Today we celebrate

In his letter to Timothy, Paul writes:

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.  (2 Tim 1:6-8)

In his letter to Titus, Paul writes:

For this reason I left you in Crete
so that you might set right what remains to be done
and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you. (Ti 1:5)

Paul reminds Timothy and Titus to be faithful witnesses in their office as bishops, exhorting them to call on the Holy Spirit to powerfully witness to the love of God and to continue to work to build the Church.  This is the call of the bishop – to build the Church and to preach and teach in the power of Holy Spirit, not with a spirit of fear, and never with shame of their testimony, but with the strength that comes from God.

I often wonder about the bishops.  What is their day like?  What are their struggles?  What are their joys? Theirs, in many ways, is a hidden work, albeit at times a very public one.  It strikes me, too, especially in this age, how lonely it could be, and often, how thankless.  As Laity, we usually only see the bishop at Confirmation, so connecting on a personal level, like we might with our pastor or parish priests, is mostly unachievable.

A friend of mine chaperoned her high school to the March for Life this week.  She told me that Cardinal O’Malley, Cardinal Archbishop of Boston, celebrated Mass every day with the Marchers.  When I visited my daughter in Atlanta in September, I just happened to be there when the bishop was celebrating Mass with the students.  In both cases, these shepherds reached out in a very simple, tangible way to build the Church, particularly with young people.  I know that this will have a lasting effect on some of them.

So today, I exhort you to pray for the bishops of the Church, especially for the bishop of your local diocese, that the flame of the Holy Spirit be stirred in them and that they will bear their “share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God” as they sacrifice their lives for the building up of the Church.

Saints Timothy and Titus, pray for us!  Anne

Today we celebrate

What I like most about this sixteenth century Doctor of the Church is his very understandable writings and teaching exhorting the average lay person to respond to the universal call to holiness.  Uncoined during his time, this phrase, “the universal call to holiness”, was articulated in the Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium, having been published in 1964, more than 300 years after St. Francis’ death.  St. Francis understood it from early on and preached its truth to his dying day.

I have referenced his greatest work, Introduction to the Devout Life, many times in my writings.  Today, I thought I’d pass along to you links to some of other of his writings and some tidbits I ran across that might enrich you.  I also share with you some quotes which epitomize his very practical advice.  Take some time to reflect on them and see what the Lord is saying to you today.

Would you also join me in praying in thanksgiving for my Mom, today?  It’s her birthday…and I’m so glad she was born!!!

Her life is a gift from my grandmother who was dirt poor when she became pregnant with her second child.  A close friend suggested that my grandmother have an abortion, leaving pills with her ”to take care of it”.  Those pills would have snuffed out my mother’s life, my life, my two sisters and two brothers lives, and the lives of my mom’s 26 grandchildren.  What a loss for the world!  I don’t think we can ever truly understand the impact one life can have.

On the day after we marked the tragic passing of Roe v. Wade in our country with the March for Life in Washington, and on the day after our President stated that abortion allows, “Our daughters to fulfill their dreams,”  let us storm the gates of heaven for all those women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies, that they will have the grace and practical support to see through the struggle and give life to their unborn children.  Let us pray for an increase in the virtue of purity in our nation.  Let us pray, too, in thanksgiving for all of our mothers and for all those women and men who have chosen life in difficult circumstances.   Mary, Mother of Mercy, Refuge of Sinners, Pray for us!

St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!  Anne 

Quotes from St. Francis de Sales

“There is no better way of growing toward perfection in the spiritual life than to be always starting over again and never thinking that we have done enough.”

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength”

“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.”

“Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you. Often invoke them, constantly praise them, and make good use of their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs.”

“While I am busy with little things, I am not required to do greater things.”

“Friendships begun in this world will be taken up again, never to be broken off.”

“Nothing is more like a wise man than a fool who holds his tongue.”

“You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art.”

“Do not fear what may happen tomorrow. The same loving Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and everyday. Either he will shield you from suffering or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.”

“Have patience to walk with short steps until you have wings to fly.”

