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Weekly Bulletin September 29, 2024
by Terrie Evans
On this 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we celebrate Priesthood Sunday to honor all priests especially, our dedicated roster of priests who are with us every Sunday for our 9:00 AM Mass. This day is set aside to reflect and affirm the role of the priesthood in the life of the Church. As the number of priests and ordinations in the United States has steadily declined in the past 50 years, the men who have answered the call to the priesthood are now working harder than ever before. Please keep them in your daily prayers for strength and health as they continue to graciously serve not only our parishioners but the many churches they continue to serve within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. A Prayer for Priests on this Priesthood Sunday: “Gracious and loving God, we thank you for the gift of priests. Through them, we experience your presence in the Sacraments. Help our priests to be strong in their vocation. Set their soul on fire with love for your people. Grant them the wisdom, understanding, and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Inspire them with the vison of your Kingdom. Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel. Allow them to experience joy in their ministry. Help them to become instruments of your Divine Grace. We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our Eternal Priest. AMEN.”
On Monday, September 30th we honor St. Jerome, one of the greatest Biblical scholars of Christendom, considered one of the most learned men of the early Church. He was born in 347 and at the age of 12 was sent to Rome to study grammar, philosophy, and rhetoric. At the age of 19 Jerome decided to become a Christian and was Baptized by Pope Liberius and later was ordained a priest. He visited Constantinople with his Bishop where he became friends with Saints Gregory Nazianzen and Gregory of Nyssa. In 382, Jerome became the personal secretary of Pope Damacus who commissioned him to revise the Latin version of the psalms and the New Testament. He translated the whole Bible into the Latin version for use by the common people. When Pope Damascus died, his enemies forced Jerome to leave Rome, relocating to Bethlehem where he set up three Monasteries and spent the next 36 years translating the Old Testament. He was a brilliant linguist and scholar who also translated many books before his death in 425. Jerome was laid to rest under the Church of the Nativity with his remains later transferred to Rome. St. Jerome is the Patron Saint of Archaeologists, Biblical Scholars, Librarians, Students and Translators. He wrote: “Plato located the soul of man in the head, Christ located it in the heart.”
On Tuesday, October 1st, we honor the life of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, born Marie-Francoise-Therese in 1873. She loved reading about the lives of saints, did kind deeds for everyone and prepared for her First Communion by making many little sacrifices. When she was 15, told her father that she was so devoted to Jesus and wished to become a Carmelite nun. She became a special friend of Jesus saying, “From the age of three, I never refused our good God anything. I have never given Him anything but love.” Her Bishop and the Carmelites felt she was too young although Pope Leo XIII finally granted her permission to enter the Carmelite Monastery. She was serious but, at times full of fun making happy jokes and at times was scolded for pulling up garden flowers instead of weeds, always thanking God for everything. When she entered the order, she wanted to save souls, and to help priests save souls, by prayer, sacrifice, and suffering. She stated: “It is good to serve God in darkness and trial. We have only this life to live by faith.” She wanted to become a Carmelite Missionary to China in China but became ill in 1896 with tuberculosis and died in the convent infirmary on September 30, 1897. Her last words were: “I love him, My God, I love you.” Dying at the young age of 24, Therese would not be forgotten as her superiors had ordered her to write an autobiography called “The Story of a Soul”. She wrote: “You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, not even at the difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.” They published it along with the account of her death; the appeal of the book became immediate and astonishing. Her attraction was her simplicity as she was no scholar, no great student of the Bible, she simply longed to be a saint. Therese believed any ordinary person could also. “In my little way, she wrote, are only very ordinary things. Little souls can do everything that I do.” Since her death, many have been inspired by her “little way” of loving God and neighbor with miracles attributed to her intercession. She was canonized in 1925. She had predicted, “My Heaven will be spent doing good on earth.” In 1997,100 years after her death, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her Doctor of the Church. She is the 3rd woman to be so named along with St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Avila. A Prayer Petition to St. Therese of the Child Jesus: “O little Therese of the Child Jesus, please pick for me a rose from the Heavenly Gardens and send it to me as a message of love. O Little Flower of Jesus ask God to grant the favors I now place with confidence in their hands (MENTION PETITIONS). St Therese, help me to always believe as thou didst, in God’s great love for me so that I might imitate thy “Little Way” each day. AMEN.”
