Some church statistics

These are some interesting church statistics issued recently by the Vatican. The total number of priests rose from 406,996 to 407,421, representing an increase of 425 compared with the previous year. Africa recorded the largest increase with 1,676 more priests, followed by Asia with 1,065. The Americas also reversed the previous yearʼs downward trend, adding 199 priests. In contrast, Europe lost 2,483 priests over the course of the year, while Oceania recorded a decrease of 32. The overall increase is attributed to the growth in the number of diocesan priests, which reached 279,238, an increase of 496 compared with the previous count. Meanwhile, the number of religious order priests fell by 71, standing at 128,183.

Statistics further indicated that the global Catholic population reached 1,422,144,000 as of June 30, 2024, an increase of 16.69 million over the previous year. Based on these figures, Catholics represent 17.8% of the worldʼs population. Africa saw the largest growth in the number of Catholics, with an increase of 7.58 million, followed by the Americas, with a rise of nearly 7 million. Asia added 968,000, Europe 911,000, and Oceania 239,000. While the number of priests is rising, the number of seminarians is decreasing. The number of major seminarians stood at 103,604 worldwide, a decrease of 2,891 from the previous year.

Globally, the Church administers 75,448 kindergartens with over 7.4 million pupils; 103,666 primary schools attended by more than 36.3 million students; and 51,810 secondary schools with over 20.3 million students. Joining them are nearly 2.7 million students in higher education centers and more than 4 million in university institutions affiliated with the Catholic Church. In its healthcare and social assistance work, the Church manages 101,110 facilities worldwide. These include 5,397 hospitals, 13,646 dispensaries, 16,263 homes for the elderly, the chronically ill, and people with disabilities, 8,138 orphanages, 10,624 marriage counseling centers, and 3,194 social education or rehabilitation centers.

North American Martrys

The North American Martyrs, also known as the Canadian Martyrs, were eight French Jesuit missionaries who worked among the Huron Indians, and who were martyred in the 17th century in Canada and Upstate New York, all martyred between 1642 and 1649. The Martyrs are St. Jean de Brébeuf, St. Noël Chabanel, St. Antoine Daniel, St. Charles Garnier, St. René Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, St. Jean de Lalande and St. Gabriel Lalemant. They all laid the foundation of the Catholic religion in the North East, just as Blessed Junipero Serra did in the North West of the USA.
They were each killed during the wars between the Huron and Iroquois. They had converted many of the Hurons, but the Huron considered them to be evil men who brought death and disease wherever they traveled. The Iroquois considered them legitimate targets as the missionaries were nominally allies of the Huron, and they had often helped organize resistance to Iroquois invasions. Isaac Jogues and his assistant, Rene Goupil, besides being beaten to the ground and assailed several times with knotted sticks and fists, had their hair, beards and nails torn off and their forefingers bitten through. What grieved them far more, was the cruelty practiced on their Christian converts. The first of all the martyrs to suffer death was Rene Goupil, who was tomahawked on September 29, 1642, for having made the Sign of the Cross on the brow of some children. This Rene Goupil was a remarkable man. He had tried hard to be a Jesuit and had even entered the Novitiate, but his health forced him to give up the attempt. He then studied surgery and found his way to Canada, where he offered his services to the missionaries. These martyrs were canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930. The Martyrs' Shrine church is in Midland, Ontario, the site of their missionary work among the Huron, and the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs is in Auriesville, New York, along the Mohawk River.

Maturity

Maturity is:

The ability to stick with a job until it’s finished.

The ability to do a job without being supervised.

The ability to carry money without spending it.

And the ability to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.

 

Signs you have matured:

1.      You’d rather stay home than be everywhere.

2.      You enjoy your own company more than before.

3.      Birthdays feel less exciting and more reflective.

4.      You’ve become quieter and more observant.

5.      Not everything deserves your energy anymore.

6.      You think more about necessities than desires.

7.      You’re more careful about who you trust.

8.      You spend time reflecting before you fall asleep.

9.      You think more about your future than about your past.

10.  You avoid drama and focus on building a better life.

Luminescence at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Stepping through the massive bronze doors of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City has long offered the Catholic faithful a sanctuary of quiet reverence. Rising majestically above Fifth Avenue, the 19th-century Neo-Gothic landmark — with its intricate white marble, soaring vaulted ceilings, and twin spires reaching more than 330 feet — stands as a sacred testament to faith, heritage and architectural splendor. Now, “America’s Parish Church” is preparing to illuminate that majesty like never before, while simultaneously supporting a vital effort to preserve its historic musical voice. The global immersive phenomenon LUMINESCENCE is debuting its latest site-specific installation inside the sacred space, pairing cutting-edge 360-degree video projection mapping with symphonic sound. Because St. Patrick’s is an active house of worship and a cherished historic landmark, adapting the show required an exceptionally reverent and collaborative approach. 

