(302) Living in the Grace and Power of the Holy Spirit

 AMDG

By Dr. Alan Schreck

Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville

The Papal Altar in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome under the huge bronze Baroque Baldachin (canopy) sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini with an image of the Holy Spirit symbolized by a dove in the background above.  The Church owes so much to the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit over two millenniums and despite persecution, heresy, corruption, etc. the gates of hell has not and will not prevail against it.

Editor’s Note: The following is a summary of the morning and afternoon talks of the main speaker at the 2024 Diocese of Steubenville Men’s Day of Renewal in Dr. Schreck'a own words.

Are you thirsty? John 4:7-15; 7:37-39

St. Augustine comments: “ ‘If you knew the gift of God.’ The gift of God is the Holy Spirit. But he is using veiled language as he speaks to the woman and gradually enters into her heart…What could be gentler and kinder than the encouragement he gives?... He was promising the Holy Spirit in satisfying abundance. She did not yet understand.”

My testimony- I was thirsty…and in darkness. Until I came to know what St. Paul taught: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3) and “…because you are sons [of God] God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba, Father!’” (Gal 4:6; also Rom 8:15,16) I discovered that God is real, and what it means to know Him!   I also discovered the call and grace of the Holy Spirit to live in unity/fellowship with others.

Who is the Holy Spirit?  At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “Because I have said these things to you [about leaving them] sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away the Counselor [Gk: parakletos] will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:6,7)

‘Paraclete’, literally “called to one’s side”, is translated “Counselor,” “Consoler” or “Advocate” (legal: defense attorney). Jesus promises: “I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him; but you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you” (Jn 14:16,17). What a great promise!

John the Baptist says that Jesus will baptize with “the Holy Spirit (Mk 1:8) and fire (Mt 3:11; Lk 3:16)!” When does this happen? For Jesus’s first disciples: at Pentecost. For us: at baptism. We become “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19) and receive “the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Rom 8:15). We can live, not “according to the flesh” [our unredeemed human nature] but “according to the Spirit” (see Rom 8:9-17). The Holy Spirit conforms us into the image of Christ—holiness! What a great Gift—God comes to dwell in us through the Holy Spirit, the “Sanctifier.” He is “the love of God… poured into our hearts” (Rom 5:5).  In sum: “Life in the Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation of man.” (CCC 1699)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem taught “…the Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console.” The Catechism describes the Holy Spirit as “the interior Master of Life according to Christ, a gentle guest and friend who inspires, guides, corrects, and strengthens that life” (CCC 1697). The Acts of the Apostles provides countless examples of the Holy Spirit guiding the early Church. (Acts 6:2,3;8:29,39;10:47;13:2,4;15:28;16:6;20:22,23)

How does the Holy Spirit counsel and guide us? Especially through prayer! He is “the interior Master of Christian prayer” (CCC 2672). All Christian prayer is prayer “in the Spirit.” We pray for the Spirit (Lk 11:13; “Come, Holy Spirit”); we pray in the Spirit (Jn 4:23,24; Lk 10:21); we pray to the Holy Spirit (“with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified” Nicene Creed).

We also pray to the Holy Spirit: to reveal our sins (Jn 16:8), to strengthen us against temptation; for the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit (Is 11:1,2), for guidance and discernment.

The Holy Spirit calls us to act, but without listening to the ‘voice’, the gentle promptings, of the Holy Spirit in prayer, we won’t know what God wants. Eli taught young Samuel to say “Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.” Do we only pray, “Listen, Lord. Your servant is speaking”?

When asked, “How does the pope pray?” Pope St. John Paul II responded: “You would have to ask the Holy Spirit! The pope prays as the Holy Spirit permits him to pray…The apostle [Paul] comes to the heart of the matter when he writes: “The Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings” (cf. Rom 8:26). (John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, pp,16,19.)

Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of prayer by his prevenient grace (that precedes conversion). Since he teaches us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites us to call upon the Holy Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and end of every important action. (CCC, 2670)

The Holy Spirit in Action!

