Saints: October 2009 Archives
So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. Lord, pour out on us the riches of the Spirit which you bestowed on Saint Margaret Mary. May we come to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all human understanding, and be filled with the fullness of God.
Consider knowing more about the message of Saint Margaret Mary, which forms some of our devotional life today. This is especially true when it comes to First Friday devotions and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, source of all love and mercy.
Today is the liturgical memorial of Blessed Pope John XXIII. It is an optional memorial on the liturgical calendar and so the memorial is left up to the discretion of the celebrant. But that today is Sunday, the prayers for his Mass are not prayed because Sunday takes precedence because it is a "Little Easter." Today also marks the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.
Everyone remembers the image of Pope John's smiling face and two outstretched arms embracing the whole world. How many people were won over by his simplicity of heart, combined with a broad experience of people and things! The breath of newness he brought certainly did not concern doctrine, but rather the way to explain it; his style of speaking and acting was new, as was his friendly approach to ordinary people and to the powerful of the world. It was in this spirit that he called the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, thereby turning a new page in the Church's history Christians heard themselves called to proclaim the Gospel with renewed courage and greater attentiveness to the "signs" of the times. The Council was a truly prophetic insight of this elderly Pontiff who, even amid many difficulties, opened a season of hope for Christians and for humanity. In the last moments of his earthly life, he entrusted his testament to the Church: "What counts the most in life is blessed Jesus Christ, his holy Church, his Gospel, truth and goodness." (Pope John Paul II)
As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Father, you
sent Saint Denis and his companions to preach your glory to the nations, and you
gave them the strength to be steadfast in their sufferings for Christ. Grant
that we may learn from their example to reject the power and wealth of this
world and to brace all earthly trials.
Let us pray for France, the Church's eldest daughter and for the Archdiocese of Paris as it commemorates the martyrdom of Saint Denis and his companions. We all know that Catholicism is bit sclerotic in France at the moment and Saint Denis' intercession would be helpful in rectifying the situation.