Saying nice things

The theme of Love dominates today’s liturgical readings at Mass, and this reminds me of a moving, touching story which you can all imitate. A couple were celebrating their golden jubilee, 50 years of marriage. And during their reception, the husband was asked what was the secret of their happy marriage. And he told this story which had kept to himself for 50 years. Sarah his wife was the only woman he dated. He was raised in an orphanage and worked tirelessly all his life. He didn’t have time to meet girls, and so never dated anyone, until he met Sarah who blew him away with her beauty and went crazy after her. Within a year they were married.

On the day of the wedding, Sarah’s father called Trevor alone and gave him a small packet as a gift and told him: “In this package you have all you need to make your marriage happy and successful.” Feeling nervous, Trevor opened the package and found a gold watch. When he looked closer, he noticed an inscription on the face of the watch, a phrase he would see frequently, every time he checked the time of the day, several times a day. It was a phrase that had the secret which kept their marriage joy-filled, healthy and prosperous. The phrase was ‘Say something nice to Sarah!’ Then he showed them the watch, still on his wrist, gave a kiss to Sarah and gave her a big hug, with tears trickling down everyone’s cheeks. So when Jesus is reminding us today to love God and each other, as if He is telling us the same message that was on Trevor’s watch: ‘Say something nice to each other daily.....Do something pleasant to each other.....speak nice of one another.....’ This is the secret of happiness, love and successful marriages, harmony and unity between us.

Shoulder wound of Jesus

St Bernard recalls a conversation he once had with Jesus, who told him that the most serious and painful wound were not in his hands or feet or even his side, but it was a shoulder wound, certainly from carrying His cross to Calvary. One should know that even Padre Pio had this shoulder wound on his body, along with the stigmata. St Bernard then wrote this prayer: O loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of Your Shoulder, on which you bore Your heavy cross, which so tore Your flesh and laid bare Your bones as to inflict on You an anguish greater than any other wound of Your Most Blessed Body. I adore You, O most sorrowful Jesus. I praise and glorify You and give You thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound. I beseech you, through that exceeding pain and by the crushing burden of Your heavy Cross, to be merciful to me, a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and to lead me towards Heaven along the Way of Your Cross. Amen.

Daily Miracles

There are thousands of medical miracles that most of us take for granted every day. Scientific advances have produced many fascinating inventions that have been described as miraculous in centuries and millennia past. For example, think of antibiotics, corrective lenses for our vision, antiviral medications, hearing aids, surgical technologies, MRI and sonograms, dental care, organ transplantation, blood transfusion, vaccines, and so much more. When I slow down to think about these amazing human achievements and how we benefit from them, I cannot help but find myself captivated by a spirit of awe and wonder at what is truly miraculous.

Consider for example the miracle of birth. That a mother not only literally gives of herself in the months of pregnancy to sustain and grow a new human person within her is indeed miraculous, but so is the ability to breastfeed, to sacrifice one's time and energy at all hours of the day and night, to put the interests and concerns of a child ahead of one's own, and to do all the things required of parents and caregivers that seem impossible to do and give. Let us make an effort, or should I say a duty, a responsibility, to slow down, to see the world anew, to look at what is before us and what we experience everyday as a form of divine intervention, a form of grace, a form of the miraculous. There is, I believe, a spiritual need that calls us to cultivate a better sense of awe and wonder in the world. This is what recognizing everyday miracles means: that God not only intervenes in rare occasions, but is present in a variety of human experiences at all times.

Perhaps the next time you feel ill or are injured and can be healed by medications or procedures we too often take for granted today, you might reflect on the miracle that is the natural and medical sciences, embrace a feeling of awe and wonder, and give thanks to God. Perhaps the next time you find yourself delayed in travel, you might reflect on the miracle that is modern travel technologies, embrace a feeling of awe and wonder, and give thanks to God. Perhaps the next time you get frustrated or feel impatient at the behavior of your fellow citizen in the grocery store line, you might reflect on our interconnectedness and interdependence, embrace a feeling of awe and wonder, and give thanks to God.

