SAINT THERESA OF CALCUTTA

"He is the Life that I want to live,

Photo Credit:  St. Theresa of Calcutta

He is Light that I want to radiate.
He is the Way to the Father.
He is the Love with which I want to love.
He is the Joy that I want to share.
He is the Peace that I want to sow.
Jesus is Everything to me.
Without Him, I can do nothing." - Mother Theresa of Calcutta

Feast Day - September 5

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, the youngest of three children. She attended a youth group called Sodality, run by a Jesuit priest at her parish, and her involvement opened her to the call of service as a missionary nun.

She joined the Sisters of Loretto at age 17 and was sent to Calcutta where she taught at a high school. She contracted Tuberculosis and was sent to rest in Darjeeling. It was on the train to Darjeeling that she received her calling - what she called "an order" from God to leave the convent and work and live among the poor. At this point she did not know that she was to found an order of nuns, or even exactly where she was to serve. 

"I knew where I belonged, but I did not know how to get there," she said once, recalling the moment on the train.
Confirmation of the calling came when the Vatican granted her permission to leave the Sisters of Loretto and fulfill her calling under the Archbshop of Calcutta. She started working in the slums, teaching poor children, and treating the sick in their homes. She was joined a year later by some of her former students and together they took in men, women, and children who were dying in the gutters along the streets and cared for them.

In 1950 the Missionaries of Charity were born as a congregation of the Diocese of Calcutta and in 1952 the government granted them a house from which to continue their service among Calcutta's forgotten.

The congregation very quickly grew from a single house for the dying and unwanted to nearly 500 around the world. Mother Teresa set up homes for AIDS sufferers, for prostitutes, for battered women, and orphanages for poor children.

She often said that the poorest of the poor were those who had no one to care for them and no one who knew them. And she often remarked with sadness and desolation of milliions of souls in the developed world whose spiritual poverty and loneliness was such an immense cause of suffering.

She was a fierce defender of the unborn saying: 

"If you hear of some woman who does not want to keep her child and wants to have an abortion, try to persuade her to bring him to me. I will love that child, seeing in him the sign of God's love."

Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997 and was beatified only six years later, on October 19, 2003.

Mother Teresa thought about sacrifice: 

"A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace."

"Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness."

Here are some of St. Theresa's famous quotes:

"Kind words are short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless."

"A sacrifice to be real, must cost, must heart, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace. 


Reference: St. Theresa of Calcutta 

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What is a Saint? Who are Saint? Why Saint?

I've been tackling so much about saints but I haven't discussed why Roman Catholic have saints. Before adding more in my line-up of the virtuous people on my blog, I will discuss first what, who and why there are people who are honored as saints.

According to Google, as noun, saint is: 1. a person acknowledged as holy or virtuous and typically regarded as being in heaven after death. 2. used in titles of religious saints "the epistles of Saint Paul". As verb, formally recognized as a saint; canonize.

In the Catechism inculcated in us in The Sisters of Mary , saints are those who followed Jesus in every way, in all aspect. There are saints who renounced wealth and lived the life of poverty in following Jesus Christ. The best example of which is St. Francis of Assisi. And there are also saints who believed and justified the power of small deeds to follow Jesus like St. Therese of Lisieux, "The Little Flower". 

Becoming saint is not just an instant. It's a constant practice and doing it out love for Jesus. When I was still in the campus, I was motivated to be like Jesus but it's really difficult. How not to scorn when being humiliated? How to pray fervently despite the whispers and giggles you're hearing from the back of the chapel. How to offer the the cleaning of CR when you never liked doing so. Sometimes, the practice becomes hypocrisy. That's why it's really---not an easy battle. 

Who are Saints?

Saints are holy men and women who through extraordinary lives of virtue, have already entered Heaven. In the New Testament, saint referred to all who believed in Jesus Christ and followed his teachings. Saint Paul often addressed his epistles to "the saints" of a particular city as mentioned in Ephesians 1:1:  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to all the saints who are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother: to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in all Achaia:

Acts 9:32  And it came to pass that Peter, as he passed through, visiting all, came to the saints who dwelt at Lydda.

Hence, the followers of Christ after His death had been so transformed that they were now different from other men and women and, thus should be considered as holy.

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ST. GEMMA GALGANI

ST. GEMMA GALGANI - THE EXTRAORDINARY "GEM OF CHRIST"
Feast Day - April 11

"I wish, oh Jesus, that my voice could reach to the ends of the world, to call all sinners and tell them to enter into Thy Heart....Oh, if only all sinners would come to Thy Heart!... Come! Come sinners, do not be afraid! The sword of Justice cannot reach you Here!" 

