Home Mass

We had the great privilege of having a priest friend stay with us this weekend. We received the precious body and blood of our Lord and Savior in our living room. I wondered if this is what it felt like for the early Christians who met in their homes to celebrate the "breaking of the bread." ( We didn't have to fear having the door broken down and being imprisoned and killed for our faith though.) By the way, the breaking of the bread was the term they used to describe partaking in the Lord's Supper, not just a common meal.
   The liturgy we prayed today is almost identical to that described by Saint Justin Martyr in the second century.

Feast of Saint Pope John Paul II

Today the Church celebrates the life and heroic virtue of Pope JP2.  He was at the end of his pontificate when I entered the Church.  In a very short time I felt bonded to him and read all I could of his encyclicals.  I wept the day he died and marveled how the Church chose another successor of Saint Peter as they have done for the past two millennia .

   Saint Pope John Paul 2, pray for us to love God as you did and live our lives in awe and respect for the life God has given all of us.

Feast of Saint Therese

Today the Church celebrates and honors this quiet little girl French girl who became a giant of the faith. What can I say about Saint Therese that hasn't already been said?
Not a whole lot. She entered a convent at fifteen years of age after going to Rome to try to get an exception from the pope. The pope told her to go back to France and submit to her bishop! She later died a horrible death from tuberculosis at twenty four years of age in 1897. Saint Therese was a cloistered Carmelite nun and never left the convent, yet  a relatively short time after her death,  was canonized. She would have been only 52 when she was made a saint. Her writings were translated into multiple languages and disseminated throughout the world. Saint Pope John Paul 2 declared her a doctor of the Church (of which there are only three women.)
   She said she wanted to spend her heaven doing good on earth and she has kept her promise!
So many prayers asking for her intercession have been answered.
  Saint Therese, pray for us. Amen

If you haven't read her autobiography, I highly recommend it. The Story of a Soul, which can be found free on the internet.

Here's a little tune I wrote to honor the Little Flower, Saint Therese