The attack on marriage is really an attack on the human person, and his dignity, for the devil seeks to pervert our true purpose, to pervert God's holy design. For many of us, we cannot march in protests or write dozens of letters or call numerous times to urge legislators to vote for the Truth. But one thing we can all do is pray and fast. We have designated one day each week to fast for these intentions:

1. That marriage may be preserved, promoted, and understood as God's plan for creation.

2. For all marriages that they may reflect the love of the Trinity.

3. For broken marriages that Christ bring healing and conversion to the spouses' souls.

4. For those who are married, for the sanctification of their marriage and their spouse. For those who are single, for their future spouse and vocation.


Thursday, May 2, 2013

May 3rd Fast

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JMJ
You formed my inmost being; 
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I praise you for I am wonderfully made; 
wonderful are your works! 
My very self you know. 
My bones are not hidden from you, 
When I was being made in secret, 
fashioned in the depths of the earth. 
Your eyes saw me unformed; 
in your book all are written down; 
my days were shaped, before one came to be."
(Psalm 139: 13-16) 


We did not happen upon this earth nor did any other person in our lives. God knew us and formed us in our mother's womb.  He created us for a specific purpose, intended us for a specific vocation, and gave us the desire to save our souls.  His merciful love was with us from the beginning, when out of His mercy he decided to give us life so that we could experience the unutterable joys of heaven.  He calls us to be saints, not necessarily raised to the heights of the altars, but certainly raised to the heights of heaven.  He calls us to be missionaries, not necessarily to far off lands, but certainly to our family and those we meet.

Our way of evangelizing may not be what we anticipated, but there will be peace in our souls because it is God's way.  And God's way, is the way of the cross.  It is love through suffering, love through sacrifice.  And is this not the way of marital life, of family life, of religious life?  Every vocation is a call to love, which necessarily involves a call to sacrifice.  But it is not just sacrificing material possessions; no, God call us to a greater love than that. It is a call to sacrifice our wants, our needs, and even our fears, so as to place our complete trust in God.  It is a complete abandonment to Divine Providence in all things.  

We must remember that God's instrument of evangelization and mercy are the same: the cross.   Christ suffered to open the joys of heaven, and in doing so invited all men to experience them: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself." (Jn 12:32)  When God asks us to sacrifice, when He allows us (or those we love) to suffer, He is asking us to trust in His merciful love.  He, who formed us, who knows us, has a greater plan than we can fathom, and knows that this cross (if we accept it willingly) will bring us closer to the joys of eternal salvation.  And through our acceptance of the cross, through our sacrificial love, we can bring other souls to those joys as well.




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