On-line resources (be patient, some of the pdf files take a while to load):

Introduction to the Devout Life

Treatise on the Love of God

Discerning God’s will (scroll down for to the second letter)

The Catholic Controversy (once on the site, scroll down for the .pdf version)

The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales have a terrific website, chock full of Salesian materials.  Take some time to poke around:

• Prayer of the heart  – reflections to use for mental prayer according to Salesian spirituality – very practical!  Scroll down and you’ll find a whole bunch of different meditations
• Daily with de Sales - scroll down and click on the month to find a daily meditation

Emblematic Habit of the Mind (not an original article, but very interesting reflection on St. Francis’ practice of imagery to strengthen memory to build and learn prayer and faith.  Lengthy, but quite interesting.)

Books:

Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction (Classics of Western Spirituality)

Thy Will be done, Letters to Persons in the World

The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady

St. Francis de Sales Act of Abandonment

O my God, I thank you and I praise
you for accomplishing your holy
and all-lovable will without any regard for mine.
With my whole heart,
in spite of my heart,
do I receive this cross I feared so much!

It is the cross of Your choice,
the cross of Your love.
I venerate it;
nor for anything in the world
would I wish that it had not come,
since You willed it.

I keep it with gratitude and with joy,
as I do everything that comes from Your hand;
and I shall strive to carry it without letting it drag,
with all the respect
and all the affection which Your works deserve. Amen.

In today’s

Over the past few days, the book of Samuel recounts the story:  God rejected Saul as king of Israel.  Samuel sought and found the shepherd boy, David, and anointed him king.  David defeated Goliath with a sling and a stone.  King Saul, jealous of David’s popularity with the people because he defeated the Philistines, sent 3,000 men to search for David, so that those men could destroy David.  Recall that David grew up alongside Saul’s son, Jonathon.  Saul loved David, but his love for power was greater.

In today’s scene we see David hiding deep within a cave.  As only God can do, God delivered Saul into David’s reach when Saul entered the outer part of the cave. David could have killed King Saul, but he did not because the King was God’s anointed one.  David confronted the king with the truth:

“My lord the king!”
When Saul looked back, David bowed to the ground in homage and asked Saul:
“Why do you listen to those who say,
‘David is trying to harm you’?
You see for yourself today that the LORD just now delivered you
into my grasp in the cave.
I had some thought of killing you, but I took pity on you instead.
I decided, ‘I will not raise a hand against my lord,
for he is the LORD’s anointed and a father to me.’
Look here at this end of your mantle which I hold.
Since I cut off an end of your mantle and did not kill you,
see and be convinced that I plan no harm and no rebellion.
I have done you no wrong,
though you are hunting me down to take my life.
The LORD will judge between me and you,
and the LORD will exact justice from you in my case.
I shall not touch you.
The old proverb says, ‘From the wicked comes forth wickedness.’
So I will take no action against you.
Against whom are you on campaign, O king of Israel?
Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, or a single flea!
The LORD will be the judge; he will decide between me and you.
May he see this, and take my part,
and grant me justice beyond your reach!” (1Sam 21:9-16)

David completely trusted God, resisting the peer pressure of his men who wanted to kill Saul, and submitting to God’s anointed one out of love for God.  David didn’t know what would happen.  King Saul could have killed him right there.  He could have taken David away, or made a scene which brought 3,000 men to his aid.  David had to know the risks.  There’s no way he couldn’t have.  His words reveal the source of his conviction, “The LORD will be the judge.”

The Church then invites us to pray Psalm 57, “A miktam of David, when he fled from Saul into a cave.” (source)  “Only six psalms contain this Hebrew word, miktam.  No one is quite sure what it means, but all six of these psalms are psalms of lament.  All six are linked to David and four of the six have references to David’s struggles with enemies.” (source)  David’s heart is broken as his life is threatened for doing God’s will and for rescuing God’s chosen people.  This was David’s prayer along the way as he ran from his enemies:

Have mercy on me, O God; have mercy on me,
for in you I take refuge. In the shadow of your wings I take refuge,
till harm pass by.

I call to God the Most High,
to God, my benefactor.
May he send from heaven and save me;
may he make those a reproach who trample upon me;
may God send his mercy and his faithfulness.

Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
above all the earth be your glory!
For your mercy towers to the heavens,
and your faithfulness to the skies.   (Ps 57:2, 3-4, 6 and 11)

Consider David’s prayer.  David asks for mercy and immediately trusts in God’s refuge.  He praises God and immediately trusts in God’s protection.  He exalts God and immediately trusts in God’s faithfulness.

Faith is the hinge between mercy and trust.  In faith, we pray for mercy; in faith, we trust God will give it to us.

Saint Faustina’s Diary is entitled “Divine Mercy in My Soul”.  The one phrase we take away from it is, “My Jesus, I trust in You!”  Today, let us pray in faith for God to pour out His mercy on our world, on our nation, and in our hearts, and that we will in faith trust in His Providence and care for each an every one of us.

My Jesus, I trust in You!  Anne

Nothing in the world

Yesterday at the airport, I waved goodbye to my older daughter after she went through security on her way back to college.  This is the fourth such goodbye, and I thought it would be easier over time, but it’s not.  In fact, this one was as hard as the first.  It surprised me.  (Ohhhhh…..here come the tears again!)

It’s all good stuff.   She’s happy.  Doing well. Making good decisions.  Surrounded by solid friends and an active Catholic life.  Then why is it so hard, and why is my heart so heavy?

First, I think it’s because we love so much.  As moms we pour ourselves into our children.  We sacrifice and give.  We laugh and cry.  We hold them and we let them go.  We remember their first steps like it was yesterday, and as hard as it was in those younger years, we yearn to scoop them up like they are babes, but we just can’t do that anymore.  That time is gone, and it will never be back.  It is a bittersweet parting.

Second, I think it’s because with each passing goodbye, we get closer to the final goodbye when they are launched and living on their own as adults, and with each passing goodbye, we know it will never be the same again.  One day they will marry and start a family of their own.  We remember doing that ourselves and only looking forward, never looking back.  It never dawned on me how hard it must have been for my mom.  Now I know in a way I never imagined.

Third, I think it’s because it’s hard to envision what life will be like on the other side.  As moms, we are so enmeshed in the day-to-day and being available to meet the needs of our families that we don’t really look too far out because it always changes.  I remember before she arrived having a hard time imagining what life would be like as a mom at home, especially after 10 years of work.  Now, I struggle to imagine life at work after all the time at home.  Now I seek a future for me.  I haven’t entertained that thought for a long, long time.

Adoption has taught me that our children are God’s first.  He created them for His purposes and for His honor and glory.  He entrusts them to us for a time, to form them and prepare them for the work He has prepared for them in the world (Eph 2:10).  We pray that they have the grace to know and to do His will and that they stand firmly at the center of His will because that is the best place for them to be.  When we let them go according to His plan and purpose, we, too, stand in the center of His will – sometimes sobbing from the pain.

This brings me to our own heavenly mother, Mary.  She lived life as a woman and mom like we do.  She, too, had to let go, and no doubt cried many tears along the way.  She knew, like us, that we must surrender our children to the Father’s will because it is the best place to be.  She sobbed at the foot of the cross.

So, I look to her as a role model to help me to surrender to the Father’s will.  One of the first times we see Our Lady after the crucifixion is in the Upper Room (Acts 1:14).  She prays with the apostles awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  I, too, must do the same. I need to reach out to others so I don’t have to carry this burden alone, and I must pray and wait.  God will do the rest, including taking care of my daughter, showing me His plan for me, and mending my aching heart.

The house was empty when I returned from the airport yesterday.  I went upstairs only to see that my daughter had finally cleaned her room.  She later told me that she cleaned it “just for me.”  It won’t be a mess again until she returns in May.  I knew, too, that one day, it will stay clean for a long, long time.  I cried.  I think Our Lady cried right beside me.  Following her example, I turn to the Lord in prayer:

Out of the depths I call to you, LORD;
Lord, hear my cry!
May your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
I wait for the LORD,
my soul waits
and I hope for his word. (Ps 130:1-2,5)

Come Holy Spirit.  Anne

Ever wish you were Samuel, and God’s voice spoke more clearly to you?  I know I often cry out, when I’m not sure what God is calling me to do, Oh, if only I were Samuel! Then again, how many repeated calls might I miss, like Samuel, and dash off in the wrong direction? Eli guided Samuel to hold still the next time he heard the voice, and just say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (Samuel 3: 3-10)

As I reflect on today’s Old Testament passage, I realize, I’ve never uttered these wise words. I may thrash out in my fears and frustrations, God, just tell me what to do! But rare is the wise moment where I just hold still, and tell God I’m listening. In fact, my usual refrain, is: Lord, I don’t know what to do with all these burdens. Here they are; I place them at the foot of your cross. Please shine your light on all this mess.

