This month Pope Benedict XVI points us to the saints of the Church, that all Christians may imitate them in their imitation of Christ.  For this is the love of God and neighbor, to serve and not to be served.

Scripture is very clear on this:  “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1 John 4: 11-12).

We pray that all Christians may be fortified in love that serves others, because any love that does not serve others isn’t really love at all. The saints have shown us that there are thousands of ways to serve others, but it’s the serving of others that is essential.  As we faithfully serve others, we are living out the love of God, even in those times we don’t feel the love.

The Feast of All Saints on November 1 puts us in mind of one we claim as our own, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.  A member of the Apostleship of Prayer, Frassati was devoted to both prayer and action.  He used to say, “Charity is not enough; we need social reform.”  He also said, “We need constant prayer to obtain from God that grace without which all our prayers are useless; organization and discipline to be ready for action at the right time; and finally, the sacrifice of our passion and of ourselves, because without that we cannot achieve our aim.”

Blessed Frassati died in 1925 of polio. Many of the sick people he helped came to his funeral.

May all Christians be inspired to a love that expresses itself in prayer and service.

Reflection

In what ways has your love for God led you to serve others?  Thank God for the privilege of extending his love.

Scripture

James 2:26: Just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Mission Intention

Church in Asia.  That the Christian communities of Asia, contemplating the face of Christ, may find the most suitable ways to announce Him, in full faithfulness to the Gospel.

Last December Pope Benedict XVI addressed a group of Korean prelates, exclaiming:   “The Church in your countries has made remarkable progress since the arrival of missionaries in the region over four hundred years ago, and their return to Mongolia just fifteen years ago.”

The Holy Father attributed this growth to the “outstanding witness of the Korean Martyrs and others throughout Asia who remained steadfastly faithful to Christ and his Church.”

This month he asks us to pray for the many and diverse Christian communities throughout Asia.  These communities include the Philippines, Asia’s most populous Catholic country; India, where Catholicism goes back to St. Thomas the Apostle; South Korea and Vietnam, where Catholics make up a surprisingly large percentage of the population; China where there are new hopes that persecution is slowly easing; Indonesia, where there are conflicts with Muslims: India, where there are conflicts with Hindus; the Middle East, where many conflicts continue; and Iraq, from which Christians are fleeing.

After visiting Asia, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe reported on Vatican Radio that the Christian minority there often lives the faith “with great enthusiasm,” comparing themselves to the first Christians who set out to evangelize the world.

We are praying this month that Asian Christians may find the most suitable ways to announce Christ. We in the West must respect the ancient cultures of the East and let the Church in Asia find the best ways to spread the Gospel.  After all, Christianity is a religion that transcends, rather than imposes, culture.  Cultures are transformed and elevated by Christ living among the people, for the Church is his Body.

May the Holy Spirit guide those who preach and teach the faith in Asia.  May this be, as Popes John Paul II and Benedict have said, the millennium for the evangelization of the East.

Reflection

People come to know Jesus Christ in a tremendous variety of ways.  How did you come to Christ?  Who helped?

Scripture

Acts 20: 17-24:  I consider this life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.
You are glorified in your saints,
for their glory is the crowning of your gifts.
In their lives on earth,
you give us an example.
In our communion with them,
you give us their friendship.
In their prayer for the Church
you give us strength and protection.
This great company of witnesses spurs us on to victory,
to share their prize of everlasting glory.
May we imitate their lives of service
and daily give you all honor and glory.  Amen.

–Adapted from the Eucharistic Preface for Holy Men and Women I

General Intention

Synod of Bishops. That the Synod of Bishops may help all those engaged in the service of the Word of God to transmit the truth of faith courageously in communion with the entire Church.

Pope Benedict XVI asks us to pray for this month’s Synod of Bishops as they discuss how we can use the Bible to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. The goal is that Catholics will spend time reading the Bible and, by doing so, grow in knowledge and love of God in unity with the whole Church. Strong in the Word of God, we may become courageous witnesses to the world.

Jesus promised the Apostles that the Holy Spirit would lead the Church into all truth (John 15:26). The Church sees the Word of God and the Tradition of the Church as the two great sources of this truth, and it is the Church’s ultimate responsibility to codify the truths of our faith. Otherwise the meaning found in the Bible becomes subjective, with readers or groups of readers interpreting the Word of God in any way they wish. Most Protestant denominations were born of such independent readings of the Scriptures. As a result most Protestants have no authority to establish the true meaning of the Bible, and their churches split and splintered thousands of times, each group claiming to have the true interpretation but with no authority to do so. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church has upheld one faith. The doctrines of the Church actually illuminate Scripture. Take the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Although a triune God is clearly implied by the Scriptures as a whole, especially in light of the New Testament, the doctrine of the Trinity was not proclaimed by the Church until the fourth century. That proclamation was based on Scripture, at least two centuries of tradition in the Church Fathers, and the need to counter the Arian heresy denying the divinity of Jesus. Thus, safeguarded from error, we Catholics benefit a great deal from reading the Scriptures, whether we do it publicly at Mass or privately. If we hear or read the Word in a prayerful manner, we receive faith, hope, and love, grow in unity with the Church, and find new courage to proclaim the Gospel.

