November 30, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Wednesday, November 30
ST ANDREW, APOSTLE
Rom 9: 1-18

Mt 4: 18-22

For the apostolate we need very prayerful members because much divinhe grace is needed, but also members who know what they wish to do, what they wish to accomplish. (VMC 990)

Father Tom: An important final thought for November: have ANY idea of the sort of people we would like to have as members and where are such people likely to be found?


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Basilia Bianco FSP (1988)—Bro Bernardo Gugole SSP (1995)—Maria Dotti IAM (1996)—Fr. Carlo Staurenghi IJP (1988)—Bro Miguel Alraro SSP (1996)—SR. Elvira Benedetti FSP (2003)—Sr. Michael Sisko FSP

November 29, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Tuesday, November 29
OF THE DAY
Is 11: 1-10

Lk 10: 21-24

1954: Dedication of the Queen of Apostles Basilica, Rome

If our apostolate is to be a sharing in the preaching of Jesus it must have the same dispositions that he had and first of all a right intention.

Father Tom: A “right intention”? To do everything solely for God? That happens especially when you do well something you don’t like doing.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Basilia Bianco FSP (1988)—Bro Bernardo Gugole SSP (1995)—Maria Dotti IAM (1996)—Sr. M. Marcella Catani FSP (2000)—Sr. M. Caterina Marcazzan FSP (2001)—Bro Luciano Melchioro SSP (2004)—Sr. M. Timte Higashiseto FSP (2008)—Bro Fernando Tommaselli SSP (2008)—Sr. M. Bronislawa Suchora PD (2008)—Sr. M. Angiolina Caramori FSP (2009)

Puss In Boots Review

November 28, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Monday, November 28
OF THE DAY
Is 2: 1-5

Mt 8: 5-11

Patience is the result of much virtue and if we don’t have it it’s not easy to concserve a sense of peace and union with God plus making progress spiritually and in our apostolate (VMC).

Father Tom: We Very hard to have patience in our modern age when everything—spurred on by the media—is rush, rush, rush. Let’s take advantage of this Advent to slow down and let God tell us what we need to k now.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Cormariae Brugiolo PD (1995)—Sr. M. Valeria Bonucchi FSP (1998)—Fr. Dario Ansaloni IJP (1999)—Attilio Pauluzzi HFI (2005)

November 27, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Sunday, November 27
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Is 63: 16-64: 7

1 Cor 1: 3-9
Mk 13: 33-37

When there are no saints, people don’t know how to live Christianity because they read the Gospel more clearly in a saintly human life than in a book (VMC 975)

Father Tom: We begin another year—if it were our last, what life changes would we make?


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Bro. Batolomeo Borgna SSP (1973)—Sr. M. Raffaella Montanari PD ( 1974)—Fr. Maggiorino Povero SSP (1981)—Sr. M. Cristina Panarello PD (1988)—Salvatore Orru HFI (1988)—Sr. M. José Garcia SGBP (1997)—Sr. Annunziatina Del Biaco FSP (2000)—Liborio Bartolotta HFI (2000)—Renato Lattanzio HFI (2000)—Fr. Givoanni attista Manfredi SSP (2004)—Bro Augustine Kalpakcherry SSP (2005)—Bro Paolo Zantedeschi SSP (2006)—Roberto Converse (1998)

In the Emergency at 3a.m....

In the emergency,at 3 a.m. What happens next...?



Nov. 27 - First Sunday of Advent


Well, we have reached the beginning of another Church Year - at least you have, can't speak for me though I was ok when I wrote!


The theme of this Sunday is " Vigilant Waiting," The two words don't always go together. We can be vigilant - "awake" or "alert" - but without expecting anything or anyone in particular, but when we say "vigilant waiting" this Sunday, we are in fact expecting Someone - not just "anyone" but a very special Person: the great Messiah or redeemer.


The Firsl Reading is an anguished cry for help on behalf of the Israelite people. It is attributed to Isaiah who lived about 750 years before Christ came on earth. However the Reading today is by another prophet who assumed Isaiah's mantle in a period much closer to the birth of Our Lord. Precisely because their sacred books told them that their liberation was at hand - though they misunderstood what "liberation" meant and saw it in terms of freedom from foreign powers - the cries of the people increased in volume and this Reading expresses their plight very dramatically.


The Responsorial Psalm is clearly a 'response" or confirmation of what has been said in the First Reading . Our own needs are just as great today but all too often we are not conscious of our moral poverty not to say helplessness.