I realize, with the help of Samuel’s example, and Eli’s wise words, that I vacillate between interrogatory prayer and giving up. Now, I’ve often thought “giving it all to God” was faithful, but I think I missed something in the extremes. God does not always give us a directive that gets through our layers of busyness and confusion quickly and clearly. But, he does not want us to give up, and he uses us to solve problems so we can grow in charity and wisdom. It all starts with holding still and listening.

Practicing stillness is challenging for me. I often wish I had six more hours to every day; then I’d be sure to get “it” all done.  I have little time for stillness, but I know I can make time for that, if I put a higher priority in this.

And have you ever found yourself frenetic, and you realize how much time you wasted, just in the fretting, and in the inefficient motions? If we can still ourselves, think clearly, and move more methodically, we actually accomplish more, without the stresses and strains we add with our anxieties and impatience.

Anne put a challenge to us this short season of Ordinary Time, to count our days – the real meaning of Ordinalis (ordinary) – well over these weeks preceding Lent. Here are my resolutions:

• Prioritize stillness at the beginning of each day. In my prayers of thanks and praise, along with my long list of intercessions, I will just hold still and say: “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

• When I don’t know what to “do” I’ll resist the spiritual temptation to dump all at the foot of the cross. Instead, I’ll ask God to show me what I’m to do, and to show me what I’m to let Him handle.

Today’s Gospel (John 1 :35-42) relates a critical scene where John the Baptist turned to two of Jesus’ disciples and announced, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Like Eli guiding Samuel, so John guides the disciples to realize more fully what was right in their midst.

Thank God for all the guides who lead us to turn our ear heavenward, to turn our eyes toward the light, and to redirect our lives to The Presence.

Barbara

Picking up my January Magnificat, I found the exact reflection, and asked myself what happened.  I remember reading it a few days before Christmas & thinking, “Hmmmm…this doesn’t seem particularly ‘Adventy’.”  No wonder!  I was in the wrong month!  It was not written for December 21, but for January 21, smack dab in the middle of in ordinary time!

So today, on the first Thursday of ordinary time of the new Liturgical year, I share this reflection with you and pray it will bring you deeper into the mystery of Christ and that it will help to transform your ordinary day into something extraordinary.

Jesus, Light of the World, have mercy on us!  Anne

God is light, Christ is the shining out of the light of God.  The property of light is to illuminate, to give beauty to all it touches, to heal all that it penetrates, to purify all that is submitted to its heat.  The Incarnation is the dawn of Christ’s light in us.  Our longing for that dawn is our prayer for the world, our surrender of self to him, is our gift of Christ to men.

There is a widespread idea today that it does not matter what our conception of God is like; how vague it is, how confused, even how distorted.  “We all worship the same God” has become almost a shrug of the shoulders, dismissing the responsibility of knowing God as he reveals himself to be, as if to know him truly made no difference to us.

But as our conception of God is, so we ourselves become.  If we think he is hard, we grow hard; if we think he is a kill-joy, we become kill-joys, if we think of him as an omnipotent secret police, all-present, all-seeing, all-terrible, we shrink from him, and the heart that shrinks from God shrinks to nothing.

Saddest of all misconceptions is the merely negative God; it is this that fills the world with negative, apathetic people, futile before the misery of mankind.  Only Christ’s light can touch that misery.  Only in that light shining within us can we see the long-obscured path back to human happiness and walk in it.

Certain moralists delight in depicting the path to happiness, which incidentally is the path to heaven, as not only straight and narrow but dark, treacherous and impassable, with the result that human initiative dries up, and courage is sapped at the outset.

Hard it is and beset with danger, but we are not asked to walk in it blindly; with Christ in our heart we see every step of the way.  Light, Saint Paul tells us, is armor, the feet set in Christ’s crimson footprints are shod in flame.  (Magnificat, Jan, 2012  p. 298-299)

The Christmas season came to a close yesterday with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, and today, we officially begin Ordinary Time of the new liturgical year.  We will remain in Ordinary Time until February 21, the day before Ash Wednesday.