Breastfeeding Madonna

A very special statue of the Blessed Mother was recently crowned by the Archbishop of Madrid in the Cathedral Basilica.  The image of Our Lady of La Leche depicts an intimate moment as the infant Jesus is cradled by the Virgin Mary and is feeding at her breast. This was an occasion to recall Mary’s sacrifice, humility, and faith-filled loyalty. The cardinal stood a few feet in front of the image and blessed it with incense before bowing in gratitude and respect. The crowning acknowledges that the specific image, while having local significance, also has universal importance for the Catholic Church as it pertains to Christ’s salvation through his death and resurrection. The practice of honoring this statue began in the 17th century but became increasingly popular in the late 1800s. Our Lady of La Leche holds a special place in the heart of the Diocese of St. Augustine in North Florida. The image of the Blessed Virgin Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus dates back to the 16th century in Madrid, where she is called Nuestra Señora de la Leche y Buen Parto (Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery). After learning of miracles associated with the devotion to Our Lady of La Leche, King Philip III wished to erect a shrine in her honor. While the original was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, a replica of the original statue is currently housed in the historic chapel on the grounds that is now a national shrine and is the first U.S. Marian shrine. Since Mary is so tender, parents wanting a child have been very attracted to Our Lady of La Leche, and they pray to her when pregnant, raising babies and of course while nursing their babies with their breast milk.

3 brothers now priests

The Avenido Brothers are now the Avenido Fathers! On a very rare occasion, three brothers were ordained as new Catholic priests at St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral in Cagayan de Oro City, in the Philippines, on September 8, 2021. Archbishop Jose Cabantan led the successful ordination of REV. FR. JERSON REY OLAYVAR AVENIDO, CSS, REV. FR. JESSIE JAMES OLAYVAR AVENIDO, CSS and REV. FR. JESTONIE OLAYVAR AVENIDO, CSS, all from the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata of our Lord Jesus Christ. The three are relatively young with Rev. Fr. Jessie James (30 yrs old), Rev. Fr. Jestonie (29) and Rev. Fr. Jerson Rey (28). Of the three, Rev. Fr. Jessie James was the first to enter the seminary in 2008, followed by Rev. Fr. Jestonie in 2009 and finally Rev. Fr. Jerson Rey in 2010. Rev. Fr. Jessie James initially wanted to become a police officer or an electrical engineer. He even enrolled at Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). He eventually ended as a “Soldier of Christ”. Meanwhile, Rev. Fr. Jestonie wanted to become a teacher but he became a teacher of the Lord’s teachings. Rev. Fr. Jerson Rey wanted to become a doctor. But God had other plans for him as he became a healer of spiritual needs. They have 4 other siblings. Their father Gallardo is a farmer and security guard while their mother Barbara is a babysitter.

Blessed Carlo Acutis - his mother speaks

                   
The mother of Carlo Acutis, the recently beatified teenager, spoke about her son. Antonia said “You could feel Christ’s presence near Carlo.” Both she and her husband realized early on that he was very special. “When he was very small, I used to joke around, calling him ‘little Buddha’ because I used to say he was enlightened. He was always so generous, so good, so altruistic, polite, and obedient…” He also had a deep faith, which was unusual given that his parents hadn’t been to church in years. Carlo went to Mass every day, went to Eucharistic adoration, and prayed the Rosary daily. In addition, of course, like all boys of his age, he went to school, did his homework, and played soccer—”but very badly.” Carlo was aware that God is always by our side, and anyone who was near Carlo sensed Jesus.” Antonia also returned to her faith thanks to her son’s example, and to his embarrassing questions….“ Since he was a little boy he’d ask me questions about Jesus, about Our Lady, about the guardian angels, or the lives of the saints, and I was terribly ignorant…” Carlo Acutis had many talents and always put them at the service of others. He was especially attentive to the needs of the weakest and poorest, both from the material point of view—he helped fellow students and took blankets and food to the homeless, even depriving himself of some “extras” and reprimanding his “wasteful” mother—and from the spiritual point of view: he was a catechist, and made exhibitions on the Internet including one about Eucharistic miracles, which became popular around the world and made him famous. His death when he was just 15 years old revealed to everyone who Carlo Acutis really was, and how a simple faith can really change the world. His mother recounts: “Witnessing the death of my son I actually thought to myself: ‘this is a saint.’ He never complained, he was always smiling… Carlo truly experienced his death as an encounter with the Beloved.” Fifteen years later, Carlo Acutis was beatified. Love moved him to open himself to whomever he met, even with a simple “hello.”  At his the funeral the church was so full that many had to remain outside. “I thought: How did he know these people? They were all friends that Carlo had made in his daily life, when he went to buy something at the supermarket or passed by on his way to school.”

