Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

A good day to pray for all those who labor, especially manual laborers, and for these intentions:

For all those who are out of work and looking for a job, St. Joseph, pray for them.

For all the discouraged who haven't been able to find work, St. Joseph, pray for them.

For all parents working to rear and support their children, St. Joseph, pray for them.

For all those who feel trapped in their jobs, St. Joseph, pray for them.

For all families struggling in this difficult economy, St. Joseph, pray for them.

A Prayer for Workers (composed by Pope St. John XXIII)

O glorious Joseph! Who concealed your incomparable and regal dignity of custodian of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary under the humble appearance of a craftsman and provided for them with your work, protect with loving power your sons, especially entrusted to you.

You know their anxieties and sufferings, because you yourself experienced them at the side of Jesus and of His Mother. Do not allow them, oppressed by so many worries, to forget the purpose for which they were created by God. Do not allow the seeds of distrust to take hold of their immortal souls. Remind all the workers that in the fields, in factories, in mines, and in scientific laboratories, they are not working, rejoicing, or suffering alone, but at their side is Jesus, with Mary, His Mother and ours, to sustain them, to dry the sweat of their brow, giving value to their toil. Teach them to turn work into a very high instrument of sanctification as you did. Amen.

This is What You Can Expect from the True Descendants of St. Patrick

They don't extol sin and evil, but the true, the good, and the beautiful. God bless these dear religious and the families that worship with them. So "Fare thee well, South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade...It's not the leaving of Boston that grieves me, but St. Patrick when I think of thee."

The Knights of Columbus could take a lesson from these stalwart defenders of the Catholic faith! (Hat tip to Ed who sent me this.)

Reading about the Saints: St. Monica, Mother of St. Augustine, Intercede for our Children

I was up from 3:30 to 5:00 a.m. and took my Kindle downstairs to pass my awake time. It's loaded with writings and biographies of saints. This morning I read a biography of St. Monica by Mother Frances Forbes. It was short and I finished it, and what an inspiring portrait of holy Monica was contained in those few pages. What trusting perseverance in God's power to change both her pagan husband and her brilliant, but stubborn, son!

Mother Forbes wrote many other short biographies of saints and I look forward to tracking them down as well. Think of the power of the lives of the saints to transform those who are lost in sin. St. Ignatius was converted reading lives of the saints while recovering from a battle wound. Edith Stein was converted by reading St. Teresa of Avila. Reading about St. Monica makes me want to grow in trust and patience as I pray for family and friends struggling in our fallen world. What a gift to persevere so diligently that the salvation of another is the fruit of our prayer!

Who needs your prayers today? What will you suffer and sacrifice to bring that loved one to the fullness of truth?

I Love All Saints Day!

And not just for the saints in heaven, but all the little saints at Mass this morning. I saw a tiny angel in the Communion line with her mom and met St. Dominic (barefoot) in the parking lot. At a little reception after Mass we all joined with St. Benedict, St. Rita, several sister saints, one of the shepherd children of Fatima, and many others. So much better than the goblins, ghouls, zombies, and monsters of last night!

I especially love getting to know the more obscure saints whom we don't hear about so much. Blessed Karl of Austria is my latest discovery along with his wife Zita who is a Venerable Servant of God. Right now I'm exploring some of the lesser known November saints. Was St. Vigor vigorous? Do you know the English martyr, Blessed Hugh Green, one of the priests put to death by Queen Elizabeth? What a long line of courageous priests met that same fate bringing the Mass to the faithful Catholic recusants. And then there are the female saints. St. Gebetrude was an abbess in 7th century France. When people say the Church ignores and degrades women remind them of all the women saints who headed monasteries (St. Teresa of Avila, St. Fine, Hilda of Whitby) and founded hospitals, schools and orphanages (St. Frances Cabrini, St. Elizabeth Seton, St. Theodore Guerin). Their number is legion!

Happy Feast Day, St. Isaac Jogues

From an article at EWTN:

The labors of the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries in the New World form an important chapter in the history of the Church and of the Western Hemisphere. These missionaries were for the most part men of culture and learning, carefully chosen and rigorously trained. Many of them gave up important careers in the Church to endure the dangers and privations of the wilderness. In New France, as Canada was then called, where Isaac Jogues spent his missionary years, their lot was hardship, disease, solitude, and, not infrequently, torture or violent death. The perils of forest and trail, the intense cold, the wretched food and verminous huts of the Indians, changed them, after a few years, into haggard old men; yet their spirits remained undaunted, strengthened as they were by an indomitable faith. What the American historian, Francis Parkman, in , wrote of Father Brebeuf, Jesuit leader in Canada, applies almost equally to the other members of this noble band: "His was the ancient faith uncurtailed, redeemed from the decay of centuries, kindled with new life, and stimulated to a preternatural growth and fruitfulness." [More here...]

Here's what Fr. Jogues wrote in a letter to a friend:

My heart tells me that if I have the happiness of being employed in this mission, (I shall go and shall not return); but I shall be happy if our Lord will complete the sacrifice where He has begun it, and make the little blood I have shed in that land the earnest of what I would give from every vein of my body and my heart.

Now don't you wish you had a bishop and pastor cut from this cloth?

Ah...St. Teresa., Happy Feast Day

And thank you for writing all those lovely Communion meditations. Help me to be more still and silent and composed after Communion and inspire me with blessed thoughts like yours.

O God of my soul, how quick we are to offend You, and with how much greater speed You pardon us! What could be the cause, Lord of such foolish boldness? Is it because we have already understood Your great mercy and that we forget how just is Your Justice? The sorrows of death encompass Me.  Oh, oh, oh, how serious a thing is sin, that it was enough to cause the death of God and to afflict Him with so much suffering! And even now, my God, You are surrounded by these pains! Where can You go so that they will not torment You! Everywere mortals are wounding you. 

O Christians! Now is the time to defend your Kin and to keep Him cmpany in His great solitude; there are so few vassals who remain with Him and such a great multitude that follow Lucifer. And the worst of it is that they show themselves to be friends in public, and sell Him out in secret. There is hardly anyone who can be found that He can trust. O true Friend, how badly are You repaid by the one who betrays You! O true Christians! Help out by weeping for your God.

Ah, St. Teresa, help us to love God as you did. Help us to have the zeal of true friends of Jesus.

A Modern Martyr: Soon to be Beatified Odoardo Focherini

Church to Beatify Father of Seven

What an inspiration! This father of seven died at 37 in a Nazi concentration camp. He teaches us that some things are worth dying for, especially love of neighbor. He is credited with saving 100 Jews from the Nazi killing machine. He makes me think of all the pro-lifers trying to save babies from the Planned Parenthood killing machine -- especially the sidewalk warriors.

Odoardo, please pray for us.

Restless Heart is a great film!

See it on the big screen if you get a chance. The actress playing Monica was terrific as was the actor playing St. Ambrose. Now I want to re-read the Confessions.

Augustine is a saint for our time, a time when so many no longer believe in truth, a time where pride and arrogance rule. Augustine lived a hedonistic life before his conversion, striving for worldly acclaim and human respect. But God was after him and his mother never stopped praying and sacrificing for his salvation. This movie shows how a great sinner can become a great saint. It shows some of the famous scenes in the Confessions like stealing the pears and hearing the voice saying open and read.

Only one caveat, there is a short unnecessarily explicit love scene with open mouth kissing. Now, why did they have to do it? They could have suggested it more subtly. Or is our culture so inured to this that nobody thought anything of it? Sad.