The Second Reading - not surprisingly - has again the theme of waiting but perhaps even more impressive is the frequent repetition of the name of Jesus Christ. Paul does not know when the Lord will be "revealed" to his Corinthian converts - some of his most fickle - but he knows that when this take place as, presumably an individual conversion, all the pieces will fall into place and the Corinthians will have "grace" - the gracious presence of the Lord - and "peace," a reply to the endless questions all of us raise going through life and which the Corinthians must have felt even more keenly because of the new and remarkable ideas Paul had preached to them.


The Gospel repeats the familiar theme: wait, stay awake. It is particularly relevant in our time. Over all the Church there is a cloud of either indifference or undue and unjustified optimism. The old-time thumpers of pulpits who made us quake in our pews are just a memory. And yet the moral situation today needs more pulpit-thumpers than ever. Catholics who fail to observe the Church's law in their marriages. Catholics who go to Confession - if at all - only every few years. Catholics whose girls are making them grandparents long before the normal time. Catholics on drugs. And the list could continue. Awake and sober? Hardly. Ready to meet the Master? Scarcely. And these are the unfortunate people who are rushed to the Emergency at 3 a.m. where they will indeed be well- treated for their physical ills but... is anybody thinking of their immortal souls? Unfortunately no, not even in Catholic hospitals where for the most part there is no Chaplain and the personnel may not even consider the spiritual needs of their patient. It is a very serious question needing much prayer on our part.


~ November 2011 Concord

November 26, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Saturday, November 26
BLESSED JAMES ALBERIONE, priest
Mass & Office in “ceremonies of the HFI

OR

Dn 7: 15-27
Lk 21: 34-36

All the Pauline Congregations were born of the Tabernacle and all have the same spirit: to live of Jesus Christ and to serve the Church (Abundantes No 34).

Father Tom: And which part of the spirit is the most important? We all know the answer: “to live of Jesus Christ.” And the next question always is: and how am I doing that? (Don’t worry about how “we” are doing it or how “they” are doint it!- could be a cop out!)


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Bro. Alfonso Bau SSP (1973)—Maria Arena IAM (1997)—Antonio Marchi HFI (1995)—Rosa Angelico IAM (2002)—Betty Rice IAM (2004)—Giuseppina Ferrara IAM (2008)—Gertrude Graff (1996).

November 25, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Friday, November 25
OF THE DAY
St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin, martyr
Dn 7: 2-14
Lk 21: 29-33

At the end of our lives will we be able to say: I have done everything for the souls entrusted to me? I spent my time, my talents, my health, my intelligence and even my free time for them (VMC 974).

Father Tom: This is a question of major importance. It does not mean that we have been “out there” visibly working for them, but that we have wasted no time on trivialities eve in the course of our daily duties. Quite an exam to make!


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Crescentina Miatello PD (1974)—Sr. M. Benigna Bonfiglio PD (1994)—Rita Costamagna HFI (1999)—Sr.M Celina Bucello PD (2004)—Sr. Santina M. Aguiar Ferreira FSP (2005)—Sr. Elisabetta Tiberii FSP (2005)

November 24, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Thursday, November 24
ANDREW DUN-LAC, Priest & Comps., Martyrs
Dn 6: 12-28
Lk 21: 20-28

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We can even fill the world with good paper carrying good words—even the words of the Bible…but if our work lacks the power of God…what good it it?

Father Tom: This seems very obvious, but it is amazing how it is ignored in practice even by—or perhaps especially by – Paulines. So much good work in many different fields…but no time for prayer, seen as beside the point. How stupid can we be?


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Tercisia Genovesi PD (1936)—Sr. Carla Torchi FSP (1995)—Sr. M. Maurizia Masseria PD (2003)—Sr. Giovanna Biselli FSP (2006)—Eleanor M. McParland (1990)

November 23, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Wednesday, November 23
OF THE DAY
St. Clement, Pope and Martyr
St. Columban, Abbot
Bl Miguel Pro, Martyr
Dn 5: 1-28
Lk 21: 12-19

By faith we see in all those we meet, souls to whom we owe a debt of truth, of edification and of prayer. By faith we see in others people like us all journeying toward the same eternity and we feel we want to help them (VMC 972).

Father Tom: It is all too easy to see others as simply “people” of no special importance who are doing nothing in particular and have no particular reason for existence. What a serious mistake! I must stop seeing people like that—and so must you!


