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Friday, October 1, 2010

CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: FRI. OCT. 1, 2010













CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: FRI. OCT. 1, 2010: HEADLINES-





VATICAN: ADDRESS OF ARCHBISHOP MAMBERTI/PAPAL AUDIENCES

ARCHBISHOP MAMBERTI ADDRESSES U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY VATICAN CITY, 1 OCT 2010 (VIS REPORT) - On 29 September Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Holy See secretary for Relations with States, addressed the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. In his speech he noted how the U.N. "has become an indispensable element in the life of peoples, and in the search for a better future for all the inhabitants of the earth. For this reason it has been the object of great attention on the part of the Holy See and the Catholic Church, as evinced by the visits of Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI". The archbishop then reviewed a number of events which he described as "important for peace and security in the world" and which have taken place since the last sitting of the U.N. General Assembly. Among these he mentioned the coming into effect of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions, the positive outcome of the eighth Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the meeting of a preparatory committee for the Arms Trade Conference which, he said, "will establish the strictest possible juridical norms on the transfer of conventional weapons". He also mentioned the signing of the New Start Treaty between the U.S.A. and the Russian Federation, concerning a further reduction and limitation on strategic arsenals. The secretary for Relations with States then went on to praise the U.N. peacekeeping missions, indicating that the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace continues "to be fundamental in repairing social, juridical and economic fabrics destroyed by war, and in avoiding the repetition of conflicts". Among the serious events of the last twelve months, Archbishop Mamberti mentioned floods in Pakistan, the consequences of which "have been rendered more serious by the conflicts afflicting the region", in which context he called for "efforts towards understanding and study into the cause of the hostilities". The prelate also underlined how dialogue, "together with the generosity of being able to renounce short-term circumstantial interests, is the path to follow for a lasting solution to the conflict between the State of Israel and Palestine". Such dialogue and understanding among the parties involved is likewise the only way to resolve controversies on the Korean Peninsula and in the Persian Gulf, to bring reconciliation to Iraq and Myanmar, to resolve "ethnic and cultural difficulties in Central Asia and the Caucasus, and to calm recurring tensions in Africa". "At the root of most conflicts lies an important economic element", he said. "Significant improvement in the living conditions of the Palestinian peoples, and of those of other people who live in situations of civil or regional conflict, will without doubt make an essential contribution to ensuring that violent opposition turns into peaceful and patient dialogue". On the subject of the Millennium Development Goals, the archbishop remarked on the importance of "bearing the great moral imperatives in mind: ... fulfilment of the promises of aid for development given by rich nations to weaker nations, and a guarantee of a more favourable financial and commercial climate". At a global level, the secretary for Relations with States identified the need "for more decisive and effective concern for refugees, displaced persons and the great migratory flows". In order for there to be integral human development there must also be a guarantee "of the exercise of religious freedom, ... the cornerstone of the entire edifice of human rights", he said Finally Archbishop Mamberti referred to the challenges posed by the environment and climate change, calling for a political decision to be made during the next session of the conference of Member States "to ensure negotiations reach a concrete outcome through a binding juridical agreement". In this context he indicated how we must "not only develop models based on a new system of energy", but also "modify heedless and irresponsible patterns of consumption ... which are the principal cause of the depletion of natural resources".DELSS/ VIS 20101001 (660)





COUNSELLORS OF PONTIFICAL DELEGATE FOR LEGION OF CHRIST VATICAN CITY, 1 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Archbishop Velasio de Paolis C.S., pontifical delegate for the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, has announced the names of the four counsellors who will assist him in the task entrusted to him by Benedict XVI, according to information from Vatican Radio. The counsellors are Fr. Agostino Montan C.S.I., episcopal vicar for religious life in the diocese of Rome; Msgr. Mario Marchesi, vicar general of the diocese of Cremona, Italy; Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda S.J., former rector of Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, and Bishop Brian Farrell of the Legion of Christ, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Furthermore, Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez of Valladolid, Spain, has been appointed as visitator for "Regnum Christi"..../ VIS 20101001 (130)





