Apostleship of Prayer

St. Fidelis, a name which means “Faithful”, was born in what is now Germany and became known as “the poor man’s lawyer” because he generously gave his time to defend the rights of the poor who could not afford the services of a lawyer. In 1612 he left this profession and became a Capuchin Franciscan. In 1622 the Pope created a special office in the Vatican to coordinate the Church’s missionary activities around the world—the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. St. Fidelis was placed in charge of the Capuchin mission in Switzerland and he was so successful in bringing back Catholics who had left the Church during the Protestant Reformation that he was martyred, making him the Proto-martyr of the Propagation of the Faith. We ask this faithful witness to intercede with us for future priests: may they be courageous and faithful in bringing the Catholic faith to their people. Our reflection is from Pope John Paul’s Apostolic Exhortation, “Shepherds After My Own Heart,” on the Formation of Priests, #46.

There are spiritual and religious values present in today’s culture, and man, notwithstanding appearances to the contrary, cannot help but hunger and thirst for God. However, the Christian religion is often regarded as just one religion among many or reduced to nothing more than a social ethic at the service of man. As a result, its amazing novelty in human history is quite often not apparent. It is a “mystery,” the event of the coming of the Son of God who becomes man and gives to those who welcome him the “power to become children of God” (John 1:12). It is the proclamation, nay the gift, of a personal covenant of love and life between God and human beings. Only if future priests, through a suitable spiritual formation, have become deeply aware and have increasingly experienced this “mystery” will they be able to communicate this amazing and blessed message to others (1 John 1:1-4).The [Second Vatican] Council…, while taking account of the absolute transcendence of the Christian mystery, describes the communion of future priests with Jesus in terms of friendship. And indeed it is not an absurdity for a person to aim at this, for it is the priceless gift of Christ, who said to his apostles, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).Today’s Readings:  Acts 15:7-21;  Psalm 96:1-3, 10;  John 15:9-11

Today’s saint was a great missionary bishop who suffered martyrdom at the hands of pagan priests in Prussia. In 1997 Pope John Paul II visited the Czech Republic where St. Adalbert was bishop to celebrate the millennial anniversary of his death. Reflecting now on the Holy Father’s words at that celebration, let us pray that the future priests in the younger dioceses of the world will have the same missionary zeal of today’s saint.

“As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21). Adalbert heard these words as though addressed to him personally. As the first Bishop of Prague of Bohemian blood, at the end of the first millennium, he was heir to the traditions of holiness of the martyrs who had gone before him…. At the same time he looked towards the future: he spared no effort for the spiritual rebirth of Prague and the homeland, sustained by ardent faith in Christ.Dear friends! To you I entrust the task of making a decisive contribution to the evangelization of your country. Take Christ into the third millennium. Trust him! His promise spans the centuries: “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). Do not be afraid! Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure. He alone can give full meaning to life, he alone is the center of history. Live by him! With Mary! With your Saints!Ask Christ for the gift of the Spirit. For it is precisely he, the Spirit, the Divine Person who has the task of healing, purifying, sanctifying men’s consciences, and thus renewing the face of the earth. With all my heart I want this to happen to you, to your nation, to all who share in the thousand year-old heritage of Saint Adalbert, and to the people of the whole world. May the words proclaimed so powerfully by the Church in today’s Liturgy be fulfilled in you: Veni Sancte Spiritus, Come, Holy Spirit! In You is the source of light and life; in You the flame of eternal love; in You the secret of the hope that never disappoints. Come, Holy Spirit! Amen. Today’s Readings:  Acts 15:1-6;  Psalm 122:1-5;  John 15:1-8

St. Stanislaus, the Bishop of Krakow, excommunicated King Boleslaus II of Poland for his injustices, cruelty, and immoral life style. The King saw this as treason and on April 11, 1079, while the Bishop was celebrating Mass, he entered the church and killed him with a sword. Nine hundred years later Pope John Paul II, who had been Archbishop of Krakow, returned to his native land for the first time after being elected Pope in order to celebrate the anniversary. As we reflect on his homily at that time, let us pray that the resurrection may not only give us hope but also courage as we strive to make good decisions and live moral lives.

Every person goes forward. He or she goes forward towards the future. Nations also go forward. So does all humanity. To go forward, however, does not only mean to endure the exigencies of time, continuously leaving behind the past: yesterday, the years, the centuries. To go forward also means being aware of the goal. … The words that Christ spoke in his farewell to the Apostles express the mystery of human history, the history of every person and of all persons, the mystery of the history of humanity. Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is an immersion into the living God, into “Him who is” as the Book of Genesis puts it; into “Him who was, who is, and who will be” according to the Book of Revelation (1:4). Baptism is the beginning of an encounter, of a unity, of a communion for which earthly life is merely a preface, an introduction. The fulfillment and completion belong to eternity.

All of life which opens up in view of this sacrament assumes the aspect of a great and fundamental test: a test of faith and of character. St. Stanislaus has become, in the spiritual history of the Polish people, the patron of this great and fundamental test of faith and of character. In this sense we honor him also as the patron of the Christian moral order. In the final analysis the moral order is built up by means of human beings. This order consists of a large number of tests, each one a test of faith and of character. From every victorious test the moral order is built up. From every failed test moral disorder grows. We know very well from our entire history that we must not permit, absolutely and at whatever cost, this disorder.

