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, September 5, 2019

September 6th Fast

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JMJ

“In my long experience very often I had to be convinced of this great truth; that it is easier to become angry than to restrain oneself and easier to threaten a boy than to persuade him. Yes, it is more fitting to be persistent in punishing our own impatience and pride than to correct the boys. We must be firm but kind, and be patient with them.” 
St John Bosco
An oft-heard parental reaction after the embarrassing or unusual antics of a child is bewilderment and questioning to the origins of their offspring ("I don't where he came from") as if the mere fact that the child shares the same blood as the parent should assure him the same predictable and manageable personality. Frequently, parents forget that God did not give them a possession to control, but a soul to teach. A little one is not entrusted to the care of another to be a boast if brilliant and a property to managed if unruly; no, his spirit must be cultivated to be fruitful in good works, tended to with diligence and patience.

 Too easily, those in authority (parents, teachers, or otherwise) use nature as an excuse to relieve them of the responsibility to direct a seeking soul- be they young or old- and so orphan their charge, leaving them bereft of the necessary tools of wholesome maturation.  Frustration and fatigue often trample patience and zeal, thereby leading to wearisome resignation.  Pride rears its ugly head in the struggle, for sometimes one's exasperation emanates from the embarrassing realization of his own ineptitude or laudable witness.

How to go about the task of teaching then? Through perseverance and prayer, God will grant the necessary graces to succeed in this praiseworthy endeavor. Our Father does not expect the talent to be buried and neglected, but invested and returned with interest.  One must invest his attention, his emotion, his energy, his sacrifices to till the soil of a hungry soul. All this must be done with firm yet gentle determination for the training of a soul is a high calling indeed.
". . . proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching." (2 Tim 4)

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