Through LUMINESCENCE, we can now experience the presence of God and embrace the beauty of light, sacred music and the remarkable story of the spiritual legacy of the Cathedral. Regardless of the format, every guest contributes to ensuring the Cathedral’s majestic Kilgen organs continue to sound for generations to come. The massive organs date back to the early 1900s, with the dedication taking place in 1928. The largest of these instruments — the Gallery Organ — is home to more than 7,500 pipes. LUMINESCENCE is an invitation to look up, and around, at the beauty and the majesty around us that we often miss. The photos seen here show various churches and how the projection looks like with a variety of lights beamed at the entire body of the church.

Praying for Bend, Oregon

The scene outside the school, as parents wait and pray.

I never thought I would ever had to write this post. But unfortunately it happened even in a place I called home just a few years ago. My last parish in Bend, Oregon went through a horrific experience which is actually the 52nd school shooting in the USA just this year.  A 16 year-old teenager from Bend entered the Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend and killed 3 children, aged 5, 8 and 11 as well as a teacher, while injuring seriously another young child and another teacher. This was the 52nd school shooting this year, and it hits home when it happens in your own neighborhood which was always safe, as people support each other and are proud of their ever growing town, now with over 100,000 residents, including many of my friends. We thank God that a parent was in the school corridor and followed the shooter and killed him, otherwise who knows how many other children would have been shot! Let us remember especially those heartbroken parents who were probably planning Halloween costumes, Thanksgiving treats and Christmas presents for their children, but who have to prepare instead for a funeral for innocent precious children. A truly sad day for Oregon and Bend in particular.

St Teresa of Avila

St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

A great Carmelite mystic and nun, today we celebrate the feast of St Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, author of Way of Perfection, Interior Castle and Meditations on the Canticle. A great reformer of the Carmelite Order, she was born in 1515 and died in 1582. This is a famous quote of this great saint:

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,
and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones,
and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks Compassion on this world
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands; Yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes; You are His body.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours

Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away: God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.

Praying for Pope Leo

The entire world unites in prayer for the well-being of Pope Leo XIV as we hear that doctors removed part of his right lung during a 90-minute operation on Tuesday after finding a cancerous growth. The Pope woke up normally after the operation and is back in his room on the 10th floor of Rome's Gemelli hospital. When he recovered, he asked for dinner. To ensure the procedure was radical, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed, since the operation confirmed the diagnosis of a pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as suspected from the pre-operative tests. The Holy Father was in the operating room for about 3 hours, and the duration of the operation itself was around 90 minutes. The surgery consisted mainly in removing a nodule from his lung that was successful and there were no complications. If there was any sign that the cancer had spread further, a Vatican source said further tests were being carried out. The Vatican has historically been very secretive about the health of popes, but began to be more transparent during the illness of Leo's predecessor Francis, an Argentine who freely discussed his ailments. Ahead of the surgery, the Vatican said the Pope's recovery time was expected to be about a week. His audiences have been cancelled until October 20. Chicago-born Leo, the first US pope, is sporty and believed to generally be in good health. He is scheduled to travel to South America from November 6-17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru where he was a missionary for several years. It was not immediately clear what would happen if the pope was forced into a longer recovery. We continue to pray for his full recovery and a quiet, peaceful convalescence.

The miracle of the sun

This is a description of what happened during the last apparition of the Blessed Mother at Fatima. The people who braved the terrible rainstorm which struck Fatima on October 13, 1917 had gone there because of the promise of a miracle - they knew that something exceptional was going to happen. The previous July, Our Lady had told the three Fatima children that she would perform a miracle in October.

