3. Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do.
St. Augustine
4. He who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms it is far off nor is it he who says it is near, but rather he who, who whether it be far off or near, awaits with sincere faith, steadfast hope and fervent love.
St. Augustine
5. For in our Hope we are saved.
St. Augustine
6. Hope is the dream of a waking man.
St. Augustine
St. Bernard of Clairvaux Public Domain Image
7. Hope is the gift that God bestows on those who seek Him with a sincere heart.
10. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. where there is injury, pardon. where there is doubt, faith, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light. and where there is sadness, joy.
16. Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you.
19. Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God for you are His and He will not forget you. Do not think that He is leaving you alone, for that would be to wrong Him.
24. Although I have lived through much darkness, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young…Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures, we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son.
25. The cross means there is no shipwreck without hope. There is no dark without dawn, no storm without haven.
St. John Paul II
26. Apart from the mercy of God, there is no other source of hope for mankind.
St. John Paul II
27. To humanity, which sometimes seems to be lost and dominated by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the risen Lord gives the gift of His love which forgives, reconciles and reopens the soul to hope.
St. John Paul II
28. Believers know that the presence of evil is always accompanied by the presence of good… by grace…Where evil grows, there the hope for good also grows…In the love that pours forth from the heart of Christ, we find hope for the future of the world. Christ has redeemed the world. By His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
St. John Paul II
29. I plead with you…never ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; I do not give to you as the world gives. Do no let not your heart be troubled, and do not be afraid.” John 14:27.
Quote of Jesus
Peace and serenity of heart are difficult to acquire. The world is a chaotic place to live. Our emotions can make us feel quite helpless. How do we find peace? How do we live in peace? Faith is a gift. With faith, we can pray for peace.
The following quotes of the saints are ‘pearls of wisdom’ to help us in our journey.
Lord, Make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
4. Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.
10. Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear, for he who created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Blessed be you, my God, for having created me.
16. Be peace loving.Peace is a precious treasure to be sought with great zeal. Live your life that you may receive the blessings of the Lord. Then the peace of God the Father will be with you always.
St. Jerome and the Angel by Simon Vouet Public Domain Image
23. We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God.
The Catholic Church celebrates Christmas for twelve days.
While the Nativity of Our Lord is celebrated Dec. 25, the Twelve days of Christmas begins on Christmas Day, Dec. 25(beginning at sundown), and ends at sunrise on Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. During the Christmas season the priest’s vestments are gold to symbolize the sacredness of the Christmas season. The change in the color of vestments indicates that Advent is over. During Advent, the priest’s vestments are purple to symbolize the holy season of waiting and prayer.
According to legend, the song The Twelve Days of Christmas was actually written by Jesuit priests in England during the sixteenth century. It was a time of persecution and the song was used to secretly teach basic facts regarding the Catholic faith. If someone studied all the items represented in the song they knew the basics of the catholic faith.
Each number had a secret meaning:
Twelve represented the twelve teachings mentioned in the Apostles Creed;
Five represented the first books of the Old Testament;
Four represented the four gospels;
Three represented the Trinity;
Two represented the two natures of Christ…human and divine;
and One represented Jesus himself, our Lord and our God.
The Pear Tree represented the cross we must carry when we follow Christ.
The Apostles’ Creed is a summary of the faith taught by the Apostles. When we pray the Apostles Creed we are professing our faith in the church begun by the Apostles.
The Apostles’ Creed
We believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic Church,
The communion of saints,
The resurrection of the body
and life everlasting. Amen
The Catholic Church has feast days throughout the year. Many of its feast days are in honor of the saints. The feast day given to a saint is usually the day he or she died and entered heaven.
Take a small amount of time each day during the twelve days of Christmas to meditate on the actual feast day we are celebrating.
The Holy Innocents are the innocent children murdered by King Herod after the Magi told him about birth of the new King of the Jews, called the Christ child. The little children were murdered in an attempt to find and murder Christ, “The King of the Jews”.
