Pope Francis: Don’t Settle for Mediocrity

June 14, 2018

The following is a summary of Pope Francis’ general audience yesterday. He encouraged young people to be “hungry for an authentic life.”

Pope Francis said Wednesday that the greatest danger modern youth face is not the array of problems that surround them, but rather, the temptation to mediocrity – preferring to stay immobile rather than making a leap toward the next step.

Pointing to the Gospel reading from Mark in which a rich young man kneels in front of Jesus and asks how to obtain eternal life, the pope said this question “is the challenge of every existence: the desire for a full, infinite life.”

Many young people today seek life, but end up destroying themselves by pursuing worldly desires, he said, noting that some people would say it is better “to turn this impulse off, the impulse to live, because it’s dangerous.”

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Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua

June 13, 2018 – Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church

On this feast of St. Anthony, a story told about him:

Once, when St. Anthony of Padua attempted to preach the true Gospel of the Catholic Church to heretics who would not listen to him, he went out and preached his message to the fish. This was not, as liberals and naturalists have tried to say, for the instruction of the fish, but rather for the glory of God, the delight of the angels, and the easing of his own heart. When critics saw the fish begin to gather, they realized they should also listen to what Anthony had to say.

He was only 36-years-old when he died and was canonized less than one year afterward by Pope Gregory IX. Upon exhumation some 336 years after his death, his body was found to be corrupted, yet his tongue was totally incorrupt, so perfect were the teachings that had been formed upon it.

He is typically depicted with a book and the Infant Child Jesus and is commonly referred to today as the “finder of lost articles.”

Prayer to St. Anthony:

Dear Saint Anthony, your prayers resulted in miracles during your lifetime. You still seem to move at ease in the realm of minor and major miracles. Saint Anthony, Performer of Miracles, please obtain for me the blessings God holds in reserve for those who serve Him. Pray that I may be worthy of the promises my Lord Jesus attaches to confident prayer. [Mention your special intentions] Amen.

Sources:

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=24 and http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=410

Memorial of St. Barnabas

June 11, 2018 – Memorial of Saint Barnabas

Born in Cyprus, Barnabas is numbered among the first of the faithful in Jerusalem. He preached the Gospel in Antioch and, as a companion of St Paul, accompanied him on his first journey. He was also present at the Council of Jerusalem. Upon returning to his own country, he continued to spread the Gospel and eventually died there.

PRAYER:

O God, who decreed that Saint Barnabas,
a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit,
should be set apart to convert the nations,
grant that the Gospel of Christ,
which he strenuously preached,
may be faithfully proclaimed by word and by deed.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity
of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Source: http://prayers4reparation.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/prayer-in-honour-of-st-barnabas/

 

No Masters or Simple Workers

June 7, 2018

The following is from Linda Bordoni from the Vatican News. It summarizes the Pope’s catechesis on the sacrament of Confirmation:

Pope Francis urged Christians who receive the many gifts of the Holy Spirit to give back to others, and not to keep those gifts only for themselves “as if the soul were a store-room”.

Addressing the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Wednesday General Audience, the Pope continued in his series of reflections dedicated to the Sacrament of Baptism, calling on all faithful to never stop sharing the Holy Spirit’s gifts for the good of all.

Reminding all Christians that they are called to be “a gift for others”, he said one of Holy Spirit’s gifts allows us to share in the life and mission of the Church “uniting the faithful evermore strongly” as living members of the mystical body of the Church.

Saint Boniface

June 5, 2018 – Memorial of St. Boniface

Boniface, known as the apostle of the Germans, was an English Benedictine monk who gave up being elected abbot to devote his life to the conversion of the Germanic tribes. Two characteristics stand out: his Christian orthodoxy and his fidelity to the pope of Rome.

During a final mission to the Frisians, he and 53 companions were massacred while he was preparing converts for Confirmation.

Boniface bears out the Christian rule: To follow Christ is to follow the way of the cross. For Boniface, it was not only physical suffering and death, but the painful, thankless, bewildering task of Church reform.

Source: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1405

Prayer for St. Boniface’s intercession:

Saint Boniface, you faced discouragement and failure and learned from them. Help us to hear God’s message in our moments of failure and to use what we learn to serve God better.    Amen

Source: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=29

Care for Abandoned Tabernacles

June 4, 2018

The following is a summary of Pope Francis’ homily on yesterday’s Feast of Corpus Christi, as reported by the Catholic News Service:

As he did with his disciples at Passover, Jesus asks all Christians to prepare a place for him, not in “exclusive, selective places” but rather in uncomfortable places that are “untouched by love, untouched by hope,” Pope Francis said.

“How many persons lack dignified housing or food to eat! All of us know people who are lonely, troubled and in need: they are abandoned tabernacles. We, who receive from Jesus our own room and board, are here to prepare a place and a meal for these, our brothers and sisters in need,” the pope said in his homily during Mass June 3, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Saint Justin, Martyr

June 1, 2016 – Memorial of Saint Justin, Martyr

Justin never ended his quest for religious truth even when he converted to Christianity after years of studying various pagan philosophies.

As a young man, he was principally attracted to the school of Plato. However, he found that the Christian religion answered the great questions about life and existence better than the philosophers.

Upon his conversion he continued to wear the philosopher’s mantle, and became the first Christian philosopher. He combined the Christian religion with the best elements in Greek philosophy. In his view, philosophy was a pedagogue of Christ, an educator that was to lead one to Christ.

Justin is known as an apologist, one who defends in writing the Christian religion against the attacks and misunderstandings of the pagans. Two of his so-called apologies have come down to us; they are addressed to the Roman emperor and to the Senate.

For his staunch adherence to the Christian religion, Justin was beheaded in Rome in 165.

Prayer: Saint Justin Martyr, pray that in our search for the Truth, God will open the gates of light for us the way God did for you and give us the wisdom no human being can give. Amen     

Source: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1401 and http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=74