Archive for May 18th, 2012

Today on May 16th we celebrate the life of St. Margaret of Cortona. Seeking forgiveness is sometimes difficult work. It is made easier by meeting people who, without trivializing our sins, assure us that God rejoices over our repentance. Being forgiven lifts a weight and prompts us to acts of charity. God Bless!

Today, 15 May, is the 60th anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Ivan Ziatyk, priest of the Ukranian Greek Catholic Church and a member of the Redemptorist Order. While some of us might be able to remain true to our Faith after two or three torture sessions, it takes a whole lot more tenacity, courage and heroism to undergo over 38 interrogations with their associated beatings and deprivations and remain true to God. This is what Blessed Ivan did. God Bless his courage.

Today on May 14 we, as a community, celebrate the life of St. Matthias. What was the holiness of Matthias? Obviously he was suited for apostleship by the experience of being with Jesus from his baptism to his ascension. He must also have been suited personally, or he would not have been nominated for so great a responsibility. God Bless!

Today on May 13th we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. (See February 20 entry for Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto). Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia. God Bless!

Today on May 12th we celebrate the lives of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus. Devotion to these two saints goes back to the fourth century, though almost nothing is known of their lives. They were praetorian soldiers of the Roman army, became Christians and were removed to the island of Terracina, where they were martyred. God Bless!

Today we celebrate the life of St. Ignatius of Laconi. He was the second of seven children of peasant parents in Sardinia. His path to the Franciscans was unusual. During a serious illness, Ignatius vowed to become a Capuchin if he recovered. He regained his health but ignored the promise. A riding accident prompted him to renew the pledge, which he acted on the second time; he was 20 then. Ignatius’s reputation for self-denial and charity led to his appointment as the official beggar for the friars in Cagliari. God Bless!

Today as a community we celebrate the life of St. Damien Joseph de Veuster of Moloka’i. When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy (Hansen’s disease). By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human compassion could soften the ravages of this disease.