ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE-WORLD
FOOD DAY
Romans,
Chapter 2, Verse 9-10
9
Yes, affliction and distress will come upon every human being who does evil,
Jew first and then Greek. 10
But there will be glory, honor, and peace
for everyone who does good, Jew first and then Greek.
There
is no impartiality with God. There is nobody who is privileged or exempt from
God’s judgment. We will all account for our individual deeds or misdeeds. Those
who make life style choices contrary to God will earn God’s wrath which
includes sexual immorality[1],
covetousness, maliciousness; envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness,
whisperings, backbiting, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, disobedient
to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving and unmerciful.
Great
courage is required in spiritual warfare. Our enemies are terrible in strength
and numerous beyond count. They are ever active, ever alert to work our
destruction. Yet, only one angel of God is able to defeat the devil and all the
demons. God never permits us to be tempted beyond our strength. By God’s grace
we can resist them and advance the work of our sanctification. Know that the
devil fears no person and would destroy us if not for the limits God puts on
him and the protection provided by our guardian angels and the other eight
choirs of angels. Let ourselves be guided by the grace which the precious blood
provides and call upon the intersession of Mary Queen of Heaven. Resist the
devil and he will flee from you. (He will go on to easier pickings like any
criminal) When tempted call upon the Blood of Christ to give you courage and
strength to fight the enemy.
A self-effacing nun in the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial,
France, was inspired by the Lord Jesus to establish the devotion of the Holy
Hour. Her name was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and from the age of seven, when she
received her first Holy Communion, she had always manifested an intense love of
the Most Blessed Sacrament. Our Lord appeared to her often, usually as the
Crucified Christ. Her simplicity caused her to feel that these apparitions were
also granted to others who had recourse to Jesus in the sacrament of His love.
Once the Master appeared to the young girl as she was returning from a dance
and reproached her for not espousing Him. When twenty-four years of age,
Margaret entered the cloister, choosing the most menial tasks. Gifted with intelligence
and common sense, she made great progress in holiness. Our Lord entrusted to
her the mission of establishing the reign of the Sacred Heart among the
children of men. Criticism did not hamper her zeal, and her charity toward her
opponents won them over to the cause of the Master. In the first revelation of
the Sacred Heart to the nun, Our Lord made known His burning desire to be loved
by all men, and His design of manifesting to them His Sacred Heart with its
treasures of mercy. Margaret Mary communicated Our Lord's wish that the
faithful receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month and observe
the Feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi.
After nineteen years in the convent, St. Margaret Mary died October 17, 1690.
Many pilgrims to her tomb have sought and obtained favors. Through her
apostolate of devotion to the Sacred Heart many sinners have repented and found
grace with God.
Patron: against polio; devotees of the Sacred Heart; loss of parents; polio
patients.
Things to Do:
·
Read the Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Strive to
fulfill the obligation for the Nine First
Fridays.
·
Find out more about the
Enthronement of the Sacred Heart and establish this practice in your home. A
book to read on this is Enthronement of the Sacred Heart by Francis
Larkin, SS.CC.
·
first,
let us look at Joseph in that situation where the seed of all his future
excellences began to develop—his father's tent. There, were laid, in his filial
piety and his true religion, the foundations of that noble and lofty character
which all nations and ages have delighted to contemplate. It is unquestionably
true and should ever be borne in mind by parents and children, that the rudiments of character are formed in
early life, and at home, and then and there those seeds of good or evil
are sown which bear in future years their appropriate fruits.
·
Joseph
was the favorite child of his father, this partiality, though unwisely
manifested, was grounded in part on Joseph's exemplary conduct, for he was a
most dutiful son, and one that feared God. At the same time, however, he was
the object of hatred and envy to his brethren.
·
With
the murderous conspiracy of Joseph's cruel and unnatural brothers you are well
acquainted. he was sold as a slave. Instead of cursing his lot, yielding to sullen
despondency, and making his master angry by hopeless misery—he accommodated
himself, by the aid of true religion, to his circumstances, and applied all his
faculties to serve his master, to secure his confidence, and conciliate his
kindness. And he was successful. You see how wise it is, instead of giving up
all for lost in unfavorable circumstances, and sinking into absolute despair,
to resolve, by God's blessing, to do all we can to improve our condition. Learn,
young men, to bear up with patience, fortitude and hope, against adverse
circumstances. Never despair. It was an old Greek proverb, "We ascend,
downwards." And in Bunyan's inimitable allegory, the "Valley of
Humiliation" lay in the direct road to exaltation. If by any cause you are
brought into a less favorable situation than you have been accustomed to
occupy, go diligently and cheerfully to work, and determine, by God's grace, to
make even this bitter experience subservient to your future welfare. It may be
necessary to prepare you for something higher and better. Never abandon hope.