Even more apple facts

While it may seem that your grocery store has a nice selection of apples, we’re a long way from what fruit historians describe as ‘the golden age of pomology.’ During the 19th century, there were about 14,000 distinct apple varieties across the United States. Today only 100 varieties of apples are commercially grown. And remember that there is plenty of truth to the saying ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ A large apple has 115 calories and 5 grams of fiber per serving, and the fruit’s polyphenols and fiber help balance bacteria in your gut. But make sure not to peel it: two-thirds of the apple’s antioxidants and much of its fiber are found in the skin. And finally who called New York the Big Apple? It was Edward S. Martin who wrote in the magazine ‘The Wayfarer in New York’ ......the midwest inclines to think that the big apple (New York) gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.’ 

More on Apples

Unfortunately the two Steves (Jobs and Wozaniak) weren't the first to use Apple as its corporate moniker. Those familiar with the Beatles, remember their famous Apple label on many of their records. It was in 1968 that the Fab Four  formed Apple Corps to represent their creative and musical interests. But after Apple Computer rose to prominence, the two companies worked out an agreement that Apple Computer would keep its logo and name out of the music business. And that changed in 2003, when Apple began selling music through Itunes. It took 7 more years before the Beatles (Paul and Ringo) finally let it be, and let Itunes carry their music.

How Apple got its name

How did the most popular fruit on earth, the one that supposedly tempted Eve at the Garden of Eden, become the symbol of one of the world’s wealthiest corporations? One day, in the mid-70s, Steve Wozniak picked up Steve Jobs at the airport. The paperwork for the nascent  computer company was due the next day. As it happened, Steve Jobs had just been pruning apple trees in Oregon, and when they started throwing around potential names for their company, they came up with Matrix, Executek, Personal Computers Inc. and others. But when Apple Computer was suggested, they said ‘it was fun, spirited and not intimidating.’ Steve Jobs ended up by saying ‘ Apple took the edge off the word computer. Besides, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book.’

Pope St. John Paul II

We celebrate today the liturgical feast of the Man of the 20th century, Pope Saint John Paul II. He was born Karol Wojtyla on May 18th, 1920 in Poland and became the first non-Italian Pope in almost 400 years. Also known as John Paul the Great, he reigned from October 16th, 1978 until his death on April 2nd, 2005. He was the second longest-serving Pope in modern history after Pope Pius IX who served for nearly 32 years from 1846 to 1878. As a young boy, he lost his mother at the age of 8 and his father when he was 21. He even had to work at a limestone quarry, but then started his studies at the underground seminary run by Cardinal Sapieha in Krakow. He was ordained a priest on November 1, 1946, and after further studies, he ended up teaching at the Jagiellonian University. He was made a bishop on July 4, 1958 and later became Archbishop of Krakow on June 26, 1967. He remained very staunch to his faith in Poland, even when he became a Cardinal 3 years later. His election as Pope was a big surprise as Pope John Paul I died suddenly after 33 days, and the trend was to elect Italian Popes, but the white smoke showed that a new Pope was chosen on October 16, 1978, aged 58, relatively young for a Pope. At the balcony he waved to the thousands gathered in the Piazza and  said “the cardinals have called for a new bishop of Rome. They called him from a faraway land — far and yet always close because of our communion in faith and Christian traditions. I was afraid to accept that responsibility, yet I do so in a spirit of obedience to the Lord and total faithfulness to Mary, our most Holy Mother.”