St. Anysia was a martyr in Greece. She lived from 284-309. She was killed with a sword after being accosted by a soldier. She used her wealth to help the poor.
The prayer of a good innocent,and obedient child is like dew from heaven falling upon his whole family.
St. Sylvester I was the Bishop of Rome. He died in the year 335 after helping to define doctrine at the Council of Nicea which proclaimed the Nicean Creed.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is the first native born American to be canonized. She lived in New York, dying in 1821. She is the Founder and first Superior of the Sister of Charity in the U.S.
“Be attentive to the voice of Grace.”
Quote of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
St. John N. Neumann
St. John N. Neumann; Feast Day January 5
St. John N. Neumann was born in Bohemia. He emigrated to the U.S. becoming a Redemptorist priest and the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. He is the first American bishop to be canonized.
The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the Three Kings following the star to visit Jesus. They brought the King of the Jews gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes will be celebrated on February 11th by the Catholic Church. Why do Catholics ask Mary to pray for them? What is the meaning of this feast day? What do the saints say about Mary? The early church had great reverence for Mary, the Mother of God. Because she gave birth to Jesus, Mary was full of Grace…literally! Just as Adam and Eve were created without sin, it is believed that Mary also was created without the stain of original sin. Mary’s Heart was Immaculate….free from any stain of sin, both original sin and personal sin. Mary was not God, however. All worship goes to the Trinity…the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Mary was an instrument used by God to bring Jesus into the world. We know Jesus honored and loved His Mother. Are we not called to imitate Jesus? There are many prayers and quotes by the saints for us to learn about the beliefs of the early Church.
Our Lady of Lourdes
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF LOURDES Oh ever immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Comforter of the Afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings. Look upon me with mercy. When you appeared in the grotto of Lourdes, you made it a privileged sanctuary where you dispense your favors, and where many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal I come, therefore, with unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession. My loving Mother, obtain my request. I will try to imitate your virtues so that I may one day share your company and bless you in eternity. Amen.
Purer than heaven’s purest angels, brighter than its brightest seraph; Mary, after her Creator, God, made her and gave her all, the most perfect of beings, the masterpiece of Infinite Wisdom, Almighty Power and Eternal Love. To such a being we cannot reasonably suppose that a perfection was denied her which had been already gratuitously bestowed on inferior creatures; on the angelic spirits
The Most Holy Virgin places herself between her Son and us. The greater sinners we are, the more tenderness and compassion does she feel for us. The child that has cost its mother the most tears is the dearest to her heart.
Our Lady is rest for those who work, consolation for those who weep medicine for the sick, a harbour for those assailed by tempests, pardon for sinners, sweet relief for the sad, succour for those who implore.
Why should we be astonished if the God who could work marvels in the scripture and through His saints should choose to reveal Himself even more marvelous by means of His Mother?
Most Holy Virgin Mary…Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, Lily of purity, Rose of patience, Paradise of delight, Mirror of chastity, Model if innocence…intercede for this poor banished pilgrim.
Remember, O most loving virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, we fly unto you, O virgin of virgins, our mother. To you we come, before you we stand, sinful and sorrowful, O mother of the Word incarnate, despise not our petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me.
The Feast Day of St. Mary di Rosa is celebrated on December 15. She founded the Handmaids of Charity of Brescia.
Paula Frances Mary di Rosa was born on Nov. 6, 1813 at Brescia, Italy into a wealthy family. Her mother died when she was eleven years old.
After being educated by Visitation Nuns, she returned home to manage her father’s estate. Having a great desire to enter the convent, she was inspired to volunteer at the Brescia hospital during the cholera outbreak in 1836. She also helped care for the spiritual needs of the girls working at her father’s mills and arranged retreats.
St. Mary di Rosa founded a home for girls and a school for deaf mutes. She founded a religious order called the Handmaids of Charity of Brescia. It was also known as the Servants of Charity. It began with four members and grew to twenty two. At this time, Paula took the religious name of Mary Crucifixa because of her devotion to the passion and crucifixion and suffering of Christ.
