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    This weekend we celebrate the Feast of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, virgin and Doctor of the Church on Friday, the Feast of the Guardian Angels on Saturday, and the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time which is also Respect Life Sunday. For the liturgies, readings, meditations and vignettes on these feasts, click on LITURGY

Friday, October 1, 1999

Friday October 1:
Feast of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Religious and Doctor of the Church
FIRST FRIDAY

White vestments

First Reading: Baruch 1: 15-22
Psalms: Psalm 79: 1-5, 8-9
Gospel Reading: Luke 10: 13-16

FEAST OF SAINT THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS, VIRGIN, RELIGIOUS AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

    The youngest of nine children, Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus was born Maria Frances Theresa Guerin in 1873 at Alencon near Normandy in France and was one of four of the daughters who survived infancy. Five of the other children born to Theresa's parents Louis Martin Guerin and his wife Zelie-Marie had died in their infancy. Theresa was sent to the Benedictine monastery in Lisieux where she became known for her total suppression of her own will in favor of what Jesus wanted, offering every little sacrifice she could. Frail from birth, Theresa had been healed of a serious illness in 1883 through the intercession of Our Lady, and decided then and there she would become a Carmelite Nun. However her age prevented her from pursuing this immediate goal. Undaunted and persistent that Jesus wanted this, she even approached the Holy Father Pope Leo XIII during a group audience with him in Rome on pilgrimage, asking him to allow her to enter the convent. He was somewhat taken aback by her forwardness but replied gently, "Whatever your bishop advises, you follow, my child." This news from such a powerful prelate forced Theresa to bite her lip for she thought surely the Pope would allow this. Saddened she returned to France where she waited until old enough to be admitted which she was in 1888 and given the name Sister Theresa of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face. Five years later at the age of 20 she was chosen mistress of novices. Three years later in 1986 Tuberculosis set in. Once this was known, Theresa's older blood sister, Mother Agnes of Jesus insisted that Theresa write down her memoirs for posterity. This she did and after her death this work entitled The Story of a Soul was widely circulated. In it, Theresa emphasized her doctrine on the "little way" of spiritual childhood stressing that she wanted to save souls to help priests save souls by prayer, sacrifice, and suffering. Her "little way" means loving and trusting in God as a child, held in His loving arms as she writes, "From the age of three, I never refused our good God anything. I have never given him anything but love. I just want to love God. I want to do hard things for Him. I want to pray for priests and for sinners. I want to shine like a little candle before His altar." She exemplified two of the greatest virtues, humility and total dependence on the Will of God. She even prayed that God would hear her prayer and save so many souls by offering herself in total reparation, including letting God give away any graces she would earn to any soul who needed it. As she lay dying in the convent in 1897, she pressed her precious crucifix to her heart and peering Heavenward replied, "I love Him! My God, I love You!" Shortly afterwards the tuberculosis took its toll and Theresa died on September 30, 1897 at only 24. True to her promise that she would let fall from Heaven a "shower of roses," she became known far and wide as the "Little Flower" with many miracles of intercession attributed to her throughout the world so that in 1925 Pope Pius XI canonized her proclaiming, "St. Theresa of the Child Jesus is the greatest saint of modern times." In 1944, at the height of World War II when France was being pummelled by German howitzers, Pope Pius XII proclaimed her patroness of France along with Saint Joan of Arc. French aviators and soldiers took up the battle cry encouraged by her intercession and many attribute the fall of Germany to storming Heaven. Theresa also shares a title with Saint Francis Xavier as patroness of Foreign Missions. Though Theresa never had the opportunity to set step outside of Europe, she had a longing to go to a Carmelite mission in Hanoi, Vietnam in the late 19th Century. On September 19th of 1996, Pope John Paul II officially proclaimed St. Therese a Doctor of the Church, making her the third female saint to be so honored.