Pope John Paul in my hometown of St Julian's in 1990

John Paul II is recognized as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. He upheld the Church's teachings against artificial contraception and the ordination of women, supported the Church's Second Vatican Council and its reform, and in general held firm to orthodox Catholic stances. He was one of the most traveled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he beatified 1,340 people and canonized 483 saints, more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. He was very much devoted to the Blessed Mother, well respected in his native Poland, especially with the famous Black Madonna, and he even chose his motto as Totus Tuus, “Totally Yours,” even with the letter M on his coat-of-arms.
John Paul II's cause for canonization commenced in 2005 one month after his death with the traditional five-year waiting period waived. His successor Pope Benedict XVI beatified him on May 1st 2011 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints attributed one miracle to him, the healing of a French nun from Parkinson's disease. A second miracle, attributed to the late pope, was approved and confirmed by Pope Francis two days later. John Paul II was canonized on 27 April 2014, alongside Pope John XXIII.

Points to Ponder

'The Divine Jesus' by El Greco

Today reflect on these little quotes, and better yet, put them to work

1. Be ye fishers of men.... You catch them - He'll clean them.
2. Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
3. Don't put a question mark where God put a period.
4. Don't wait for 6 strong men to take you to church.
5. Forbidden fruits create many jams.
6. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
7. God grades on the cross, not the curve.
8. God loves everyone, but probably prefers "fruits of the spirit" over "religious nuts!"
9. God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.
10. You try to do your best - He'll do the rest!
11. If God is your Copilot - swap seats!
12. Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.
13. Prayer: Don't give God instructions  - just report for duty!
14. The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.
15. The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.
16. We don't change the message, the message changes us.
17. You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him.

40 years ago

This is a flashback from 1981, where I had just arrived at my first US parish of Holy Spirit, in New Hyde Park. Back then I was the sixth priest in the parish, but soon we would be 5, then 4 and finally 3, and at times even just two of us, me and my pastor Fr. John Heinlein. I spent 10 years in that parish, visiting families, spending time with schoolchildren in their classrooms, and since I did not have a car, biking just about everywhere, until I got my license in 1983. I worked also with the Youth Group, the Folk Group, the altar-servers and other organizations. There I experienced snow and ice for the first time. In fact where I'm standing there next to the parish sign, one October morning, I slipped on a sheet of ice, being unaware that water can freeze. I was carrying my breviary, a missalette and my cassette for music during communion on my way to celebrate Mass, and they all came flying, thankfully all of them ending on the grass. I was not hurt, but that day I learned the lesson that you have to be careful walking in the winter months, as water freezes and snow can be very slippery too, even when you're wearing boots and good shoes.

North American Martyrs

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.

St Luke

Guercino - 'Luke painting the Blessed Mother'

