Apostleship of Prayer

We continue our prayer for Christian families by reflecting once again on the Holy Father’s speech during the Vigil of the Fifth World Meeting of Families in 2006.

Christ has shown us what is always be the supreme source of our life and thus of the lives of families: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one had greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13). The love of God himself has been poured out upon us in Baptism. Consequently, families are called to experience this same kind of love, for the Lord makes it possible for us, through our human love, to be sensitive, loving and merciful like Christ. Together with passing on the faith and the love of God, one of the greatest responsibilities of families is that of training free and responsible persons. For this reason the parents need gradually to give their children greater freedom, while remaining for some time the guardians of that freedom. If children see that their parents - and, more generally, all the adults around them - live life with joy and enthusiasm, despite all difficulties, they will themselves develop that profound “joy of life” which can help them to overcome wisely the inevitable obstacles and problems which are part of life. Furthermore, when families are not closed in on themselves, children come to learn that every person is worthy of love, and that there is a basic, universal brotherhood which embraces every human being.

This Fifth World Meeting invites us to reflect on a theme of particular importance, one fraught with great responsibility: the transmission of faith in the family. This theme is nicely expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “As a mother who teacher her children to speak and so to understand and communicate, the Church our Mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith” (# 171). This is symbolically in the liturgy of Baptism: with the handing over of the lighted candle, the parents are made part of the mystery of new life as children of God given to their sons and daughters in the waters of baptism.

Today’s Readings: Proverbs 30:5-9;  Psalm 119:29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163;  Luke 9:1-6

Today’s saint was a Spanish Jesuit and missionary to South America where he dedicated himself to serving the African people who were kidnapped, transported to Colombia, and sold into slavery. When he canonized St Peter in 1888, Pope Leo XIII declared him the patron saint of all missions to black people and nations. Let pray with St. Peter Claver today for refugees forced from their homes like the people he served. Our reflection is from a talk that Fr. John Hardon, S.J. gave and which appears on the Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association’s web site.

Now something about Peter Claver’s missionary apostolate. It was by all odds, one of the most unique in the Church’s missionary history. Claver recognized that these people are not to be just baptized; before being baptized they must first be instructed. … His hardest task was to restore some self-respect to these people who had been treated so inhumanly for so long. His principle effort … was to try to show to these naked slaves that they were still loved. …The lowest estimate reported in Peter Claver’s canonization was three hundred thousand baptisms. And we’re told the slaves persevered and they made better Christians than their slave owners. …

Now something about his spirituality. First of all, there are few saints in the Church’s calendar that teach us more about the virtue of mercy than Peter Claver. … Our Holy Father defines mercy as love overcoming resistance. He tells us that mercy is costly love. Mercy is love that loves in spite of obstacles, difficulties, natural reluctance, and in this case, positive revulsion. Few canonized … more clearly illustrate St. Ignatius’ teaching about the nature of love. “Love … is shown more in deeds than in words. Love does not mean that I like to do what I’m doing, love means that I do it.” … And the doing is your love. The resistance, the revulsion, the dislike – Claver had all of that. He would admit more than once that it took all his human power to penetrate that den of stench when he climbed into the holes of those slave ships. We need that. And that’s why God every so often raises a saint like this, to teach us who can be so finicky, so particular and in our affluent United States, so spoiled. That’s the first lesson. And remember that statement revealed by the Holy Spirit. Learn this. ‘I want mercy, not sacrifice.’ In other words, the sacrifice, even the sacrifice of the Mass, the sublimest that we can offer, is only as pleasing to God as it is joined with mercy, which means that I love in spite of the fact that nature holds me back.

Today’s Readings: 1 Corinthians 6:1-11;  Psalm 149:1b-6a, 9b;  Luke 6:12-19

The first International Eucharistic Congress was held in France in 1881. The 49th Congress will be held next week in Quebec City, Canada and will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of that city and the first Catholic diocese north of Mexico City. In his Mission Intention this month Pope Benedict has asked us to pray for the upcoming Congress. Let us do so today by reflecting on part of the Introduction to the “foundational theological document” which was issued to help the Church prepare for the Congress.

The central theme of the Congress, approved by Pope Benedict XVI, is “The Eucharist, God’s gift for the life of the world.” It is particularly important today to remember God’s gift, for, in the midst of remarkable technological progress, notably in the area of communication, our world experiences a deep interior emptiness that it perceives as an absence of God. Fascinated by its own creative capacities, contemporary humanity tends to forget its Creator and set itself up as the sole master of its own destiny. …

Today’s Readings:  1 Kings 17:7-16; Psalm 4:2-5, 7b-8;  Matthew 5:13-16

In our Mission Intention this month we are praying for the future priests in mission countries, that they may be formed to evangelize their nations and indeed the entire world. Such formation means that each seminarian will grow in an intimate relationship with God. Out of prayer and holiness arise the desire to evangelize, to share the Gospel of God’s love with others. As we pray for this, we reflect once more on Pope Benedict’s Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations which was celebrated yesterday.

In the beginning, and thereafter, what “impels” the Apostles (2 Corinthians 5: 14) is always “the love of Christ”. Innumerable missionaries, throughout the centuries, as faithful servants of the Church, docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, have followed in the footsteps of the first disciples. The Second Vatican Council notes: “Although every disciple of Christ, as far in him lies, has the duty of spreading the faith, Christ the Lord always calls whomever he will from among the number of his disciples, to be with him and to be sent by him to preach to the nations [Mark 3: 13-15]” (Decree Ad Gentes #23). In fact, the love of Christ must be communicated to the brothers by example and words, with all one’s life. My venerable predecessor John Paul II wrote: “The special vocation of missionaries ‘for life’ retains all its validity: it is the model of the Church’s missionary commitment, which always stands in need of radical and total self-giving, of new and bold endeavors”. (Encyclical Redemptoris Missio #66)Among those totally dedicated to the service of the Gospel, are priests, called to preach the word of God, administer the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, committed to helping the lowly, the sick, the suffering, the poor, and those who experience hardship in areas of the world where there are, at times, many who still have not had a real encounter with Jesus Christ. Missionaries announce for the first time to these people Christ’s redemptive love. Statistics show that the number of baptized persons increases every year thanks to the pastoral work of these priests, who are wholly consecrated to the salvation of their brothers and sisters. … Let us thank God for all the priests who have suffered even to the sacrifice of their lives in order to serve Christ … Theirs is a moving witness that can inspire many young people to follow Christ and to expend their lives for others, and thus to discover true life” (Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis #26).

Today’s Readings: Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 42:2-3, 43:3-4; John 10:11-18