The Sisters ministered to the wounded on the battlefields of Northern Italy and in hospitals.
St. Mary di Rosa died peacefully at the age of 42 on December 15, 1855. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1954.
“I can’t go to bed with a quiet conscience if during the day I’ve missed any chance, however slight, of preventing wrongdoing or of helping to bring about some good.”
Learn what the Saints believed about Purgatory. The quotes of the saints can teach us the beliefs of the early Church.
Halloween is celebrated on Oct. 31. Halloween stands for “All Hallows Eve.” It falls on the night before All Saint’s Day which is followed by All Soul’s Day on Nov. 2. On All Saint’s Day the Church celebrates the lives of the Saints. On All Soul’s Day the Church prays for the dead, who are on their pilgrimage to heaven (Purgatory).
Although the word Purgatory (as well as the words Trinity and Incarnation) does not appear in the Bible there are several references to it in both the New and the Old Testament. The Saints have testified to their belief in purgatory also.
The three main reasons Catholics believe in Purgatory are the following:
The Bible teaches us to “pray for the dead”.
(2 Maccabees 12:44-45). For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.
The Bible tells us of a cleansing fire.
(Hebrews 12:29) Our God is a consuming fire. Zechariah 13” 8-9 In the whole land, says the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say,
“They are my people”, and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”
St. Paul prayed for the dead. (2 Timothy 1: 17-18) St. Paul prays for Onesiphorus who has died.
The Church Fathers and early Saints believed in Purgatory: The Church Fathers have a long tradition of praying for the dead. St. Augustine was asked by his mother Monica to pray for him at the altar. St. Gertrude the Great had a devotion to the Souls in Purgatory, as did St. Pio, St. Bridget and St. Bernadette.
The following quotes from the saints of the Catholic Church show that purgatory is a belief that has always existed in the church.
“May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesephores, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain….. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord in that day!
2. St. Augustine of Hippo, Africa d. 430, Feast Day August 28
“Some suffer temporal punishments only in this life, others only after death, still others both in life and after death, but always before this most strict and most final court.”
4. St. John Chrysostom; Antioch 344-407 Feast Day Sept. 13
“Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their fathers sacrifices why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.”
5. St. Gertrude the Great; Germany 1256-1302 Feast Day Nov. 16
“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most precious Blood of Thy Divine Son , Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the wold today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, those in the Universal Church, in my home and in my family. Amen“
Quote of St. Gertrude
St. Catherine of Genoa
6. St. Catherine of Genoa; Italy 1447-1510 Feast Day Sept. 15
“No one is barred from heaven. Whoever wants to enter heaven may do so because God is merciful. Our Lord will welcome us into glory with his arms wide open. The Almighty is pure however, and if a person is conscious of the least trace of imperfection and at the same time understands that Purgatory is ordained to do away with such impediments, the soul enters this place of perfection gladly to accept so great a mercy of God. The worst suffering of these suffering souls is to have sinned against Divine Goodness and not to have been purified in this life.”
Quote of St. Catherine of Genoa
St. Francis de Sales
7. St. Francis de Sales; France 1567-1622 Feast Day Jan. 24
“With Charity towards the dead we practice all the works of charity. The Church encourages us to aid the souls in purgatory, who in turn will reward us abundantly when they come into their glory.”
Quote of St. Francis de Sales
St. Margaret Mary
8. St. Margaret Mary; France 1647-1690 Feast Day October 16
“If only you knew with what great longing these holy souls yearn for relief from their suffering. Ingratitude has never entered Heaven.”
9. St. Gregory the Great; Italy 540-604 Feast Day Sept. 3
“Each one will be presented to the Judge exactly as he was when he departed this life. Yet there must be a cleansing fire before judgement because of some minor faults that may remain to be purged away.”