Luke, the writer of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, has been identified with St. Paul's "Luke, the beloved physician". He was born in Antioch in Syria, a Greek and a Gentile. Luke's gospel shows special sensitivity to Gentiles. It is only in his gospel that we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan, that we hear Jesus praising the faith of Gentiles and the story of the one grateful leper who is a Samaritan. Luke was also known to be a doctor. In our day, it would be easy to assume that someone who was a doctor was rich, but scholars have argued that Luke might have been born a slave. Not only do we have Paul's word, but St Jerome, Eusebius and St Irenaeus all refer to Luke as a physician.
We have to go to Acts to follow the trail of Luke's Christian ministry. We are grateful for St Luke who followed St Paul on his missionary journeys and recorded with great detail what St Paul did between 51 until 65 AD. Luke is the loyal comrade who stays with Paul when he is shipwrecked on Malta in 60 AD, and later imprisoned in Rome a year later. And after everyone else deserts Paul in his final imprisonment and sufferings, it is Luke who remains with Paul to the end: "Only Luke is with me," Paul writes to Timothy.
Luke's unique perspective on Jesus can be seen in the 6 miracles and 18 parables not found in the other gospels. Luke's is the gospel of the poor and of social justice. He is the one who tells the story of Lazarus and the rich man who ignored him. Luke is the one who uses "Blessed are the poor" instead of "Blessed are the poor in spirit" in the beatitudes. Luke also has a special connection with the women in Jesus' life, especially Mary. It is only in Luke's gospel that we hear the story of the Annunciation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth, the Presentation, and the story of Jesus' disappearance in Jerusalem. It is Luke that we have to thank for the Scriptural parts of the Hail Mary: "Hail Mary full of grace" spoken at the Annunciation and "Blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus" spoken by her cousin Elizabeth. Forgiveness and God's mercy to sinners is also of first importance to Luke. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God's mercy. The reports of Luke's life after Paul's death are conflicting. Some early writers claim he was martyred, others say he lived a long life. Some say he preached in Greece, others in Gaul. The earliest tradition we have says that he died in 84 AD in Boeotia after settling in Greece to write his Gospel. A tradition has it that Luke was also a painter, painting various images of the Blessed Mother, including one he did in Malta when he stayed for 3 months with St Paul. Several images of Mary appeared in later centuries claiming him as the artist and because of this tradition, he is considered a patron of painters of pictures and is often portrayed as painting pictures of Mary. Being the patron of doctors and surgeons, many hospitals around the world were dedicated to him.

More wildlife photos

Since a few people appreciated my photos of deer yesterday, here are three other wildlife photos I took while on my mission travels in Oregon and other neighboring states. The first one is a friendly chipmunk, many of whom usually run away from people - this one happens to be extra friendly, probably looking for food. The second one shows two birds catting with each other, one of whom nesting, and the other one asking her if she is hungry. And the third one shows three playful foals just a few days old at the Clark Quarterhorse Ranch in Mount Vernon, Oregon.

Oh Deer!

Over the years I took thousands of wildlife photos, especially during my years in Oregon. While going through some of my collections, I pulled out a series of deer photos. While hunters shoot them with a bow and arrow or with their rifles, I shoot them with my camera, and then share them with the rest of the world, as I’m doing right now. These were taken between Baker City and Halfway, during my weekly mission trips, probably between 2007 and 2013. When people ask me how am I able to get them looking at me so obediently, I tell them trick that I use. When I see a bunch of deer in a field, I park my car next to it, and stay inside. Then I roll down the window slowly, prepare my camera, frame them focus and ready to shoot. Then I beep the horn and Click! As soon as they hear the beep, they all look up towards the car. That’s how they’re always looking at me.

St Teresa’s prayer

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.

17 needs for today

These are 17 practical needs the world needs today:
A need for permanence in a civilization of transience.
A need for the Absolute when all else is becoming relative.
A need for silence in the midst of noise.
A need for gratuitousness in the face of unbelievable greed.
A need for poverty amid the flaunting of wealth.
A need for contemplation a century of action, for without contemplation, action risks becoming mere agitation.
A need for communication in a universe content with entertainment and sensationalism.
A need for peace amid today’s universal outbursts of violence.
A need for quality to counterbalance the increasingly prevalent response to quantity.
A need for humility to counteract the arrogance of power and science.
A need for human warmth when everything is being rationalized or computerized.
A need to belong to a small group rather than to be a part of the crowd.
A need to slowness to compensate the present eagerness for speed.
A need for truth when the real meaning of words is distorted in political speeches and sometimes even in religious discourses.                                                                                                                              
A need for transparency when everything seems opaque.
A need for the interior life, when you can discover God inside of you.