AUDIENCES VATICAN CITY, 1 OCT 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences seven prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, on their "ad limina" visit: - Archbishop Luiz Soares Vieira of Manaus, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Mario Pasqualotto P.I.M.E. and Mario Antonio Da Silva. - Bishop Evangelista Alcimar Caldas Magalhaes O.F.M. Cap. of Alto Solimoes. - Bishop Giuliano Frigeni P.I.M.E. of Parintins. - Bishop Roque Paloschi of Roraima. - Bishop Edson Taschetto Damian of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira.AL/ VIS 20101001 (90)




OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS VATICAN CITY, 1 OCT 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted: - The resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Shrewsbury, England, presented by Bishop Brian M. Noble, upon having reached the age limit. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Mark Davies. - The resignation from the pastoral care of the apostolic vicariate of Phnom-Penh, Cambodia, presented by Bishop Emile Destombes M.E.P., upon having reached the age limit. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler M.E.PIMAGE SOURCE: LSN
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AMERICA: USA: MISSION CONGRESS 2010 OCT. 28-31 IN NEW MEXICO
USCCB report: Mission Congress 2010 will Paint Broad Portrait of U.S. Catholics in MissionCongress to gather October 28-31 in Albuquerque, New MexicoCardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, of Caritas International, among keynote speakersYoung adults discerning about missionary call encouraged to attendWASHINGTON (October 1, 2010)—God’s Mission, Many Faces: A Portrait of U.S. Catholics in Mission is the theme of Mission Congress 2010, which will meet October 28-31, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Using the image of a portrait, Father Michael Montoya, executive director of the United States Catholic Mission Association (USCMA), said the 2010 Mission Congress “will bring together dedicated men and women from across the nation and around the world into a faith-filled environment to discern the movement of the spirit within the U.S. Church in mission; discover the varied colors and brushstrokes of U.S. Catholics in mission; invigorate mission identity and leadership in the U.S. Church, and celebrate the faces and creativity of U.S. Catholics in mission.”The congress will include panel discussions, group dialogue and workshops on topics ranging from mission work in the U.S. to global trends, mission in other traditions, ecumenical perspectives on mission, international missionaries serving in the United States and other issues.This year’s congress will feature keynote addresses by Father Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD, associated professor of practical theology and Hispanic ministry at the Catholic Theological Union and president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians (ACHTUS); Sister Janice McLaughlin, MM, president of the Maryknoll Sisters; and Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, president of Caritas International and past president of CELAM (Council of Latin American Bishops’ Conferences).In line with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) pastoral priorities, the Mission Congress will stress the cultural diversity of today’s Church and how Catholic missionaries can best fulfill their mission of evangelization. “The 2010 Mission Congress comes at a time when world-wide mission is the focus of many Catholic initiatives in the recent years,” Father Montoya said. “The Bishop’s Synod on the Word in the Life and Mission of the Church emphasized the need for mission ad gentes; Pope Benedict in his 2008 visit to the United States stressed the need for global solidarity; the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean proclaimed at their meeting in Aparecida, Brazil, the great “continental mission” which was launched during the Congreso Americano Misionero in Quito, Ecuador. This great continental mission challenges all of us to put our Church in a constant state of mission.”Cardinal Rodriguez will speak on the continental mission in light of the Aparecida document. A take-home, bilingual manual will be distributed to participants “as a charge to go forth and continue promoting mission and global solidarity,” Father Montoya said. The manual was written by Sister Madge Karecki, SSJ-TOSF, mission director of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and translated into Spanish by UDECA (Union Dominicana de Emisoras Católicas)At least 16 U.S. bishops are scheduled to attend the meeting. Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, USCCB vice-president will open the 2010 Congress with a liturgy. He, along with Bishop Michel J. Warfel, of Great Falls-Billings will also lead a workshop on Catholic Home Missions (mission dioceses in the USA). The Mission Congress meets every five years and this is its third edition. It is sponsored by the Catholic Mission Forum, an umbrella organization of leading national Catholic mission organizations. They include the Bureau of Black and Indian Missions; the Catholic Church Extension Society; the Catholic Volunteer Network; USCCB Offices of Cultural Diversity in the Church, Home Missions, Evangelization and Catechesis, and Latin America; the Leadership Conference of Women Religious; the Conference of Major Superiors of Men; the Pontifical Mission Society; and United States Catholic Mission Association. For information, or to register, go to http://www.missioncongress.org/gress.org/ or contact USCMA by calling 202-832-3112.
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-174.shtml
Posted by JesusCaritasEst at 3:08 PM 0 comments