I’d like to pose a question to you what might seem a bit silly:  What’s your plan for ordinary time?  We often make a plan for Lent or Advent, but we let ordinary time be….well…ordinary.   I contend that if we approach Ordinary Time the same way we approach Advent or Lent, we would continually move forward in our spiritual life and the ordinary would become extraordinary.

I encourage you to take a little bit of time to reflect on the 6 weeks ahead and consider how you need to grow.  Spend some time in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to renew you in His love and show you what you need to do to be closer to Him.

When I ask myself that same question, I look to the wisdom of those who have gone before me.  One of my personal faves is St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church.  Below are two excerpts from Introduction to the Devout Life - one concerning morning prayer and the other evening prayer and examination of conscience.  I like the method of morning prayer St. Francis recommends, but I don’t always follow it.  I’m also really inconsistent with evening prayer.  So I figure, if I can grow in these two areas over the next 6 weeks, then I will continue to move forward and my Lent will have an even greater footing on which to build.

I invite you to join me in this 6 week project, or if it’s not quite suitable for you find another.  The important thing is to aim towards something so we grow ever more close to God.

Blessings,  Anne

CHAPTER X. Morning Prayer

BESIDES your systematic meditation and your other vocal prayers, there are five shorter kinds of prayer, which are as aids and assistants to the great devotion, and foremost among these is your morning prayer, as a general preparation for all the day’s work. It should be made in this wise.

1. Thank God, and adore Him for His Grace which has kept you safely through the night, and if in anything you have offended against Him, ask forgiveness.

2. Call to mind that the day now beginning is given you in order that you may work for Eternity, and make a steadfast resolution to use this day for that end.

3. Consider beforehand what occupations, duties and occasions are likely this day to enable you to serve God; what temptations to offend Him, either by vanity, anger, etc., may arise; and make a fervent resolution to use all means of serving Him and confirming your own piety; as also to avoid and resist whatever might hinder your salvation and God’s Glory. Nor is it enough to make such a resolution,—you must also prepare to carry it into effect. Thus, if you foresee having to meet some one who is hot-tempered and irritable, you must not merely resolve to guard your own temper, but you must consider by what gentle words to conciliate him. If you know you will see some sick person, consider how best to minister comfort to him, and so on.

4. Next, humble yourself before God, confessing that of yourself you could carry out nothing that you have planned, either in avoiding evil or seeking good. Then, so to say, take your heart in your hands, and offer it and all your good intentions to God’s Gracious Majesty, entreating Him to accept them, and strengthen you in His Service, which you may do in some such words as these:  “Lord, I lay before Thee my weak heart, which Thou dost fill with good desires. Thou knowest that I am unable to bring the same to good effect, unless Thou dost bless and prosper them, and therefore, O Loving Father, I entreat of Thee to help me by the Merits and Passion of Thy Dear Son, to Whose Honour I would devote this day and my whole life.”

All these acts should be made briefly and heartily, before you leave your room if possible, so that all the coming work of the day may be prospered with God’s blessing; but anyhow, my daughter, I entreat you never to omit them.

CHAPTER XI. Evening Prayer and Examination of Conscience

AS I have counselled you before your material dinner to make a spiritual repast in meditation, so before your evening meal you should make at least a devout spiritual collation. Make sure of some brief leisure before suppertime, and then prostrating yourself before God, and recollecting yourself in the Presence of Christ Crucified, setting Him before your mind with a stedfast inward glance, renew the warmth of your morning’s meditation by some hearty aspirations and humble upliftings of your soul to your Blessed Saviour, either repeating those points of your meditation which helped you most, or kindling your heart with anything else you will.

As to the examination of conscience, which we all should make before going to bed, you know the rules:

1. Thank God for having preserved you through the day past.

2. Examine how you have conducted yourself through the day, in order to which recall where and with whom you have been, and what you have done.

3. If you have done anything good, offer thanks to God; if you have done amiss in thought, word, or deed, ask forgiveness of His Divine Majesty, resolving to confess the fault when opportunity offers, and to be diligent in doing better.