Reflection

How has the Bible enriched your faith? Can you think of ways to increase your time reading and praying the Scriptures?

Scripture

Psalm 119: 97-105 How I love your teaching, Lord! I study it all day long. Your command makes me wiser than my foes, for it is always with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, because I ponder your decrees….Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.

MISSION INTENT ION

Participation in the Church’s Universal Mission. That in this month dedicated to the missions, every Christian community may feel the need to participate in the universal mission with prayer, sacrifice, and concrete help.

October is the month of the Rosary and the Missions. Pope Benedict asks us to pray this month that every Christian community may participate in missions through prayer, sacrifice, and concrete help. The Pope wants us to take missions seriously because he is aware of several grave threats to evangelization. Some Christians have decided that evangelization must be modernized. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith calls it a “growing confusion” which misinterprets the “missionary command of the Lord” as a suggestion merely to present Christian ideas rather than preach repentance and Baptism into Christ. Some say that it is enough to try to help people act according to their own consciences without attempting to convert them to Christ, that it is enough to help people become more faithful to their own religions without attempting to convert them to the Catholic faith (”Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization,” Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, December 2007). But the Pope strongly contradicts these errors. In the same document cited above, we are reminded of the words of Jesus, who said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). By his Church, Christ wants to be present in every time and place on earth in order to reach every person so there may be “one flock and one shepherd” (Jn 10:16). “The Apostles, therefore, prompted by the Spirit, invited all to change their lives, to be converted and to be baptized….It is the same Lord Jesus Christ who, present in his Church, goes before the work of evangelizers, accompanies it, follows it, and makes their labors bear fruit: what took place at the origins of Christian history continues throughout its entire course.”

The Pope calls the Church to recommit ourselves to evangelization. How shall we proceed? Let us do what the Apostles of Prayer have always done. Like St. Therese of Lisieux, who never set foot in a mission field, we direct our prayers to God on behalf of missionaries and those they seek to reach. We sacrifice our time and our money to support them. We speak to others about the importance of evangelization. We look for concrete ways to build up a missionary culture. We deeply respect the Pope’s wisdom in making these requests of us.

Reflection

The Pope stresses the word “concrete” in this intention. How have you acted in concrete ways to support the missions? What might you do this month?

Scripture

Luke 5:10 Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

Father, I can’t understand Your word without
Your grace. I acknowledge my weakness so
Your power can reach perfection in me (2 Cor 12:9).

Send Your Holy Spirit to remind, teach,
and guide me to the Truth (Jn 14:26; 16:13).
May I share as soon as possible whatever
You teach me (see Lk 8:15-16).

Amen.

-from Presentation Ministries

Visit www.presentationministries.com

for daily Scripture reflection

Refugees. That Christians may defend and protect refugees.

Jesus Christ identified with the victims of this world. He said, “Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt. 25:40). Jesus could well identify with refugees because he began his own life on earth as a refugee, forced to seek asylum in Egypt until the death of King Herod. We live in a world where the existence of refugees has become commonplace — despite the fact that 35 million “of our fellow human beings are uprooted and relegated to miserable and painful conditions.” Pope Benedict XVI has spoken passionately that “these, our brothers and sisters, so badly tested by suffering, should be guaranteed asylum and the recognition of their rights” (Holy See’s United Nations Address on Refugees, October 2, 2007; World Refugee Survey, 2007).

But how can we care when we are overwhelmed year after year by heart-wrenching photographs and mindboggling statistics portraying this suffering? Even those who have been touched in the past to give to relief organizations often succumb to “donor fatigue.” Only by the grace of God can we open and reopen our hearts to those millions who are pushed from place to place or are forced to live in camps for indefinite periods of time. Pope Benedict has put refugees at the top of our prayer list for September. As the Vicar of Jesus Christ, he asks us to open our minds and our hearts to displaced people. He wants us to pray that all Christians may defend and protect refugees. The Pope believes that today’s refugees should be granted various rights appropriate to their dignity as persons created by God. What are these rights? Specifically, the Pope declares that refugees have the rights of asylum, emergency relief, legal residency status, employment, housing, education, health care, and family unity. We pray for refugees.

Reflection

How will you seek to protect and defend refugees you may encounter in your own community?

Scripture

Matthew 25: 34-36: Then the king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”

Mission Intention

Christian Families. That every Christian family may be a small evangelizing community which is responsive to the needs of others.