ASIA: CHINA: PATRIOTIC CHURCH ATTACKED BY POLICE
AsiaNews REPORT- The authorities are now targeting Christian communities that belong to the Three Self-Patriotic Movement, the government body in charge of Protestant Churches, in order to steel their land, and resell to business interests. Thus, even religious freedom “government-style” takes a backseat. The Chinese government has launched a brutal attack against the members of the “official” Changchunli Church in Ji’nan, Shandong, ChinaAid reports. About 200 people, wearing helmets and police uniforms, on 23 September attacked a group of tents used by Church members in Wanda Square, where a new church is under construction.During the attack, 16 elderly people suffered serious injuries, including one left blind in one eye. Calling police for help did not produce the desired result. Not only did police respond slowly, but once they were at the scene of the incident, they just stood by.Later that day, about 300 church members went to the municipal government building to stage a protest and demand justice.The problems of the Changchunli Church community began on 7 July 2008, when the director and the deputy director of the Ji'nan Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs used their power to force the presidents of the Ji'nan Christian Council and the Municipal Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee to accept a deal.The Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) is a government body that controls Protestant Christians. It was set up soon after Mao’s takeover of China to bring Chinese Protestants under government control. Foreign as well as Chinese missionaries were expelled as a result.According to the latest official figures, some 10 million Chinese are members of TSPM-affiliated Churches. So-called ‘house Churches’, which exist unofficially and are not registered with the authorities, have an estimated membership of 50 million and more.As the members of the Changchunli Church found out, TSPM Membership is no guarantee against the authorities. In this particular case, local authorities forced Christian leaders to sign an agreement under duress. What is more, the latter violates the law in at least two respects. Not only are the authorities not financially compensating the Church for the material loss (demolished building), but they are also short-changing it of some 800 m2 taken from the original property of 1,129 m2. The Changchunli Church is thus left with only 300 m2. How the other 800 m2 will be used is not known. What is known is that they have become a building site.For the Changchunli Church community, the agreement has meant no more religious services since 8 June 2009. Their pastor has been recalled, the religious activities carried out by their Church have stopped, and its management board is no longer meeting because its members were sent away.Members of the Church have rejected the agreement; instead, they are demanding justice from the local and central government.Since nothing has been done, and this despite letters sent to the State Council, the Church members have been camping in Wanda Square, near the building site.They were initially told that a new church was under construction. When they protested, they were told that an underground parking was being built.The issue is likely to remain unresolved for quite time, if ever. However, it is clear that some officials in the Religious Affairs Bureau have promoted their own interests rather than those of the Church.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/“Official”-Changchunli-Church-attacked-in-Ji’nan-19609.html
Posted by JesusCaritasEst at 3:05 PM 0 comments