A brief biography of the life of St Gemma

Gemma was born on March 12, 1878 in Camigliano, Italy, and soon after her birth her family moved to Lucca, Italy, where she remained the rest of her life. Her mother Aurelia, a holy woman, died when Gemma was only 8 years old. The loss of her mother at such a young age was a sword of suffering upon her little heart. Eleven years later, at age 19, she would lose also her father, leaving her and her brothers and sisters orphans. Not long after this, she became gravely ill with spinal meningitis, becoming bedridden and on the verge of death. It was at this point that began the extraordinary graces in her life.

Miraculous Cure

The Passionist Venerable Gabriel Possenti (now a Saint) began appearing to her in a series of visions, encouraging her and helping her to make a Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in hopes for a cure. It was at this time that the attending Doctors resigned her to die. On March 3, 1899, Jesus appeared to Gemma and cured her on the last day of the Novena, which coincided with the First Friday of the month (which is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus). It was at this time also that Gemma began receiving inner locutions (interior words) from Jesus, and she begins to see her guardian Angel who inspires and instructs her in the practice of virtues.

Gemma is given the Stigmata

A few months later, on the morning of June 8, 1899, Gemma is enlightened during Holy Communion that she would soon be receiving a great grace from Jesus. That evening, the Blessed Mother appeared to her, along with her guardian Angel. The Blessed Virgin told her:

"Jesus my Son loves you very much and He wishes to give you a grace. Do you know how to make yourself worthy of it?” In my misery I did not know what to answer. She continued “I will be your Mother. Will you be a true daughter?” She then spread her mantle and covered me with it. At that moment Jesus appeared with all His wounds open, but blood no longer came out of those wounds. Rather, flames of fire issued forth from them and in an instant these flames came to touch my hands, my feet and my heart. I felt as if I would die. I fell to the floor, but my Mother supported me, keeping me covered in her mantle. I had to remain several hours in that position. Finally she kissed me on my forehead, and all vanished, and I found myself kneeling on the floor. But I still felt an intense pain in my hands, feet and heart. I arose to go to bed, and I then noticed that blood was flowing from those parts where I felt pain. I covered them as well as I could, and then with the help of my angel, I was able to go to bed. These sufferings and pains, although they afflicted me, filled me with perfect peace. The next morning I was able to go to Communion only with great difficulty, and I put on a pair of gloves in order to hide my hands. I could hardly stand on my feet, and I thought I would die at any minute. The sufferings continued until 3pm on Friday afternoon, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus."

Victim Soul

It was at this point that Gemma began suffering as a victim soul for the conversion of sinners. She continued this extraordinary mission until the end of her life. At times Accompanying the Stigmata were also the Crown of Thorns and also the Scourging which is well documented by her Spiritual Director, Venerable Father Germanus C.P.

Ecstasies of love

Along with suffering in union with Jesus for the conversion of souls, she was also drawn into the most remarkable and sublime ecstasies where she conversed and often pleaded with Jesus for sinners, for the souls in Purgatory, for love and for mercy upon humanity, always telling Jesus of her love for Him, and offering herself as a holocost and victim to obtain these graces.

The Holy Death of Saint Gemma

After a selfless life of love given to God for the conversion of sinners, so dear to His Sacred Heart, Gemma died a most holy death on the afternoon of Holy Saturday, the Vigil of Easter, wherein we celebrate the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord.

In September 1902, Gemma became severely ill with Tuberculosis. By that time the fever of disease had begun to consume the innocent victim of divine Justice. Early in September she became very sick and vomited blood in quantities. One who watched by her bed wrote to her Director: "She is reduced to skin and bones; she suffers excruciating pains. One cannot bear the torment of not knowing what to do to relieve her. Gemma feels great need of you. Come quickly and tell us what to do."

"On receiving other pressing requests," he wrote, "I determined to go and reached Lucca in the month of October. The poor child showed the greatest joy when she was told that I had come, and wished to get up to welcome me. Imagine my grief at finding her in such a state, added to my fear that God this time would act indeed. I blessed her and bade her go back to bed; then sitting by her side I said: 'Well Gemma, what are we to do?'

'Go to Jesus, Father,' she answered, in a tone of inexpressible joy.

'But really?' I added.

'Yes, Father, this time Jesus has told me clearly, so clearly. To Heaven, my Father, to Jesus, with Jesus in Heaven!'

'But,' I rejoined, 'our sins, how are we to atone for them? You would make it an easy

matter!'

And she answered, 'Jesus has thought of that. He will let me suffer so much in the short time I have to live, that, sanctifying my poor pains by the merits of His Passion, He will be satisfied an will take me with Him to Paradise.'