On Wednesday, October 2nd we honor the Holy Guardian Angels who are said to be with you from the very beginning of your existence. The notion of Guardian Angels is part of our Lords’ own teaching and in His own earthly life, they are seen by the Gospel writers who are ready to serve and minister to Him. They were there to care for Him as he agonizes in the Garden of Gethsemane and are present at His Resurrection. He has charged His Angels with the ministry of watching and safeguarding every one of His creatures. From the day of your Baptism, the doctrine of Guardian Angels is part of the Church’s tradition to guide us to good thoughts, works, and to preserve us from evil. Pope Francis calls them “Traveling Companions” as no one journeys alone and no one should think they are alone and according to Church tradition, we all have Guardian Angels who guard us. Our Lord says in the Gospel, “Beware lest ye scandalize any of these little ones, for the angels in Heaven see the face of My Father.” The protection promised by the Angels: “No evil shall befall you, nor shall affliction come near your tent, for to his Angels, God has given command about you, that they guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands, they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” The Feast of the Guardian Angels, October 2nd, was first celebrated by the Franciscans in 1500 with Pope Paul V making it a universal feast in 1615.
On Friday, October 4th, we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) founder of the Franciscan Order in 1200. Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic Friar who was noted for his devotion to the Eucharist. He became noted for his love of animals with his feast celebrated on World Animal Day. From his birth everyone loved the happy good natured and charming Francis. He was not a scholar rather a dreamer who became good at business like his father, Pietro, a silk merchant. He was unsure of his future and thought is path was to become a knight ready for battle. When the town of Assisi declared war on the neighboring town of Perugia, he joined the battle but was taken and held for ransom. After spending a year imprisoned in a dungeon, on his release, Francis heard Our Lord calling him to leave the world and follow him. When Francis visited the ancient Church at San Damiano, while praying, he heard God telling him: “Francis repair my Church.” Francis went on to rebuild the old Church on his own begging for stones, to make those repairs building the Church from the ground up. From there he realized it was not just the physical building but the Church as a whole. He started visiting hospitals and served the sick and the poor, saying: “When one serves the poor, he serves Christ himself.” He began to preach to the people about peace with God, peace with one’s neighbor, and peace with oneself. He took the rule in St. Matthews Gospel that Christ’s Apostle should have nothing of their own while taking the Christian life of a beggar as an iterant preacher. Francis looked on all people and things as his brothers and sisters as they were all created by the same God. Francis loved all things in God’s universe saying “Brother Sun,” “Sister Moon,” even loving “Sister Death” as a gift from God, the sparrow was as much his brother as the Pope. He went to Rome with 12 other men to get permission from the Pope to start a new religious order: “The Franciscans”. He gathered followers and made out a simple rule of life for them and his Order spread throughout Italy as more followers became attracted to the holy man who acted from the heart, who practiced true equality by showing honor, respect, and love to every person no matter what their station was. When he decided to go to Syria to convert the Muslims during the 5th Crusade, he went straight to the sultan to make peace. Francis and his companions were captured and taken to the sultan who became charmed by his preaching telling Francis, “I would convert to your religion which is a beautiful one, but both of us would be murdered.” A movie about this was made in 2016 (the Sultan and the Saint). On his return to Italy his Order had grown to 5000 in ten years with changes made, as his dream of radical poverty was thought to be too harsh, finally giving up his authority he became just another brother a position he had always wanted. He also helped St. Clare start the order known as the Poor Clares. In 1223, Francis arranged the first live Nativity Scene for the annual Christmas celebration in Greccio, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. Today, Nativity scenes will be present throughout the town with the live Nativity scene staged in front of the Sanctuary of Greccio. In 1224, when Francis began a 40 day fast, he had a vison of a suffering figure so intense that he had a permanent imprint on his body. He had the apparition of a Seraph (one of the angels present at God’s throne) when he saw Jesus hanging on the Cross when he received the stigmata on his hands, side, and feet; the scars that correspond with the wounds suffered by Christ. For the next two years of his life, he kept the stigmata a secret. A Franciscan Brother would announce them after his death in 1226 at the age of 44. He was Canonized by Pope Gregory IX on July 16, 1228, and is portrayed wearing a brown habit with a rope tied around his waist with 3 knots, symbolizing poverty, chastity, and obedience. He is considered as the first Italian poet who believed commoners should be able to pray to God in their own language, writing in the dialect of Umbria instead of Latin. St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of Italy, animals, and ecology. After his election on March 13, 2013, Archbishop and Cardinal, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina chose Francis as his Papal name to honor St. Francis of Assisi, to become Pope Francis. The Basilica of San Francesco d’ Assisi is the Major Shrine dedicated to him.