At noon, Our Lady appeared to the children, and after repeating her requests for the daily rosary, and promising that World War I would soon end, she said to them plaintively and sadly: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.” Then, while the three children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia saw visions of the Holy Family, the crowd of at least 70,000 people were mesmerized as the Miracle of the Sun unfolded. What happened was so incredible that even non-believers couldn’t deny it, as this report, which appeared in the secular Lisbon paper O Dia, indicates: “The silver sun … was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds. A cry went up from every mouth and the people fell on their knees on the muddy ground. … The light turned a beautiful blue as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands. The blue faded slowly and then the light seemed to pass through yellow glass. … People wept and prayed with uncovered heads in the presence of the miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they.”

José Almeida Garrett, a young lawyer, reported that “The sun’s disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a heavenly body for it spun round on itself in a mad whirl. Then, suddenly, one heard a clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling wildly, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery weight.”
Eyewitnesses to the miracle said that the sun danced in the sky, the color of the whole landscape changed successively, and the sun seemed to come down towards them, so that many of the crowd thought it was the end of the world. Something else that suggests that the miracle was genuine is that the people at the Cova felt the heat of the sun as it approached them. Their clothes and the ground – which had been soaked by the torrential rain – were dry at the end of the miracle.
Fatima, and the Miracle of the Sun in particular, are great “signs of the times” that have been given to the Church and the world by God through the Blessed Virgin.

St Carlo Acutis

This is the first time we’re celebrating the liturgical feast of St. Carlo Acutis, who was born on May 3, 1991 in London but grew up in Italy. He was devoted to the Eucharist from a very young age, even though his parents were not very religious. He was able to create a website about Eucharistic miracles, and even produced large posters, to be taken around the world as exhibits in parish churches, halls and schools. In October 2006, he developed leukaemia and was quickly hospitalized, and died on October 12, 2006. He was a normal teenager, loving Pokemon, video-games, but also was very caring towards the poor and homeless he encountered while walking to school or around his neighborhood.  Acutis, dubbed "the cyber-apostle of the Eucharist", was born in London to Italian parents, and moved to Milan with them as a young boy. Carlo was religious from a young age, despite his mother saying his family had rarely attended church. When he wasn't writing computer programs or playing football, he created a website to catalogue Eucharistic miracles and took care of websites for some local Catholic organizations. While still in elementary school, Acutis taught himself to code using a university computer science textbook and then learned how to edit videos and create animation. Carlo used the internet in service of the Gospel, to reach as many people as possible. He was known in his neighborhood for his kindness to those living on society's peripheries. With his savings, he bought sleeping bags for homeless people and in the evening he brought them hot drinks. He also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Milan. When he died, at the funeral, the church was full of poor people. Everyone else wondered what they were doing there. Well, Carlo used to help them in secret. The family knew about it, because his mother would go with him, since he was only 15 years old. He would give them sleeping bags and food, which is why they wanted to attend the funeral. Carlo is buried close to St Francis in Assisi, in a glass sarcophagus, wearing jeans and a polo shirt with sneakers. He was canonized along with another Italian youth, St. PierGiorgio Frassati on September 7, 2025.

2 Unborn talking

In a mother's womb, there were two babies. One turned to the other and asked: "Do you believe in life after delivery?" The second replied: "Of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later."

"Nonsense!" said the first. "There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be anyway?" The second said: "I don't know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat with our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can't understand right now."

The first replied: "That's absurd! Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies us with nourishment and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short—life after delivery is logically impossible."

The second baby insisted: "Well, I think there is something, and maybe it's different from what it is here. Maybe we won't need this physical cord anymore."

The first answered: "Nonsense. And besides, if there is life, why has no one ever returned from there? Delivery is the end of life, and after delivery, there is nothing but darkness, silence, and oblivion. It leads nowhere."

"Well, I don't know," said the second, "but we will certainly meet our Mother, and she will take care of us."

The first scoffed: "Mother? Do you actually believe in a Mother? That's ridiculous. If Mother exists, where is she now?"

The second whispered: "She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We live in her. Without her, this world of ours would not exist and could not exist."

The first replied: "Well, I can't see her, so it's only logical that she doesn't exist."

To which the second answered: "Sometimes, when you are in silence and you truly pay attention, you can feel her presence, and you can hear her loving voice calling to us from above.”