4. Then commend your body and soul, the Church, your relations and friends, to God. Ask that the Saints and Angels may keep watch over you, and with God’s Blessing go to the rest He has appointed for you. Neither this practice nor that of the morning should ever be omitted; by your morning prayer you open your soul’s windows to the sunshine of Righteousness, and by your evening devotions you close them against the shades of hell.

Today we celebrate

Born in what is now the Czech Republic in 1811, Saint John grew up with 4 sisters and 1 brother.  A good student as a boy, he considered the priesthood and ultimately studied theology at Charles Ferdinand University in Prague in 1833.  Unfortunately, when he was ready to be ordained, the bishop was sick, and so the ordination was postponed.  Now, you’d think that it would just be rescheduled, right?  Not so.  Apparently, there were too many priests in the diocese at that time, so John was never ordained.  (Imagine having that problem!)

Undeterred, St. John decided to go to America and request ordination from the local bishop so that he could work with immigrant Catholics.  He walked to France and then boarded a boat for the U.S., arriving in NYC in 1836.

At that time, Bishop Dubois had only 36 priests to serve the 200,000 Catholics in New York and New Jersey, so Saint John was ordained not too long after his arrival.  Bishop Dubois sent him to Buffalo where Fr. John chose to serve in the difficult rural areas of the countryside.  He lived a simple life, sustaining himself frequently on bread and water, sleeping little, and doing a lot of walking from farm to farm.  Because he spoke 12 languages, he was able to effectively minister to the many ethnic groups in the farming community of his parish.

In 1840, Saint John joined the Redemptorist order and was the first priest to take those vows in the U.S.  In 1844 he became the rector of St. Philomena church in Pittsburgh and was later appointed as the superior of the Redemptorist order.  In 1852, he was appointed bishop of Philadelphia.

By the time of his death in 1860, he had built 50 churches, started the building of a cathedral, opened almost 100 schools and the number of students in his diocesan schools grew 1700% from 500 to 9,000.  He wrote quite a bit in both English and German including two Catechisms.  And to answer the question before you ask, from what I can find, it does not appear that it was the Baltimore Catechism which was issued by the Third Plenary Council in 1884, 24 years after his death.

We in the American Church owe a great deal to Saint John Neumann.  It’s amazing how much one person can do when they faithfully follow the will of God.  Let us be counted among them!

St. John Neumann, pray for us!  Anne

Since every man of whatever race is endowed with the dignity of a person, he has an inalienable right to an education corresponding to his proper destiny and suited to his native talents, his cultural background, and his ancestral heritage. At the same time, this education should pave the way to brotherly association with other peoples, so that genuine unity and peace on earth may be promoted. For a true education aims at the formation of the human person with respect to the good of those societies of which, as a man, he is a member, and in whose responsibilities, as an adult, he will share. - Saint John Neumann

Even though today’s calendar celebrates “The Tuesday before Epiphany”,  the Church gives us the option to celebrate the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, the name to which “every knee shall bow.” (Phil 2:10).  Personally, I find the latter more enticing than the former.  So to lift high the Holy Name of Jesus, I turn to one of my favorite Doctors of the Church and author of Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622).  In his letter to St. Jane Frances de Chantal he shares his love for Jesus and invites us all to speak Jesus’ name in our waking and our sleeping so that we will ever be united with him.

O my Jesus! fill our hears with the sacred balm of thy Holy Name, that so the sweetness of its fragrance may penetrate our senses, and perfume our every action. But that our hearts may be capable of receiving this sweetness, they must be circumcised: take, therefore, from them whatever could displease thy divine sight. O glorious Name! named by the heavenly Father from all eternity, be thou for ever written on our souls; that as thou, Jesus, art our Saviour, so may our souls be eternally saved. And thou, O Holy Virgin! that was the first among mortals to pronounce this saving Name, teach us to pronounce it as it behoveth us, that so we may merit the Salvation which thou didst bring into this world!

My dear Daughter! [St. Jane Frances de Chantal] it was but right that my first letter of this year should be to Jesus and Mary: my second is to you, to wish you a Happy New Year, and exhort you to give your whole heart to God. May we so spend this year, that it may secure to us the years of eternity! My first word on waking this morning was Jesus! and I felt as though I would gladly pour out on the face of the whole earth the oil of this sweet Name.