Saturday October 2:
Feast of the Guardian Angels
FIRST SATURDAY

White vestments

First Reading: Jonah 3: 1-10
Psalms: Psalm 130: 1-4, 7-8
Gospel Reading: Luke 10: 38-42

FEAST OF THE GUARDIAN ANGELS

      This devotion dates back to the Middle Ages, most probably in association with the account in Tobit of the Archangel Raphael leading Tobias which had been widely spread in art. It was specifically introduced in 1411 in Valencia, Spain to venerate the guardian angel of the city. Pope Sixtus V in 1590 allowed a special privilege to Portugal - that of a special Liturgy honoring the guardian angels. Pope Paul V added the feast universally to the Church in 1608, slotting it in the first available date after the feast of St. Michael. There are many accounts of angels, mentioned in over two thirds of the books of the Bible. They are not named specifically other than the three Archangels; the rest are referred to as "an angel" or "angels" in both the Old and New Testament. The Psalmist David makes frequent mention of the angels. The concept of "guardian" is first mentioned in Exodus 23:20--23, "See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way" as well as in Psalm 33: 8, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them" and in Matthew 18: 10 in the New Testament when Jesus said to His disciples regarding the little children, "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you their angels in Heaven always behold the face of My Father in Heaven." As we all know, angels were plentiful in great numbers at the Incarnation and with Jesus throughout His mission as He confirms in John 1: 51, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you shall see Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." These same angels are there in full force adoring Jesus during each and every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass universally throughout the world. Today angels have had a resurgence in secular society, but in Holy Mother Church Guardian Angels are not a superstition or "fad" but rather a reality that each soul created by God is assigned at least one Guardian Angel to them for their lifetime. Though so often the Guardian Angel is associated with children as every Catholic child is taught the beautiful Angel of God Prayer, our Guardian Angels stay with us even as we become adults for though in the eyes of the world we are grown, in God's eyes we will always be His children. It is Catholic belief that the angels are with us always and we need to lean on them more often, ask for their assistance.

SUNDAY October 3:
TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY

Green vestments

First Reading: Isaiah 5: 1-7
Psalms: Psalm 80: 9, 12-16, 19-20 and Isaiah 5: 7
Second Reading: Philippians 4: 6-9
Gospel Reading: Matthew 21: 33-43

Monday October 4:
Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, Religious Founder, Mystic and Stigmatist

White vestments

First Reading: Jonah 1: 1-16; 2: 1, 11
Psalms: Jonah 2: 2-5, 7-8
Gospel Reading: Luke 10: 25-37

      Few saints are as beloved as Saint Francis of Assisi who founded the Franciscans in the 12th Century. No order ever grew so fast. Francis was born Francis Bernardone in 1181 to a wealthy wool dyer who encouraged Francis to follow in his footsteps. Francis was well on his way toward this avocation, spending his youth recklessly at times with an adventurous spirit, impulsively enlisting in the war between Assisi and Perugia. One night, while sleeping on the battlefield in full gear, Francis had a mystical dream in which he saw himself returning to Assisi and entered the church of St. Damian where he heard three times Christ's words to repair His Church depicted by a crucifix that had been shattered. This dream was so pronounced that Francis, upon awakening, resigned his commission in the military, then renounced his patrimony by defrocking to the waist in front of his father, bishops and the well-to-do aristocrats of Assisi as well as the townsfolk as a gesture that he was stripping himself of all worldly possessions and consecrating himself to God by turning to a life as a mendicant preacher. Around 1207 Francis put on the robes of a penitent and sought to lead a contemplative, secluded life. At first he had taken Our Lord's words literally, constructing with his own hands a one room portiuncula church that still stands today inside the large church at the base of the hills leading to the town of Assisi. While reading a passage from Luke 9: 3-5 on the mission of the Apostles, Francis knew his mission was to gather a group of like-minded men for the purpose of preaching the gospel to all, especially those who could not read. Thus, he began the Order of Friars Minor and Pope Innocent III orally approved the first Rule, but not until Francis and his men had walked all the way from Assisi to Rome in hopes of gaining an audience with his holiness only to be turned away. In a mystical dream, Innocent was shown what would happen if he turned down Francis' request and what Francis' mission truly was. Innocent sent for Francis who already was half way back to Assisi to give him word that yes, the Holy Father had approved his Holy Rule. Francis, overjoyed, shared the news with his compadres and they began to preach the gospel everywhere, fostering numerous vocations as men sought to join this holy friar, with only a brown robe, cinctured rope and sandals as their possessions. Francis had always longed to be a martyr and yearned, like his counterpart and friend Saint Anthony to go the Morocco and preach to the heathens. Francis did go to Morocco, Egypt and then Palestine and five of his Franciscans were martyred by the Muslims, but not Francis who returned to Assisi where he, along with Saint Clare founded the Poor Clares, an order of Franciscan women dedicated to a life of contemplative, cloistered life in supporting the Friars through their sacrifices and prayers. Because his order had grown so fast, not all were the "cream of the crop" and many began to fudge here and there relaxing the rigors of the rule in respect to holy poverty. Therefore Francis, not wanting to lose them and realizing not all were cut out for a life of strict poverty, began working in 1220 on a second Rule for just this purpose establishing two branches of the Franciscan Friars, catering to the more relaxed rule, while maintaining the purity of the strict rule. On September 14, 1224 with his health suffering greatly from numerous physical afflictions from the rigorous schedule he had maintained and almost blind, Francis received an extraordinary gift from Jesus - the mark of the stigmata, the holy wounds of Christ while in contemplation on Mount Alverno in Italy. It was the first authenticated case of a stigmatist in the history of the Church. He was, as it were, wounded in love, and here he composed his famous "Canticle of the Sun" as well as the beautiful St. Francis' Prayer for Peace that he is most widely known for. This dedicated saint, referred to this day as "The Most Holy Father," died on October 4, 1224 at the relatively young age of 45 years old and was mourned the world over. The Franciscans remain the largest body of religious in the Church today.

