Thursday, April 30, 2009

Friday, May 1, 2009

From Saint and Thought For Every Day,
by Blessed James Alberione
St. Joseph the Worker

     This special feast on the first day of May honors the working man, who, like St. Joseph, earns his heavenly reward by honest labor.  Pope Pius XII instituted this feast in 1955 and proposed St. Joseph as the model laborer.
     We, too, can "inject" spiritual motivation into our ordinary daily labor by doing it for the love of God.

A Man Called Joseph

     Joseph linked his life to Mary's because of a high providential design and in answer to the angel's invitation.  He was the true spouse and guardian of the Virgin.  He was her bread-winner and helpmate in sorrows and joys.  He was her humble and trustworthy servant, her faithful imitator and her support in the events and happenings of the infancy and boyhood of Jesus.  Joseph's devotion to Mary is greater than that of all the saints, just as now in heaven he shares more than all others in her glory and her power, and just as the veneration he receives with Mary and after her is higher than that given any other saint.  In the spirit of St. Joseph's veneration for Mary, know her, imitate her, love her, and pray to her.
     And as St. Joseph, let us be hard workers!  We resemble God more when we work, when we use our intelligence to learn, when we use our health to work and get things done, when we give the required effort to prayer.

What Strikes Me Most Today

In St. Joseph, I really do have a good model for when I feel stressed with my life.  St. Joseph was a husband and a father; he had to work hard to make a living for his family.  He had even more stress than I do - especially with the king wanting to kill his infant son.  His wife wasn't just holy or saintly, she was the Queen of All Saints and the Mother of God!  And St. Joseph was personally responsible for being an earthly father to the Son of God, while God the Father was watching over his shoulder all the time!  But he did it all perfectly, just as God wanted.  He lived his vocation by living the life God meant for him to live.  That is my hope and prayer - that I am living the life God wants me to be leading.

What strikes you most today?  
Click on "COMMENTS" below to let us know.


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2 comments:

  1. MForemanMay 1, 2009 at 1:31 PM

    I really really like your final line that you hope you are living the life God wants you to be leading. It refers to the relationship you and God have between just the two of you. It touches on a belief I have that my life, my successes, my failings are all between me and God. My good deeds may be nothing compared to others, but for me, God knows they are good deeds. Same is true for my faults. Just because I'm not able to live the iconic Catholic life by no means makes me any less in God's mind because again, he knows who I am and what I'm capable of. I hope I'm not alone because it gives me such peach of mind to think God judges me against just me and not in comparison with anyone else.

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  2. AnonymousMay 1, 2009 at 3:20 PM

    No, you are not alone. I believe we are all unique to God and what he expects from us. I live the life God gave ME to live. It's not YOUR life or the life YOU want me to live. I pray that I'm following the road map he plotted for ME and I'll let God be the ultimate judge of how I do.
    Sincerely,
    Good Catholic in Orange County

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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!