MI MONTHLY FORMATION (7)
In Fr. Kolbe’s Marian and Missionary Spirituality
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JULY 2009 PRAYER INTENTION:
That consecration to you may make our lives an occasion of praise to the Lord and concrete charity toward the needy.
Let us be led by the Immaculata in acts of charity.
Dear MI Members and Friends,
It’s summer! The California June gloom is passing and the heat of summer is upon us. Heat seems to make us lethargic and desire to just lie around and not do much of anything, but, we can’t let down our guard. I think my mom believed fully in the saying, ‘idle hands are the tool of the devil.’ Closed in your room too long, there would arrive a definite bang on the door to come out and join the world. Charity demands we participate in life, like Mary when the Angel Gabriel revealed to her that her cousin Elizabeth was with child, she set out in haste to care for her and bring to her salvation.
Mary’s charity stems from her relationship with God. Our beloved late Pope John Paul II wrote: ‘God is love’, St. John affirms (1Jn 4:8). Everything that exists is a reflection of the free love of God, and therefore every creature expresses in some way its infinite splendor. In a particular way, love is the center and vertex of the human person, made in the image and likeness of God. Mary Immaculate, the highest and the most perfect of human persons, eminently reproduces the image of God and is therefore made capable of loving him with incomparable intensity as the Immaculate, without distractions or slackening. She is the unique handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38) who with her free and personal fiat responds to God’s love by always doing what he asks of her.” (Dec 8, 1982)
We are consecrated to Mary for all time, even in the summer, and we should also continue to praise Him whatever the season. In our time of rest we can pick up some inspirational reading; reflect on God’s presence and goodness in our lives in Eucharistic adoration or in the beauty of nature. This generally will help us to be more peaceful when we come out of our room or return home to the family. Reaffirming Our Lord’s centrality in our lives puts back order into a life that may have gotten chaotic and frenetic with the year’s demands.
In larger cities, throughout the USA, daily Mass is available. Here we are fed on the Word and the Eucharist in order to be a leaven of charity in society. We hope to be more available to the will of God as he reveals himself in the daily activities. St Maximilian wrote: “As long as your will desires only her will, then be at peace, for truly, then, do you love her, and through her, you love Jesus and the Father. Do not forget that your holiness does not depend upon extraordinary actions, but on the best fulfillment of your obligations to God, to yourself, and to others.” (Maria Was His Middle Name, p.96)
At the National Shrine of Czestochowa in Poland there are very moving stations of the cross commissioned for the year 2000. The artist Jerzy Duda Gracz places in the background of Christ’s journey the history of the people of Poland. In the sixth station, behind a beaten falling Christ Veronica wipes the face of Christ, he portrays the numerous acts of charity done by women; nursing, feeding the elderly, religious, visiting the lonely, a poor woman begging food for her children and in the very back is hanging laundry in which the face of Christ is revealed. So very profound is his insight into charity in the every day life.
May this be a very special summer for all of us as we seek to paint the face of Christ in everything we do.
Ann O’Donnell
Fr. Kolbe Missionaries of the Immaculata
FKMinCAL@aol.com
PERSONAL REFLECTION, READING, AND APOSTOLIC IDEAS:
- Reflect on the following numbers of the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding charity:
* as the soul of the apostolate 863-864;
* sin as offense against charity 1849, 1853, 1855, 2094;
* the theological virtue 2093-2095.
- The United States Conference of Bishops offers a link for the Year of the Priests www.usccb.org.
- Acts of Charity: List three that would make a difference in the lives of those who live or work with you and practice them this month. Share with MI members your experience of this summer through this means.
- Kolbe Quote: “Is giving a good example an obligation? Yes! Everyone around us has the right to demand and to desire good example. He who acts otherwise sins not only against God, but in the presence of all his neighbors. Therefore, he is the occasion of another’s sin.” (Aim Higher)
- Kolbe Study is available on podcast. The Kolbe Study, taught by the Fr. Kolbe Missionaries, is a series of talks on Personal Sanctification. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and make comments to generate discussion.
- All for Her! http://fkminusa.podbean.com/
- Prayer for Priests: O Jesus, Eternal Priest, keep priestly servants in the shelter of your Sacred Heart.
Theology of the Body: will be replaced by Priests testimonies during the year for priests June 19, 2009-10.
Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome, said regarding this special year: “It must be a year that is both positive and forward looking in which the church says to her priests above all, …, that she is proud of her priests, loves them, honors them, admires them and that she recognizes with gratitude their pastoral work and the witness of their life. …It must be, in a very special way, a year of prayer by priests, with priests and for priests, a year for the renewal of the spirituality of the presbyterate and of each priest.
“Long before I knew the word “consecration”, devotion to Our Lady was a part of my spiritual life. I am old enough to remember classroom May altars and praying the rosary every Friday afternoon during school devotions. There was an image or statue of Our Lady in every room in our home. Praying to Mary just made sense to me. After all, she is the mother of Jesus! Later in life, as I discerned my vocation, I once again turned to Our Lady as I prayed the rosary for help and guidance. Throughout my religious life, Mary has always been there for me – good and difficult times. On my ordination day, I entrusted my priesthood to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the title of my home parish! I made my formal consecration to Our Lady on Feb. 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. One thing I can definitely say is that when you become Our Lady’s instrument, she will take you to places and give you jobs and opportunities that you would never have dreamed would come your way! All you have to say is “I am all yours Mary!” And certainly she will indeed take you up on your offer!”
Fr. Stephen McKinley, OFM Conv.,
Ordained: Sept. 3, 1994
Present assignment: Guardian of Marytown,
Rector of National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe,
Vicar Provincial of St. Bonaventure Province
JULY CALENDAR
1 Bl. Junipero Serra
3 St Thomas, Feast, First Friday
4 St Elizabeth of Portugal, First Saturday
Independence Day
5 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
6 St Maria Goretti
9 St Augustine Zhao Rong and companions
11 St Benedict
12 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
13 St Henry
14 Bl Kateri Tekawitha
15 St Bonaventure
16 Our Lady of Mt Carmel
18 St Camillus de Lellis
19 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
20 St Apollinaris
21 St Lawrence of Brindisi
22 St Mary Magdalene
23 St Bridget of Sweden
24 St Sharbel Makhluf
25 St James, Feast
26 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
29 St Martha
30 St Peter Chrysologus
31 St Ignatius Loyola