Planning for eternity

                              

Many people feel they’re indestructible. They think they have some superior power over life, and will never leave this earth. Their priorities are certainly not the things that will ever get them to heaven: money, power, superiority, disdain towards others, pride and arrogance. These kind of people should spend some quality time in 3 particular places, to realize their vulnerability, and how thankful they should be towards God, instead of disrespecting him with their behavior. These 3 places are:

1.       A hospital – there every human being spends time desiring his health back as it was before, not taking it for granted.

2.      A prison – there every human being spends his time desiring the liberty and freedom he had but which he squandered through bad behavior.

3.      A cemetery – there they realize that whatever we owned, whatever we did, will soon be forgotten, and all is finished.

Friends, let us take care of our souls , which will survive throughout eternity, unlike our bodies which will be gone soon after we pass away in death .

Music in heaven

St Elizabeth of the Trinity, as a teenager pianist

Along with the choirs of angels, who harmonize and embellish the halls of heaven with their choral singing, there are also many saints and blesseds who played an instrument or composed music throughout the years. Among them there is Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of all musicians, St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) who played the harpsichord, as well as St. Bartolo Longo (1841-1926) who played the violin, the piano and the flute. St. Carlo Acutis (11991-2006) taught himself how to play the saxophone, while St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463) played the viola, even on her death-bed. The French Carmelite St. Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906) played the piano, while St Ephrem the Syria, (306-373) a Turkish theologian wrote over 400 hymns. Blessed Hermann of Reichenau (1013-1054) a German Benedictine monk wrote many hymns, among the the ‘Salve Regina’ and ‘Alma Redemptoris Mater.’ St Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) a German Benedictine prioress wrote well-known compositions. St. Mechtilde of Helfta  ( 1241-1298) had a beautiful voice. Then there is Blessed Miguel Pro (1891-1927) a Mexican Jesuit who played the guitar and the mandolin, while Blessed Rupert Mayer (1876-1945) a German Jesuit played the violin. Finally St. Teresa of the Andes (1900-1920), a Chilean saint played the piano, guitar and the harmonium.

World Cup Emotional scenes

It’s been several months from the World Cup with Spain ending up worthy winners. Over the last 2 days of the competition, there were 3 emotional scenes which I’d like to point out for you. As Spain celebrated their victory over Argentina, players from both teams became embroiled in a heated confrontation that threatened to overshadow a remarkable tournament. As celebrations erupted around him, the young Spanish sensation Lamine Yamal's first instinct wasn't to charge into the jubilant crowd or involve himself in the confrontation nearby. Instead, he dropped to the ground in prayer. In the middle of one of the biggest moments of his young life, he paused to give thanks to God before doing anything else.

Twenty-four hours before the final, England and France had contested a thrilling third-place play-off. There were 10 goals, plenty of smiles and, at the final whistle, something that felt refreshingly rare. After congratulating one another, several players from both teams gathered together in what appeared to be a moment of shared prayer (players Marc Guéhi, Bukayo Saka and Jean-Philippe Mateta who were in the huddle are open about their Christian faith). It was a beautiful sight to see these exhausted men standing there, their arms wrapped around teammates and opponents alike.

The third moment: after receiving his World Cup winner's medal, the Spanish player Nico Williams made his way to the stands where he spotted his mother, and placed his gold medal around his mother’s neck. It was a simple gesture, but one loaded with meaning. Years earlier, she had crossed the Sahara Desert in search of a better life for her family, risking everything so that her children might have opportunities she never did. On football's greatest stage, Nico quietly reminded the world that some victories belong to far more people than the one standing on the podium.

Our Lady of the Rosary

Painting by Giuseppe Cali in Gozo church, Malta

Even though the Rosary is a daily devotion which most Catholics pray every day, the month of October has always been connected in a special way to the Rosary. The origin of the Rosary has been attributed to a Marian apparition to Saint Dominic in 1208 in the church of Prouille. People wanted a devotional of sorts to pray, since the priests were able to pray the Office and read the 150 psalms in Latin, while most of the people could not read. So the devotion was started to pray 150 Hail Marys, later divided into decades and divided into three Mysteries, while more recently in 2002, the Luminous Mysteries were added. Many people however had abandoned the devotion to the Rosary and it was only revived after plagues, a schism and other calamities hit most of Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Blessed Mother appeared to Blessed Alan de la Roche to revive this devotion, also reviving the ancient Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. Blessed Alan was one of the Dominican Fathers from the monastery at Dinan, in Brittany. He was an eminent theologian and was famous for his sermons. Our Lady chose him because it was most fitting that a Dominican from the very same province, should have the honor of re-establishing this feast.