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Fr. Giuseppe Rongoni IJP (1985)—Emilia Monaldi HFI (2005)—Fr. Rosario Esposito SSP (2007)

November 22, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Tuesday, November 22
ST. CECILIA, Virgin and Martyr
Dn 2: 31-45
Lk 21: 5-11

Sometimes we have a secret fear of getting too involved in good works—perhaps we should be more moderate? This sounds like right thinking, but is actually foolishness (VMC 958).

Father Tom: First, of course, the duties of our state which—in the case of a large family—may rule out all other activities. However, this situation is the exception so almost all of us could do more, sometimes MUCH more. Why not do it? The sacrifice is limited, the eternal reward unlimited.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Teresa Rabllo FSP (1980)—Getulio Rosaverde HFI (1984)—Sr. Emanuela Ferrari SGBP (1993)—Sr. M. Cecily Nirappel PD (2003)—Sr. Santina Bettega SGBP (2008)—Concetta Milazzo HFI (2008)

November 21, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Monday, November 21
PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Dn 1: 1-6, 8-20
Lk 21: 1-4

It is Mary who gives us Jesus and forms Jesus in us (VMC 618)).

Father Tom: This is especially true when we say the Sorrowful Mysteries. The horrors of His Passion! How small our sufferings appear in comparison! How exemplary in His forgiveness! And Mary lived all that sorrow and pain with her Son and accepted to become our spiritual Mother!


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Teresa Rabllo FSP (1980)—Getulio Rosaverde HFI (1984)—Sr. Emanuela Ferrari SGBP (1993)—Sr. M. Cecily Nirappel PD (2003)—Sr. Santina Bettega SGBP (2008)—Concetta Milazzo HFI (2008)—Adam Burnieika (1937)—Angelo Mangiere (1964)—Joseph Ricciutti (2005)—Sharon McPeck (2009)

What is Keeping Us From Union with Christ?

What is keeping us from union with Christ?



Nov. 20 - Christ, King of the Universe


As we remember, there are two judgments, the first immediately after death which we believe will be not so much Christ judging us but rather a self-judgment. In the light of Christ we will see ourselves as we are and every day we pray that this solemn moment will find us friends of the Master.


Then there is the General Judgment. As we go through life we note so many injustices going apparently unpunished while so many good people suffer grievously (typical in our time were the tornadoes of last Spring and Summer which killed innocent people and destroyed their homes and livelihood). Our Divine Master, infinitely just, will assemble all humanity in some way we cannot even imagine because of the enormous numbers, and will explain the workings of his grace and his love in all our lives down to the smallest detail.


That is the general theme of today's liturgy. However, the Opening Prayer is in praise of God now, not as He may or may not be in the future.


The First Reading is largely positive: the Lord as Good Shepherd, not Bad Judge. Yet the tone is not entirely positive and the note of judgment appears again in the final lines. The blunt fact is that God is good but so must we be. There is no free lunch. The side of the Judge we find ourselves on is OUR choice and we will not be able to blame Him.


The beautiful 23rd. Psalm gives us our Responsorial.


The words of St. Paul in the Second Reading may seem pretty obvious to us but they were anything but obvious to the men and women of Corinth who heard or read them for the first time. If Christianity seems perfectly logical to us today it was not so to the Corinthians: Paul was asking them to believe that a mysterious Jew (already a problem because they were pagans)had lived, made a tremendous impression, had been put to death and then had risen from the dead and was their main hope of a Life after life! WHAT?? Is the man out of his mind?


What is the criterion set by Jesus in the Gospel for success in life? There is only one: love. "As you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me." There are different levels of meaning here. The Lord establishes a close link between "the least" and his "brethren," or disciples. So the current tendency to write off the clergy just because some of them have been unworthy, is quite dangerous. But that is not everything. Jesus has also in mind "the least" i.e. children toward whom he showed a special tenderness and he certainly has in mind the poor and deprived that are "always with us." It would be too easy to say that if we are "good to the poor" we have done all that the Lord requires. We must also be good to ourselves, i.e. live in such a way as to be judged favorably. There are many levels in this Gospel and, as we end the Church Year, 2011, it would be a good idea to see how we stand vis a vis each of them.


~ November 2011 Concord

November 20, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Sunday, November 20
OUR LORD, JESUS CHRIST THE KING
Ez 34: 11-17
1 Cor 15: 20-28
Mt 25: 31-46

How can a soul filled with the love of God keep it all for her/himself? When the bowl is filled with water, but more water is poured into it, of necessity, it overflows…(VMC 953).