Appreciation of the Vatican Press Corps

    This weekend we continue with our new series in the search to uncover the great treasuries of the Church contained in the great Deposit of Faith. We continue with the Roman Curia and today deal with the second group in Other Curia Agencies, specifically the Press Corps headed by Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls since 1984. For the twenty-third installment, click on APPRECIATING THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH

THE ROMAN CURIA

    Having covered the nine Sacred Congregations, the three Tribunals, the eleven Pontifical Councils, and the temporal Offices in the Roman Curia, today we cover the second part of the other Curia Agencies: the Vatican Press Office and the Holy See's high-profile director Joaquin Navaro-Valls and the Vatican Information Service, which includes L'Osservatore Romano, plus the Central Statistics Office.

Vatican Press Office

   This office is headed by Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director since 1984. He has been the spokesman for all papal dealings with the media. He oversees a staff of eighteen full time workers and nine part time employees. He holds around 70 press conferences a year and normally issues credentials to the press averaging about 2,000 issued each year. The Vatican Press Office also publishes around 500 issues of the Bulletin or Bollettino each day and often some days there are more than one depending on papal activities or annoucements. He also oversees the staff who handle the Holy See's official web site at www.vatican.va.

    Though the concept for this originated with Pope Leo XIII one hundred years ago to supply information to Italy's Catholic newspapers and its duties expanded under Pope Pius XII in 1939, the real necessity for this office stems from the need to communicate daily information to reporters during the Second Ecumenical Council. Thus Pope Paul VI established it on February 29, 1968 full time replacing the daily information services previously provided by staffers of L'Osservatore Romano. In 1986 Pope John Paul II issued new directives for this office.

Vatican Information Service (VIS)


   This office has become an electronic news agency for the Holy See. Headed by Dr. Miguel Castellvi as director, his responsibilities are to oversee the dissemination of brief news stories, usually four or five a day sent out by fax or e-mail to over 8,000 subscribers which includes all dioceses and nunciatures throughout the world. These stories are sent out in either English, Spanish, French or Italian. This Office was founded as a split from the Vatican Press Office and L'Osservatore Romano in 1990.

    L'Osservatore Romano still remains involved with both offices but is a separate entity and dates back to 1861 as the official publication for information from the Holy See. The weekly newspaper, published in Italian with issues available in English and other languages has branched out to the internet where highlights of the paper can be seen on-line through the Vatican web site.

Central Statistics Office


   This office was established in August 15, 1967 by Pope Paul VI and attached to the Secretariat of State under the supervision of Cardinal Angelo Sodano. The responsibilities of the Central Statistics Office are to compile, systematize and analyze information on the status and condition of the universal Church. This is the office which recently announced that there are now one billion Catholics in the world, nearly one third of the total population.

Monday: The non-curial institutes: Commissions and Committees part one

   Taken from the Gospel for the Mass on Saturday, the Feast of the Guardian Angels:

"Amen I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Whoever, therefore, humbles himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven."

Matthew 18: 3-4

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October 1-3, 1999 volume 10, no. 187   DAILY CATHOLIC