Sorrows for Joy

The Hail Mary remains a beloved prayer for countless Catholics around the world. It is based on various biblical passages and asks the Virgin Mary for her heavenly intercession. In the 19th century an alternative Hail Mary prayer, one that focused on Our Lady of Sorrows, became popular. His Holiness Pope Pius IX, by a decree of December  23, 1847, encouraged the faithful to say with contrite heart the following prayer in honor of the most holy Virgin in her desolation. The prayer meditates at the sorrowful heart of Mary and how Jesus’ crucifixion caused her much anguish.

Hail Mary, full of sorrows, the Crucified is with thee: tearful art thou amongst women, and tearful is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of the Crucified, grant tears to us crucifiers of thy Son, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Boxer goes to confession

The repentant boxer

On Thanksgiving of 2011, I was invited to visit the McCauley family in my parish in Baker City, who are always happy to see me with plenty of relatives, some of whom I knew from my former parish in John Day. They always like to sit around me and hear stories from the days in New York and Malta, but the funniest incident happened with their dogs that day. They love animals and there must have been 4 or 5 dogs in the house, all well-behaved, until two of them got into a vicious fight over something. It could have been food or one of them bumped into the other. These were two small dogs, a Shit-Zu and a boxer. It only lasted 4 to 6 seconds, but they were at it in a most terrifying way, not knowing if they were going to kill each other or survive. It was so sudden and caught everyone by surprise. When their owners separated them, the boxer came near me and in the cutest way, he put his paws on my thigh, with his sad sorrowful eyes. Al McCauley was next to me and he could not resist laughing hysterically as he said “Oh my goodness, he wants to go to confession!” And so to continue the scene, I started talking to him as I caressed him on his head....”Are you sorry?.... Why did you do it?....Are you gonna fight again?......OK, I forgive you.....” At each phrase he looked at me with pity and extreme remorse as if he was a penitent in the confessional! Just before I finished I told him “And now for your penance, stay away from meat for the next three months!” When I finished, he got down and went in the corner by himself, as everyone joined in the laughter. It was one of those scenes that makes you love animals, especially dogs who can be so loving and tender and can almost speak to you. This was the case with this boxer - he mimicked a confession and if he could talk, he was really telling me that he’s sorry, his eyes showing remorse, guilt and pain, all of which were forgiven by this once-in-a-lifetime dog-confession.

Pope St John XXIII

Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. The firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. After his ordination in 1904, Angelo returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary, and as publisher of the diocesan paper.

His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a first-hand knowledge of war. In 1921 he was made national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He also found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City. In 1925 he became a papal diplomat, serving first in Bulgaria, then in Turkey, and finally in France (1944-53). During World War II, with the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people. Named a cardinal and appointed patriarch of Venice in 1953, he was finally a residential bishop. A month short of entering his 78th year, he was elected pope, taking the name John after his father and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral, St. John Lateran. He took his work very seriously but not himself. When he was elected Pope, he overheard a woman saying ‘My goodness, he’s so fat!’ To which he replied ‘Madame, the election of a Pope is not exactly a beauty contest!’ His wit soon became proverbial, and he began meeting with political and religious leaders from around the world. In 1962 he was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis.

His most famous encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963). Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and made it more international. In 1962 he convened the Second Vatican Council where all the bishops gathered in Rome to discuss many issues facing the church, and this led to great reform, especially in the way we celebrate the liturgy. "Good Pope John" died on June 3, 1963. St. John Paul II beatified him in 2000, and Pope Francis canonized him in 2014, together with John Paul II.

Beloved statue

         
The statue on the left is one of the statues that we had in my childhood parish of St Julian’s, the beloved statue of Our Lady of the Rosary, crafted by Carlo Darmanin, a well-known sculptor. It was made out of paper-mache, and is carried in procession every October through the streets of the town. Incidentally I came across another statue, seen here on the right, which looks very similar to the first one, displayed at the parish in Naxxar, and it was done by Jerome Darmanin, Carlo’s brother. You can compare and notice the many similarities.