Father Tom: This seems pretty obvious. The only problem is to get the bowl filled up, though even that is not enough because sometimes very “full” souls are too shy or nervous to share their fullness. So we need ALL talents to be really active apostles!


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr Bartolomea Vivian FSP (1984)—Fr. Felice Bonicco SSP (1985)—Fr. Alberto Desiati IJP (1991)—Sr .M. Aparecide Ziglio FSP (2005)—Fr. Sergio Bruno IJP (2006)—Sr. Bernardetta Aprea FSP (2009)

November 19, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Saturday, November 19
OF THE DAY
Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday
1 Mc 6: 1-13
Lk 20: 27-40

There is more need of people who pray than there is need of orators. The person who will raise up society will not e necessarily learned, but s/he will be holy (VMC 951).

Father Tom: That seems to say it all and we people who are sometimes filled with a sense of doing nothing for souls should remember that – as the Founder would say—the results depend more on your knees than your tongue or pen.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: SrVincenza Vassena FSP (1967)—Sr. M. Giuseppiina Coren FSP (1997)—Sr. Cecilia Leonardi FSP (2000) – Seraphin Castillo Beltran HFI (2000)—Sr. M. Amabile Girlanda PD (2002)—Paulinno Albano (2984)—Marilyn Fortuna (1972)—Andrew L. Boado (year?)

November 18, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Friday, November 18
DEDICATION OF THE BASILICAS OF SS PETER AND PAUL
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
1 Mc 4: 36-37, 52-59
Lk 19: 45-48

Sometimes we believe we should try to make other people holy before we start to work on our own holiness… that is a ruination. The basis of the apostolate is the holiness of our soul (VMC 950)

Father Tom: Hmmm…would this apply to me? God help me if it does.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Paolina De Luca PD (1965)—Sr. M. Claudia Gioda PD (1985)—Fr. Sergio Gallera SSP (1998)—Francesco Ugenti HFI (1998)—Natalia Loera (2008)

Guilt and Cynicism

Homily by Fr. Jim Korda, courtesy of Fr. Jeffrey Mickler

November 17, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Thursday, November 17
ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, Religious
1 Mc 2: 15-29
Lk 19: 41-44

You are the ones giving a voice to the Gospel so you will always have a mission. Your mission can fail only if the Gospel can fail—which is impossible (VMC 949).

Very true. WE will always have a mission. But the Founder says nothing about US failing the Gospel and failing the mission! That’s the REAL problem—and always will be.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Fr. Felice Stevezzoli SSP (1990)—Sr. M. Antonia Tommasiello PD (1995)—Sr. M. Fidelis Suaybaguio FSP (1999)—Sr. Angiolina Giacca (Giacaz) FSP (2005)—Sr. M. Concetta Messina PD (2008)—Fr. Giuseppe Soro SSP (2009)—Fr. Peter Lenehan (1991)

November 16, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Wednesday, November 16
OF THE DAY
St. Margaret of Scotland
St. Gertrude, virgin
2 Mc 7: 1, 20-31
Lk 19: 11-28

Every part of the human body has its reason for existence and, when things go well, it acts in harmony with the others. So also we (in the Pauline Family) are not there by accident. Each of us has an indispensible role which others cannot fill (VMC 948).

This applies both as regards our Institute itself and as regards the wider Pauline family. We have to feel love and respect for all Paulines!


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Metilde Betocchi PD (1956)—Sr.Bice Riva FSP (1988)—Fr Giuseppe Fossato SSP (1991)— Sr. M. Tomotea Garcia FSP (1995)—Sr. M. Emilia Molaschi (1996)—Fr. José Carlos Feliciano SSP (1996)—Vincenzo Afeltra IJP (1997)—Francesco Badellino HFI (2005)—Chuck Foughty (2005)

November 14-15, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

I don't know if I'll be able to get to my computer tomorrow, so I'm posting both Monday and Tuesday's thoughts today.

God bless...

Tuesday, November 15
OF THE DAY
ST ALBERT THE GREAT, Bishop and Doctor
2 Mc 6: 18-31
Lk 19: 1-10

In our apostolate we should always feel ourselves close to the Pope so as to repeat what he teaches and repeat it with the means the Lord has given us and which were mentioned by Vatican Council 2; the media (VMC 941).

It does not seem a very ambitious or enterprising program: just repeating what the Pope says. But the plain fact is that today, when what the Pope says is being consistently opposed, our role is more relevant than ever.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Tecla Tomiko FSP (2005)—Sr. Romilde Barbati FSP (2008)


******* *******
Monday, November 14
OF THE DAY
1 Mc 1: 10-64
Lk 18: 35-43

The person who is deeply faithful to the Catholic Church is always wiser than someone seeking a personal and independent way of thinking and so living by illusions and building on sand (VMC 937).

