Pick a Pope...Any Pope

Photo from USCCB website

So which of these two popes is your favorite? Not a very objective question is it? Each pope serves in a different context with gifts and challenges of those years. I come from the JPII generation. But, the lasting impact from St. John XXIII is significant. He is known for opening wide the Church to the Holy Spirit through the Second Vatican Council. As a post-Vatican II-born-Catholic, one of the greatest fruits I see of the council today is the universal call to holiness. It was thought that priests and nuns were the ones meant to become holy--not so!  Every man, woman and child is called to be holy and we are supposed to help one another get there. My simple summary of Vatican II!

Quotes USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) chose to highlight.
Quotes highlighting St. John XXIII's use of humor.
What is your favorite quote?

Pope John Paul II was a cool pope!  He came to Washington, D.C., when I was in 5th grade. I was a student at Visitation Academy and we all went with our bright yellow T-shirts that had "Witamy" on the front--"welcome" in Polish. Needless to say, we were so far back in the crowd and so short we couldn't see much of anything. Someone did hold me up for a glimpse and the pope was as big as an ant in the far distance. He did drive by standing up in the sunroof of the limo. We got a good look as he cruised by. 

I was also at World Youth Day in Toronto. It was amazing how he interacted with the thousands of young people present. One way he did this was responding over the sound system to groups or individuals who called out to him.

Pope John Paul II was the first pope I ever "knew." He became pope when I was in 4th grade which is also when I started attending Visitation Academy and received my First Communion. Did you know the John Paul II Cultural Center is being turned into a shrine in Washington, D.C.?

So who is the best of these popes? Is that a fair question? I have heard comments, but each of these human men with their flaws, like us, has served the Church in the context of their time and with the gifts they brought to it and the ways in which they grew.

So how about Pope Francis? What will we say when we look back at his time? Hopefully, it will be much like how he began:

Martyrs for the Faith--Lessons to be learned

February 1st we remember our two Daughters of Charity, Blessed Mary Ann Vaillot DC and Odile Baumgarten,  who died by shooting along with 97 other Christians for their faith. These 99 people were beatified by Pope John Paul II because of their refusual to take the required oath in support of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.  They were killed on February 1st, 1794 outside the town of Angers in France.

For more info:

http://famvin.org/en/2013/01/29/feb-1-martyred-daughters-of-charity/?utm_source=FAMVIN&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9678fc0558-FAMILY_Daily_Email

As Catholics, we look to the saints as models as how to live and how to die. What do we learn from these Sisters and the others who took a stand for their faith? 

 

There are many issues that come up in government legislation in which we are challenged totake a stand and honor and protect all life, those most vulnerable in our society. Where do you stand on abortion, immigration, healthcare for those living in poverty?  Do you take the side of the vulnerable one? Do you take their cause consistently?  Do you speak up despite those around you? Do you have the courage to be like John the Baptist and be the voice crying out in the wilderness? 

Catholic Healthcare in the United States and Catholic institutions are being mandated by the government to provide/pay for contraception which is against the teaching of the Church.  As with the oath which the government was demanding everyone take in 1794 this present day mandate challenges the core of religious freedom. 

Have you spoken up to protect religious freedom and the practice of our faith??  If you have, do you do it with hate? or do you speak with faith, facts and conviction?  Jesus spoke with courage and conviction, but not hate.  Jesus changed hearts through His wisdom and compassion for all.  We are called to do the same, nothing less.

We will not need to take a bullet for our faith or convictions.  Instead, we are challenged with the long hard suffering in advocating for issues of life and justice rooted in the core of our faith, in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Let us each pray for the courage and good strong regular doses of the Holy Spirit to help us move mountains with the faith the size of at least a mustard seed. May we move the mountains to protect religious freedom and to protect the vulnerable in our society--born and unborn.

My niece/nephew expected to be born in May.

Daughter of Charity "Triduum"

November 27th-29th are special feast days for the over 19,000 Daughters of Charity around the world.