In 1571 Pope St Pius V instituted "Our Lady of Victory" as an annual feast to commemorate the victory of the Christians against the Turks in Lepanto. The victory was attributed to Our Lady, as a rosary procession was offered on that day in St. Peter's Square in Rome for the success of the mission of the Holy League to hold back Muslim forces from overrunning Western Europe. In 1565, the Turks had already tried to take over Malta in the Great Siege, but the Maltese people, with the help of the Knights of Malta, were able to defend the island from the attack of the Ottoman Empire. In 1573 Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feast day to "Feast of the Holy Rosary". This feast was extended by Pope Clement XII to the whole of the Latin rite, inserting it into the Roman calendar of saints in 1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in October. Pope St Pius X changed the date to October 7th in 1913. In 1969, Pope St. Paul VI changed the name of the feast to "Our Lady of the Rosary".

Praying for Fr. Joseph

Today I like to honor and acknowledge a priest I worked with in Bend, Oregon between 2013 and 2016. He comes from Kerala, India and has been serving in my former diocese of Baker since 2012. Unfortunately I just heard he was involved in a traffic accident, when he was walking and was hit by a car in the vicinity of Prineville where he is serving as Pastor since 2016. The news reached me that he was unconscious for a day or two, with multiple injuries, but being cared for at St. Charles Hospital in Bend. The last report is that he is talking and alert, but needs some surgery because of broken bones. The details I have are very sketchy, but I ask you to pray for him and for a full recovery. Fr Joseph Kunnelaya is a very dedicated priest who was my assistant at St Francis of Assisi in Bend and was very helpful and very much loved by all our parishioners. 

When we started together in October of 2013, there was some turmoil in the parish, but we calmed things down, and the people backed us up and appreciated our support, just as we appreciated their support to us.  I know he was very happy at Prineville which is not a big town, but active and devout, thanks to his leadership. I know he is fond of my blog too and checks it regularly – in fact just this weekend he reproduced one of my posts in his parish Bulletin. We love you Father Joseph, and we all hope you will be back in shape after some time of convalescence and rest. May God bless you with our incessant prayers.

St Faustina Kowalska

Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in a small village west of Lodz, Poland on August 25, 1905. She was the third of ten children. When she was almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women. The following year she received her religious habit and was given the name Sister Maria Faustina. In the 1930's, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for re-emphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world. It was not a glamorous prospect. Her entire life, in imitation of Christ's, was to be a sacrifice ‑ a life lived for others. At the Divine Lord's request, she willingly offered her personal sufferings in union with Him to atone for the sins of others; in her daily life she was to become a doer of mercy, bringing joy and peace to others. Her special devotion to Mary Immaculate and to the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation gave her the strength to bear all her sufferings. She wrote and suffered in secret, with only her spiritual director Fr Michael Sopocko, and some of her superiors aware that anything special was taking place in her life. After her death from tuberculosis in 1938, even her closest associates were amazed as they began to discover what great sufferings and deep mystical experiences had been given to this Sister of theirs, who had always been so cheerful and humble. She had taken deeply into her heart, God's gospel command to "be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful" as well as her confessor's directive that she should act in such a way that everyone who came in contact with her would go away joyful. The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; her diary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the Divine Mercy. However, until Pope St John Paul II was elected Pope, her writings and her devotion were harshly condemned by the church, and were only recognized by her compatriot Pope, who eventually canonized here in April 2000, on the same day when Divine Mercy Sunday was instituted to be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter.