In his 2008 World Day of Peace Message, the Pope celebrated the family, calling it “a cradle of life and love” and “the primary place of humanization for the person and society.” Because it is our smallest social unit, the family is the basic building block of all civilizations. The definition of a good family is that family members take care of one another. Because of our bonds of love and shared history, we are there for each other in good times and bad. We Christians, in particular, honor the closeness of the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. We seek similarly close ties in our own families. We seek to build our family relationships on love, starting of course with the ever-growing love between husband and wife. But this month the Pope wants us to look a little beyond our immediate families. He asks us to pray that all Christian families may open themselves to caring about other families and other individuals. He understands that a family that is filled with Christian joy is a powerful force for attracting others to the faith. We pray this month that Christian families, including our own, may be responsive to the needs of others. We strive to embrace others in need as we embrace our own family members in need, seeking only their good. We will try to open our eyes and notice what concrete good we can do, however small. Our God, who is Love, is revealed in the loving things we do.

There is no more powerful witness to God’s love to those who do not know it than to see a family that is healthy and happy, that supports each other in difficulties, and that takes time to reach out in honest love to others. We pray with Pope Benedict that every Christian family may be responsive to the needs of others. We pray also that our own families may abide in the love of the Holy Family.

Reflection

How do you as a family share the love of God among yourselves? How do you open up this love to those outside your family?

Scripture

Colossians 3: 12-13 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers,works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

Lord, no one is a stranger to you,

and no one is ever far from your loving care.

In your kindness, watch over refugees and exiles,

those separated from their loved ones,

young people who are lost, and those

who have left or run away from home.

Bring them back safely to the place

where they long to be and help us always

to show your kindness to strangers

and those in need.

–from the Votive Mass for Refugees and Exiles

Respect for Creation. That the human family may know how to respect God’s design for the world and thus become ever more aware of the great gift of God which Creation represents for us.

Pope Benedict XVI’s 2008 World Day of Peace message includes a profound meditation on the human family and the environment.  “A family needs a home,” he wrote, and our home is the earth.  Over many millennia the human family has obeyed the Creator’s commandment to “fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28), but too often with violence, greed, and waste.  Our covenant with the environment should “mirror the creative love of God.”

The Holy Father emphasized that we are not to dominate, abuse, or exploit the earth.  Instead we are responsible to protect and cultivate it for the good of the whole human family. We need to educate ourselves, he said, to achieve sustainable development and “solidarity with future generations.”

Through international agencies, we need to enter into responsible cooperation to “confront together the stewardship” of the earth, especially its energy resources. “The problems looming on the horizon are complex and time is short.”

The United States and other technologically advanced countries, said the Pope, face two pressing issues. First, we must reassess our high levels of consumption and the model of development that our consumption is based upon. Second, we must invest in the search for alternative sources of energy and greater energy efficiency.

The Holy Father spoke also to far-reaching economic and political concerns that are involved in our responsibility to care for the environment. “The emerging countries are hungry for energy, but at times this hunger is met in a way harmful to poor countries which, due to their insufficient infrastructures, including their technological infrastructures, are forced to undersell the energy resources they do possess. At times, their very political freedom is compromised by forms of protectorate or, in any case, by forms of conditioning which appear clearly humiliating.”

As we pray for growing respect for the environment throughout the world, let us also seek to enhance our own awareness of our environmental responsibilities.

Reflection

Global environmental problems touch each of us personally.  How can you better understand and meet your responsibility for good stewardship of the earth’s resources?

Scripture

Genesis 2:15  The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.

Mission Intention.

Call to holiness. That through discernment of gifts and commitment to spiritual formation, holiness may be promoted among the people of God.

Why in this month’s prayer intention for missions is Pope Benedict asking us to pray for holiness among God’s people? What does holiness have to do with missionary work?

In his message for World Youth Day last month, the Holy Father reminded young people that “we can never separate holiness from mission. Do not be afraid to become holy missionaries like Saint Francis Xavier who traveled through the Far East proclaiming the Good News until every ounce of his strength was used up, or like Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus who was a missionary even though she never left the Carmelite convent.  Both of these are ‘Patrons of the Missions.’

“Be prepared to put your life on the line in order to enlighten the world with the truth of Christ; to respond with love to hatred and disregard for life; to proclaim the hope of the risen Christ in every corner of the earth.”

Nor is holiness for missionaries alone.  Everyone in the Church is called to holiness, as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3).

We are made holy by Baptism, but we must grow in the holiness we have received.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we must strive to put on mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and all the fruits of the Spirit. Holy people, said the Pope, “follow the poor Christ, the humble and cross-bearing Christ, in order to be worthy of being sharers in His glory.  Every person must walk unhesitatingly according to his own personal gifts and duties in the path of living faith, which arouses hope and works through charity.”

