God Chips Away...

 “When we live a life of holiness, we allow God to chip away at our imperfections, until the work of art He created begins to shine through.”

                                             ~Remember Your Death-Memento Mori  (p.55)

Seek, Ask, Knock...

“Lord, please give me exactly what I need today. All of that and nothing else.”

~Karen Schultz (Blessed is She)

The focus of today’s Gospel (Matthew 7: 7-12) is on seeking, asking and knocking. Our Lord tells us that if we seek we will find. If we knock, it will be opened to us, and if we ask, we will receive.  So why does it often seem like that is not the case? I seek and I don’t find, I ask and I don’t receive, I knock but it is not opened to me?  Maybe it’s because I don’t ask properly, or I ask for the wrong things.  Maybe I don’t even know what I should be looking or asking for?  I’m sure that many times it’s because I want God to give me whatever I want the way I want it, when I want it, but He, He has other plans for me, and they are a thousand times better than any plans I might have for myself.  I know this. He has said as much.  So why is it so hard for me to remember? What am I afraid of?  Why is it so hard to trust?

I think it’s because I’m afraid of what I might have to give up.  I want what I want and cling to a lesser good and passing satisfaction, rather than allow Him to give me what my heart truly desires.  All this dawned on me during my daily meditation and the reflection I received from Blessed is She writer Karen Schultz.  I’ve made her final quote my thought to carry with me throughout today and all of Lent (and beyond).  I’m quite certain I will forget and try to hold on to my will, but it is my intention to return to it always.  I may not truly know what I want or need, but God does. I will do my best to trust in Him.

“Lord, please give me exactly what I need today. All of that and nothing else.”

March 20, 2019 With Blessed Father Alberione

WEDNESDAY MARCH 20, 2019

LENTEN WEEKDAY

Jer 18: 18-20

Ps 31: 5-6, 14-16

Mt 20: 17-28

 

The priest who writes and the Brother who does the technical work of reproducing it over and over and distributing it… Intimately linked in the religious life and united in the same apostolate, to prepare their heavenly crown together (AD, 41)

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED: Sr Lilia M Battista Bettinelli PD (1993)—Sr Rosangela Pasqualino AP (1993)—Emilio Tomassini HFI (1993)—Sr Adele Aimasso FSP (1997)—Sr M Fortunata Arrotta FSP (2014)—Steve Blouin HFI (2016)—Joyce Sablone (2001)

March 19, 2019 With Blessed Father Alberione

TUESDAY MARCH 19, 2019

ST JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF MARY—SOLEMNITY

2 Sam 7: 4-5, 12-14a, 16

Ps 89: 2-5, 27, 29

Rom 4: 4: 13, 16-18, 22

Mt 1: 16, 18, 24a  OR

Lk 2: 41-51a

 

Here are the Brothers! Preaching with the modern means of the Priest… The work of the Brother uplifts his activity, makes it joyful and increases it: God is glorified, the Gospel is proclaimed and people are enlightened.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED: Sr Lilia M Lavagnini FSP (1964)—Sr M BErnarda Marinoni FSP (1971)—Fr Pio Rossi IJP (1987)—Sr M Carola Dama FSP (1987)—Sr M Sira Baldassari FSP (1994)—Rosa Deplano HFI (1995)—Sr Brondino SSP (2003)—Sr M Bernardina Borghini FSP (2004)—Sr M Querubina Conteras PD (2005)—Bro Federico Faccioli SSP (2008)—Sr Mary Caroline Tessa FSP (2008)—Sr M Regina Nota FSP (2009)—Elena Ciaglia IAM (201)—Sr M Leonia Torresan PD (2010)—Sr M Leonia Torresan PD (2012)—Olga Bernardni HFI (2014)—Bro Eliecer Lopez SSP (2016)—Sr M Amalia Esposito FSP (2016)

March 18, 2019 With Blessed Father Alberione

MONDAY MARCH 18, 2019

LENTEN WEEKDAY

ST CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, BISHOP, DOCTOR

Dan 9: 4b-10

Ps 79:8-9, 11, 13

Lk 6: 36-38

 

Your vocation is beautiful, very beautiful, because it is precisely a call to work in souls, on souls, with souls, for souls, and spend life as Jesus has spent: for souls! (AAP58, 156).

