense to me.  I think what Blessed Alberione is trying to say is that being a performer, we should act on our faith, demonstrating it to others in our life and actively sharing Christ with others, as St. Paul did for the remainder of his life after his conversion.  Being an escapee means avoiding opportunities to witness to our faith.  It sounds to me like we can be good Christians and pray and study and attend mass.  But to be a saint, our model should be St. Paul, who was always active, moving forward, refusing to shy away from a chance to proclaim Jesus Christ in every moment of his life, even when he knew well there was a good chance of him being tortured and killed for it.  I'm fortunate to live in a time and place when there is not much chance of me being tortured or killed for my faith, so it wouldn't kill me to work a little harder on evangelizing in my daily life.

What strikes you most today?  
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"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

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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!