It comes down to walking in the holiness of love, for “God is Love” (1 John 4:16).  We are given the Holy Spirit to help us strive each day to show love to each person we encounter, even to those who oppose us. We show our love this moment by praying for holiness among God’s people.

Reflection

Rather than focusing only on our sins, St. Ignatius Loyola suggests a positive way to help us grow in holiness.  At the end of each day, recall specific ways God has used you today to show his love to others.  How has God used you today?

Scripture

1 John 4: 7-8  Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.  Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens you have made them, precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and clouds and storms, and all the weather, through which you give your creatures sustenance.

Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten the night. He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth, who feeds us and rules us, and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

From St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun

Volunteers. That there may be an increase in the number of volunteers who offer their services to the Christian Community.

Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly expressed his thanks and admiration for volunteers.  Volunteers are the people who hear the Word of God and do it. They carry on the work of Jesus Christ by serving those in need with love and joy. In a meeting with volunteer associations last year, the Pope said that volunteers give our society a “humane and Christian face” it would not otherwise have.

Volunteers are a little yeast leavening the whole loaf, a little salt seasoning the whole dish. Without their free gifts of time and service, said Pope Benedict, we would too often experience a “culture which would calculate the cost of everything, forcing human relationships into a straight jacket of rights and duties.” Volunteers remind us that life itself is an “unmerited gift.”

We at the Apostleship of Prayer heartily concur with the Pope’s profound appreciation of volunteers. Every eight weeks a dozen volunteers swarm into our small Milwaukee office space and help us to mail this very leaflet. They do their job so well that the volume of these mailings has tripled in a little more than a year. Since every envelope or package receives a different number of leaflets, we can’t mechanize the process. We depend on our volunteers to count and fold and stuff and sort and bag each piece.

Let me honor two of them by name. After several years of volunteering for us, Michael and Susan Burczyk know the mail routine better than we do. They get it all organized before the rest of their crew shows up. Some of our volunteers are retired, one is a flight attendant, and several are Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, whose convent is nearby. Their motive? To do something to advance the reign of Christ the King.

How about you? Do you let the love of Jesus overflow in generous service to others? Whatever you do, don’t forget to pray for volunteers everywhere. People throughout the world will notice and say, “See how they love one another.”

Reflection

How does your gratitude for God’s many gifts to you express itself in loving service?

Scripture

Matthew 10: 5-8 Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them….”As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost are you to give.”

Mission Intention

World Youth Day. That World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia may awaken the fire of divine love in young people and make them sowers of hope for a new humanity.

Pope Benedict XVI will visit World Youth Day (WYD) 2008, July 15-20, in Sydney, Australia. The theme Pope Benedict chose for this great Catholic youth festival is “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). The Pope asks us to pray that the WYD in Sydney “may awaken the fire of divine love in young people and make them sowers of hope.”

As many as 300,000 pilgrims will sleep out under the stars at Randwick Racecourse. As many as 500,000 will attend the final Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict on Sunday, July 20.

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the purpose of WYD is to stir hope in the young people about the future, to call them to come together as one people, and to entrust the future of the Church into their hands.

Our assignment is to pray that the Holy Spirit may fill them with his love in such a way that all who attend are permanently changed.  May they return to their homes full of hope that will inspire and mobilize charitable action in others as well as themselves.

In a letter to the youth who will be attending WYD 2008, the Pope emphasized the power of the Holy Spirit by surveying his appearance in the Scriptures. He concludes, “The Spirit of the Lord always remembers every individual and wishes, particularly through you young people, to stir up the wind and fire of a new Pentecost in the world.”

“Once again I repeat that only Christ can fulfill the most intimate aspirations that are in the heart of each person. Only Christ can humanize humanity and lead it to its ‘divinization.’ Through the power of his Spirit he instills divine charity within us, and this makes us capable of loving our neighbor and ready to be of service.”

Reflection

How are you helping young people to respond to the messages of faith, hope, and love that Jesus speaks through his Church, his Word, and his Spirit?

Scripture

Joel 3: 1-2 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; even upon the servants and the handmaids, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers,

works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month                            

Official World Youth Day Prayer

God Our Father, we consecrate to you the World Youth Day in Sydney. Guide and protect Pope Benedict and all the leaders of the Church. Inspire and direct all those leading and planning the World Youth Day. Unite and protect them by your fatherly care.

Lord Jesus Christ, before you ascended to the Father, you promised to send your Holy Spirit so that we might be your witnesses to the end of the earth. Bless and multiply the efforts of all our staff and volunteers. Help us to take up our cross and follow you
under the heavenly sign of the Southern Cross.