AUSTRALIA: COMMEMORATIVE COINS ISSUED FOR MACKILLOP CANONISATION
Cath News report: Perth Mint is issuing gold and silver commemorative coins to mark Mary MacKillop's canonisation this month.The mint is issuing 2,010 gold coins and 7,500 silver coins to mark the occasion, and the number of gold coins will be deliberately restricted to 2010 to recognise the year in which Blessed Mary will become Saint Mary MacKillop, said an AAP report in the Sydney Morning Herald."Struck from one ounce of 99.9 per cent pure silver and one tenth of 99.9 per cent pure gold, both coins portray a coloured image of Blessed Mary and feature the inscription Saint Mary MacKillop, Australia's first saint and the 2010 year date," Perth Mint chief executive Ed Harbuz said at Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney yesterday.The coins can be ordered through Australia Post offices, at the Mary MacKillop Place gift shop and through the Perth Mint website.The gold coin will cost $275 and the silver coin will cost $89.50, and will be issued after her canonisation.
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=23529
Posted by JesusCaritasEst at 3:03 PM 0 comments



EUROPE: POLAND- MISSIONARY ROSARY PROMOTED AMONG YOUTH
Agenzia Fides report – One of the most popular Polish Catholic magazines, Niedziela, based in Czestochowa, recently published on its website (http://www.niedziela.pl/ ) a survey on the presence of Missionary Rosary groups in Polish parishes. According to the results of the survey, 30.26% of the readers of the magazine responded that there is a Missionary Rosary group at their parish, while 35.53% of readers said that this group does not exist in their parish. The survey revealed another interesting fact: 34.21% of respondents said they did not know the pastoral and missionary significance of the Missionary Rosary. "The survey results show that we still need to spread the initiative of the Missionary Rosary in our parishes, and we should especially gear this pastoral activity towards the youth," Fides was told by Fr. Jacek Gancarek, Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the Archdiocese of Czestochowa. http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=27521&lan=eng
Posted by JesusCaritasEst at 3:02 PM 0 comments



AFRICA: NIGERIA: POPE CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT ON 50 TH ANNIVERSARY
All Africa report: Pope Benedict XVI has congratulated President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Federal Government and all Nigerians on the occasion of the country's 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations.A personal congratulatory message from the Pope was delivered to President Jonathan on Thursday, September 30, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, by his special envoy and personal representative, Cardinal Peter Turson.In the message to the President, Pope Benedict conveyed his "prayerful wishes for the continued well-being, growth and prosperity of Nigeria and its citizens".Responding, President Jonathan asked Cardinal Turson to convey the appreciation of the Government and people of Nigeria to the Pope.He said that Nigerian appreciated the Holy Father's prayers and will continue to have good relations with the Vatican.Also today at the Presidential Villa, President Jonathan received the Chinese Minister of Industry and Information, Mr. Li Yizhong who is representing his country's leader, President Hu Jintao, at the celebrations.Welcoming Mr. Yizhong and his delegation, President Jonathan expressed the hope that the already cordial relations between Nigerian and China will continue to be developed for the mutual benefit of both countries.The Minister told President Jonathan that China attaches great importance to its strategic partnership with Nigeria and that President Hu Jintao could not personally honour his invitation to Nigeria's 50th Independence celebrations as he would have wanted because October 1 is also China's National Day
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TODAY'S SAINT: ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX, DIED. 1897

St. Therese of LisieuxDISCALCED CARMELITE MYSTIC, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCHFeast: October 1Information:Feast Day:October 1Born:January 2, 1873, Alençon, FranceDied:September 30, 1897, Lisieux, FranceCanonized:May 17, 1925 by Pope


