January 17, 2016 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Sunday, January 17

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Is 62: 1-5
Ps 96: 1-10
1 Cor 12: 4-10
Jn 2: 1-11

From the holiness of their wedding depend many graces for couples and the family they form (BM p 554)

FROM FATHER TOM:  Brief exam: If your married life has had blessings or sufferings, to what extent are you to take praise or blame? The challenges of married life today are many--some completely new in our time.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED:  Sr. M. Alfonsa Marello PD (1984)--Sr. M. Stella Signorini FSP (1986)--Fr. Vito Frassanito IJP (1998)--Sr. Anna Foschi SGBP L(1999) Sr. Rachele Binello FSP (2005)--Sr. M. Amabilis Casarotto FSP (2009)--Olga Falbo IAM (2010)--Sr. M. Giovannina Sacchetto FSP (2014)--S.r Anna Maria Collarini SGBP (2014)--Sr. M. Vernonica Pinto Pasten FSP (2015)

January 16, 2016 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Saturday, January 16

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
ORDINARY WEEKDAY

1 Sm 9: 1-4, 17-19; 10: 1
Ps 21: 2-7
Mk 2: 13-17

A person who does not want to become a saint does not live the religious life (APD 1959, 84).

FROM FATHER TOM:  Indeed. And what are we to say about our living the Pauline life--not quite as exacting but nevertheless challenging? The exam of conscience should always ask: am I living a good life, or a Pauline life?

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED:  Sr. M. Michelina Perbellini PD (1962)--Fr. Luigi Fago IJP (1985)--Fr. Gregorio Delpogetto SSP (1996)--Fr. Francesco Sirito SSP (1997)--Giuseppina Pauluzzi HFI (1998)--Sr. M. Pierluisa Vidano PD (2000)--Fr. Paolo Maeda SSP (2002)--Lucia Laghetto HFI (2009)--Sr. Domenica (Mimma) zagara FSP (2011)--Cosimo Pierri HFI (2011)--Sr. Maria Pia Marcazzan FSP (2012)--Anthony J. Madeline, Sr. (1980)

January 15, 2016 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Friday, January 15

ORDINARY WEEKDAY

1 Sm 8: 4-7
Ps 89:16-19
Mk 2: 1-12

Pride is a stumbling block to faith, a source of irrational stubbornness in one's ideas, a cause of divisions and discord (BM, p 255).

FROM FATHER TOM:  And what colossal damage it has done to God's plan! In fact we will never know until Judgment Day even though its evil is everywhere: in the family in the Church, in Government and in everywhere else.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED:  Sr. Consolata Binello FSP (1948)--Sr. Paol Magnani FSP (2000)--Sr. M. Valentina Bedino PD (2000)--Fr. Vincenzo Marseglia IJP (2002)--M. Irene Gianfrieda HFI (2011)--BAldini Dario HFI (2013)--Sr. M. Boguslawa soltys PD (2014)--Bro Harry Morgan FSC (2005)--Peter M. Murphy (1978)

January 14, 2015 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Thursday, January 14

ORDINARY WEEKDAY

1 Sm 4: 1-11
Ps 44: 10-25
Mk 1: 40-45

Family spirit is that kind of charity which is outstandingly tender, full of dedication and more caring, as must reign in a religious family (UPS, IV, 214).

FROM FATHER TOM:  These are words of the Founder taken from one of his 1960 talks given in the Ariccia Retreat House to pioneering confreres from all over the world. Those were great moments for him and for us. Not so great these days, but his guidelines are unchanged. 

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED:  Sr. M. Teresa Congius FSP (1961)--Sr. M. Leonilde Torrengo PD (1971)--Sr. Anna Caterina Tagliani FSP (1997)--Fr. Roberto Nunez IJP (2004)--Sr. M. Teresina Pallavicino FSP (2005)

January 13, 2016 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Wednesday, January 13

ST HILARY, BISHOP, DOCTOR
OF THE CHURCH
ORDINARY WEEKDAY

1 Sm 3: 1-10
Ps 40: 2-10
Mk 1: 29-39

Benevolence is the flowering of charity (BM, p. 101).

FROM FATHER TOM:  Or, if you like, the external manifestation of interior peace and goodwill. However, it must be combined with justice to ensure that we have (the) right attitude toward evil. 

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED:  Sr. Bernardetta Ferraris FSP (2002)

January 12, 2016 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Tuesday, January 13

ORDINARY WEEKDAY

1 Sm 1: 9-20
Ps 104
Mk 1: 21-28

God is a good Father even when He allows affliction; He guides in an invisible way even if the darkness is thick; He is close even if we don't see Him or hear Him; He supports us even if it seems that He has abandoned us (BM p. 377)

FROM FATHER TOM:  In fact He CAN'T abandon us...or disappear entirely! We think God created us and then left us to fend for ourselves...not so. If He were to leave us even for an instant...we'd disappear!

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED:  Fr. Agide Pasotti IJP (1995)--Sr. M. Teresa Castro PD (2011)

January 11, 2016 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Tom

Monday, January 11

ORDINARY WEEKDAY

1 Sm 1: 1-8
Ps 116: 12-19
Mk 1: 14-20

The heavenly Father watches over His good children: He alternates for them pains and consolations, trials and victories, darkness and lights (BM p. 377).

FROM FATHER TOM:  In fact it is sometimes challenging to discern just what part of our lives is ours and what part is God's. So the thing is to take Him at His word, trust Him absolutely, and --in moments of joy or sorrow--remember to say: "Thank You, Jesus."

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED:  Sr. M. Celestina Giglione FSP (1949)--Sr. M. Lidia Zago FSP (1950)--Fr. Alfonso Panaro SSP (1972)--Sr. M. Carmelina Lamberti PD (2000)--Fr. Franco Pierini SSP (2001)--Sr. Blesilda Ganalon FSP (2004)--Sr. Vittoria Magni FSP (2005)--Fr. Marcello Krebel IJP (2008)--Sr. Lucia Irene Vazquez Martinez FSP (2012)--BErnardo Dato (2013)

Keep a Tight Grasp...

"Keep a tight grasp of Christ's hand. Whenever you find yourself with more than you can handle, do not panic,  but look to Christ."
~ St. Francis de Sales

January 10, 2016 With Blessed Father Alberione and With Father Toom

Sunday, January 10

BAPTISM OF THE LORD

Is 40: 1-5, 9-11
Ps 104: 1-4, 24-30
Ti 2: 11-14; 3: 4-7
Lk 3: 15-22

At our baptism we were given the name of a saint who will protect us. Our life and salvation were placed under his or her custody and protection. We owe them our admiration, imitation and prayers (BM, pp 423-424).

FROM FATHER TOM:  And also, I suppose some awareness of who they were plus their life and miracles--there are many "Thomases" but mine is Thomas Aquinas who worked no miracles and was--it is said--grossly overweight.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DECEASED:  Sr. M. Bernardita Arcila FSP (1987)--Cesarino Carlini HFI (2006)--Sr. M. Veronica Varona FSP (2007)--Sr. Veronica Kovalski FSP (2011)--Mary Kennedy (2005)