This was true when the Founder wrote it in 1960 and how much more true today! Of course the Church is in far greater trouble now then she was then, but only her ministers have failed, her discipline and teaching have not failed.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Nazarena Ricciardi PD (1945)—Fr. Generoso Cresci IJP (1997)—Sr. Antonia Cerri FSP (2000)—José Nieto Rodriguez HFI (2005)—Sr. M. Franca Fanelli PD (2007)—Juan Menda Albornoz HFI (2007)—Sr. Jacyra M. Izabel da Silva SBP (2009)

We All Have Talents...

We all have talents... how do we use them?



Nov. 13 - XXXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time


Our first question today must be: what is a wife - worthy or otherwise - doing in this Sunday's liturgy which is otherwise about rendering an account of stewardship? Actually she has a relevant place because of her talent in careful and industrious administration and that is the general theme of the Readings and Gospel.


The Entrance Antiphon brings back sweet memories for the dwindling number who remember the delightful Gregorian Chant music for this particular wording - I myself among them. Of course the message is also beautiful.


The Opening Prayer has the same theme: God will help us be faithful and to be faithful to Him is all we ask - virtue is its own reward.


We have already referred to the First Reading with its unusual heroine who, however, fits in well with the rest of the liturgy: she is a wonderful administrator, admirable under all respects. And, we have to recall, such a good lady can be found even in our own time - were our moms not like that?


The Responsorial Psalm, as usual, repeats and enlarges on the theme of the First Reading - "wife" is found again although here in a different context. St. Paul, in the Second Reading is still dealing with the imminent coming of the Lord and how his Thessalonian converts should be ready for it. St. Paul got it wrong, of course, but only in terms of WHEN. In terms of HOW - how to prepare for it - he was right on. The coming of the Lord is always unexpected, death is always sudden even for someone who has been ill for a long time. But the mere fear of death is not a good motive for a good life. We have to live it well for the love of God and in appreciation of the many talents He has given us and of the truly and totally undeserved reward He has promised us. My emphasis added


The Gospel shows two admirable servants who did just that: They used the gifts their master had given them and were able to point proudly to a fine return on their investment. Nevertheless we must have some sympathy also for the third servant - at least he buries the money in the ground and (as we have seen in previous IT'S SUNDAY! features), the ground was actually the "bank" of those times - perhaps more reliable than many banks today. So he did not lose materially but in a sense he did because his main thought was the feared harshness of the master rather than the excitement of serving him. People can be like that today: God is too severe, the Church is too strict, to lead a good life is to difficult . . . and so many who could otherwise be admirable Catholics have given up and left the Church for some other Christian group or left all religion completely. Let us pray for them - any of us might have been in their situation if the Lord had not come to our assistance.



~ November 2011 Concord

November 13, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Sunday, November 13
XXXIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Prv 31: 10-31
1 Th. 5: 1-6
Mt 25: 14-30

What are the rights of the Church? They are:
** to preach Christian Doctrine in every nation, even in pagan nations;
** to define freely her dogmas and with freedom of speech to use the means available to spread them;
** to combat with vigilance all errors, no matter what their source. (VMC 924).

Your duty and mine is to support these rights in faith and in practice, first living the Church’s teaching and then—as far as we can, spreading it.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Virginia Cantarutti FSP (1934)—Msgr. Giovanni Rizzo IJP (1980)—Sr. Gennarina Dalla Nora FSP (1983)

November 12, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Saturday, November 12
ST JOSAPHAT, Bishop, Martyr
Wi 18: 4-16
Lk 18: 1-8

Our motto: “In Christo et in Ecclesia” (= in Christ and in the Church) is very relevant. Our work is to teach what the Church teaches, no more and no less, avoiding disputes, varying views and opinions (VMC 922)

Doesn’t sound like a very enterprising program, but if all the great controversial figures of history—now in eternity—were to return to earth, would they stir up the same trouble which has caused so much harm?


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Innocenza Morando PD (1941)—Sr. M. Zita Lombardo PD (2001)—Fr. Aldo Galliano SSP (2003)—Sr. M. Carmela Biolchini FSP (2004)

What is Devotion to the Sacred Heart?

