St. Therese at the age of 8The glorious Therese of Lisieux is known as the patron saint of missionaries, priests, florists and pilots, but because of her own sad experiences in the schoolyard at the Abbey in Lisieux, she richly deserves another title - Patron Saint of the Bullied.
Temptation is the devil’s ordinary mode of action (see 1 John 3:8– 10). Satan is the tempter (1 Thess. 3:5), and just as he incited the Fall, he still directly influences us to reject grace and commit sin. Temptation is common to all.
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Recently, we celebrated the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. This title of the Blessed Mother is particularly meaningful for me and holds much significance. As many of you know, Our Lady was my constant spiritual companion as I sojourned through the pilgrimage of pain I experienced when my son, Simon, was killed in a vehicular accident and then, when my late husband, Anthony, journeyed through the cross of terminal brain cancer.
All of us will be touched by death. We will lose loved ones. Perhaps one parent or both. Perhaps a spouse. Maybe a sibling. A close friend. And one day, we will die.
I was not a good candidate for being a homeschool mom. I felt underqualified, overcommitted, and feared I would be walking in unknown territory. Thankfully, I was never asked to do so. Until...
60 million.
Since 1972, the United States has lost over 60 million citizens through legalized abortion. It’s a huge number, almost unfathomable when you really think about it. That’s more than the current population in the state of California. Imagine the great minds and souls we have lost. Great inventors, scientists, leaders, and most importantly saints who could have transformed the world through their lives.
The canonized women who are mothers add to our altars a special kind of incense – a two-fold fragrance of motherhood, both natural and spiritual. The very definition of their sainthood reveals that the life of the soul was sacrosanct to them and that while they nurtured the physical life of their children, it was eternal life which they desired to impart above all.
The next two days mark the feasts of two great saints of the Church, a mother and a son, whose lives give testimony to a sure-fire method of evangelizing those we love.St. Monica (August 27) is the mother of St. Augustine (August 28), though Augustine was no saint when Monica began her earnest intercession. At that time he was a pagan and a member of the heretical Manichean sect. He was known to be a carouser who lived with a woman to whom he had fathered a child. A brilliant mind, he was "devoted" to his views and his lifestyle, and had no intention of converting to the Catholic faith.
St. Monica was distraught about her son's dissolute ways and decided to do something about it. She prayed. And in the end, her prayers won the soul of her son.
What was it that made St. Monica's prayers so effective? I think five strategies are primarily responsible. Perhaps you can implement them as you seek to evangelize those you love.
"We want God!"
This was the rallying cry of the people of Poland on June 2, 1979. A son of Poland had been elevated to the throne of St. Peter, Pope John Paul II.
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