Pius XIMajor Shrine:Basilique de Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux, FrancePatron of:AIDS sufferers; aviators; bodily ills; florists; France; illness; loss of parents; missionaries; tuberculosisThe spread of the cult of St. Therese of Lisieux is one of the impressive religious manifestations of our time. During her few years on earth this young French Carmelite was scarcely to be distinguished from many another devoted nun, but her death brought an almost immediate awareness of her unique gifts. Through her letters, the word-of-mouth tradition originating with her fellow-nuns, and especially through the publication of Histoire d'un ame, Therese of the Child Jesus or "The Little Flower" soon came to mean a great deal to numberless people; she had shown them the way of perfection in the small things of every day. Miracles and graces were being attributed to her intercession, and within twenty-eight years after death, this simple young nun had been canonized. In 1936 a basilica in her honor at Lisieux was opened and blessed by Cardinal Pacelli; and it was he who, in 1944, as Pope, declared her the secondary patroness of France. "The Little Flower" was an admirer of St. Teresa of Avila, and a comparison at once suggests itself. Both were christened Teresa, both were Carmelites, and both left interesting autobiographies. Many temperamental and intellectual differences separate them, in addition to the differences of period and of race; but there are striking similarities. They both patiently endured severe physical sufferings; both had a capacity for intense religious experience; both led lives made radiant by the love of Christ.The parents of the later saint were Louis Martin, a watchmaker of Alencon, France, son of an army officer, and Azelie-Marie Guerin, a lacemaker of the same town. Only five of their nine children lived to maturity; all five were daughters and all were to become nuns. Francoise-Marie Therese, the youngest, was born on January 2, 1873. Her childhood must have been normally happy, for her first memories, she writes, are of smiles and tender caresses. Although she was affectionate and had much natural charm, Therese gave no sign of precocity. When she was only four, the family was stricken by the sad blow of the mother's death. Monsieur Martin gave up his business and established himself at Lisieux, Normandy, where Madame Martin's brother lived with his wife and family. The Guerins, generous and loyal people, were able to ease the father's responsibilities through the years by giving to their five nieces practical counsel and deep affection.The Martins were now and always united in the closest bonds. The eldest daughter, Marie, although only thirteen, took over the management of the household, and the second, Pauline, gave the girls religious instruction. When the group gathered around the fire on winter evenings, Pauline would read aloud works of piety, such as the Liturgical Year of Dom Gueranger. Their lives moved along quietly for some years, then came the first break in the little circle. Pauline entered the Carmelite convent of Lisieux. She was to advance steadily in her religious vocation, later becoming prioress. It is not astonishing that the youngest sister, then only nine, had a great desire to follow the one who had been her loving guide. Four years later, when Marie joined her sister at the Carmel, Therese's desire for a life in religion was intensified. Her education during these years was in the hands of the Benedictine nuns of the convent of Notre-Dame-du-Pre. She was confirmed there at the age of eleven.In her autobiography Therese writes that her personality changed after her mother's death, and from being childishly merry she became withdrawn and shy. While Therese was indeed developing into a serious-minded girl, it does not appear that she became markedly sad. We have many evidences of liveliness and fun, and the oral tradition, as well as the many letters, reveal an outgoing nature, able to articulate the warmest expressions of love for her family, teachers, and friends.On Christmas Eve, just a few days before Therese's fourteenth birthday, she underwent an experience which she ever after referred to as "my conversion." It was to exert a profound influence on her life. Let her tell of it—and its moral effect—in her own words: "On that blessed night the sweet infant Jesus, scarcely an hour old, filled the darkness of my soul with floods of light. By becoming weak and little, for love of me, He made me strong and brave: He put His own weapons into my hands so that I went on from strength to strength, beginning, if I may say so, 'to run as a giant."' An indelible impression had been made on this attuned soul; she claimed that the Holy Child had healed her of undue sensitiveness and "girded her with His weapons." It was by reason of this vision that the saint was to become known as "Therese of the Child Jesus."The next year she told her father of her wish to become a Carmelite. He readily consented, but both the Carmelite authorities and Bishop Hugonin of Bayeux refused to consider it while she was still so young. A few months later, in