As long as balm is shut up in a well-sealed vase, no one knows its sweetness, save him who put it there: but as soon as the vase is opened, and a few drops are sprinkled around, all who are present say: ‘What sweet Balm!’ Thus it was, my dear Daughter, with our Jesus. He contained within himself the balm of salvation; but no one knew it until [H]is divine Flesh was laid open by the fortunate wound of that cruel knife [at His Circumcision, as St. Francis de Sales was writing around the time of this feast day]; and then people knew [H]im to be the Balm of the world’s Salvation, and first Joseph and Mary, then the whole neighbourhood, began to cry out: Jesus! which means Saviour.

-St. Francis de Sales, in a letter to St. Jane Frances de Chantal, as quoted in Dom Prosper Guéranger’s entry in The Liturgical Year for the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, in Volume III of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation by the Benedictines of Stanbrook. January 29 is the date of his feast day on the traditional sanctoral calendar. (source)

I invite you to pray the Litany of the Holy Name with me today!

May God bless you and keep you!  Anne

The joy of the Christmas season (day 4) is again rattled as we remember the lamentations of Rachel in the massacre of the Holy Innocents. As the Messiah enters human flesh so suffering lies in his wake.  And who more innocent than children designated for slaughter just because they were babies in the same city as the Savior’s birth. Remembering these first martyrs of the Church, in the midst of the joyful 12 days of Christmas, provides pause for layers of reflection.

Emmanuel  — God with us – takes on human flesh in the form of a helpless infant. Likewise the Church takes root in the blood of its martyrs, with the Holy Innocents forming the first in a long chain of suffering. What is it about children and child-like faith that witnesses to us?

“Suffer the Children to Come unto Me…”

Children trust completely; their survival depends on this. If they are blessed to be welcomed into a loving home, they have good cause to trust. But we know we live in an age broken by abortion, abuse and neglect. What more tragic that these holy innocents who suffer today? Herod’s bloody attacks continue in more subtle forms:

* Messages that tell women that sex outside of marriage is “healthy,” and that they have “freedom” to murder unborn children who arrive at an inconvenient time.

* Messages that encourage women to disconnect their life plans from the natural urgings of motherhood, and pay-scales or aspirations that lead parents to allow their children to be cared for more by strangers than by their own families?

*Messages that force early “independence” upon childhood, whether nursing, sleeping, going off to babysitters, daycares or schools – regardless of a child’s readiness.

How rare is it in our dominant culture to hear the message of sacrificial love for those holy innocents in our midst?

The Faith of Children

Children do not live under the illusion of self-sufficiency. They know they need others to survive, to meet their needs. They have to rely on trust.

This is what Jesus calls us to in our faithlife: a child-like trust. If we “let go and let God,” as the saying goes, we open ourselves to a whole new way of being in the world. Instead of anxiety, we would develop patience. Instead of fear we would live hopeful and watchful lives. Instead of arrogance we would develop deep humility – the day-to-day, moment-to-moment kind which helps us understand the true meaning of the prayer “in you we live and move and have our being.”

St. Augustine’s Prayer for the Holy Innocents

St. Augustine called the Holy Innocents the “Church’s first blossoms.” How good for us, in our age of confusion regarding how to truly care for the holy children in our midst, to reflect on how cold-hearted the messages regarding children can be in our current culture — one as murderous at times as those of Herod:

“Blessed are you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah! You suffered the inhumanity of King Herod in the murder of your babes and thereby have become worthy to offer to the Lord a pure host of infants. In full right do we celebrate the heavenly birthday of these children whom the world caused to be born unto an eternally blessed life rather than that from their mothers’ womb, for they attained the grace of everlasting life before the enjoyment of the present. The precious death of any martyr deserves high praise because of his heroic confession; the death of these children is precious in the sight of God because of the beatitude they gained so quickly. For already at the beginning of their lives they pass on. The end of the present life is for them the beginning of glory. These then, whom Herod’s cruelty tore as sucklings from their mothers’ bosom, are justly hailed as “infant martyr flowers”; they were the Church’s first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief. “

Barbara