Freckles

A grandmother and a little girl whose face was sprinkled with bright red freckles spent the day at the zoo. The children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws. "You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" a boy in the line cried. Embarrassed, the little girl dropped her head. Her grandmother knelt down next to her. "I love your freckles," she said. "Not me," the girl replied. "Well, when I was a little girl I always wanted freckles" she said, tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful!" The girl looked up. "Really?" "Of course," said the grandmother. "Why, just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles." The little girl peered into the old woman's smiling face. "Wrinkles," she answered softly.

Mdina Cathedral dedication

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul, commonly known as St. Paul's Cathedral is the Cathedral dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle. The Cathedral was founded in the 12th century, and according to tradition it stands on the site of where Roman governor Publius met St. Paul following his shipwreck on Malta. Today is the anniversary of its dedication and consecration. Since the 19th century, liturgical functions have been shared between this Cathedral and St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. The first Cathedral which stood on the site is said to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it fell into disrepair during the Arab period (the churches in Malta were looted after the Aghlabid invasion in 870). Following the Norman invasion in 1091, Christianity was re-established as the dominant religion in the Maltese Islands. A Cathedral dedicated to St. Paul was built in the 12th and 13th centuries.

This is the old Cathedral before its destruction. The Cathedral was built in the Gothic and Romanesque, and it was enlarged and modified a number of times. It was severely damaged in the 1693 Sicily earthquake, and although parts of the building were undamaged, on 11 April 1693 the decision was taken to dismantle the old Cathedral and rebuild it in the Baroque style to a design of Lorenzo Gafà. The building was almost complete by 1702. It was consecrated by Bishop Davide Cocco Palmieri on 8 October 1702. The Cathedral was fully completed on 24 October 1705, when work on the dome was finished. It is considered as Lorenzo Gafa’s masterpiece. In the late 1720s, the Bishop's Palace and the Seminary (now the Cathedral Museum) were also built. Many of the paintings around the Cathedral were done by famous artists like Mattia Preti, Giuseppe Cali, and the three Sicilian brothers Vincenzo, Antonio and Francesco Manno. Most importantly, let us remember that this feast is a great reminder that WE ARE THE CHURCH, the Mystical Body of Christ, and in spite of the beautiful churches we have, where we gather as parishioners to pray, we the humans and the Christians form the church, because as Jesus said once 'where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.'

Our Lady of the Rosary

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. 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 Paul VI changed the name of the feast to "Our Lady of the Rosary".

The Franciscan Way

I share with you a video of an old friend of mine who was just a seminarian when I met him in 1998, and he was discerning a vocation with the Capuchin Friars of the Renewal, led by Fr Benedict Groeschel, based in Larchmont and the Bronx, New York. Now Fr. Agustino Torres CFR is an ordained priest and giving inspirational speeches like this one, asserting the Franciscan Way and in simple, practical, down-to-earth words, how we should go down to the basics and embrace the spirituality of St Francis of Assisi.

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, to which she added, "of the Most Blessed Sacrament", as was permitted by her congregation's custom. 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, she was to become a doer of mercy, bringing joy and peace to others, and by writing about God's mercy, she was to encourage others to trust in Him and thus prepare the world for His coming again. 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. For many years her diary was condemned, and even the image of Jesus as she portrayed was abolished. However everything changed when Pope John Paul II was elected Pope. Her case was re-opened and by the year 2000, the Divine Mercy Sunday was established and to be celebrated the Sunday after Easter. On the same day in the year 2000, St Faustina was declared a Saint.

St. Francis of 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, 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.