November, to her unbounded delight, her father took her and another daughter, Celine, to visit Notre-Dame des Victoires in Paris, then on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Pope Leo XIII. The party was accompanied by the Abbe Reverony of Bayeux. In a letter from Rome to her sister Pauline, who was now Sister Agnes of Jesus, Therese described the audience: "The Pope was sitting on a great chair; M. Reverony was near him; he watched the pilgrims kiss the Pope's foot and pass before him and spoke a word about some of them. Imagine how my heart beat as I saw my turn come: I didn't want to return without speaking to the Pope. I spoke, but I did not get it all said because M. Reverony did not give me time. He said immediately: 'Most Holy Father, she is a child who wants to enter Carmel at fifteen, but its superiors are considering the matter at the moment.' I would have liked to be able to explain my case, but there was no way. The Holy Father said to me simply: 'If the good God wills, you will enter.' Then I was made to pass on to another room. Pauline, I cannot tell you what I felt. It was like annihilation, I felt deserted.... Still God cannot be giving me trials beyond my strength. He gave me the courage to sustain this one."Therese did not have to wait long in suspense. The Pope's blessing and the earnest prayers she offered at many shrines during the pilgrimage had the desired effect. At the end of the year Bishop Hugonin gave his permission, and on April 9, 1888, Therese joined her sisters in the Carmel at Lisieux. "From her entrance she astonished the community by her bearing, which was marked by a certain majesty that one would not expect in a child of fifteen." So testified her novice mistress at the time of Therese's beatification. During her novitiate Father Pichon, a Jesuit, gave a retreat, and he also testified to Therese's piety. "It was easy to direct that child. The Holy Spirit was leading her and I do not think that I ever had, either then or later, to warn her against illusions.... What struck me during the retreat were the spiritual trials through which God wished her to pass." Therese's presence among them filled the nuns with happiness. She was slight in build, and had fair hair, gray-blue eyes, and delicate features. With all the intensity of her ardent nature she loved the daily round of religious practices, the liturgical prayers, the reading of Scripture. After entering the Carmel she began to sign letters to her father and others, "Therese of the Child Jesus."In 1889 the Martin sisters suffered a great shock. Their father, after two paralytic strokes, had a mental breakdown and had to be removed to a private sanitarium, where he remained for three years. Therese bore this grievous sorrow heroically.On September 8, 1890, at the age of seventeen, Therese took final vows. In spite of poor health, she carried out from the first all the austerities of the stern Carmelite rule, except that she was not permitted to fast. "A soul of such mettle," said the prioress, "must not be treated like a child. Dispensations are not meant for her." The physical ordeal which she felt more than any other was the cold of the convent buildings in winter, but no one even suspected this until she confessed it on her death-bed. And by that time she was able to say, "I have reached the point of not being able to suffer any more, because all suffering is sweet to me."In 1893, when she was twenty, she was appointed to assist the novice mistress, and was in fact mistress in all but name. She comments, "From afar it seems easy to do good to souls, to make them love God more, to mold them according to our own ideas and views. But coming closer we find, on the contrary, that to do good without God's help is as impossible as to make the sun shine at night."In her twenty-third year, on order of the prioress, Therese began to write the memories of her childhood and of life at the convent; this material forms the first chapters of Histoire d'un ame, the History of a Soul. It is a unique and engaging document, written with a charming spontaneity, full of fresh turns of phrase, unconscious self-revelation, and, above all, giving evidence of deep spirituality. She describes her own prayers and thereby tells us much about herself. "With me prayer is a lifting up of the heart, a look towards Heaven, a cry of gratitude and love uttered equally in sorrow and in joy; in a word, something noble, supernatural, which enlarges my soul and unites it to God.... Except for the Divine Office, which in spite of my unworthiness is a daily joy, I have not the courage to look through books for beautiful prayers. . . . I do as a child who has not learned to read, I just tell our Lord all that I want and he understands." She has natural psychological insight: "Each time that my enemy would provoke me to fight I behave like a brave soldier. I know that a duel is an act of cowardice, and so, without once looking him in the face, I turn my back on the foe, hasten to my Saviour, and vow that I am ready to shed my blood in witness of my belief in Heaven." She mentions her own patience humorously. During meditation in the