The mainspring of exertion is broken when hope is gone.
·
Joseph's
conduct in the house of Potiphar was so exemplary for diligence and fidelity,
that it drew upon him, first of all, the favor of God—and next, the esteem of
man, for he was soon advanced to a high place of trust and honor in the
establishment of his master. The reason of Potiphar's conduct in thus promoting
his Hebrew slave is given by the historian in the following words—"He saw
that the Lord was with him, and the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his
hand." Here is one of the ten thousand instances which corroborate the
declaration of the apostle, that "Godliness has value for all things,
holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."
World
Food Day is recognized in order to raise awareness about hunger and encourage
the public to support efforts to eradicate world hunger. Food plays an
essential role in life; many people go without it and cannot guarantee when
they will eat their next meals, while others waste large amounts of food every
day. World Food Day is organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations. The FAO was
founded on October 16, 1945 in an effort to help the world with its constant
battle against hunger and malnutrition. World Food Day was officially
established in 1979 and today, it is observed in over 150 countries. It is
celebrated annually on the same day as the FAO's founding, October 16th. Since
1981, a different theme has been adopted each year based on current issues. The
day is also heavily promoted by organizations that are concerned with food security
and insecurity.
World
Food Day Facts & Quotes
·
Approximately 1/3 of all food produced
worldwide, about $1 trillion dollars worth, is wasted. The biggest
culprits are industrialized countries; they waste almost as much food as the
entire production weight of sub-Saharan Africa- 222 million vs 230 million
tons.
·
The Food and Agriculture of the United
Nations acts as a forum for international efforts that aim to reduce food
insecurity by acting as a forum for states to meet and negotiate trade agreements
and policy.
·
The quest for food security can be the
common thread that links the different challenges we face and helps build a
sustainable future. – José Graziano da Silva, United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General
·
In a world of plenty, no one, not a
single person, should go hungry. But almost 1 billion still do not have enough
to eat. I want to see an end to hunger everywhere within my lifetime. – Ban
Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General
World
Food Day Top Events and Things to Do
·
Do
not waste food. World Food Day promotes Think. Eat. Save. as a way to reduce
waste so, t=Think about what you’re buying, plan meals and shop smart. Eat
mindfully. Are your eyes too big for your stomach? Save food, save money, save
the environment.
·
Lobby
your government to changes its laws on waste. France passed a law banning
supermarkets from throwing away destroying unsold food, instead making them
donate it to charities and food banks.
·
Watch
a documentary about the food production process. Food Inc. (2008), Super Size
Me (2004) or Fresh (2009) are all
documentaries about food production and waste.
·
Read
a book about food activism, eco- and ethical farming why
not try one of these books that may help us find sustainable solutions to feed
the 9.6 billion people that will to be fed by 2050. Our picks:
1) The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World by Andrew S Winston
2) Feeding Frenzy: Land Grabs, Price Spikes, and the World Food Crisis by Paul McMahon
3) The Political Economy of Arab Food Sovereignt by Jane Harrigan
1) The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World by Andrew S Winston
2) Feeding Frenzy: Land Grabs, Price Spikes, and the World Food Crisis by Paul McMahon
3) The Political Economy of Arab Food Sovereignt by Jane Harrigan
Daily Devotions
[1] Sexuality is God’s design. He alone can
define the parameters for its use. The Bible is clear that sex was created to
be enjoyed between one man and one woman who are in a covenant marriage until
one of them dies (Matthew 19:6). Sexuality is His sacred wedding gift to human
beings. Any expression of it outside those parameters constitutes abuse of
God’s gift. Abuse is the use of people or things in ways they were not designed
to be used. The Bible calls this sin. Adultery, premarital sex, pornography,
and homosexual relations are all outside God’s design, which makes them, sin.
[2] St. Michael and the Angels, Tan Books,
1983.
[3]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2017-10-16
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