Holy Spirit, pour out your grace on this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit and grant to us a New Pentecost. Make of this land a true place of welcome for the young people of the world. Grant to those young people who come conversion of life, a deeper faith, and love for all. Enable them to build a new civilization of life, love, and truth. Make them true witnesses to your power and grace. Amen.

Friendship with Christ. That all Christians may cultivate a deep and personal friendship with Christ so to communicate the strength of his love to every person they meet.

Pope Benedict XVI's recent book, Jesus of Nazareth, stresses that being Christian depends on building an intimate friendship with Jesus. It's the great theme of his entire life's work. That he makes it his general prayer intention for June shows that friendship with Christ is still uppermost in his mind and that he associates it as well with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Sometimes Catholics are taken aback when confronted by this question: "Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?" Our answer should be, "Yes, I do. Jesus is a close personal friend of mine." The Pope wants us to pray that all Christians may cultivate a deep personal friendship with Christ because without it what can be the substance of faith in Christ? Without friendship with Jesus, how can we communicate his love to others?

In his homily at his inaugural Mass in April 2005, Pope Benedict said: "There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and speak to others of our friendship with him."

Friendship is a connection of hearts. The love of Jesus for us comes from his Heart. Our response to his love must come from our hearts. Referring to the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Father wrote that this "devotion, which is totally oriented to the love of God who sacrificed himself for us, has an irreplaceable importance for our faith and for our life in love." Because it speaks of Christ's redemptive suffering, the Pope affirms that the "basis of the devotion is as old as Christianity itself."

The Holy Father said, "We so often feel, and it is true, that we are only useless servants. Yet, in spite of this, the Lord calls us friends."  

Reflection

How has your friendship with Jesus Christ developed over the years?  

Scripture

John 15:13-15  – "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father."

Mission Intention

International Eucharist Congress. That the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec may lead to greater understanding that the Eucharist is the heart of the Church and the source of evangelization.

In an apostolic exhortation, Pope Benedict XVI made the following connection between friendship with Christ, the Eucharist, and evangelization. "In my homily at the Eucharistic celebration solemnly inaugurating my Petrine ministry, I said that ‘there is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with him.'

"These words are all the more significant if we think of the mystery of the Eucharist. The love that we celebrate in the sacrament is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature it demands to be shared with all. What the world needs is God's love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him. The Eucharist is thus the source and summit not only of the Church's life, but also of her mission: ‘an authentically Eucharistic Church is a missionary Church.'"

It's beautiful too to reflect on those words while praying for the International Eucharist Congress being held in Quebec this month. What is the ‘mystery of the Eucharist' of which the Holy Father speaks? It is the truth that Jesus is alive in the Sacrament. He gives himself to us so that we can share him with others.

We Apostles of Prayers likewise practice a Eucharistic spirituality. We respond to Jesus' gift of himself to us — his original atoning death re-presented daily in the Mass — by our daily offering to him of our entire day, including all our ‘prayers, works, joys, and sufferings,' in the words of our traditional prayer. We do it for the salvation of others throughout the world. We do it out of love that is nourished by the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We call it our "profound, simple way of life."

This month we are challenged by the Pope to pray that many in the Church and outside the Church may come to a deeper understanding of the Eucharist, the heart of the Church and the source of evangelization.

Reflection

How does receiving the Eucharist relate to your personal friendship with Jesus and your witnessing to him?  

Scripture

1 Corinthians 11:26-27 — For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

Official prayer for the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec

God our Father,
we bless you and give you thanks
for your Son Jesus, the gift of your love
for the life of the world.

Watch over your Church
as it celebrates in joy and hope
the 49th International Eucharistic Congress.

Renew our faith in the Holy Eucharist,
the memorial of your Son's death and resurrection.

May your Holy Spirit shed light upon us
and grant us strength to serve
as faithful witnesses to the Gospel.

Nourish us with your Word and your Bread of Life
so that united with Mary, Mother of your Divine Son
and Mother of the Church, we will bear much fruit
for the salvation of the world.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Human Dignity. That Christians may use literature, art, and mass media to create a culture which defends and promotes the values of the human person.

This month Pope Benedict XVI asks us to pray for those whose handiwork fills the media. We pray that artists of all kinds will create works that promote the dignity of the human person. The Pope urges artists and media executives to represent people as we are, creatures made in God's image. In his 2008 Message for World Communications Day, he said, "Man thirsts for truth." We know this is true because many works of art owe their success to the fact that they present the "truth, beauty, or greatness of the person, including the religious dimension."   

Christian artists are called not to reject, but to redeem ungodly culture — as indeed they have been doing for twenty centuries. The history of western civilization is studded like the night sky with Christian works of art, greater and lesser stars by which we still steer. When the novelist Dostoevsky said, "Beauty will save the world," he meant that true beauty in nature or in art is a revelation of God that evokes the response of faith.