You must be strong, dear brothers and sisters. You must be strong with the strength that comes from faith. Today more than in any other age you need this strength. You must be strong with the strength of hope, hope that brings the perfect joy of life and does not allow us to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Today’s Readings: Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 117:1bc, 2; John 6:52-59

St. Vincent was born in Spain and entered the Dominican Order when he was seventeen. He became a powerful preacher and miracle-worker who traveled throughout Europe. He lived at one of the lowest points in the Church’s history—the Great Western Schism—when there were three different bishops who claimed to be pope. The Council of Constance resolved the issue in 1414 and, through St. Vincent’s tireless work on behalf of Church unity, peace was restored.

On this First Saturday, when we honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let us continue to reflect on Pope John Paul’s Angelus Meditation of August 27, 1989, praying that through Mary’s intercession our faith in the resurrection may grow.

Brothers and sisters, no one experienced that the Heart of Jesus is “life and resurrection” as Mary did. From him, the life, Mary received the life of original grace and by listening to his word and attentively observing his salvific actions she was able to preserve and nourish it. From him, the resurrection, she was associated in a singular way to his victory over death. The mystery of her assumption—body and soul—into heaven is the consoling proof that Christ’s victory over sin and death is extended in the members of his Mystical Body, first of all to Mary, the “most eminent member” of the Church (Lumen Gentium #53).Glorified in heaven, with her motherly heart the Virgin is at the service of the redemption effected by Christ. “Mother of life,” she is close to every woman who brings a child into the world, and is near every baptismal font where Christ’s members are born of water and the Spirit (John 3: 5). “Health of the sick,” she is present where life is languishing, stricken by suffering and illness. “Mother of mercy,” she calls those who have fallen under the weight of guilt to return to the fountains of life. “Refuge of sinners,” she shows those who have strayed from it the way that leads to Christ. “Sorrowful Virgin,” near her dying Son (John 19: 25), she is to be found wherever life is drawing to a close. Let us invoke her now with the Church: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

Today’s Readings: Acts 6:1-7;  Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19;  John 6:16-21

St. Isidore followed his brother St. Leander as Archbishop of Seville, Spain. During the Middle Ages he was looked upon as “the Master” because of his “Etymologies,” twenty books that brought together all the religious and secular learning of his time. As a result, he has been invoked recently as the patron saint of the Internet and computer programmers.

On this First Friday in the Easter Season, let us ask for the grace to love the Sacred Heart of Jesus more faithfully. Because He has risen, His Heart never ceases to beat with love for us. Knowing this love, may we reveal it to the world by the way we live. Our reflection is from Pope John Paul II’s Angelus Meditation of August 27, 1989.

“Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, have mercy on us.” This invocation from the Litany of the Sacred Heart, strong and persuasive as an act of faith, contains the entire mystery of Christ the Redeemer in a terse phrase. It recalls the words Jesus addressed to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, shall live” (John 11: 25).

Jesus is the life which springs eternally from the divine wellspring of the Father…. Jesus is also the resurrection. Nothing is so radically opposed to the holiness of Christ, the Holy One of the Lord (Luke 1: 35; Mark 1: 24), as sin. Nothing is so opposed to him, source of life, as death. There is a mysterious bond between sin and death (Wisdom 2: 24; Romans 5: 12, 6: 23); both are realities which are essentially contrary to God’s plan for man, who was not made for death but rather for life. In the face of every expression of death, Christ’s Heart was deeply moved, and for love of the Father and mankind, his brothers and sisters, he made his life a “combat stupendous” (Easter Sequence) against death.

Today’s Readings:  Acts 5:34-42;  Psalm 27:1,4,13-14;  John 6:1-15

At an early age today’s saint followed his namesake and became a Franciscan of great piety. God inspired him to become a hermit and when others joined him he founded the Order of Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi in 1456, later to be known as the Order of Minims (little ones). They lived a strict Lenten fast all year long abstaining from eggs and milk as well as from meat. He was sent by the pope to be the spiritual director for several kings of France.

Today is also the third anniversary of Pope John Paul’s death. Our belief consoles us that this beloved pope is not dead and gone forever. Our hope is that he is with the Lord and that one day we will be with him in heaven. As we pray for Pope Benedict’s intentions, let us reflect on his homily at last year’s Mass on this anniversary.

In Karol Wojtyla’s life, the word “cross” was not merely a word. From his childhood, he was familiar with suffering and death. As priest and Bishop and especially as Supreme Pontiff, he took most seriously the Risen Christ’s last call to Simon Peter on the shore of the Lake of Galilee: “Follow me… Follow me!” (John 21: 19, 22). His whole life, particularly with the slow but implacable advance of the disease which gradually stripped him of everything, became an offering to Christ, a living proclamation of his passion in hope brimming with faith in the resurrection. …Dear brothers and sisters, the Responsorial Psalm has placed words full of trust on our lips. In the Communion of Saints, we seem to hear them spoken aloud by our beloved John Paul II, who, from the Father’s House, we are sure of it, never ceases to accompany the Church on her way: “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord!” (Ps 27[26]: 13-14). Yes, let your heart take courage, dear brothers and sisters, and burn with hope! With this invitation in our hearts let us continue the Eucharistic Celebration, already looking at the light of the Resurrection of Christ…. May the Totus tuus of the beloved Pontiff encourage us to follow him on the path of the gift of ourselves to Christ through the intercession of Mary, and may she herself, the Virgin Mary, obtain it for us while we entrust to her motherly hands this father, brother and friend of ours, that he may rest in God and rejoice in peace. Amen.

Today’s Readings: Acts 5:17-26; Psalm 34:2-9; John 3:16-21