'But,' I said, 'I do not wish you to die yet.'

And she, in her spirited way, replied- 'And should Jesus wish it, what then?'

She then gave him all the particulars of her death and burial with the calmness of one discussing an ordinary affair. In the Confession she made that evening, she accused herself of the sins of her whole life with such compunction that he could not restrain his tears at seeing such lively sentiments of sorrow in one who had never stained the spotless robe of baptismal innocence by a deliberate sin. In the morning dressed as a bride with a white veil on her head she received Holy Viaticum, "looking," says Father Germano, "like an Angel in adoration before the Majesty of God." Afterwards she said to him: "If you wish, Father, you can leave, as I shall not die now. This illness will certainly finish me, but not yet; at least, that is what Jesus has told me."

Thus the months dragged on with Gemma living in the closest union of love and suffering with Jesus Crucified. Through the offering of her sufferings in union with Jesus, the Victim Soul was obtaining countless graces each day for the conversion of sinners. Holy Week arrived and now the victim of Jesus was to be made conformable to His Death. On Good Friday, April 10, 1903 she said to Cecilia Giannini who was attending her: "Don't leave me until I am nailed to the Cross. I must be crucified with Jesus. He has said to me that His children must be crucified." She then went into ecstasy and gradually extending her arms, she remained in that posture for about three hours - an image of Jesus dying on the Cross. All that day and night her agony continued.

On the morning of Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903, at about 8:00am she received Viaticum and the Last Anointing. At around 1:30pm, with the crucifix in her hands she said: "Jesus, now it is indeed true that nothing remains for me. If it be Thy will, take me." Glancing at the picture of Mary, she added: "My Mother, I recommend myself to You. Ask Jesus to have mercy on me." Then, in a feeble voice: "Jesus, I commend to You this poor soul of mine. Jesus." These were her last words. She kissed the crucifix, placed it over her heart, folded her hands over it, and closed her eyes. Then, after a few moments, she turned her head on the pillow and ceased to breathe, and thus her holy soul took flight to be forever united with the God whom she loved with all the strength of her heart.

The priest who was reading the last prayers of the Church never knew the moment of her passing. "I have assisted many sick people," he said, "but I never knew one to die in that way, without a tear or a sigh. She died with a smile and the smile remained on her lips so that I could hardly convince myself that she was really dead." 

And one of the Nursing Sisters from the order of St Camillis de Lellis who was caring for Gemma in her last days attested: "We have cared for a great many sick people, but we have never seen anything like this."

The inscription placed on her tomb read:

"Gemma Galgani of Lucca, a most innocent virgin, while in her 25th year, consumed rather by the fire of Divine Love than by the violence of disease, flew into the arms of her Heavenly Spouse on Holy Saturday, the eleventh of April, 1903. Peace be to Thee, O sweet soul, in company with the Angels"

~St Gemma, pray for us!

REFERENCES:

http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2013/04/st-gemma-galgani-feast-day-april-11.html

http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2009/12/st-gemma-galgani-lover-of-jesus.html

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ST. ROSE OF LIMA - PATRONESS OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE PHILIPPINES

The people in the Philippines are presently in wrath because of Janet Napoles stealing of taxes. While she and her family extravagantly spend the wealth came from the taxes of the people, there are families who can hardly eat three times a day. While she's busy fooling the Catholic Church by her so called charity works through giving allowances to Bishops, priests, and communities, she's also busy stealing the portion of people's hard earned money.

I asked, can she really sleep in her comfortable houses? can she really enjoy the ride on her luxurious cars? can she really escape God's wrath hiding on her camouflage? I really don't know how a person like her can survive a day with a rotten conscience. I pity her daughter who, without hesitation, boast of her elegant way of living...Since August 23 is St. Rose of Lima's feast day and since she's honored as Patroness of the Philippines, I would like to share how a beautiful lady, despised admiration and chose to be a humble servant of Christ. A story which Jeane Napoles, and other young woman, should imitate in loving Jesus. 

THE STORY OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA

Feast Day August 23

St. Rose of Lima is the patroness of Latin America and the Philippines. This South American Saint's real name was Isabel, but she was such a beautiful baby that she was called Rose, and that name remained. As she grew older, she became more and more beautiful, and one day, her mother put a wreath of flowers on her head to show off her loveliness to friends. But Rose had no desire to be admired, for her heart had been given to Jesus. So she put a long pin into that wreath and it pierced her so deeply, that she had a hard time getting the wreath off afterward. Another time she became afraid that her beauty might be a temptation to someone, since people could not take their eyes off her. Therefore, she rubbed her face with pepper until it was all red and blistered.

