Friday, August 31, 2018
Prayer for the Care of Creation
Four years ago, Pope Francis established the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation with this letter. On September 1, we join with our sisters and brothers throughout the world in praying for the care of creation. The USCCB website has many prayer suggestions here.
Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life
Click here for this week's prayer from the USCCB for the Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
For your September Calendar
Here are some dates you may want to remember in September:
- September 1: World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
- September 3: Labor Day
- September 5: Feast of St. Teresa of Kolkata
- September 8: International Literacy Day
- September 9: Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset
- September 11: Anniversary of Terrorist Attacks on the United States (2001)
- September 15: National Hispanic Heritage Month begins
- September 18: Yom Kippur begins at sunset
- September 21: International Day of Peace
- September 26: Feast of Blessed Pope Paul VI
- September 27: Feast of St. Vincent de Paul
Friday, August 24, 2018
Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life
Click here for today's prayer from the USCCB for the Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life.
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Feast of St. Alberto Hurtado
Today we join with our Chilean sisters and brothers in celebrating the feast of St. Alberto Hurtado, SJ. A few items that might help us learn more about him are located here and here. Remember, too, that we shared with you a story on the Holy Father's visit to Padre Hurtado's shrine in January 2018 (here). A prayer attributed to him is available here.
Friday, August 17, 2018
On the Call to Holiness in Today's World
We continue to share excerpts of Gaudete et Exsultate:
"Ultimately, the lack of a heartfelt and prayerful acknowledgment of our limitations prevents grace from working more effectively within us, for no room is left for bringing about the potential good that is part of a sincere and genuine journey of growth. Grace, precisely because it builds on nature, does not make us superhuman all at once. That kind of thinking would show too much confidence in our own abilities. Underneath our orthodoxy, our attitudes might not correspond to our need for grace, and in specific situations we can end up putting little trust in it. Unless we can acknowledge our concrete and limited situation, we will not be able to see the real and possible steps that the Lord demands of us at every moment, once we are attracted and empowered by his gift. Grace acts in history; ordinarily it takes hold of us and transforms us progressively. If we reject this historical and progressive reality, we can actually refuse and block grace, even as we extol it by our words" (50).
". . . We cannot celebrate this free gift of the Lord's friendship unless we realize that our earthly life and our natural abilities are his gift. We need to 'acknowledge jubilantly that our life is essentially a gift, and recognize that our freedom is a grace. This is not easy today, in a world that thinks it can keep something for itself, the fruits of its own creativity or freedom'" (55).
"Some Christians insist on taking another path, that of justification by their own efforts, the worship of the human will and their own abilities. The result is a self-centered and elitist complacency, bereft of true love. This finds expression in a variety of apparently unconnected ways of thinking and acting: an obsession with the law, an absorption with social and political advantages, a punctilious concern for the Church's liturgy, doctrine and prestige, a vanity about the ability to manage practical matters, and an excessive concern with programs of self-help and personal fulfillment" (57).
"Once we believe that everything depends on human effort as channeled by ecclesial rules and structures, we unconsciously complicate the Gospel and become enslaved to a blueprint that leaves few openings for the working of grace" (59).
"Amid the thickets of precepts and prescriptions, Jesus clears a way to seeing two faces, that of the Father and that of our brother. He does not give us two more formulas or two more commands. He gives us two faces, or better yet, one alone: the face of God reflected in so many other faces. For in every one of our brothers and sisters, especially the least, the most vulnerable, the defenceless and those in need, God's very image is found. Indeed, with the scraps of his frail humanity, the Lord will shape his final work of art. For 'what endures, what has value in life, what riches do not disappear? Surely these two: the Lord and our neighbor. These two riches do not disappear" (61).
"Ultimately, the lack of a heartfelt and prayerful acknowledgment of our limitations prevents grace from working more effectively within us, for no room is left for bringing about the potential good that is part of a sincere and genuine journey of growth. Grace, precisely because it builds on nature, does not make us superhuman all at once. That kind of thinking would show too much confidence in our own abilities. Underneath our orthodoxy, our attitudes might not correspond to our need for grace, and in specific situations we can end up putting little trust in it. Unless we can acknowledge our concrete and limited situation, we will not be able to see the real and possible steps that the Lord demands of us at every moment, once we are attracted and empowered by his gift. Grace acts in history; ordinarily it takes hold of us and transforms us progressively. If we reject this historical and progressive reality, we can actually refuse and block grace, even as we extol it by our words" (50).
". . . We cannot celebrate this free gift of the Lord's friendship unless we realize that our earthly life and our natural abilities are his gift. We need to 'acknowledge jubilantly that our life is essentially a gift, and recognize that our freedom is a grace. This is not easy today, in a world that thinks it can keep something for itself, the fruits of its own creativity or freedom'" (55).
"Some Christians insist on taking another path, that of justification by their own efforts, the worship of the human will and their own abilities. The result is a self-centered and elitist complacency, bereft of true love. This finds expression in a variety of apparently unconnected ways of thinking and acting: an obsession with the law, an absorption with social and political advantages, a punctilious concern for the Church's liturgy, doctrine and prestige, a vanity about the ability to manage practical matters, and an excessive concern with programs of self-help and personal fulfillment" (57).
"Once we believe that everything depends on human effort as channeled by ecclesial rules and structures, we unconsciously complicate the Gospel and become enslaved to a blueprint that leaves few openings for the working of grace" (59).
"Amid the thickets of precepts and prescriptions, Jesus clears a way to seeing two faces, that of the Father and that of our brother. He does not give us two more formulas or two more commands. He gives us two faces, or better yet, one alone: the face of God reflected in so many other faces. For in every one of our brothers and sisters, especially the least, the most vulnerable, the defenceless and those in need, God's very image is found. Indeed, with the scraps of his frail humanity, the Lord will shape his final work of art. For 'what endures, what has value in life, what riches do not disappear? Surely these two: the Lord and our neighbor. These two riches do not disappear" (61).
Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life
Click here for today's prayer from the USCCB for the Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life.
Saturday, August 11, 2018
August Issue of Stop Trafficking
The August issue of the Stop Trafficking newsletter is available here. This issue highlights the role money plays in various types of human trafficking and in efforts to find perpetrators.
Friday, August 10, 2018
Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life
Click here for today's prayer from the USCCB for the Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life.
Friday, August 3, 2018
Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life
Click here for today's prayer from the USCCB for the Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life.
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