On Saturday, October 5th, we honor Maria Faustyna Kowalska (1905-1938) the Polish Catholic religious sister and mystic. She had an apparition of Jesus Christ that inspired the Catholic Devotion to the Divine Mercy, often referred to as the Secretary of Divine Mercy. St. Faustina Kowalski was born on August 25,1905, northwest of Lodz, Poland into a deeply religious family. At the age of 7 she felt a calling to religious life when she attended the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. When she was 16 on the day of her Confirmation. She longed to become a nun although her parents told her to wait until the age of 18. In 1924, when she reached the age of 18, she took the train with only the clothes she was wearing to enter the covenant in Warsaw. She needed funds so she took a job as a housemaid making deposits to the convent so she could be accepted by the Mother Superior. Finally at the age of 20 on April 30, 1926, clothed in religious habit, she received the religious name, Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament. Two years later in 1928, she completed her novitiate and took her first religious vows as a nun with her parents traveling the 85 miles to witness her dream of serving God. She was later posted at the convnet in Wilno serving as a cook in 1929 and in 1930, she was transferred to the convent in Plock, Poland for two years, becoming ill with tuberculosis. After recovering at a nearby farm she returned to the convent in Plock where Jesus appeared wearing a white garment with rays emanating from his heart. St. Faustina wrote in her diary that Jesus told her: “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: ‘Jesus, I trust in You,’ (Polish: Jezu ufam Tobie). I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.” Jesus also told her that he wanted the Divine Mercy image to be, “Solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter Sunday, that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy.” As she did not know how to paint, it took her three years to produce the first rendering of the image that was done under her direction. In 1933, she took her final vows, becoming a sister of Our Lady of Mercy joining 18 other sisters working as a gardener and living in a community of small houses for 3 years in Vilnius. When she went to confession, she told the priest about the vision and the plan Jesus had for her. He was skeptical but soon believed she did have a request for the plan for image of Divine Mercy. Faustina reported that Jesus said to her: “My daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to Divine Mercy. I will make up for whatever you lack.” Because she had no artistic skills, Faustina collaborated with an artist in 1934 to paint the image based on her direction; the Divine Mercy image would eventually be honored publicly. In 1935, the image of Divine Mercy was displayed on April 28, 1935, at Mass on the 2nd Sunday of Easter and in 1937, the 1st Holy Cards with the image were printed. A pamphlet was then produced with the signature “Jesus, I trust in You” and included the chaplet, the Novena, and the Litany of the Divine Mercy. When she became ill in 1937, she had a vison that the feast of the Divine Mercy would be celebrated in her locale and at the same time in Rome, attended by the Pope. The last year of her life was spent praying and writing in her diary and before her death in 1938, Faustina said: “There will be a war, a terrible war and asked the nuns to pray for Poland”. She died on October 5, 1938, in Krakow, Second Polish Republic at the age of 33, buried two days later on October 7, 1938, and now rests at Krakow’s Basilica of Divine Mercy. In 1939, public access was allowed to view the Divine Mercy image leading to the devotion that gave strength and inspiration to the people of Poland. In 1941, the image reached the United Sates with millions of the Divine Mercy prayer cards distributed throughout the world. In 1965, The Archbishop of Krakow (Pope John Paul II) with the approval of the Holy Father, opened the process for the Beatification process of Faustina with documents and interviews. She was Beatified 28 years later on April 18, 1993, and Canonized 7 years later on April 30, 2000, in St. Peter’s Square by Pope John Paul II when he said: “The message she brought is the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies.” Jesus said to St. Faustina: “Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to the Divine Mercy.” Her Diary, “Divine Mercy in My Soul,” written by St. Faustina Kowalski is the only mystical text written in Polish. The 700 printed pages reflects her thoughts, prayers, visons, and conversations with Jesus on “Divine Mercy”.