An image of Mary and the apostles during the Descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and tongues of fire.  The apostles emerged from the Upper Room on fire to teach the Gospel to all nations. 

Names and Images of the Holy Spirit in the Bible are action words:  wind/breath, consuming fire, flowing water--even doves & clouds move!  The Holy Spirit is the ‘action’ person of God- the person of God who moves us.

Jesus’s Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Mt 28:19). But after Jesus rose from the dead, before he ascended to the Father, he said “Wait.” Wait for what? “…wait for the promise of my Father, which ‘you heard from me, for John baptized with water but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4,5). Why wait? “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you & you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts1:8).   They were “clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49). When? Pentecost! Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit, put Jesus’s commission into action!

For us, the sacrament of Confirmation “perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church” (CCC 1258). “It gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, & never to be ashamed of the Cross” (1303) How is the Church doing? Are confirmed Catholics boldly proclaiming Christ? Are most Catholics “active Catholics”? (Some reflections: cf. Matthew Kelly’s Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic). What can we do? Pray for God to release, activate, renew the grace & power of the Holy Spirit given at confirmation!

Take a moment to think about what or how you are doing to be a witness to God and your faith, both in word and action. Our lives have a “ripple effect”!

(Don’t know what to say? Jesus says: “Ask the Holy Spirit!” Lk 12:11,12)

2) The Second Vatican Council and subsequent papal teaching give clear teaching about how lay people are called to ‘build up’ the Church and carry out the mission of the Church in the world- the ‘apostolate’ of the laity. How are we equipped to do this? The Holy Spirit sanctifies us “through the ministry [of the ordained] and the sacraments. However for the exercise of the apostolate he [the Holy Spirit] gives…special gifts [i.e. charisms] besides…From the reception of these charisms, even the most ordinary ones, there arises for each of the faithful the right and duty of exercising them in the Church and in the world for the good of men and the development of the Church, of exercising them in the freedom of the Holy Spirit who “blows where he wills (Jn 3:8)…” (D. on Apostolate of the Laity).

The Church’s teaching on the charisms, also found in the CCC 799-801,2003, 2004, is based on the teaching of St. Paul- each Christian (1 Cor 12:7) is given a particular gift (or gifts) to ‘build up’ the Body of Christ. They must be used for that purpose- in charity- to be effective, and beneficial for the one using them. The Church, being a spiritual as well as human reality, needs these gifts of the Holy Spirit to be strengthened and to carry out her mission. (See 1 Cor 12 & 13; Rom 12: 4-8; Eph 4:11,12). St. Paul lists 17 distinct gifts, but these are not all. Dr. Mary Healy divides them into gifts of revelation (discernment, words of wisdom and knowledge), speech (prophesy, prayer gifts, music) and power (extraordinary faith, healing, miracles). There are also service gifts: administration, giving aid or money, works of mercy and ‘everyday’ services.

Some of these are human talents ‘anointed’ by the Spirit; others are purely spiritual.  “As each has received a gift, employ it (use it!) for one another” (1 Pt 4:10). Jesus’s parable of the talents applies here. A gift of the Spirit, like any gift, unused or “unopened”, is useless. (“… a member [of the Church] who does not work at the growth of the body [of Christ] to the extent of his possibilities must be considered useless both to the Church and to himself.”)  D. on the Apostolate of the Laity, 2) No “couch potato” Catholics! Reflect for a few moments on what charisms you have- natural talents that the Holy Spirit can ‘anoint’, or spiritual gifts.  How have you used them in the service of others, of Christ, of the Church? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the charisms you already have, and ask for whatever gifts He would give you, with His help to use those gifts as He wills.

3) Living in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit should be visible to others, and to ourselves, in the way we live. If we “abide” in Jesus Christ, like branches of a vine, we will bear “fruit” (Jn 15: 4, 5,8). St. Paul calls these the “fruit of the Holy Spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22,23; CCC 736, 1832). These are visible signs of union with Jesus and the grace of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.             

