Dara’s Corner-Whoopi’s Birthday
· How to celebrate Nov 13th
o Start your day by embracing the spirit of kindness. Surprise someone with a heartfelt hug or a small act of generosity.
§ Show appreciation for the musicians in your life, whether it’s by listening to their music, sharing their work, or simply giving them a virtual hug.
· Bake a comforting Indian pudding to share with loved ones, celebrating traditions and flavors from around the world.
o As the day unfolds, consider arranging a musical gathering with friends.
§ Host a small roast dinner party where everyone can contribute dishes and enjoy good food and great company.
· Play symphonic metal music in the background to add a unique twist to the atmosphere.
o Encourage guests to participate in a friendly dance-off or karaoke session to up the entertainment factor.
o In the evening, channel the playful and unconventional spirit of Sadie Hawkins Day. Organize a fun event where women take the lead – whether it’s choosing activities, making decisions, or asking someone out.
NOVEMBER 13 Wednesday-Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
On that day the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling with FEAR, because of the LORD of hosts shaking his fist at them.
To shake your fist at someone is a way of showing a person you are
angry with them.
What are the giants in your life?
Recklessness, extravagance, deceit, lust, greed, envy, arrogance, theft, adultery, malice, murder, and blasphemy, all comes from within.
These giants are not out there; they’re in here; in the heart. The heart’s fears make giants. Love is the cure. Love endures Love hopes. Love does small tasks.
Love is like a water drop that outlasts the mountain, wearing it away. Love stands defiant before the giants in your life. In and through love we come to discover the giants in our life were shadows all along.
Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s light shining somewhere nearby. (Ruth Renkle)
Live each day as if it were your last. Death brings an end to all, and man’s life suddenly passes away like a fleeting shadow.
Lord, for those in mortal sin, death is the gateway to hell, but for those in sanctifying grace, it is the pathway to Heaven. Let my greatest desire in life be to live in such a way that I can die fearlessly at any moment. Let me fear sin more than death or any other earthly harm. Amen.[1]
Yet, if we insist on going our own
way, following the "I did it my way" philosophy (made famous in Frank
Sinatra's hit song!), then God's anger means that He will respect the freedom
He gave to us, and say to us, in effect: "OK, do it your way, if you
insist. I will not compel you to turn away from your sins and be sanctified.
But if you do decide to 'do it your way,' you will have to experience the
rotten fruits — the self-destructive effects — of the path you have chosen,
both in this life and the life to come." For those cruel and cold-hearted
souls who remain stubbornly impenitent and who resist God's grace to the end of
their lives, God's anger takes the form of the "eternal punishment"
of sinners, which simply means that He allows them to turn their backs on Him
and live forever in their self-chosen exile from the light of His countenance.
That is why the catechism defines "hell" as essentially "a state
of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed". As Father
Seraphim Michalenko, MIC, explained in the book Pillars of Fire in My Soul: The
Spirituality of St. Faustina (Marian Press, 2003): God is totally opposed to
all evil, and sends His lightning bolts to oppose it (so to speak), yet we
cling by our sins to the lightning rod of evil, and then complain that He is a
God of wrath! Clearly, God does not want us to suffer His wrath and
indignation. As Jesus said, to St. Faustina, (Diary entry 1588) "I do not
want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful
Heart. I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so; My hand is
reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice." Another time He said to
her (entry 1728) that when sinful souls "bring all My graces to naught, I
begin to be angry with them, leaving them alone and giving them what they
want." Thanks be to God, that His mercy is so much greater than our sins!
We do not need to be afraid at all, for as He said to St. Faustina (entry
1485): "Do not be afraid of your Savior, O sinful soul. I make the first
move to come to you, for I know that by yourself you are unable to come to Me.
Child, do not run away from your Father; be willing to talk openly with your
God of mercy who wants to speak words of pardon and lavish His graces on you.
... My Mercy is greater than your sins, and those of the entire world."[2]
Mother Cabrini, the Saint of Italians in America[3]
Frances
Xavier Cabrini, born in the province of Lodi in Lombardy, eventually came to
the United States toward the end of the nineteenth century. It was due to total
serendipity that she became the saint for Italian immigrants in this country.
It is also a sweet paradox that she, from the north, arrived during the great
wave of southern Italian emigration to the United States. Having taken her vows
in 1877, three years later she and six other nuns founded the religious
institute Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As we read earlier,
wanting to provide help to immigrants beginning in the U.S., Pope Leo XIII
suggested instead that she go west, where, according to him, the already
thousands of Italian immigrants in the U.S. were in great need of assistance.
Mother Cabrini and six others arrived in the United States in 1889 and hit the
ground running, so to speak. As they did in Italy, here, too, Mother Cabrini
and her team founded the requisite housing, a series of schools and orphanages,
and the necessary hospitals that chiefly served the Italian immigrant
communities. Actions supported by the Church, for sure, but actions also
emblematic of what Italians can do in order to help other Italians in need.