St. Rose worked hard to support her poor parents and she humbly obeyed them, except when they tried to get her to marry. That she would not do. Her love of Jesus was so great that when she talked about Him, her face glowed and her eyes sparkled.

Rose had many temptations from the devil, and there were also many times when she had to suffer a feeling of terrible loneliness and sadness, for God seemed far away. Yet she cheerfully offered all these troubles to Him. In fact, in her last long, painful sickness, this heroic young woman use to pray: "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart."

Many miracles followed her death. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, the first American to be so honoured. Her feast is celebrated 23 of August. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.

from Wikipedia

Rose of Lima, T.O.S.D. (April 20, 1586 – August 24, 1617), a Spanish colonist in Lima, Peru, who became known for both her life of severe asceticism and her care of the needy of the city through her own private efforts. A lay member of the Dominican Order, she was the first person born in the Americas to be canonized by the Catholic Church.

Contents

• 1 Biography
• 2 Veneration
  • 2.1 Patronage
• 3 Legacy
• 4 See also
• 5 Further reading
• 6 References

Biography[edit source | edit]

She was born Isabel Flores y de Oliva in the city of Lima, then in the Vice royalty of Peru, part of New Spain, on April 20 1586. She was one of the many children of  Gaspar Flores, a harquebusier in the Imperial Spanish army, born in San Germán on the island of San Juan Bautista (now Puerto Rico), and his wife, María de Oliva, a native of Lima. Her later nickname "Rose" comes from an incident in her babyhood: a servant claimed to have seen her face transform into a rose. In 1597 she was confirmed by the Archbishop of Lima, Turibius de Mongrovejo, who was also to be declared a saint. She formally took the name of Rose at that time.^[1]

As a young girl—in emulation of the noted Dominican tertiary, St. Catherine of  Siena—she began to fast three times a week and performed severe penances in secret. When she was admired for her beauty, Rose cut off her hair and smeared pepper on her face, upset that suitors were beginning to take notice of her.^[2] She rejected all suitors against the objections of her friends and her family. Despite the censure of her parents, she spent many hours contemplating the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily, an extremely rare practice in that period. She was determined to take a vow of virginity, which was opposed by her parents, who wished her to marry.^[1] Finally, out of frustration, her father gave her a room to herself in the family home.

Stained glass window by Harry Clarke, depicting St. Rose burning her hands in an act of penance, in St. Michael's Church, Ballinasloe, Ireland

After daily fasting, she took to permanently abstain from eating meat. She helped the sick and hungry around her community, bringing them to her room and taking care of them. Rose sold her fine needlework, and took flowers that she grew to market, to help her family. She made and sold lace and embroidery to care for the poor, and she prayed and did penance in a little grotto which she had built. Otherwise, she became a recluse, leaving her room only for her visits to church.^[2]

She attracted the attention of the friars of the Dominican Order. She wanted to become a nun, but her father forbade it, so she instead entered the Third Order of St. Dominic while living in her parents' home. In her twentieth year she donned the habit of a tertiary and took a vow of perpetual virginity. She donned a heavy crown made of silver, with small spikes on the inside, in emulation of the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ.^[2]

For eleven years she lived this way, with intervals of ecstasy, and died on August 24, 1617, at the age of 31. It is said that she prophesied the date of her death. Her funeral was held in the cathedral, attended by all the public authorities of Lima, and with a eulogy by the archbishop.

Veneration[edit source | edit]

Monastery of Saint Rose in 17th-century Lima

Rose was beatified by Pope Clement IX on April 15, 1667, and canonized on April 12, 1671, byPope Clement X, the first Catholic in the Americas to be declared a saint. Her shrine, alongside those of her friends, St. Martin de Porres and Saint John Macías, is located inside the convent of St. Dominic in Lima. The Roman Catholic Church says that many miracles followed her death; there were stories that she had cured a leper. Many places in the New World are named Santa Rosa after her.Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is especially devoted to her^{[citation needed]}.

Her liturgical feast was inserted into the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1729 for celebration initially on August 30, because August 24, the date of her death, is the feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle and August 30 was the closest date not already allocated to a well-known saint.^[3] Pope Paul VI's 1969 reform of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, made August 23 available, the day on which her feast day is now celebrated throughout the world, including Spain, but excluding Peru and some other Latin American countries, where August 30 is a public holiday in her honor.

She is honored together with Martin de Porres and Turibius of Mogrovejo with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on August 23.