A final reflection: What do you see as the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life, evident to others? What “fruit” of the Holy Spirit do you need, or need to grow in?  Ask the Holy Spirit, specifically, for this! Twice in Jesus’s teaching on ‘the vine and the branches’ he says that if you abide in me, ask the Father for whatever you need in my name and He will give it to you (Jn 15:7,16). “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find…how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Lk 11: 9-13).

                                 Appendix

Essentials of Prayer 

from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2625-49)

Praise. “Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live!” Ps 146:1

Thanksgiving. Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said: “I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants…”Luke 10:21

Blessing and Adoration. Adoration is homage of the spirit to the King of Glory (Ps 24: 9,10), respectful silence in the presence of…God.” (2628) (This will also include meditation, such as on God’s Word in Sacred Scripture.)

Petition and Intercession.  And I [Jesus] tell you: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find…If you then… know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit (or “good things - Matthew 7:11) to those who ask him! (Luke 11: 9,13)

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Wisdom - good judgment

Knowledge - learning and mastery

Understanding - intelligence and insight

Piety - personal holiness

Council - good advice

Fortitude - moral strength

Fear of the Lord - awe and reverence

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit 

Joy - spiritual happiness

Patience - enduring hardship

Self-Control - restraint and self-discipline

Peace - inner tranquility

Gentleness - soft-spoken nature

Kindness - compassionate behavior

Charity - divine love

Generosity - selfless giving

Chastity - purity and virtue

Modesty - humble demeanor

Faithfulness - loyalty and trust

Goodness - moral excellence

 

(301) Being a Godfather or Godmother: An Awesome Responsibility

 AMDG

Antonina Frederyka, born a week after her cousin Sophia on March 5, is baptized at St. John the Evangelist Church in Front Royal, VA.  Holding Antonina are her godparents, Isaac and Julia Easton.  Looking on is their son Charlie. 

       Being asked to be a godmother or godfather is a great honor, which pales in comparison to the great sacrament of Baptism.  But what is really important is the responsibility that honor entails. 

   Being a godfather of six and having been involved with the Baptisms of my four adult children and now five grandchildren including three in 2024 alone, please let me share some thoughts and lessons I have learned about being a godparent.  I’m taking the risk of being a hypocrite because I myself have been negligent with my six godchildren.  Please don’t repeat my mistakes.  

 

      In the American culture the beautiful tradition of godparents is an honor, but only a formality as part of the Baptismal rite.  As the years pass into adolescence, the godson or goddaughter has little or no contact with the godparents.   Often, they move; friendships fade; and the family loses contact with them.  The child may not even know who his/her godparents are.  Too often the godparents are lax in their faith or fallen away Catholics, certainly not models of faithfulness to Church teaching.  That’s not the way the Church intends it to be.

 

       How should it be?  The very name, godmother or godfather essentially means other mother or other father……in other words, back-up parents, especially if the corresponding birth parents are lax or indifferent in forming the children or something happens to the family as a traumatic accident, serious illness, or family breakup.  Godparents are supposed to help or supplement the birth parents in spiritual formation and provide reinforcement of the Christian values that the birth parents are trying to inculcate in the children.

This photo shows part of Antonina’s extended family……her parents, grandparents, an uncle and an aunt……Daniel, big brother Anselmito, and Stephanie Spiotta.  Jaga is holding her granddaughter Nina, followed by her Aunt Naomi Faro, Grandfather Paul Sebastian, and Uncle Joseph.

However, contradicting the values of the family could present problems and the godparent should be sensitive to offending the birth parents.  Unless the godson or goddaughter is of age or outright sin is involved, parental authority takes precedence over the advice of godparents.  Especially in adolescence, the youth may be afraid to consult his/her parents on a personal problem or simply desires a second opinion, another viewpoint.

 

    To keep contact with the godson or goddaughter, parents should invite the godparents to family functions, certainly such events as the child’s birthday party, First Communion, Confirmation, graduation, wedding, and perhaps a class play, special sports events, etc.  Perhaps the godparent could take the child to a major league baseball game or hiking.  If distance is a problem, the godparent should at least make a brief phone call on a birthday or when the child achieves an important milestone.  The godparent should keep up on how the child is doing throughout his/her life. 

