by SrDeniseSickinger | Jan 19, 2022 | Accompaniment, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam and the salvation of souls!, Choose to Love, Fraternal Love, God's love for us, Happiness, Love, Love of God and Each Other, Sanctity, Truth
from Catholic Exchange AL SMITH Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was a man for all seasons. Over his lifetime, he spent himself for souls, transforming lives with the clear teaching of the truths of Christ and His Church through his books, radio addresses, lectures, television series, and his many newspaper columns. As a much sought-after lecturer, his topics ranged from the social concerns of the day to matters of faith and morals. With an easy and personable manner, Sheen could strike up a conversation on just about any subject, making numerous friends as well as converts. During his presentations, Archbishop Sheen would offer his trademark words of benediction, “God love you”. Sheen explained that his phrase “God love you” means God is love, God loves you, and you ought to love God in return. Along with his familiar parting phrase of “God love you”, Archbishop Sheen was known for beginning his lectures with the greeting “Friends”. This salutation had a twofold meaning: he was referring to the scripture passage “I no longer call you servants… instead, I have called you friends.” (John 15:15). And, he wanted to make friends with men and women of all faiths, in the hope of...
by SrDeniseSickinger | Jan 14, 2022 | Accompaniment, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam and the salvation of souls!, Fraternal Love, Missions, World Meeting of Families
Promoted by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, the #IamChurch initiative consists in five videos demonstrating the daily struggles of persons with disabilities who, far from feeling burdensome or “set aside”, provide their own specific contribution within their ecclesial communities. “‘We’ not ‘they’ – disability in the life of the Church” is the title of the fourth video. By Vatican News staff reporter The fourth video in the #IamChurch series is a reflection by Australian Jesuit priest, Fr. Justin Glyn S.J., who – starting from his condition of disability – addresses the issue of limits, which belongs to every human being. Fr. Glyn – who has dealt with similar topics in an issue of Civiltà Cattolica and in numerous other essays – refutes the idea, still too widespread, that disability is a fault. Rather, he affirms: “Our limitations are not misfortunes or punishments, but are part of the secret of our condition as human beings who, in their own way, share the image of God and together build the Body of Christ.” It is in this perspective that, when speaking of disability in the life of the Church, it is possible to say – finally – “We” and not “They.”...
by SrDeniseSickinger | Jan 14, 2022 | a current event, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam and the salvation of souls!, Anniversary Celebrations, Fraternal Love, Missions, Outreach
12 January 2022 (ANS – New Rochelle) – Beginning this month, “Salesian Missions”, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joyfully celebrates its 75th anniversary – a significant milestone in its long and fruitful partnership with generous friends. Together with its donors and friends, it has helped more than three million children around the world turn their lives around. Ever since Father James O’Loughlen first established the Salesian Missions office in 1947, with a charter to tell the stories of our global works and rally support for our efforts, it has achieved success after remarkable success, not for themselves, but for the poorest, most disenfranchised, and most vulnerable children and families living in more than 130 countries around the world. “Those successes are truly countless,” says Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions. “More importantly, they are individually significant and transformative. Ever since I stepped into this role three years ago, I have heard about so many children and adults whose names I will always remember. These very real people are building much brighter futures thanks to the education, training, social support and other assistance they needed but never could have accessed on their own.” And it...
by SrDeniseSickinger | Nov 11, 2021 | Accompaniment, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam and the salvation of souls!, Choose to Love, Communion of Saints, Fraternal Love, God's love for us, Love of God and Each Other, Pilgrimage, Teens and Young Adults
SOURCE: https://catholicexchange.com/blessed-pier-giorgio-frassatis-apostolate-of-charity NOVEMBER 10, 2021 CHRISTINE M. WOHAR Every one of you knows that the foundation of our religion is Charity. — Pier Giorgio Frassati In the moving account of the death of Pier Giorgio Frassati written by his sister Luciana, his actions in his final hours showed the depth of his compassion for the poor and sick whom he took care of regularly. It was Friday, July 3, 1925. He would have normally gone that day to the weekly meeting of his Conference of St. Vincent de Paul. Instead, he was bedridden with a fatal diagnosis of polio and surrounded by his grieving family. Almost completely paralyzed at this point, he asked his sister to bring some items from his study and then wrote these barely legible instructions: These are the injections for Converso. The pawn ticket belongs to Sappa; I had forgotten it, renew it on my account. Unnoticed Acts of Giving Requests like these would not have come as a surprise to his friend who received this note. After all, this was how Pier Giorgio spent so much of his life — doing one unnoticed act of charity after another. Providing medicine, schoolbooks, bus tickets, food, and...
by SrMaryTerzo | May 14, 2021 | Choose to Love, Fraternal Love, Love of God and Each Other
FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD MAY 14, 2021 EASTER FRIDAY 6 St. Matthew Apostle WORD of the DAY Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” (John 15: 9-17)...
by SrDeniseSickinger | Apr 20, 2021 | Accompaniment, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam and the salvation of souls!, Discipleship, Following Jesus, Fratelli tutti, Fraternal Love, Justice, Kingdom of God, Messages of the Holy Father, Mystical Body of Christ, Outreach
The sharing of goods and the social function of private property In his homily on Sunday, 11 April, Pope Francis commented on the custom of the early Christians of sharing everything. We take a look at developments of the social Magisterium of the past century, which harken back to the great Fathers of the Church. By Andrea Tornielli The Acts of the Apostles tells us that “no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.” This “is not communism; it is Christianity in its pure state.” With these words, Pope Francis, in the Mass celebrated on Divine Mercy Sunday, commented on the sharing of goods realized in the first Christian community. Often, and even very recently, the current Bishop of Rome has been criticized for questioning the untouchability of the right to private property, and his words have been linked to Marxism and communism. Last November 30, in a Message on the occasion of the opening of work of the International Conference of member judges of the Committee for Social Rights of Africa and America, Pope Francis said, “We build social justice on the basis of the fact that the...
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