This is from the Children's Homily Series at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Front Royal, VA. (Videographer is Vince Luckey) I think we can all learn a lot from it. :o) God bless...

November 11, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Friday, November 11
ST MARTIN OF TOURS, Bishop
Wi 13: 1-9
Lk 17: 26-37

Paradise is a joyful love in each of us and so we have to cultivate this love on earth and possess it as we enter eternity. (VMC 916)

However, it is not a feeling but an incessant effort to live as God wants. Once in Paradise, the effort, so to speak, disappears and the joyful love remains.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Fr. Luca Rocca SSP (1963)—Fr. Arcadio Huerta sSP (1970)—Sr. M. Grazia Ozenda FSP (1980)—Fr. Quinto Cesanelli SSP (1986)—Bro Gian Pietro Scagliioni SSP (2006)—Leonardo Messina HFI (2007)—Cl. Marcos Aurelio Gomes SSP (2008)—Edward Tulley (2002)

November 10, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Thursday, November 10
ST. LEO THE GREAT, Pope and Doctor
Wi 7: 22-8: 1
Lk 17: 20-25

Let’s think of eternity. We are all the time thinking of life on earth which has definite limits. Let’s think of eternity which has NO limits!

No only thinking of life on earth but all too often working exclusively for life on earth! This is a notable victory for Satan. What could be more logical than to concentrate on what is right before our noses? But if all those billions now in eternity could speak to us, what a different message they would give!


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Nunziatina Miceli PD (1979)—Pierfrancesco Bussetti HFI (1985)—Sr. M. Ludovica Pilotti PD (1988)—Olivia Herrera HFI (1995)—Sr. Costanza Gandolofo FSP (1998)—Sr. M. Cordis Drudi PD (2008)—Faustino O. Villanueva (1983)—Martha Miller, HFI (2002)

November 9, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Wednesday, November 9
DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA
Ez 47: 1-2, 8-9
1 Cor 3: 9-11, 16-17
Jn 2: 13-22

Cooperate with the Church by prayer for the Pope and priests and for vocations, through the example of your good life and through personal action (BM p. 172).

Father Tom: Which of these is the most important? All of them are, of course, but good example is the most effective. I can’t be sure that you pray or are interested in vocations, but I can—and do—see how you live. “Example speaks louder than words.”


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Egidia Marengo FSP (1968)—Renata Tosoni IAM (1996)—Sr. Rosaria Giannecchini FSP (1998)—Fr. Eleazar Jimenez SSP (1999)—Fr. Joseph Parella SSP (2009)— Nancy Carmichael (2005)—Elizabeth Martinez Bujol (1954)

November 8, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Tuesday, November 8
OF THE DAY
Wis 2: 23-3:9
Lk 17: 7-10

Prudence is the eye of zeal and in the apostolates of modern communication you sometimes need four eyes! (SP Nov. 1950).

Father Tom: Prudence, yes, but we are not lacking in this—I speak for you, not myself! What we mostly need is PUSH, PROGRESS, PERSISTENCE. Not only in finding vocations, but even in promoting the SAVE THE DYING DEVOTION among our friends and neighbors. Can anybody inform me why we have only, say, 300 enroled instead of 3000?


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Bro Mathew Kottoor SSP (2001)—Sr. M. Agnesina Stoto PD (2002)—Sr. Luigia M. Cozza (2008)

November 7, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Monday, November 7
OF THE DAY
First Monday of the Month—St. Paul
Wis 1: 1-7
Lk 17: 1-6

I have been hearing of “bad times” since 1914. If you wait till the good times come, nothing gets done. Let’s do what we can in the present time. Only in heaven will we have a really good time!

Father Tom: Well, said, Fr. Alberione! A word of advice to all of us. Waiting for the “right time”? The “right time” has a habit of disappearing as you think about doing something, but don’t do it. Let’s do what we can NOW … and leave the Lord to worry if the time was “right” or not!


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Vincenza Ferreri SGBP (1989)—Sr. Fulgida Sandrini FSP (1993)—Sr. Rita Dos Santos SGBP (1995)—Ramon Miguel Maturana HFI (1995)—Sr. Miriam Guidi FSP (2001)—Sr. M. Consolata Di Ruvo PD (2003)—Fr. Aldo Poggi SSP (2004)—Sr. M. Rosalia Rotolo PD (2005)—Stella Ruiz (2003)

Let's Get Into the House Before the Door Closes!

Let's get into the house before the door closes!



Nov. 6 - XXXII Sunday in Ordinary Time



As we approach the end of the Church Year, we are given two more liturgies underlining the true meaning of life on earth: constant preparation for life in heaven.