 

The point is to build up a relationship such that the child would feel free to consult a godparent on a personal problem.  This is easier if the godparent is a relative of the child or a close family friend, rather young yet mature to maintain a fruitful relationship for many years.  Perhaps even better is choosing a married couple to be the godparents who can reinforce or complement each other.

 

   Really, godparents should be accepted as members of the extended family.  In Latin America they often call godparents, “compadres” as part of the extended family.  At the very least godparents should try to pray daily for each of their godchildren by name, a brief petition for each one as part of their prayer life.  Each brief petition by name is an act of love that strengthens the bond between godparent and child.

 

      Thus being a godparent is not simply an honor, but an awesome responsibility.  May both parents and godparents take this responsibility seriously.  May we, who are godparents, do a better job at this most important task.  They may be able to help their godsons and goddaughters remain faithful to the Church.  Let’s follow the Catholic culture, not the secular culture.  

 

Pastors have a very important role in instructing both parents and godparents in the selection and fulfilling their duties.  Parents often need guidance on even naming the child.  Traditionally, the Church has asked parents to choose the name of a saint or close to it so that the child may have a patron saint, a model to follow for the rest of his/her life.  Patron saints are also great for the environment in the home, which is the domestic church as well as being helpful in parish renewal.  In Poland people celebrate a person’s “name day” (the feast day of his/her patron saint which is easier to remember) often even more than the birthday.  

 

      I realize that I have portrayed the ideals of being a godparent which are not always achievable.  Being what a godparent should be is not easy.  Career, family problems, home maintenance, hobbies, the boob tube, and just being so busy with both the essentials and non-essentials of life all get in the way.  Nevertheless, let’s strive for the ideal.  We may never achieve the ideal, but the ideal gives us the right direction.  Only a few steps in that direction is progress.  

(300) 2024: The Year of the Baby in Our Extended Family

 AMDG

From left to right Daniel, Anselm, & Stefcia Spiotta, her brother Joseph visit their Aunt Marycia & her son Mihal Pozoga in Kielce, Poland.  Then follows Elizabeth, Juan Pablito, & John-Paul, his godson Adash, his Uncle Janusz Pozoga and grandson Krisztof at his side.   May 2023 was their last chance for Juan Pablito and Anselmito to fly free before reaching their second birthdays on May 26 and May 29.  Here they are visiting a medieval castle in Poland.

 

      May 2023 our daughter Stephanie Sebastian Spiotta (Daniel) and daughter-in-law Elizabeth Herrera Sebastian (John-Paul) together with their respective families visited relatives in Poland (see above photo). It was their last chance for their toddler sons (Anselmito and Juan Palblito respectively) to travel free (less than two years old fly free).

       During their visit they made a pilgrimage to the great shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Both asked Mother Mary to intercede that each have a child.  Guess what? A couple of weeks after returning to the U.S., they were both pregnant!  This past February 27 Sophia Rose was born to Elizabeth and John-Paul.  Exactly one week later on March 5 Antonina Frederyka (named after her great grandmother and grandmother respectively) was born to Stephanie and Daniel.  They are truly Mary’s babies.

After considerable prayer by many people, Naomi and John Faro gave birth to a beautiful rainbow baby, Bennett James on July 28. The Lord indeed answers prayers!  Let us all prayerfully trust in His will which is somehow for the best in the long run. 2024 has become for us the Year of the Baby.  Thank you, Lord!

       Naomi and John previously kept it as a secret the sex of the baby they expected.  They kept us guessing until Naomi’s friends threw a baby shower/gender reveal party on June 15.  Everything was either pink or blue……dishes, utensils, balloons, etc. Each person was supposed to predict boy or girl.  I predicted girl because I heard they already had a name for a girl but not a boy. In the afternoon they took us out to the back yard and John shot off a toy cannon and out came a rain of blue confetti. The secret was revealed. It was a beautiful fun filled day.  What a great party that Naomi’s classy friends threw. Lizzy, her Franciscan University roommate came all the way from Boston! 