Barbara Nicolosi, Hollywood writer and teacher, asks Christians to stop complaining about immorality in the media and get busy ourselves making programs that are both morally and artistically good. "Our efforts to make film and television in a ‘safe' Christian envelope will not be blessed," says Nicolosi. "We need to be in the middle of the industry, on the lots, on the sets, and in the network and studio offices, working side by side with those who do not share our worldview, so as to bring God where he is not."

Whatever our circumstances, isn't that the evangelization we are all called to? The beauty of God should so shine through us that people we encounter will know they are infinitely lovable, infinitely valuable. We can do this with arts and the media, we can do this with our service, and we can also do it by our prayers.

Let us pray that the beauty of God goes out into the whole world through the arts and mass media, drawing many into close friendship with Jesus Christ.

Reflection

How do you affirm the dignity, beauty, and value of human beings in the things you do?  

Scripture

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me."  

Mission Intention

Mary's guidance. That the Virgin Mary, Star of evangelization and Queen of the Apostles, may still guide missionaries with maternal affection, just as she accompanied the Apostles in the early stages of the Church.

Mary took part in the first novena. From the Ascension until Pentecost — nine days — Mary and the apostles prayed. It was natural for her to join the apostles as they waited in obedient prayer. She was like a mother to them. Jesus had already asked St. John to take her into his home as his own mother. She was there when the Holy Spirit fell on them. They received the power Jesus promised them to go out and proclaim salvation to the ends of the earth.

Recognizing that Mary supported the apostles by her motherly love and prayers, Benedict XVI asks us to pray that she may still accompany missionaries. She remains a model of virtue, wisdom, and love.

She also shows us the role of prayer in evangelization. People are not converted except by the Holy Spirit. So the best way to support missionaries is to pray that the Holy Spirit will convert people to believe in Jesus and come into the Church. Ideally, missionaries, indispensable to evangelization, become vehicles of the grace of God, just like Mary.  

Prayer for missionaries lies at the origin of the Apostleship of Prayer. In 1844 a group of Jesuit seminarians complained to their spiritual director about having to wait to be missionaries. Fr. Francis Gautrelet told them: "Be apostles now, apostles of prayer! Offer everything you are doing each day in union with the Heart of our Lord for what He wishes, the spread of the Kingdom for the salvation of souls."

You and I are privileged to serve the world and the Church, to join in prayer with Mary, our Mother, and the Mother of the Church. This is the heart of our daily offering.  

Reflection

How does your daily offering work to bring the Holy Spirit into the lives of others?  

Scripture

Acts 1:4,8,14 — He enjoined them … to wait for "the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak…. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem … and to the ends of the earth." …All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus."

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

Mary, Star of the New Evangelization

O Mary,
Star of the New Evangelization,
make us the light of the world.
We receive Christ in the Eucharist;
help us to build His Kingdom in the world.
Teach us to do whatever He tells us.

May our study of His life lead us to love Him
and our love for Him lead us to imitate Him.

If we are what we should be,
we will set the world ablaze.
We ask your intercession to make this so,
through Christ our Lord, Amen.  

                  — From the Collegium Center for Faith and Culture

Proclamation of the Resurrection. That Christians may not tire of proclaiming with their lives that Christ's resurrection is the source of hope and peace.

Pope Benedict's 2nd Encyclical, Spe Salvi, conveys to us the Holy Father's rich insights into the nature of Christian hope. The Pope recognizes, however, that if anyone is to receive the message of Christian hope, it must be by the grace of God. Our intellect can take us only so far. God's grace alone opens us to receive Christian hope as our spiritual anchor.

"A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer," says the Holy Father (Spe Salvi 32). As the word of hope goes out, let us pray that it's well-received by people everywhere. When people hear about Jesus' rising from the dead, may they embrace the faith with both mind and heart.

We also pray that the hope Christ brings banishes the false hopes that dominate the contemporary landscape. The Pope says worldly hopes are tied to reason and freedom. Many are looking to progress in science and society to save us from death and oblivion. But reason and freedom apart from God cannot lead us to paradise, for people are saved by love (23).

Similarly people often hope their wealth, fame, beauty, skill, or power will save them. But "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field; the grass withers, and the flower wilts; but the word of the Lord remains forever" (1 Peter 1: 24-25).

Our faith in Jesus' resurrection is indeed a hope that cannot be shaken. Nor does it remain merely a personal hope, says Pope Benedict. "Christ died for all…. Hope in a Christian sense is always hope for others as well" (28, 34). Our hope is such that it can even grow during times of personal suffering, especially as we offer up our sufferings for the salvation of others (40).

May we and all Christians never tire of proclaiming in our words and in our lives our message of true hope.

Reflection

What are your hopes for yourself and others?

Scripture

1 Corinthians 15: 17-19 — If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins…. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.