10. St. Thomas Aquinas; Naples, Italy 1226-1274 Feast Day Jan. 28
“The more one longs for a thing, the more painful does deprivation of it become. And because after this life, the desire for God, the Supreme Good, is intense in the souls of the just (because this impetus toward him is not hampered by the weight of the body and that time of enjoyment of the “Perfect Good would have come) had there been no obstacle, the souls suffers enormously from this delay.”
Quote of St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Faustina
11. St. Faustina; Poland 1905-1938
“O Jesus, I understand that your mercy is beyond all imagining, and therefore I ask you to make my heart so big that there will be room in it for the needs of all the souls living on the face of the earth. O Jesus, my love extends beyond the world, to the souls suffering in purgatory, and I want to exercise mercy toward them by means of indulgenced prayers. God’s mercy is unfathomable and inexhaustible, just as God himself is unfathomable. Even if I were to use the strongest words there are to express this mercy of God, all this would be nothing in comparison with what it is in reality. O Jesus, make my heart sensitive to all the sufferings of my neighbor, whether of body or of soul. O my Jesus, I know that You are toward us as we are toward our neighbor.”
Quote of St. Faustina
St. John Vianney
12. St. John Vianney; France 1786-1859 Feast Day August 4
“It is definite that only a few chosen ones do not go to Purgatory and the suffering there that one must endure exceed our imagination.”
“May the prayer of thy suppliant people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, benefit the souls of thy departed servants and handmaids: that thou may both deliver them from all their sins, and make them to be partakers of thy redemption. Amen
Eternal rest grant to them, O lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. Amen
May their souls and the souls of the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen“
The Feast Day of St. Teresa of Calcutta is celebrated on September 5. On September 4, 2016 Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa, proclaiming her a saint.
Mother Teresa was beatified on October 19, 2003, after confirmation of her first miracle. The miracle was reported that a woman who had a large and very visible tumor, had stayed with the Missionaries of Charity. After she and the Sisters had prayed for Mother Teresa’s intercession, the growth, six to seven inches in length, had disappeared within several hours. Finding no other medical explanation for the sudden cure it was declared her first miracle. Over 3500 other reports are being investigated as possible miracles.
After accepting a second miracle, Pope Francis cleared the way for Mother Teresa to be declared a saint. Pope Francis signed a decree declaring that the inexplicable 2008 recovery of a Brazilian man who suddenly woke from a coma caused by a viral brain infection was due to the intercession of the Albanian nun, who died in 1997.
The Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator spearheading Mother Teresa’s canonization case, stated that the man fully recovered following his wife’s prayers and he has since returned to work as a mechanical engineer. The couple also have had two children.
Mother Teresa, as the world knows her, was born to parents Nikola and Drana Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1916 in Skopje of Macedonia and named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was baptized on August 17, 1910 in Macedonia. She was the third child in her family, following sister Aga and a brother, Lazar. Her father, Nikola died, when she was eight years old. Her father was a traveler, an extrovert, and a businessman who spoke five languages. Her mother, Drana, was extremely pious, adopting several orphans. She was known as Gonxha (pronounced gon’KHA) which means “flower bud”.
Gonxha desired early to become a missionary. At the age of eighteen, she joined the Sisters of Loreto. Here she took the name of Sister Mary Teresa after St. Therese of Lisieux. She was sent to Calcutta, India to teach at St. Mary’s High School for Girls, which was run by the Sisters of Loreto. On May 24, 1937, she took her final Profession of Vows to a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. She then became known as Mother Teresa. In 1944, she became principal of the school.
While on a train, she received a second calling. Christ spoke to her, asking her to work in the slums of Calcutta, caring for the sickest and poorest of the people. Pursuing this calling changed her life forever. In one year, she received approval to do the work she was being called to do. After six months of basic medical training she went to the slums to aid the needy and dying. Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity with 12 members, most of them students from St. Mary’s. She established a leper colony, an orphanage, a mission house, and several health clinics. In 1971, Mother Teresa visited New York City, where she opened a soup kitchen and a home to care for HIV/AIDS sufferers. In 1979, she received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1983, Mother Teresa suffered her first heart attack. After suffering from lung, kidney and heart problems for several years, she died on Sept. 5, 1997 at the age or 87. At the time of her death her Missionaries of Charity numbered over 4,000. She had 610 foundations in 123 countries.