      So we were very busy with our babies……spending time in Front Royal, VA, Irving, TX, and Durham, NC.  As with Juan Pablito and Anselmito, Jaga was super in helping out with baby care, grocery shopping, and cooking.  You know, been there done that in helping the women to adjust to a first or second baby.  During this time I have been official dish washer and help out with babysitting.  

       I really appreciate Jaga more than ever now since she made it look so easy and I took her for granted in raising our four children, John-Paul, Stefcia, Naomi, and Joseph while working as a nurse 20 hours a week and when I was a full time professor at the University of Rio Grande, she took care of my ailing and aging mother who died in our living room at the age of 97 several months after a severe stroke.  She wanted no part of a nursing home and was happy sitting at the kitchen table and watching the kids run around.  Kathleen (four kids) and Kate (8 kids) were also super moms who we also tended to take for granted at the time.  And of course Elizabeth, Stephanie, and Naomi are doing great jobs, the first two handling a toddler and a baby and Naomi is adjusting to motherhood at all hours of the day and night.

 

      All five grandchildren are or will be familiar if not conversant in three languages.  Children are unusually gifted at language. Jaga speaks to them only in Polish (as John-Paul and Stefcia also do to some extent) and I speak to them only in Spanish. 

      The five grandchildren seem to be developing nicely with their share of crying and tantrums plus waking up at night.  Anselmito loves to put on shows for his little sister.  He loves to make her laugh by making faces and dancing. We’re happy that Juan Pablito and Anselmito have adapted well to the arrival of their new baby sisters. 

Bright eyed Sophia Rose Herrera Sebastian, born February 27.

Family picture of Elizabeth Herrera Sebastian, Sophia, John-Paul Sebastian, & Juan Pablito.

Antonina Frederyka Spiotta, born a week after her cousin Sophia on March 5, is baptized at St. John the Evangelist Church in Front Royal, VA.  Holding the baby are her godparents, Isaac and Julia Easton.  Looking on is their son. Charlie.  

From left to right are Daniel, Anselmito, and Stephanie Sebastian Spiotta.  Jaga Gajda Sebastian is holding her granddaughter Nina, followed by her Aunt Naomi Sebastian Faro, Grandfather Paul, and Uncle Joseph Sebastian.

Just arrived Bennett James Faro on July 28.  

Benito with his proud mother, Naomi and father, John Faro.  It was a tough ordeal for both mother and baby, but they made it with flying colors.  Welcome, welcome Benito to planet Earth!

       Please pray for my younger brother Deacon John (82).  He has fought Rheumatoid Arthritis for several years.  Now he is recovering from a new ailment.  His bone marrow is not producing red blood cells and thus has had 17 blood transfusions.  His energy level is minimal.  On top of that he is getting over a bad case of cellulitis in his badly swollen left leg that hospitalized him for a week.  He has handled it all with exemplary faith and courage.  John keeps saying that he’s grateful because “many others have it a lot worse”.  I have Stage Four kidney disease.  If it stays the way it is, I can live with it.  I can still walk two miles a day, but slow.  My filtration rate is way down and my bone marrow produces protein and not enough red blood cells.  So I can also use some prayers.  Please continue to pray for Kathleen, who had severe balance problems because of liquid around the brain.  The doctor put in a shunt and it seems to be working as she continues to recover beautifully.

 

      John has done a great job as deacon.  Read one of his homilies that received accolades.

(259) A Veteran Speaks Out on Patriotism and Wokism......... By Deacon John V. Sebastian Sr. in His Veterans      Day Homily  https://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2021/11/259-veteran-speaks-out-on-patriotism.html

Please also pray for my best friend, Joe Ladik; we were classmates at Carnegie Mellon U.  He was president of our Catholic Newman Club.  An avid gardener, he lost his balance and his head struck a rock.  That left him paralyzed from the neck down.  Shorty after that he lost his wife Carole, the former head of pharmacy at Pittsburgh’s Penn Magee Hospital, due to cancer.  For over three years Joe has heroically carried this huge cross while his son Jeff so faithfully takes care of him.  He continues to offer this great cross to the Lord and I am sure all of that is making a saint out of him.