choir, one of the sisters continually fidgeted with her rosary, until Therese was perspiring with irritation. At last, "instead of trying not to hear it, which was impossible, I set myself to listen as though it had been some delightful music, and my meditation, which was the 'prayer of quiet,' passed in offering this music to our Lord." Her last chapter is a paean to divine love, and concludes, "I entreat Thee to let Thy divine eyes rest upon a vast number of little souls; I entreat Thee to choose in this world a legion of little victims of Thy love." She counted herself among these. "I am a very little soul, who can offer only very little things to the Lord."In 1894 Louis Martin died, and soon Celine, who had of late been taking care of him, made the fourth sister from this family in the Carmel at Lisieux. Some years later, the fifth, Leonie, entered the convent of the Visitation at Caen.Therese occupied herself with reading and writing almost up to the end of her life. That event loomed ever nearer as tuberculosis made a steady advance. During the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday, 1896, she suffered a pulmonary haemorrhage. Although her bodily and spiritual sufferings were extreme, she wrote many letters, to members of her family and to distant friends, as well as continuing Histoire d'un ame. She carried on a correspondance with Carmelite sisters at Hanoi, China; they wished her to come out and join them, not realizing the seriousness of her ailment. She had a great yearning to respond to their appeal. At intervals moments of revelation came to her, and it was then that she penned those succinct reflections that are now repeated so widely. Here are three of them that give the flavor of her mind: "I will spend my Heaven doing good on earth." "I have never given the good God aught but love, and it is with love that He will repay." "My 'little way' is the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute self-surrender."A further insight is given us in a letter Therese wrote, shortly before she died, to Pere Roulland, a missionary in China. "Sometimes, when I read spiritual treatises, in which perfection is shown with a thousand obstacles in the way and a host of illusions round about it, my poor little mind soon grows weary, I close the learned book, which leaves my head splitting and my heart parched, and I take the Holy Scriptures. Then all seems luminous, a single word opens up infinite horizons to my soul, perfection seems easy; I see that it is enough to realize one's nothingness, and give oneself wholly, like a child, into the arms of the good God. Leaving to great souls, great minds, the fine books I cannot understand, I rejoice to be little because 'only children, and those who are like them, will be admitted to the heavenly banquet.’"In June, 1897, Therese was removed to the infirmary of the convent. On September 30, with the words, "My God . . . I love Thee!" on her lips she died. The day before, her sister Celine, knowing the end was at hand, had asked for some word of farewell, and Therese, serene in spite of pain, murmured, "I have said all . . . all is consummated . . . only love counts."The prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague, wrote in the convent register, alongside the saint's act of Profession: ". . . The nine and a half years she spent among us leave our souls fragrant with the most beautiful virtues with which the life of a Carmelite can be filled. A perfect model of humility, obedience, charity, prudence, detachment, and regularity, she fulfilled the difficult discipline of mistress of novices with a sagacity and affection which nothing could equal save her love for God...."The Church was to recognize a profound and valuable teaching in 'the little way'—connoting realistic awareness of one's limitations, and the wholehearted giving of what one has, however small the gift. Beginning in 1898, with the publication of a small edition of Histoire d'un ame, the cult of this saint of 'the little way' grew so swiftly that the Pope dispensed with the rule that a process for canonization must not be started until fifty years after death. Almost from childhood, it seems, Therese had consciously aspired to the heights, often saying to herself that God would not fill her with a desire that was unattainable. Only twenty-six years after her death she was beatified by Pope Pius XI, and in the year of Jubilee, 1925, he pronounced her a saint. Two years later she was named heavenly patroness of foreign missions along with St. Francis Xavier.Saint Therese of Lisieux, Virgin. Celebration of Feast Day is October 1.
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/T/stthereseoflisieux.asp
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TODAY'S GOSPEL: OCT. 1, 2010: Luke 10: 13 - 16
Luke 10: 13 - 1613"Woe to you, Chora'zin! woe to you, Beth-sa'ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.14But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.15And you, Caper'na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.16"He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
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