The Opening Prayer (which rarely gets the attention it deserves) asks for "freedom of spirit" to do the work of God. It also asks for "health in mind and body" - especially in mind. Our minds run our lives. We have, of course, automatic reflexes (when you put your hand on a hot stove you don't stop to think what you should do!), but all our other actions are first of all in our minds. This is a generic reflection.


The Second Reading is more specific and introduces the concept of "wisdom" The Book of Wisdom from which the Reading is taken, was written probably in the first century before Christ when Jews were being persecuted for their faith but also tempted to defect to a pagan culture. The Book points out many dangers which are familiar also to us. These are not mentioned in this Reading but they are to be understood as the reason we must seek the truth and live it.


The Responsorial Psalm must make many of us (perhaps all of us?) rather uneasy. "My soul is thirsting (?) for you, 0 Lord, my God" Can we read that without a sense that it really does NOT express our "thirst" which all to often is for something quite different? Perhaps yes, but there is no day like today for reflection and decision on where our life is going. All too often we have to say these words and then say to the Lord in tears: "Sorry, Jesus, I haven't go that far yet... help me!" The Second Reading finds St. Paul comforting his converts in Thessalonika. He had given the impression that the Lord would be returning any time but in the meantime people were dyiing and the problem arose: what will happen to these people who will not be here to greet the Master? St. Paul (still thinking of an imminent return of the Lord) says that not only those on earth at that time but equally those who have died will eventually be safe in the hands of God - "caught up together with them in the clouds." In fact the Savior still has to return but Paul's reference to the final Resurrection are still very valid.


In the Gospel we return again to the concept of wisdom. The Lord has in mind a Jewish wedding normally begun at night. The bridegroom comes when it suits him and the ten virgins for this reason must keep awake so as to be ready to escort the groom coming to claim his bride. There are many possible lessons to be drawn from this Gospel but the main one is surely to live a life such that we are always ready to greet the divine Bridegroom when he comes to take us to himself. The closing of the door is also significant. The time to prepare to meet the Bridegroom is limited and, once the door of our life is closed - so to speak - there is no possibility of opening it.


~ November 2011 Concord

All Saints...

Easier to pray... than examine your conscience.



It's Sunday!



November 1 - All Saints


What do the " Saints" - people we have known and loved and knew they would make a success of their lives, but also others who gave us quite the opposite impression - DO in heaven? One answer is that we don't really know, but this is not entirely correct. Mostly they REJOICE in the Lord but they are also, we believe, concerned about us and want us with them forever.


The First Reading is taken from the Book of Revelation which was written to encourage the early Christians of the second half of the first Christian century. From that point of view it is still, unfortunately, quite relevant. Even in our day the Church is being persecuted here and there in different parts of the world and - in another real sense - ALL of us are being subtly "persecuted" and weakened in our faith by the atmosphere around us poisoned by negative media.


The Responsorial Psalm brings us back to earth again. Our relatives and friends and neighbors are among that "great multitude" but we still have to arrive at journey's end and so we cry out in longing - everybody does, even those who say they don't believe in God. Then, how explain we are never satisfied?


The Second Reading points out that we shall be like God for all eternity. Too little! The God we believe in is limitless in His love, in His desire to give and thus in heaven we will BE in God just as, indeed, we are now if we could only grasp the reality of the Master's presence in our lives. This explains the urgency of correcting our defects, i.e. making ourselves as united as possible to him, because the unity we possess as we die is the unity that we will have in Paradise forever.


Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus gives us the blue-print for success in life - real and permanent success, not just whatever we may accomplish during our time on earth. Note that the Master speaks of states or attitudes, not of prayer. This is an important point. Since it is easier to say prayers than to examine our consciences, many good people say endless prayers all day long but the meantime they are much less concerned about rash judgments, gossip, fits of anger, lack of charity, and many other impediments to union with Christ. And so the lesson we can draw from today's liturgy is: of course that we must pray and ask the Lord's help - "without me you can do nothing." But we must also try very hard to find what defects may be keeping us from full union with him and ask his help constantly to get rid of them.


~ November 2011 Concord

November 6, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Sunday, November 6
XXXII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
First Sunday of the Month—the Divine Master, Way, Truth and Life
Wis 6: 12-16
1 Th 4: 13-18
Mt 25: 1-13

In heave the apostolate will not change and there you will pary for the apostolate of the press, radio and movie (APD 1947).