In
all, they founded close to 70 institutions of all types in numerous cities
throughout the United States — Chicago and New York the two principal cities
associated with Mother Cabrini today, as well as Cabrini College in
Pennsylvania. Undoubtedly, Mother Cabrini was an exemplar of all things
possible and thus a symbol of hope for all. She herself had crossed the ocean
in 1889 and, in so doing, had followed the same route that thousands of other
immigrants had and were taking. Privileged as she was in her role as nun — and
let us underscore at this juncture her gender — she was a woman of great
acumen, having succeeded in overcoming great obstacles of the time and
demonstrating how all things were possible. In this sense, then, she was also
an example of how one can get things done and, more important, how we can still
today — and let us say should — open doors for all people who are in need of
such assistance.
Her
legacy clearly lives on both within and beyond the Italian/ American community.
Italian Americans continue to serve and donate to many Catholic and social
institutions today, at times even beyond. If there is one thing to bemoan, it
is that her medical institutions of New York — Columbus Hospital and the
Italian Hospital, which eventually became the Cabrini Medical Center — could
not be sustained and consequently closed in 2008. Nonetheless, Mother Cabrini
remains that shining light not only for all those whom she helped, but to be
sure, that exemplar par excellence that we, today, should emulate for the
dedication so necessary to get things done for the better good.
Things
to Do:[4]
·
If you live in or pass through Colorado, visit the
western Mother
Cabrini Shrine.
·
Read more about St.
Francis Cabrini.
·
Prepare an Italian dinner in honor of St. Francis
Cabrini. For dessert make a ship cake (symbolizing her missionary work), a
heart cake (she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart) or a Book
Cake (symbolizing her founding a religious order).
·
Say the Little Rosary of St. Francis Xavier Cabrini.
·
Read the Encyclical, On Consecrated Virginity, by Pius XII and if you are single consider the
possibility of a vocation to this life.
·
Read the Pope Benedict XVI's Address for World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 2007.
·
If you know someone who has immigrated to this
country, try to help them feel welcome, perhaps by inviting them over for the
Italian dinner.
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
IV. The Sacraments of
Salvation
Day 154
V. The Sacraments of Eternal Life
1130 The Church celebrates the mystery of her Lord
"until he comes," when God will be "everything to
everyone." Since the apostolic age the liturgy has been drawn toward
its goal by the Spirit's groaning in the Church: Marana tha! The liturgy
thus shares in Jesus' desire: "I have earnestly desired to eat this
Passover with you . . . until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of
God." In the sacraments of Christ the Church already receives the
guarantee of her inheritance and even now shares in everlasting life, while
"awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and
Savior Christ Jesus." The "Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come . . .
Come, Lord Jesus!"'
St. Thomas sums up the various aspects of sacramental
signs: "Therefore a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what precedes it
- Christ's Passion; demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ's
Passion - grace; and prefigures what that Passion pledges to us - future
glory."
IN BRIEF
1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace,
instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is
dispensed to us. the visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated
signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit
in those who receive them with the required dispositions.
1132 The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly
community structured by the baptismal priesthood and the priesthood of ordained
ministers.
1133 The Holy Spirit prepares the faithful for the
sacraments by the Word of God and the faith which welcomes that word in
well-disposed hearts. Thus the sacraments strengthen faith and express it.
1134 The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and
ecclesial. For every one of the faithful an the one hand, this fruit is life
for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in
charity and in her mission of witness.
Every Wednesday is
Dedicated to St. Joseph
The Italian culture has
always had a close association with St. Joseph perhaps you could make
Wednesdays centered around Jesus’s Papa. Plan an Italian dinner of pizza or
spaghetti after attending Mass as most parishes have a Wednesday evening Mass.
You could even do carry out to help restaurants. If you are adventurous, you
could do the Universal Man Plan: St. Joseph style. Make the evening a family
night perhaps it could be a game night. Whatever you do make the day special.
·
Devotion to the 7 Joys and Sorrows of St.
Joseph
·
Do the St.
Joseph Universal Man Plan.
·
Total Consecration
to St. Joseph Day 8
o Here
are some ways to be a holy head of your family:
§ Lead by example: A spiritual leader imitates
Christ and is concerned for the spiritual welfare of their family. They are
willing to sacrifice for the good of their family.
§ Prioritize God: A spiritual leader puts their
relationship with God first and makes decisions based on their faith.
§ Put your family first: A spiritual leader
puts the needs of their family above their own.
§ Be a servant-leader: A spiritual leader is
tuned in to their family's needs and provides physical support, grace, and
encouragement.
§ Be mature: A spiritual leader is mature and doesn't use their position to lord it over their family.
§ Set boundaries: A spiritual leader sets good
boundaries and stands firm when needed.
§ Pray together: Pray before meals, pray a
family rosary, and read the Bible together.
§ Attend Mass: Bring your family to Mass on
Sundays.
§ Baptize your children: Ensure that your
children are baptized in a timely manner.
§ Study scripture: Have your children study
scripture.
§ Engage in the Christian community: Engage in
the Christian community as a family.
§ Be generous: Be generous as a family.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Victims
of clergy sexual abuse
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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