In 2003, Mother Teresa’s private correspondence revealed she had experienced a “dark night of the soul”… feeling abandoned by God and lacking in faith. This lasted unusually long; for fifty years. Many saints have experienced such feelings, described by John of the Cross, in his book Dark Night of the Soul. She was filled with loneliness, and torture, due to this lack of consolation from God.
Mother Teresa is known for saying,
“The greatest poverty in the world, among the affluent, as well as the poorest of the poor, is to be unloved, unwanted, and uncared for.”
The world did not know that she spoke from her own experience. There are many books written about Mother Teresa and her great love and service to the world. The following is one of my favorite quotes.
Suffering is a sign that we have come so close to Jesus on the cross that He can kiss us; that He can show that He is in love with us by giving us an opportunity to share in His Passion.
The Feast Day of St. Philip Neri is celebrated on May 26.
He is known as the Apostle of Joy because of his cheerful nature. St. Philip was born in Florence, Italy in 1515. After having a conversion experience when he was 18, his life changed radically. He went to Rome with no plan, totally trusting in God’s guidance.
For two years, he was a tutor for small boys. Eventually he took courses in philosophy and theology at the Sapienza and at St. Augustine’s Monastery. After three years he quite suddenly sold his books and began a mission to the people of Rome. He engaged in conversations with people on the street corners, often asking, “Well brothers, when shall we begin to do good?” He served the sick in the hospitals and prayed for them in the churches. His favorite place of prayer was at the Catacomb of St. Sebastian.
St. Philip had a special devotion to the third person in the Trinity. He prayed daily to the Holy Spirit. At night he was called to solitude and prayer. Ten years after beginning his ministry, with the help of his confessor, Father Rossa, a confraternity of laymen began meeting to pray together. He encouraged the devotion of the Forty Hours. Father Rossa finally convinced him that he should become a priest. He was ordained in 1551. The Congregation of the Priests of the Oratory was founded several years later by St. Philip. They had simple rules. They shared a common table and performed spiritual exercises together. They were not bound by any vows.
St. Philip died from a hemorrhage on the Feast of Corpus Christi after hearing confessions.
St. Philip Neri Public Domain
Many of the following short sayings of St. Philip Neri are still remembered today.
Do not grieve over temptations you suffer. When the Lord intends to bestow a particular virtue on us, He often permits us first to be tempted by the opposite vice. Therefore, look upon every temptation as an invitation to grow in a particular virtue and promise God that you will be successful, if only you stand fast.
Let us strive for purity of heart for the Holy Spirit dwells in candid and simple minds.
Bear the cross and do not make the cross bear you.
There is no purgatory in this world. Nothing but heaven or hell.
Sufferings are a kind of paradise to him who suffers with patience, while they are a hell to him who has no patience.
Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life. Therefore the servant of God ought always be in good spirits.
Watch me, O Lord, this day, for abandoned to myself, I shall surely betray thee.
My children, if you desire perseverance, be devout to our Blessed Lady.
It is an old custom with the servants of God always to have some little prayers ready, and to be darting them up to heaven frequently during the day lifting our minds to God out of the filth of this world. He who adopts this plan will get great fruit with little pains.
We are not saints yet, but we too, should beware. Uprightness and virtue do have their rewards in self-respect and in respect from others, and it is easy to find ourselves aiming for result rather than the cause. Let us aim for joy, rather than respectability. Let us make fools of ourselves from time to time, and thus see ourselves, for a moment as the all-wise God sees us.
Never say “What great things the Saints do”, but “What great things God does in His Saints.” Cast yourself in the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, He will fit you for the work and give you strength.
Believe me, there is no more powerful means to obtain God’s grace than to employ the intercessions of the Holy Virgin.
The true way to advance in holy virtues is to persevere in a holy cheerfulness.
The cheerful are much easier to guide in the spiritual life than the melancholy.