Mission Intention

Future Priests. That the future priests of the young Churches may be formed to evangelize their nations and the whole world.

By "young Churches" Pope Benedict means the Church in countries where Christianity has arrived in the past couple of centuries, where it is relatively new and therefore potentially fragile. A young church must make the transition from being a missionary church to being an indigenous church, one having its own priests and bishops. At some later point, the indigenous church becomes a church that itself sends out missionaries to the mission fields.

Pope Benedict asks us to pray this month for what the young Churches need most: priests properly formed to evangelize their own nations and the whole world. What does the Holy Father consider the proper formation of a priest? To seminarians attending World Youth Day in 2005, Pope Benedict said that the future priest must be someone who first of all "has had a personal experience of Christ," for, above all, a priest must be holy.  

"The secret of holiness," the Pope continued, "is friendship with Christ and faithful obedience to his will…. Dear seminarians, be the first to offer him what is most precious to you, as Pope John Paul II suggested in his Message for this World Youth Day: the gold of your freedom, the incense of your ardent prayer, the myrrh of your most profound affection."

In 2006 speaking to Polish seminarians, Pope Benedict said, "So much can be gained by reflecting on the way Mary learned from Jesus. From her very first ‘fiat,' through the long ordinary years of the hidden life … or when at Cana in Galilee she asked for the first sign, or when finally on Calvary, by the Cross, she looked on Jesus, she ‘learned' him moment by moment." The Pope urged the seminarians, like Mary, to "keep your eyes fixed on him. Let him form you, so that in your ministry you will be able to show him to all who approach you…. The world and the Church need priests, holy priests."

We join the Pope in praying this month that the future priests of the young Churches "be specialists in promoting the encounter between man and God."

Reflection

Why do you think the Pope commends holiness — above education, talent, and action — as the most important quality of a future priest?

Scripture

Romans 10:14-16 — How can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!"

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

O Jesus, eternal High Priest, I pray for all seminarians, Your future priests. Give them humility, meekness, prudence, and a burning zeal for souls. Fill their hearts with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to know and love the Church, that they may always and everywhere speak, act, and think with her. Teach them generosity and detachment from the things of this world. But above all, teach them to know You and love You, the one and only eternal priest. Good Shepherd of souls, hear this my prayer for saintly priests. Amen.  

Forgiveness. That all may understand the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation between individuals and peoples and that the Church may spread Christ's love.

Appropriate for Lent, Pope Benedict XVI turns our prayers this month to the beautiful practice of forgiveness. Jesus Christ came to take away our sins and to reconcile us to God and each other. As we walk in the faith — sometimes stumbling, sometimes falling — we continue to seek forgiveness. Staying forgiven is the key to living close to God.

The Sacrament of Confession, the Holy Father said in a homily last year, lets one experience "forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with the Church, recovery of the state of grace … and an increase of spiritual strength for the struggle of Christian living."  

But we make a great mistake if we limit our understanding of forgiveness to ourselves. Jesus made it clear that God forgives us "as we forgive those who trespass against us." Then he himself showed us how it's done when he prayed for those who were crucifying him: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."  

Jesus called us to forgive our brother "seventy-seven" times. It's often hard to forgive those who have injured us, especially when they do not ask for forgiveness. But unforgiveness works like a cancer, destroying our relationships with one another as well as with God. If we harbor anger, we must let it go by forgiving as often as it returns. We don't deny our hurt, smooth it over, or rely on our feelings. We will to forgive, and we persist in willing it. Robert Enright, a founder of the International Forgiveness Institute, says that our forgiveness of someone is not complete until from our hearts we wish that person well.

The Pope's vision of forgiveness is wider still. He wants us to understand that without forgiveness, no true peace can exist between peoples or nations. Forgiveness alone can break the cycles of vengeance. Even if the forgiveness is one-sided, it represents the only hope of peace. To spread Christ's love — whether as an individual, group, nation, or Church — means practicing forgiveness.

Reflection

Is there someone in your life you have not fully forgiven? What steps will you take to do so?

Scripture

Matthew 18: 21-22: "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times."

Mission Intention

The Persecuted. That Christians who are persecuted because of the Gospel may be sustained by the Holy Spirit and continue to bear witness to the Word of God.

Persecution is harassment of individuals because of their faith, even to the point of killing them. Despite occasional discrimination, we are thankful that our country differs greatly from the Roman Empire of the early Church when Christians were routinely ridiculed, hunted, and killed.

This month Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that many Christians throughout the world suffer persecution today. He wants us to pray, not for the end of their persecution, but for the Holy Spirit to strengthen them to continue preaching and living the Gospel.  