A masterpiece discovered by chewing gum

This painting representing the Immaculate Conception, produced in 1661 by Francisco de Zurbaran, almost fell into oblivion. It sits discreetly in a recess of the church of Saint Gervais-Saint Protais, in Langon, a small town in southwestern France. The work was painted in the last years of the painter’s life, and has as its subject the Virgin Mary at the moment of the Assumption, praying, wrapped in a blue cape billowing in the air which seems to push her towards heaven. Just like Esteban Murillo, Zurbaran painted several canvases representing the Immaculate Conception. One of them is kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, two others at the Prado Museum, and others in a church in Seville and one in the diocesan museum of Sigüenza, also in Spain. Interestingly, this painting’s location was unknown for years. It was discovered in the sacristy of Saint Gervais in 1966 by Fr. Ferbos, the parish priest. The official story is that the priest discovered the painting hanging high in the sacristy, covered with dust and pigeon droppings. However, the description posted inside the church tells a much more entertaining story. The canvas had been covered with paint to prevent thieves from stealing it, and its true identity and value had been forgotten. Children taking catechism class had used the painting as target for their chewing gum. After it had been hit many times, presumably the weight of the gum on the extra layer of paint made it peel off, and the masterpiece was revealed. The painting was originally donated to the city of Langon in 1863 by Emile Pereire, and was classified as a historical monument on March 5, 1969.

Guardian Angels

The belief in Guardian Angels appears in the Old Testament, although it is not specifically articulated. The belief that angels can be guides and intercessors for men appears in the books of Job and Daniel where angels seem to be assigned to certain countries. In the Gospel Jesus says of children: "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." This is often understood to mean that children are protected by guardian angels. The fathers of the Church had differing views on the Guardian Angels. Saint Ambrose, for example, believed that saints lose their guardian angels so that they might have a greater struggle and persevere. Saints Jerome and Basil of Caesarea argued that sin drove the angels away. The first Christian theologian to outline a specific scheme for guardian angels was Honorius. He said that every soul was assigned a guardian angel the moment it was put into a body. St Thomas Aquinas agreed with Honorius and specified that it was the lowest order of angels who served as guardians. Guardian angels appear in literary works throughout the medieval and renaissance periods. Popes have always invoked the protection of their Guardian Angels. Pope Pius XI recalled in one of his audiences that he relied on his Guardian Angel’s help when confronting the likes of Hitler and Mussolini. Pope John XXIII in a private conversation with a Canadian bishop attributed the idea of calling an ecumenical council to his Guardian Angel - it was via his Angel that God gave him the inspiration to convene Vatican Council II, which started October 11, 1962. One can also name your own Guardian Angels, as I have personally done when I called mine Stephen. Yes, Stephen has been very good to me, protecting me from danger and saving me from near accidents and who knows what else. PRAYER: Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

St. Therese of Lisieux

Generations of Catholics have admired this young saint, called her the "Little Flower", and found in her short life more inspiration for their own lives than in volumes by theologians. Yet Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was a brief edited version of her journal called "Story of a Soul." But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized. Therese was born in France in 1873, the pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk. The two had gotten married but determined they would be celibate until a priest told them that was not how God wanted a marriage to work! They must have followed his advice very well because they had nine children. The five children who lived were all daughters. Louis and Zelie Martin would themselves be canonized in 2015. Her mother Zelie died when Theresa was only 5 years old and her sixteen year old sister Pauline became her second mother -- which made the second loss even worse when Pauline entered the Carmelite convent five years later. Pauline and Marie would follow and that left her with her father and Celine.

She of course wanted to join the convent but was too young – yet, this did nto stop her. She went to the bishop and her father took her to Rome to meet Pope Leo XIII. Soon afterwards, Therese was admitted to the Carmelite convent that her sisters Pauline and Marie had already joined. She knew as a Carmelite nun she would never be able to perform great deeds. Therese took every chance to sacrifice, no matter how small it would seem. She smiled at the sisters she didn't like. She ate everything she was given without complaining - often given the worst leftovers. Upon their father’s death, now Celine also entered the convent. Four of the sisters were now together again. In this small convent they now made up one-fifth of the population. Despite this and the fact that Therese was a permanent novice they put her in charge of the other novices. Then in 1896, she coughed up blood. She kept working without telling anyone until she became so sick a year later everyone knew it. She died on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24 years old. After she died, Pauline put together Therese's memoirs and sent 2000 copies to other convents. Within two years, the Martin family had to move because her notoriety was so great and by 1925 she had been canonized.