November 27th is the celebration of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. I was at the motherhouse for this celebration last year where the apparitions to St. Catherine occured. Here is the crowd waiting to get into the next Mass in the alley. I took the photo from my bedroon!There was a continual string of Masses several with bishops. It was amazing to experience the devotion of the French people to the Blessed Mother!!

November 28th is the feast of St. Catherine Laboure. She lived a quiet humble life taking care of elderly men. During her lifetime it wasn't know who Blessed appeared to except it was one of the many Sisters in the "seminary"/novitiate. Catherine was asked directly as the years passed if she was "the one", but she always found away to avoid answering the question. Her identity was not revealed until after her death. For Catherine, her experience was not about her, but about promoting prayer among the common people---which it has done!

Here is a link to our motherhouse site where you can see a video showing the chapel and the special art in the "alley". There are also links to the "Gift of the Medal" and "History of the Medal". http://www.filles-de-la-charite.org/en/

On November 29th is the feast of the Founding of the Daughters of Charity by St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac--1633, almost 200 years before St. Catherine. The photo above includes a re-enactment of the first Daughters of Charity dressed as they would have. There is a great speech that St. Vincent gives in the movie "Monsieur Vincent". It is not actually his words, but SO captures his spiritual way. In the movie St. Vincent de Paul is giving advice to Sister Jean who is going on her first visit to the poor. He says:

"You will find that charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than the kettle of soup and the basket of bread. But you must keep your gentleness and your smile. Giving soup and bread isn't all; that the rich can do. You are the little servant of the poor, the maid of charity, always smiling and in good humor. They are your masters, terribly sensitive and exacting as you will see, but the uglier and dirtier they are, the more unjust and bitter, the more you must give them your love. It is only because of your love, only your love, that the poor will forgive you the bread you give them."

It is awesome to be connected to such great saints! Their example and writings continue to challenge me to grow closer to Christ in prayer and through those living in poverty. To meet the many saints of the Vincentian family go to: http://famvin.org/wiki/Category:Saints_and_Blesseds_of_the_Vincentian_Family

Please pray for the Daughters of Charity around the world as we celebrate these special days. Especially pray for our Sisters in Haiti as they fight the cholera epidemic.

What does holiness look like?

What is holiness? There are so many examples of holiness in our midst and they often look different from one another. ABC's 20/20 is doing a show on miracles attributed to the intercession of JP II. There is the life of Mother Teresa whose story many people are familar. What about Sr. Dorothy Stang?

Sr. Dorothy was a missionary to Brazil. As she ministered to the poor farmers in the rain forest she found that their land rights were ignored and their land taken from them by rich farmers and ranchers. These rich farmers and ranchers also clear the rain forest for their mega farms and ranches and the wood is sold. There are huge tracts of land now without living vegetation. Sr. Dorothy in her solidarity with the poor farmers whose land was being taken without legal repercussions, spoke up for their rights. To make a long story short, a price was put on her head and she was killed. Today in Brazil Sr. Leonora Brunetto finds herself in a similar situation. She has received death threats as the people in the area have also. Since 1988 1,200 activists, small farmers, judges, priests and others have been killed because of their efforts to preserve the rain forest.

So where does the holiness fit in? If you google Leonora Brunetto you can find the main article about her. In it she says, "I cannot lie and say I'm not scared. But at the same time I know God is with us."

In different times we hold up different models as examples of holiness. In our present time, we find holiness in people such as JPII, Mother Teresa and Sr. Dorothy Stang. They are people so grounded in prayer and their relationship with Christ that action must flow from them. They were each able to stand up strong about the rights and dignity of all people despite the opposition all around them.

St. Louise de Marillac, co-founder of the Daughters of Charity, died in 1660--this is the 350th anniversary of her death. Yet, she wasn't canonized until 1934. I believe it is because she is a saint for this present time. She was a great leader and changed the face of social work forever--all this because Christ was the center of her life.

Through this season of Lent and into Easter, have we grown in holiness? Have we centered are life more on Christ? Do we reach out more to those in need as Christ did? Especially those considered outcasts of mainstream society? If not, the blessing is we still have today, tomorrow and the next days to work on it!