When Jesus faced his own persecution, he sweated blood and prayed to his Father to let him escape the torture that was coming his way. But he was quick to add, "let your will, not mine, be done." He had always known that he would end his earthly life "lifted up" on a cross. From the beginning Jesus "set his face like flint" in his "exodus" toward Jerusalem where the sinners he had come to save would conspire against him, arrest him, accuse him falsely, convict him, and sentence him to a punishment all out of proportion with the alleged offenses. His friends abandoned him. He was whipped, mocked, crowned with thorns, made to carry his own cross through the streets, nailed to the cross, and set up to hang there between two criminals. He forgave his persecutors, and then he died, entrusting himself to his Father. He is the Lamb of God slain for the whole world, proving that God is Love.  

He predicted his followers would experience persecutions too. The definition of Christian is that we shall be "other Christs" who carry our own crosses every day. We do it in the firm hope that in this way we are pleasing God. Like Jesus, we show God is Love by forgiving those who hate us. Like Jesus, we will be raised from the dead to live forever with God.

Reflection

How is persecution a sign that we are living in union with Christ?

Scripture

Matthew 5: 10-12 Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.  

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

You have favored, O Lord, your land;
You have forgiven the guilt of your people;
You have covered all their sins.
Show us, O Lord, your kindness,
And grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims —

The Lord — for he proclaims peace
To his people, and to his faithful ones,
And to those who put in him their hope.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
Glory dwelling in our land.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
Justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
And justice shall look down from heaven.

(from Psalm 85)

Mentally Handicapped. That the mentally handicapped may not be marginalized, but respected and lovingly helped.

This month the Holy Father affirms the worth of people who are mentally handicapped. The developmentally disabled, as they are usually termed in the U.S., tend to be marginalized by society — that is, they are pushed aside, put away, and ignored. Their crime is that they happen to exhibit weakness of intellect. Sometimes the mental handicap is accompanied by delays in speech, social skills, and physical abilities. Some of the developmentally disabled lead independent lives in their communities. But many need help to live up to their potential. Some need constant care.

In 1964 French layman Jean Vanier noticed the plight of thousands institutionalized with developmental disabilities. Vanier invited two men to come live with him in his home. He named the home L'Arche, French for The Ark. Now there are 130 L'Arche households throughout the world.

Just what is the value of the mentally handicapped? Jean Vanier puts it this way: "The mentally handicapped … have time to look and think and marvel and love…. They are a sign, by their very being, that peace and joy … are not gained by work alone, and do not depend on wealth. Therefore, they utter a terrible warning; a warning that if men do not use their knowledge and ability to make the world more just, more brotherly, and to bridge the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, then this world will end in agony, strife, and fire."

May we join the Holy Father in praying that the mentally handicapped not be ignored or rejected, but that we might learn to respect the dignity of every human being.

Reflection

Do you know a person who is mentally handicapped? What might you do to affirm his or her dignity?

Scripture

Matthew 31:34-36 — "Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'"

Mission Intention

Institutes of Consecrated Life. That the Institutes of Consecrated Life in mission countries may rediscover the missionary dimension and generously proclaim Christ to the ends of the earth.

On February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the Church also celebrates World Day of Consecrated Life. This month the Holy Father asks us to pray that all priests, brothers, and sisters may generously proclaim Christ to the ends of the earth.

Speaking last year to the bishops of Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI said this: "Not a political ideology, not a social movement, not an economic system, but faith in the God who is Love — who took flesh, died and rose in Jesus Christ — is the authentic basis for this hope which has brought forth such a magnificent harvest from the time of the first evangelization until today."

The Pope constantly exhorts religious orders of the Church to remain true to the original mission of their founders, particularly in their devotion to the Gospel of Christ. "The disciple, founded on the rock of God's word, feels driven to bring the Good News of salvation to his brothers and sisters," the Pope told the bishops of Latin America. "When the disciple is in love with Christ, he cannot stop proclaiming to the world that only in him do we find salvation (Acts 4.12). In effect, the disciple knows that without Christ there is no light, no hope, no love, no future."

But nowhere does our Holy Father express this dynamic of personal faith and social service as beautifully as he does in his encyclical, God is Love: "Love of God and love of neighbor have become one; in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God."

May all religious congregations, especially in mission lands, fearlessly witness to the Gospel.

Reflection

How does the Gospel contain the answers to the problems of developing mission countries?

Scripture

Mark 16:15-16 — "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized, will be saved."

Daily Offering Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.

Prayer of the Month

O Father, we ask you to bless us,
and keep us in your love.
May L'Arche be a true home,
where the poor in Spirit may find life.
Lord, give us hearts that are open,
hearts that are humble and gentle,
so that we may welcome those you send,
with tenderness and compassion.

Lord, through the hands of your little ones,
we ask you to bless us.
Through the eyes of those who are rejected,
we ask you to smile on us.

Lord, on the day of your coming,
welcome all people into your Kingdom. Amen

(adapted from the L'Arche prayer)