Excessive sadness seldom springs from any other source than pride.
If a man finds it very hard to forgive injuries, let him look at a crucifix, and think that Christ shed His Blood for him, and not only forgave his enemies, but prayed the Eternal Father forgive them also.
The fruit we ought to get from prayer is to do what is pleasing to the Lord.
He who runs away from one cross, will meet a bigger one on his road.
St. Philip Neri with Cross
The best way to prepare for death is to spend every day of life as though it were the last.
The devil, who is a most haughty spirit, is never more completely mastered than by humility of heart and a simple clear undisguised manifestation of our sins and temptations to our confessor. Christ died for sinners; we must take heart therefore, and hope that paradise will be ours provided only we repent of our sins and do good.
He who continues in anger, strife, and a bitter spirit, has a taste of hell.
Humility is the true guardian of chastity.
If you wish to go to extremes, let it be in sweetness, patience, humility and charity.
O Jesus, watch over me always, especially today, or I shall betray you like Judas.
The Feast Day of St. Damien of Molokai is celebrated on May 10. He is the patron saint of leprosy and outcasts.
St. Damien of Molokai was born Josef de Veuster on Jan. 3, 1840 in Treinelo, Belgium. His parents were farmers. He attended college at Braine-le-Comte. Josef became a novitiate at the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He took the name of Damien when he made his vows. As a missionary he arrived in Honolulu in 1864. He was ordained a priest on May 1864.
Hawaii was in the midst of a health crisis; primarily, influenza, syphilis and leprosy. The king of Hawaii, Kink Kamehameha IV created a leper colony on the island of Molokai. Fr. Damien requested to be sent to Molokai to tend to their spiritual needs. He arrived at Kalaupapa on May 10, 1873, where he cared for 600 lepers.
St. Damien Public Domain Image
Fr. Damien built the Parish Church of St. Philomena where he preached and taught the Catholic faith. He restored pride and dignity to the people in the settlement. He organized a band, horse riding and choir. He provided comfort to the people on the island for 16 years serving as priest, doctor and home builder. He built their coffins and dug their graves.
Father Damien said,
“My greatest pleasure is to go there (the cemetery) to say my beads, and meditate on that unending happiness which so many of them are already enjoying.”
Fr. Damien had a profound faith in the Holy Eucharist, believing his strength came from receiving the Eucharist on a daily basis. In 1885 he contracted the illness of leprosy, yet he continued to serve the people of the settlement. He died April 15, 1889 at the age of 49. St. Damien is known as the Apostle of the Lepers.
“Without the constant presence of Our Divine Master upon the altar in my poor chapels, I never could have persevered casting my lot with the lepers of Molokai”
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? A disciple is someone who believes in and follows Jesus. Jesus calls each one of us in a different way. Each of us has a unique gift to offer him.
When we love someone, we want to spend time with them. The same is true if we love Jesus. Spending time with Him by studying scripture and in prayer will help our relationship with Him to grow.
The Saints of the Catholic Church are role models for us on our pilgrimage on earth. Each one of them loved Jesus with all there heart and soul.
The following quotes give us a glimpse of how they loved and followed Jesus. May we also get to know Jesus and seek to do His will always.
St. Teresa of Avila
St. Teresa of Avila
If obedience sends you to the kitchen, remember that the Lord walks among the pots and pans and that He will keep you in inward tasks and in outward ones too.
St. Teresa of Avila
Untilled soil, however fertile it may be, will bear thistles and thorns and so it is with man’s mind.
St. Teresa of Avila
You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.
For the Christian there is no such thing as a “stranger”, there is only the neighbor…the person near us and needing us.
St. Edith Stein
If we place our hands into the hands of the divine Child, if we say “Yes” to the “Follow me”, then we are His, and the way is free for His divine life to flow into us.
O Lord my God, make me submissive without protest, poor without discouragement, chaste without regret, patient without complaint, humble without posturing, cheerful without frivolity, mature without gloom, and quick witted without flippancy.