 

      John-Paul, a great Math teacher, got burnt out doing it and elected to work from home for Pennymax, a mortgage broker. Very fulfilling is helping customers to manage huge debt and be able to keep their homes.  Qualified in actuarial science plus Excel and always a whiz at Math, he is allowed to work from home.  He’s done very well in that and has an excellent way with customers.  They have written glowing feedback reports and John Paul was commended by his immediate superior.   He’s a member of St. Basil’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Dallas and is a member of their choir.  It’s gratifying that he’s following our Byzantine Catholic heritage that his great grandfather, Fr. Vladimir Mihalich handed down.

 

      Daniel continues as professor of Literature at Christendom College, one of the very few Catholic Christ centered colleges, true to its founding mission.  His dissertation is slow, but hopefully sure. It’s so hard to teach full time, raise a family, and get the dissertation done.  Daniel is so gifted. Both John-Paul’s family and Stephanie’s family are so blessed to have full time mothers.  And it looks like Naomi will do the same except for some part time work.  Both Stephanie and Elizabeth are former teachers.

  

      John Faro is a full time medical doctor with a residency in radiology at Duke University, perhaps the best nationally in that field.  The work is demanding, but after a year of general interning in Dayton’s Kettering Hospital, he is in his second year of radiology residency with three more to go.  He will be among the country’s top radiologists in no time.  He’s blessed with a brilliant mind, patience, and perseverance.  Naomi had been a labor & delivery nurse in Cincinnati dealing with problem pregnancies.  In Durham, North Carolina she has been a pediatric nurse over the last year in the Duke University Health System. 

 

       Joseph, a Ohio State graduate in Engineering & Computer Science, is a program developer for Epic that computerizes patient records.  Although he had only one year at Franciscan University, he had an even better formation with St. Paul's Outreach which has something like fraternity and sorority houses on a number of college campuses.  They received good formation in community living and go out and bring in other students for dinner and Bible studies.  For the past two years Joseph has been a software Engineer for Microsoft in Atlanta.  He’s been so faithful with his weekly telephone calls to us.  He manages to attend every family function (Baptisms, weddings, Christmas, Easter, etc.).  All of them have been faithful Catholics.  May it continue that way, I pray. 

        As a team Jaga and Paul continue to bring Holy Communion to the sick every Sunday, pray with them, and give moral support.  We encourage them to trust in the Lord and to unite their crosses with the Lord's cross, offering it all to Him as a dynamic prayer for the conversion of sinners as Mary requested at Fatima, for the world, for the Church in crisis, and for their loved ones.  Research shows that patients who spiritualize their suffering, do better.  Then suffering has meaning and purpose, becoming productive and more bearable. Suffering born with patience, faith, and trust is a path to sanctity. See

http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2014/02/133-lourdes-and-world-day-of-sick.html . 

 

      Jaga gave up her role as First Communion teacher to give time for our grand babies, but she still helps out at a weekly soup kitchen and another on the last Sunday of the month before the welfare checks arrive.  Paul writes blurbs and inserts for the church bulletin and his blog at (http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com).  He’s also very active in the Knights of Columbus.

 

      Another big event in our family was the reception of our son-in-law, John Faro into the Church.  I don’t remember sharing it.  We told him not to convert unless he truly believed.  Read about it at

 

(282) AN UNFORGETTABLE EASTER VIGIL…… Our Son-in-Law Is Received Into the Catholic Church                     https://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2023/07/282-unforgettable-easter-vigil-john.html  

Every January, the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in 1973, I participate with about 300,000 other pilgrims in the March for Life in Washington.  See details at of one of them at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2018/02/203-diversity-as-east-meets-west-at.html.  In the past we've had all kinds of bad weather.......rain, sleet, snow, and bitter cold, including being stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 18 hours.  But the weather for the 2018 March was absolutely beautiful.  I usually devote a blog for each March.  On the eve of the March there's a standing room only crowd for a Mass at the huge Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.  The fellowship is always great.  During a break I meet with my godson, Danny Turk in the Archives Building.

