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Why were the visionaries of Fatima so motivated to offer prayers and sacrifices for souls? So much so they willingly endured the harshest of threats from the authorities, bore the scorn of their families, and regularly offered painful penances like going all day without food and water. Little Jacinta Marto’s thirst for making sacrifices was so insatiable that she never let an opportunity pass by to “offer it up.” She was often heard repeating the phrase, “I want to offer it up for the conversion of sinners” as she made each sacrifice.

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"Whenever my enemy provokes me to combat, I try to behave like a soldier." -St. Thérèse of Lisieux

If you have been praying with us you understand that we have been enlisted as soldiers in God's kingdom, by virtue of our baptism and confirmation. Every moment of our lives on earth is a battle, a spiritual battle, and our enemy the Devil never rests. He is constantly prowling around seeking souls to devour.

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Our world is fraught with fear, division and violence. Many of us feel weighed down by the burdens that overwhelm our country and we seek to be part of the solution to problems beyond our comprehension. Our hope is in the Lord.

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This Sunday we close out Our Lady's month of May with the Feast of the Visitation.

In addition to being a beautiful feast day, the Visitation is one of the joyful mysteries of the rosary. It is celebrated in Catholic artwork, often depicting the scene in scripture where Our Blessed Mother, Mary, visits her cousin Elizabeth. Upon hearing Mary's greeting, the child in her womb leapt for joy and Elizabeth was overcome with gratitude that the mother of her Lord would come to visit her. One of our favorite depictions of this scene is the one above where both St. John the Baptist and Jesus are visible in the womb's of their mothers.

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This week, we celebrated the 100th birthday of St. John Paul II.

During his life, he saw much change in the world and in the Church. He lived through both the Nazi and Communist regimes, the Cold War, Vatican II and the aftermath of confusion from its misappropriation, as well as the beginning of the scandals in the Church. He survived an assassination attempt and was a public witness to the challenges of living with a debilitating disease that transformed him from a vigorous athlete to someone who struggled to walk a few steps on his own. He was a man who was intimately familiar with suffering and spiritual battle.

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“In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning, of bitter weeping! Rachel mourns her children, she refuses to be consoled because her children are no more.” -- Jer. 31:15 

In my bifurcated mind in that most horrific moment, I wondered who was slaughtering an animal in our back yard until I realized the piercing cries were coming from myself – a mother’s intense grief in learning that her only son had been killed in a vehicular accident shortly after his return from Iraq. It was then the Scripture passage quoted above entered into my left-brain to inform my right – “This is what it means in Scripture when its says Rachel wails for her children who are no more.” I am Rachel.

Today, all of Manchester, as well as the greater part of the civilized world, mourns the loss of the young girls and teens who were brutally injured and savagely murdered by the attack of a suicide bomber who, I feel certain, was aimed at taking out those who would bring the next generation to life. 

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