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED: Domenico Sebastianelli HFI (1987)—Sr M ImmacolatinaSimonetto PD (1990)—Sr M Andreina Binello FSP (1994)—Sr M Colombina Di Greggorio PD (1998)—Sr M Gabriella Miresse FSP (19999)—Sr M Lúcia Mana PD (2006)—Sr M Regina Carducci FSP (2015)—Angelo Castiglia HFI (2017)

March 11, 2019 With Blessed Father Alberione

MONDAY MARCH 11, 2019

LENTEN WEEKDAY

Lv 19: 1-2, 11-18

Ps 19: 8-10, 15

Mt 25: 31-46

 

What do these companions indicate who were invited by the apostles to come to the rescue to gather all the fish and bring them all to the shore?  They refer to the cooperators. Cooperators are those who work with you, that is, those who do this: “cooperate” means “they work with”, they work with you, for the same purpose (AAP58, 2)

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED: Fr Matteo Plassa SSP (1965)—Fr Giacomo Giraudo SSP (2003)—Sr M Melania Ravarotto FSP (2004)—Sr Cecilia Paula Livingston FSP (2011)—John Vincenzo, Sr  (1980)—Josephine Merlene (2000)

March 8, 2019 With Blessed Father Alberione

FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2019

FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

ST JOHN OF GOD, RELIGIOUS FOUNDER

DAY OF ABSTINENCE FROM MEAT (AGE 14 AND UP)

Is 58: 1-9a

Ps 51: 3-6ab, 18-19

Mt 9: 14-15

 

Apostolate is a continuation of the work of Christ…Apostolate is dedicating our strength to conquer for Jesus Christ (Kingdom of God): to build up the Church, to give God to men and men to God (APim, p. 159).

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED: Sr M Carmine Vitiello FSP (1972)—Fr Alvise Sappelsa SSP (1978)—Fr Giuseppe Gregoris IJP (2000)—Sr M Benedetta Baiguera FSP (2010)—Fr Leo Matthew Vechoor SSP (2011)—Fr Gino Ferrari IJP (2015)—Byron B. Bordellon, Jr (1974).

March 7, 2019 With Blessed Father Alberione

THURSDAY MARCH 7, 2019

THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

SS PERPETUA AND FELICITY, MARTYRS

FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH—

THE GUARDIAN ANGELS

Dt 30: 15-20

Ps 1: 1-4, 6

Lk 9: 22-25

 

I always remember those beloved Confreres who bore the initial and heaviest burdens, with an understanding far beyond their age…their love of God and of souls and their deep desire for holiness, opened the way for many vocations (D, 220).

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED: Fr Domenico Ambrosio SSP (1971)—Sr Adelaide Bertolini SGBP (1979)—Michele Piccininni HFI (2003)—Sr M Enrica Paloschi FSP (2012)—Sr M Angelica Ancilotto FSP (2014)—Sr Clotilde Sorrentino SGBP (2014)

Jesus Master, Help Me to Prepare for Lent

A Lenten Prayer...

I thought I'd put this lovely prayer up in preparation for Lent. It can, of course, be said at any time, but would make a lovely spiritual work of Mercy for Lent.

According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the following prayer, each time she piously recited it, would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory:

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”

Excerpt From a Commentary by Gretchen Filz (the Catholic Company)

May 25, 2018 With Blessed Father Alberione

FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2018

VEN BEDE, PRIEST, RELIGIOUS, DOCTOR

ST GREGORY VII, POPE, RELIGIOUS

ST MARY MAGDALENE DE’ PAZZI, VIRGIN, RELIGIOUS

ORDINARY WEEKDAY

James 5: 9-12

Ps  103: 1-4, 8-9, 11-12

Mk 10: 1-12

The Pauline is one who makes himself a reflector of the light (Christ), who receives and projects it over to the multitudes, in those areas most in need, or to those who are willing to receive light: “The light shines in the darkness”(CV, p 193).

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED: Sr Flaminia Di Nezza FSP (1947)—Fr Joseph Kolencheril SSP (1997)—Fr Valerio Cascia IJP (1997)—Fr Giovanni Basigli IJP (1999)—Sr M Gesualda Aureli FSP (2004)—Salvatore Iannelli HFI (2004)—Sr M Rosangela Marazzi FSP (2012)—Concetta Mammoliti IAM (2013)

May 8, 2018 With Blessed Father Alberione

TUESDAY, MAY 8, 2018

EASTER WEEKDAY

Acts 16: 22-34

Ps  138: 1-3, 7c-8

Jn 16: 5-11

Learn more about Jesus Master: read what is about Jesus Christ, His life and His teaching; know his examples and know the means of grace (AP 1959, p. 18).

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED: Sr Rita Credico FSP (2009)—Prima Juntilla IAM (2009)—Sr M Elisabetta Ragoso PD (2011)—Sr Myriam Teresita Corbalan FSP (2014)—Norma virtucio IAM (2014)—Helen Zuzik HFI (2014)—Sr M Stella Doi PD (2015)—Ramon Verduczco Jimenez HFI (2016) Margaret Di Fazio (2007)

Lenten Reflections: March 31, 2018

Saturday of Holy Week

Holy Saturday: The Easter Vigil

Gospel Reading: Mk 16: 1-7

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, an Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him (Mk 16: 1).

Abstain from frivolous activities and make an effort to focus your thoughts throughout the day on the Death of Jesus for your Salvation.

~From the National Shrine

Good Friday: Food for Reflection

For God so loved the world....