Archive for January, 2012

Today, on January 30th, the church celebrates the anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Sigmund (or Zygmunt) Pisarski, a Polish priest who died during World War II. Blessed Pope John Paul the Great beatified him together with 107 other Polish Martyrs of WW2 on 13 June 1999. Such is the divine love that filled his heart that he laid down his life in defense of his enemies. God Bless his devotion.

Today, on January 29th, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of death of Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz, priest and founder of the Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel a.k.a. the Michaelites. Because Bronislaw was so attentive to the Holy Spirit’s direction, his life was immensely fruitful in good works – particularly the care and education of abandoned children. God Bless!

Today, on January 26th, the church celebrates the feast day of St Paula, matron of Rome and co-worker of St Jerome. Wealthy and talented, as her faith increased so did her service to the spread of the Gospel. Her life was certainly never dull, and it has much to teach us. God Bless!

Today, January 25th the church celebrates the great feast day of the conversion of St Paul, Apostle to the gentiles. Without his conversion to belief in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, multitudes would not have received the free gift of faith that leads to eternal life. Generally we focus on the utter transformation of grace that God gave to Paul and overlook what Paul did in response which enabled that grace to produce ‘a hundred-fold crop’ Matt 13:8. God Bless!

On January 24th the church celebrates the day to recall the memory of the holy life of Margaret of Ravenna. As a lay woman, who lived most of her life with blindness, she led many other lay people to choose to live a radically Christian lifestyle. She is one of God’s children called Blessed without being officially beatified. Remember her in our daily business. God Bless!

On January 23rd the church celebrates the very happy feast day of St Francis de Sales, bishop and Doctor of the Church. Francis, or Francois as he was actually called, was a leading light of the counter-reformation and at the forefront of an extraordinary outpouring of holiness in France in the years around 1600. Understanding that the call to holiness is made by God to all souls, no matter their age, occupation, vocation, status or family situation, Francis encouraged each soul he came across to become the holiest soldier, farmer, religious, widow, noble, artisan etc he or she could be. God Bless!

On January 21st the church celebrates the feast day of St Agnes of Rome, virgin and martyr. Whenever a priest prays Eucharistic Prayer I and includes all the names of the women saints, the name of St Agnes is among them. Such was her witness to Jesus that it has been honored in such a singular way by the Church of the fourth century and in every century since. Women everywhere should remember her sacrifice. God Bless!

Today, 19 January 2012, is the day the Church commemorates the St Callistus, an early Pope of the Church, to whom the Lord entrusted his people from about 217 until 222. St. Callistus started off his life as a run-away slave and ended up becoming one of the leaders of our church at the time. Let us remember his circumstances in life and where he ended up as we go about our own daily lives. No matter what cards we are dealt, with God on our side, there is no height we cannot reach. God Bless!

On January 18th the church celebrates the anniversary of the martyrdom of four French women. On this day in 1794 these four lay women laid down their lives during the Reign of Terror of the France Revolution. All four have been beatified by the Church, and yet they are largely unknown. Spread the word about the brave individuals. God Bless!

Back again, sorry about the second break. Vacation called! Today on January 17th the church celebrates the feast of St Anthony of Egypt. As a young man he chose to take God’s Word seriously, and persevered in spiritual combat with the world, the flesh and especially the devil, until advanced old age. The story of St Anthony’s life written by St Anthanasius of Alexandria has inspired enormous numbers of believers over the centuries to radically put God first in their lives. Keep him in our minds and hearts today. God Bless!