MI MONTHLY FORMATION

In Fr. Kolbe’s Marian and Missionary Spirituality
This year is dedicated to the study of the document, The Church in America, by John Paull II.

JUNE 2010 PRAYER INTENTION
That contemplating Jesus, the Bread of Life, we open our hearts to the needs of our brothers and sisters, especially the poor.

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Dear MI Family and Friends,

In my more than thirty-three years involvement in the MI, as a member and in leadership, I have never tired to echo the call of Christ to individuals and groups the call to holiness; “Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev 19:2). This has helped many individuals find a reason for their lives when the fact of mere existence leaves them empty. There has to be a reason....holiness.

In the prior month of our study of the document Church in America spoke of the call to conversion. The Synod Fathers explain that the conversion is directed at holiness, since conversion “is not an end in itself but a journey toward God who is holy. To be holy is to be like God and to glorify his name in the works which we accomplish in our lives (cf. Mt 5:16).”

What works are most of us performing: family duties, relationships, jobs, studies? It is within these contexts that the holiness to which we are called needs to be applied. Otherwise, we tend to apply it only to church related or spiritual aspects like prayer, Mass, ministries.

Last month we heard the Synod Fathers tell us that we are to put on Christ, making him the reason behind our actions. This holiness should make us examine our conscience, not only regarding our prayer life and if we have obeyed the laws of Mass attendance but if we have treated our neighbor (whether it is our husband/wife, child or parent, co-worker, relative, community member, classmate, a person who serves us... or stranger on the street) with the ways and heart of Christ. We also need to ask ourselves, what is my attitude when I am doing the dishes, emptying the trash, cleaning the house, making a meal for my family, washing the car or running an errand. Am I constantly complaining or do I see my participation and responsibility in the daily duties of life as an integral part of my call to holiness?
 
On the path of holiness, Jesus Christ is the point of reference and the model to be imitated: he is “the Holy One of God,” and was recognized as such. It is he who teaches us that the heart of holiness is love, which leads even to giving our lives for others (cf. Jn 15:13). The giving of our lives for others leads us back to our field of action...for most of us a home and local environment. For example, I come from a fairly large family but, after leaving my parent’s home, my brothers and I followed our own vocations. In my Dad’s battle with cancer, it was our lapsed Catholic neighbors who were the closest immediate help to my parents, running errands, checking to see if they were okay, babysitting Dad. Even when I moved in to take on the full care they were always available to help. Since my parents had dedicated their lives to raise us, their children, it was only right that we would come and give of ourselves to them in their time of need. But I think we also need to look beyond our immediate families, such as my neighbors did. We Missionaries are encountering so many elderly who have been abandoned by their family or some who have none.

Therefore, to imitate the holiness of God, as it was made manifest in Jesus Christ his Son, “is nothing other than to extend in history his love, especially toward the poor, the sick and the needy (cf. Lk 10:25 ff.).

Each of us needs to reflect on the world around us and see where we can extend the
love of God. We should seek to imitate Mary when she learned that her cousin was in need and went in haste to help her.

Ann O’Donnell
—Fr. Kolbe Missionary of the Immaculata
fkmissionaries@gmail.com
Quotes from The Church in America document by Pope John Paul II


Personal Reflection, Reading and Apostolic Ideas

• In this month as we celebrate the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let us enter into their flames of love to be purified of that which is not pleasing to God and which hinders us from recognizing one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
• The Church in America document, along with Pope Benedict, strongly encourages a knowledge and practice of the lectio divina. Google it to know more.
• In the call to holiness the document we are studying points out the need for the sacrament of forgiveness . “Only those reconciled with God can be prime agents of true reconciliation with and among their brothers and sisters.” Read CCC 1776-1801.
• See the messages of the Holy Father: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi
• The United States Conference of Bishops link for the Year of the Priests www.usccb.org.
• Visit Fr. Kolbe Missionaries of the Immaculata’s new website www.kolbemission.org/en .
• Kolbe Study is available on podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and make comments to generate discussion. http://fkminusa.podbean.com/
• On Facebook..... Join to keep up with the latest and greatest MI exchanges. Militia Immaculata -Spes Nostra Center, West Covina, CA: Provides links to Marian Studies, Kolbe Study Podcasts, and other MI Family News, along with a discussion board to post topics of interest. To join Facebook click on http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=244847928943.
• On Twitter... “Marian Thought”. Click on http://twitter.com/rik91790
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YEAR FOR PRIESTS JUNE 19, 2009-10

The year will conclude in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father from June 9-11, 2010.  

Act of Entrustment and Consecration of Priests to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Prayer of His Holiness Benedict XVI

Immaculate Mother, in this place of grace, called together by the love of your Son Jesus the Eternal High Priest, we, sons in the Son and his priests, consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart, in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s Will.

We are mindful that, without Jesus, we can do nothing good (cf. Jn 15:5) and that only through him, with him and in him, will we be instruments of salvation for the world.

Bride of the Holy Spirit, obtain for us the inestimable gift of transformation in Christ. Through the same power of the Spirit that over¬shadowed you, making you the Mother of the Saviour, help us to bring Christ your Son to birth in ourselves too. May the Church be thus renewed by priests who are holy, priests transfigured by the grace of him who makes all things new.

Mother of Mercy, it was your Son Jesus who called us to become like him: light of the world and salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-14).

Help us, through your powerful intercession, never to fall short of this sublime vocation, nor to give way to our selfishness, to the allurements of the world and to the wiles of the Evil One.

Preserve us with your purity, guard us with your humility and enfold us with your maternal love that is reflected in so many souls consecrated to you, who have become for us true spiritual mothers.

Mother of the Church, we priests want to be pastors who do not feed themselves but rather give themselves to God for their brethren, finding their happiness in this. Not only with words, but with our lives, we want to repeat humbly, day after day, Our “here I am”.

Guided by you, we want to be Apostles of Divine Mercy, glad to celebrate every day the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar and to offer to those who request it the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Advocate and Mediatrix of grace, you who are fully immersed in the one universal mediation of Christ, invoke upon us, from God, a heart completely renewed that loves God with all its strength and serves mankind as you did.

Repeat to the Lord your efficacious word: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3), so that the Father and the Son will send upon us a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Full of wonder and gratitude at your continuing presence in our midst, in the name of all priests I too want to cry out: “Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43).

Our Mother for all time, do not tire of “visiting us”, consoling us, sustaining us. Come to our aid and deliver us from every danger that threatens us. With this act of entrustment and consecration, we wish to welcome you more deeply, more radically, for ever and totally into our human and priestly lives.

Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth in the desert of our loneliness, let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness, let it restore calm after the tempest, so that all mankind shall see the salvation of the Lord, who has the name and the face of Jesus, who is reflected in our hearts, for ever united to yours! Amen!

Church of the Most Holy Trinity -Fatima Wednesday, 12 May 2010