 

To close you might be interested in a couple of my more recent blog articles.  The first is perhaps the best I’ve ever written….what one can do during Eucharistic Adoration and a meditation on the great love of God for each one of us.

 

        (293) “A Forty Hours Eucharistic Meditation: The Greatest Love Story of All Time and True”

   https://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2024/08/293-forty-hours-eucharistic-meditation.html

    On July 17-21 the very successful National Eucharistic Congress was held as part of the National Eucharistic Revival.  Over 54,000 people attended, many of whom made walking pilgrimages from the extreme north, south, west, and east.  The following article blog tells all about it with photos and videos of the talks.  

(291) It's Over But You Can Still Attend the National Eucharistic Congress Via EWTN On Demand and Youtube: Be a Eucharistic Missionary and/or Knight of the Eucharist

            https://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2024/07/291-attend-10th-national-eucharistic.html

       We just celebrated Labor Day not long ago and below is a Labor Day reflection on how the economy works and the role of the worker in it.

(267) “THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOR IN THE ECONOMY: A Labor Day Reflection From a Christian World View, a Simple Model of How the Economy Works”

             https://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2022/09/267-fruits-of-your-labor-in-economy.html  

(299) The Sacred Heart of Jesus: the Symbol of Christ's Intense Love For Each One of Us and the New Knights of Columbus Pilgrim Icon Program

AMDG 

The 1767 painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Italian artist Pompeo Batoni was chosen to be restored and reproduced by the Knights of Columbus for visits to the many councils as the centerpiece of the Order’s upcoming Pilgrim Icon Program in 2025.  

    The Knights of Columbus is launching a new Pilgrim Icon Program in 2025 centered on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The new prayer program — announced by Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly at the 142nd Supreme Convention in August — coincides with the 350th anniversary of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque’s visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which began around 1674 in France.       

Our Lord’s apparitions to St. Faustina and message of divine mercy almost three centuries later in the 1930s reinforce that message of intense love for each one of us.  The Divine Mercy devotion focuses more on the meditation of our Lord’s passion.  Furthermore, our Lord promised that when the Divine Mercy Chaplet is recited in the presence of a dying person,  He would come to him/her.  In those apparitions Christ made many revelations to St. Faustina which as instructed, she recorded in her book, “The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul”.

“Our Lord reminded [St. Margaret Mary] of that ancient and beautiful devotion, and she shared that gift with the world,….In the heart of Christ, we see the heart of the Father, and we ask Our Lord to help us make His heart our own, so that we may see and love in others what He sees and loves in us. That is what the world needs. And on the 350th anniversary of St. Margaret Mary’s visions, we will make this mission our own”, Patrick Kelly emphasized.

Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly speaks about the Order’s new pilgrim icon of the Sacred Heart at the Midyear Membership Meeting of State Deputies on Nov. 3 in National Harbor, Md.

The Order’s founder, Blessed Fr. Michael McGivney, had a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart.  Since childhood his family had in their home an ornate devotional plaque of the Sacred Heart that is still in the Order’s possession.   In 1881, when Father McGivney accompanied convicted murderer Chip Smith to the gallows, this man on Death Row wore a Sacred Heart badge given to him by the priest.  A century later, when Father McGivney’s body was exhumed in 1981, it was discovered that he had been buried with a cloth image of the Sacred Heart.

The Knights selected a painting of the Sacred Heart by Italian artist Pompeo Batoni, located in Rome’s Church of the Gesù, to be the centerpiece of the new pilgrim icon program.  A copy of the image, blessed by the papal almoner, will soon be given to each K of C jurisdiction and, beginning in 2025, will travel from council to council, serving as the focus for prayer throughout the Order, perfect for the Holy Year of Hope.  The Knights did the same with over 100 reproduced copies of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe a few years ago.              

Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, with Supreme Officers and other K of C leaders, celebrates a votive Mass of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Sacred Heart Chapel of the Church of the Gesù in Rome on Oct. 23. Earlier in 2024, the chapel’s 1767 painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Italian artist Pompeo Batoni was chosen to be restored and reproduced for visits to the many councils as the centerpiece of the Order’s upcoming Pilgrim Icon Program in 2025. 

During their visit to Rome for the unveiling of the newly restored baldacchino in St. Peter’s Basilica, Supreme Knight Kelly and other Supreme Officers gathered Oct. 23 at the Church of the Gesù for a votive Mass of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrated by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori.  Jesuit Father James Conn, superior of the Pontifical North American College’s Casa Santa Maria, concelebrated and gave the homily.  The 325-year-old side chapel in which they gathered was renamed the Chapel of the Sacred Heart in 1920 when Batoni’s 1767 painting was placed above the altar. The Supreme Council had agreed to sponsor the restoration of the chapel, including Batoni’s painting, in honor of the 350th anniversary celebration.

In his homily, Father Conn called devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus “the symbol of the boundless and passionate love of God for humankind” and reflected on the all-encompassing intentions of the traditional “Morning Offering” prayers to the Sacred Heart.  “It occurred to me that that is what we seek as we contemplate the intentions of the Most Sacred Heart: What is it that he desires of us and the world, seeking to redeem all mankind?  It is our privilege, not just to reproduce this image, but to reproduce the reality of the boundless and compassionate love of God in our own lives and in our care for our brothers and sisters.” 

Pope Francis echoes these themes in his new encyclical dedicated to the Sacred Heart, Dilexit Nos (He Loves Us), which was published the following day, Oct. 24.  “The heart of Christ, as the symbol of the deepest and most personal source of his love for us, is the very core of the initial preaching of the Gospel. It stands at the origin of our faith, as the wellspring that refreshes and enlivens our Christian beliefs.”     

Knights process with the Sacred Heart pilgrim icon during a Mass and Holy Hour on January 3 at St. Mary’s Church where our founder Blessed Fr. Michael McGivney served in New Haven, Connecticut. (Photo by Paul Haring) 

    The Supreme Knight reflected on the Sacred Heart of Jesus in light of the encyclical, encouraging all Knights to make devotion to the Sacred Heart a priority in their families.  Every home should have an image of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place of honor for the family as part of your domestic church.  

    “Devotion to the Sacred Heart is simple — it reminds us of God’s love for us. And it’s meant to inspire our love in return for Christ.  In many ways, this encyclical is perfect for the Knights of Columbus.  Pope Francis writes that we live in a fragmented and divided society, but the heart of Christ is a unifying center.  The heart of Christ is the source of truth and goodness that we all need”.

An artist’s depiction of an apparition of Our Lord to the Visitation Nun, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque at the Monastery of the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial near the Loire River in East Central France.  Today the monastery is a shrine for all to visit and pray.  Notice the parallel with the image of Divine Mercy.  In 1830 and again in 1864 her body was exhumed and her brain continued to be incorrupt 174 years after her death.  Amidst controversy and scrutiny the Jesuits championed her cause, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Communion on First Fridays, Eucharistic Adoration Holy Hour on Thursdays, and celebrating the Feast of the Sacred Heart), which was officially recognized by the Church 75 years after her death.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the symbol of our Lord’s intense love for every one of us.  St. Margaret Mary is the patron saint of devotees of the Sacred Heart, and those suffering with polio and from the loss of parents.  Her feast day is celebrated on October 16.

      Our Lord made and astounding promise to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690 & Canonized 1920).  In a series of visions between 1673-1675, He revealed the wonders of His love and asked her to spread the treasures of His goodness.   "I PROMISE you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penance; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment”.  

    In this new year let’s resolve to make the nine First Fridays this year and again next year in honor of the Sacred Heart.  Let’s promote this devotion!    

    In another vision, Margaret Mary also stated that she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night from 11 pm to midnight in prayer, known as a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration in honor of Christ's agony in the Garden of Gethsemani with meditation, particularly appropriate on Holy Thursday.  Eight days after the Feast of Corpus Christi we observe the Feast of the Sacred Heart.