Father Tom: But… do we pray for this apostolate even now?? Do I? I have to convess that I pray for the Holy Souls and for individual members in difficulty and for an increase of membership, and for my own salvation. What about you?


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Rosaria Russo HFI (1994)—Bro Aurelia Garcia SS (1999)—Sr. M. JanuacOeli Presti PD (2004)—Sr Giuseppina Franchi SGBP (2008)—Sr. M. Annunziata Spada FSP (2009)

November 5, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Saturday, November 5
OF THE DAY
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY on Saturday
First Saturday of the Month—Mary, Queen of Apostles
Rm 16: 3-9., 16: 22-27
Lk 16: 9-15

The first followers of Jesus were looking at Mary and how she practiced what He preached. So also, she remains an example in every nation and to all people of how the Gospel should be lived (RSP p. 569)

Father Tom: Actually, we people who have had a special training should give the example of how the Gospel should be lived. But, beginning with myself, perhaps we would hesitate to say: “Learn of me”? true? Well… we are still alive and perhaps will become exemplary in the time remaining?


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Fr. Giovenale Pistone SSP (1979)—Sr. Lucia Capra FSP (1985)—Sr. Luisa Toninello FSP (2007)—Anna A. Burnieika (1996)

November 4, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Friday, November 4
St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop
First Friday of the Month—The Sacred Heart
Rm 15: 24-21
Lk 16: 1-8

November is a month that invites us to recollection, thoughts of eternity, of the need for spiritual progress (AAP 1957)

Father Tom: Indeed, but dear Father, why only in November? You were never one to live well in November and they whoop it up in the summer months! Neither should we be. Every day is a gift of God to be used for Him and for others.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Leandra Pianezzola PD (1969)—Sr. M. Ilaria Formento PD (1973)—Fr. Angelo Omarini SSP (1995)—sr. Giovanna Vaschetto FSP (1996)—Fr. Giacomo Yu SSP (2004)—Luigia Meo HFI (2006)—Sr. M. Assunta Carducci FSP (2007)—Sr. M. Leonina Dogliani PD (2007)—Louis A. Pizzi (1997)

November 3, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Thursday, November 3
OF THE DAY
St. Martin de Porres, Religious
First Thursday of the Month—The Guardian Angels
Rm 15: 7-12
Lk 15: 1-10

Nothing will be lost of what the children of God do or the children of Satan and both will receive the appropriate reward or punishment (BM p. 5610).

Father Tom: That seems to say it all. To SAY it all. Now whate about DOING something as a chld of God? We can sin by act and we can sin just as much by omission: “… in what I have done and in what I have failed to do”. We rattle off this formula at Mass without realizing how serious it is.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. M. Chiara Saltarin PD (1993)—Sr. M. Alessandra Kim PD (2003)—Adrenaline Mendiola (2005)

November 2, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Wednesday, November 2
ALL SOULS
First Wednesday of the Month—St. Joseph
Jb 19 1, 23-27
Rm 5: 5-11
Jn 6: 37-40


I supplicate you, O Divine Master, for the souls in purgatory because of the Press, Radio and Television. May they pray to you and supplicate you for the modern world (Prayers of the Pauline Family).

Father Tom: And just as important, may we pray for them, beginning with our 20+ deceased members, then family and friends. We would not like to leave good friends languishing in the hospital without a visit. Let’s be even more concerned about the Holy Souls.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Fr. Gabriel Do Giovannantonio SSP (1985)—Sr. Lorenzina Franco SGBP (1995).

November 1, 2011 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

I saw this image on the internet. I don't know who created it, but will gladly give credit.

Tuesday, November 1
ALL SAINTS
First Tuesday of the Month—the Souls in Purgatory
Rev 7: 2-4, 9-14
Jn 3: 1-3
Mt. 5: 1-12
MONTHLY INTENTION

For an increase in Catholic initiatives in the field of social communications so as to promote human and Christian values effectively (Pauline Offertory).

Father Tom: Institute people are not very skilled in communications (beginning with YOU-KNOW-WHOM!) but let’s communicate the gift of the Institute and let’s most of all PRAY that others may become skilled.


Please Pray for Our Deceased: Sr. Gisepppina Cosner SCBP (1978)—Sr. M. Stefana Freddi PD (1980)—Fr. Angelo ARoldi IJP (1988)—Fr. Giuseppe Buttiglione IJP (1991)—Sr. M. Giusepppina Pormalejo FSP (1999)—Mr. Brem—Corinne Smith—Mike