St Francis of Assisi

St Francis at the first Nativity in Assisi

Probably one of the most beloved and well-known Saints, even among non-Catholics, St Francis became affectionately known as the patron saint of animals. And in his honor, we bless our dogs, our cats, our lizards, horses, as well as giraffes and armadillos every year. He became one of the Church's most efficient reformers and started by reforming himself. The son of a cloth-merchant, one day he stripped naked in the local piazza and gave his father everything he had, including the clothes he was wearing. Instead he put on him a simple robe and gathered around him a few other men (among them St Anthony) and thus started the Franciscan order. The catalyst for this move came after a vision he had at the church of San Damiano, when Jesus spoke to him through the famous colorful cross and asked him to go and rebuild his church. This meant literally and figuratively, because he did fix the dilapidated church, but also founded an order which is still going very strong around the world, 800 years after its foundation. Later in his life, St Francis received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ and also inspired St Clare to start the female counterpart of the Franciscan Order, the Poor Clares. He was also known to have created the first nativity during the Christmas midnight Mass, taking the image of the baby Jesus down to the crypt, where he had already placed a donkey and cow and a manger with straw. To many of us, St Francis may seem out of touch with reality, rather than a profound philosopher. But that's exactly the kind of people the church needs even today, down-to-earth workers, with a good scale of values and who know where their priorities are. Francis lived a short life, born in 1181 and dying in 1226, being canonized 2 years after his death; but in his short life, he started a revolution of love, compassion, charitable work and encouraged everyone for a life of poverty, a lifestyle that all the Franciscans around the word still imitate.

St. Francis – 800 years in heaven

The chapel where the remains of St. Francis rest

The celebration of the death of St. Francis of Assisi on the evening of October 3 each year is known as the Transitus in Latin, or the "passage" from this life to the next. Today the Franciscan family remembers the joy with which Francis greeted his "Sister Bodily Death" and calls to mind that this is a journey we will all make someday. This commemoration of death is one of the most important Franciscan feasts.  Francis did not shy away from the reality of his eventual death. Scholars note that this stanza in the ‘Canticle of the Creatures’ was added at the end of the text by Francis near the time of his own death. Those Franciscan friars who knew and lived with him, recount how Francis was seen by a doctor close to his death and recalls the exchange between them:

The doctor said to him: "Brother, by the grace of the Lord, it will be well with you." For he did not want to tell him that he would die in a little while. Again blessed Francis said to him: "Tell me the truth. How does it look to you? Do not be afraid, for, by the grace of God, I am not a coward who fears death. With the Lord's help, by His mercy and grace, I am so united and joined with my Lord that I am equally as happy to die as I am to live." The doctor then told him frankly: "According to our assessment, your illness is incurable and you will die either at the end of September or in early October." Blessed Francis, while he was lying on his bed sick, with the greatest devotion and reverence for the Lord stretched out his arms and hands with great joy of mind and body and said to his body and soul: "Welcome, my Sister Death!" So, as today we commemorate the eighth centenary of Francis' own transitus, and celebrate the historical legacy he left behind, may we commit ourselves to more deeply embracing the Christian truth that death does not have the last word and, when the time comes for each of us as it surely will, that we embrace our Sister Bodily Death like the poor man from Assisi who reminded us that the only path toward resurrection is through earthly death.

Dear Stephen

Stephen is my Guardian Angel.

I’ve had a close relationship with him ever since I was a child.

I chose his name because I liked the martyred saint who does not get much recognition, because his feast day falls the day after Christmas, and so everyone is still in a festive mood, celebrating, partying and playing with the toys.

But Stephen has been a tower of strength for me,

Saving me from many near-miss accidents, helping me when I got stuck in sticky, uncomfortable situations, suggesting the right phrase to use when preaching, giving talks, and in conversation.

Stephen was there in my passenger seat while driving throughout New York and Oregon, clocking over a million miles, zipping through trucks, trailers and crazy drivers.

Stephen has travelled with me in all my flights over 35 years, watching over me, hoping to arrive safely at my destinations, usually Malta, New York and Oregon.

Unfortunately many people do not even recognize their Guardian Angel.

They think it’s something just for children,

But how wrong they are !

They are with us from the moment we are conceived until the day we die.

Watching over us, protecting us, guarding our every step we take, every word we say.

They also stay with us when we get to heaven.

Today we honor them on their feast day.

Psalm 91:11 reads: "For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways"

And in the Gospel we read "See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 18:10)

So thank you dear Stephen, for always being there for me.

Thank you for your timely advice whenever I turned to you.

Thank you for staying close to me, always and everywhere.