Early lives of Santa Rosa were written by the Dominican Father Hansen, "Vita Sanctae Rosae" (2 vols., Rome, 1664–1668), and Vicente Orsini, afterward. Pope Benedict XIII wrote "Concentus Dominicano, Bononiensis ecclesia, in album Sanctorum Ludovici Bertrandi et Rosae de Sancta Maria, ordinero praedicatorum" (Venice, 1674).

There is a park named for her in downtown Sacramento, California.^[4] A plot of land at 7th and K streets was given to the Roman Catholic Church by Peter Burnett, first Governor of the State of California. Father Peter Anderson built one of the first of two churches in the diocese to be consecrated under the patronage of St Rose.^[5]

In the Caribbean twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago, the Santa Rosa Carib Community, located in Arima, is the largest organization of indigenous peoples on the island.^[6] The second oldest parish in the Diocese of Port-of-Spain is also named after this saint. The Santa Rosa Church, which is located in the town of Arima, was established on April 20, 1786, as the Indian Mission of Santa Rosa de Arima on the foundations of a Capuchin Mission previously established in 1749.^[7]

Rose's skull is on public display in the basilica in Lima, Peru. It was customary to keep the torso in the basilica and pass the cranium around the country. She has a crown of roses on her cranium. The skull is displayed with that of St. Martin de Porres, whose skull is also separate from his torso.

Patronage[edit source | edit]

Saint Rose is the patroness of Americas,^[1] indigenous people of the Americas especially of Lima, Peru; the secondary patroness of the Philippines along with Saint Pudentiana; of gardeners; of florists; of Sittard, the Netherlands; of India.

Legacy[edit source | edit]

Parishes dedicated to St. Rose of Lima are located in Buena Vista, Colorado;^[8] Newtown, Connecticut;^[9] Montrose, Illinois;^[10] Gaithersburg, Maryland;^[11] Chelsea, Massachusetts; Roseville, Minnesota;^[12] Rockaway Beach, New York, Massapequa, New York;^[13] Murfreesboro, Tennessee;^[14] Andice, Texas; ^[15] Houston, Texas; ^[16] and Chicopee, Massachusetts. ^[17]

On the last weekend in August the Fiesta de Santa Rosa is celebrated in Dixon, New Mexico.

See also[edit source | edit]

• List of Catholic saints

Further reading[edit source | edit]

• Teodoro Hampe Martínez. "Santa Rosa de Lima y la identidad criolla en el Perú colonial" (essay of interpretation), Revista de Historia de América, No. 121 (January – December, 1996), pp. 7–26

References[edit source | edit]

1. ^ ^a b c Aymé, Edward. "St. Rose of Lima." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 21 Jun. 2013
2. ^ ^a b c AmericanCatholic.org "St. Rose of Lima"
3. ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 101
4. ^ Downtown Sacramento Partnership site: St Rose of Lima Park
5. ^ The History of the Sacramento Diocese, second paragraph
6. ^ Santa Rosa Carib Community
7. ^ [1]
8. ^ St. Rose of Lima Parish, Buena Vista, Colorado
9. ^ St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Newtown, Connecticut
10. ^ http://www.dio.org/parishes/st-rose-of-lima-montrose.html
11. ^ St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Gaithersburg, Maryland
12. ^ St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Roseville, Minnesota
13. ^ St. Rose of Lima Parish, Massapequa, New York
14. ^ St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Parish Murfreesboro, Tennessee
15. ^ Santa Rosa de Lima Church, Andice, Texas
16. ^ St. Rose of Lima Catholic Community, Houston, Texas
17. ^ St. Rose de Lima, Chicopee, Massachusetts

from Wikipedia

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LIFE OF FR. ALOYSIUS SCHWARTZ, A Father & a Saint to Me

I paused for a month due to busy schedules. Today, I have some spare time and think about whose life of saint I will tackle. All of a sudden, I think about  Fr. Al, my spiritual Tatay, my hero, my inspiration. His journey to sainthood has started. I mean the process for his canonization has just started. It's a long way to go before the Catholic Church declare him a saint, but for me and for my other brothers and sisters, and to those whose lives he touched, he's already a SAINT.

Who is Father Al?

He is unknown to many. Only few has learned of his life and I take this duty, as his child, to make him known even not to all but to many people.

Father Al was born on September 18, 1930 in Washington, D.C from his parents Louis F. Schwartz and Cedelia A. Bourassa. He had his elementary education in Holy Name Elementary School, Washington, D.C. in the year 1936-1944. He entered St. Charles Minor Seminary in Catonsville, Maryland on 1944-1948 and has his B.A. Degree in Maryknoll College in Lakewood, New Jersey and Glen Ellen, Illinois from 1948-1952. In 1953, he took Theology in Louvain University, Belgium and finished the degree in 1957. June 29, 1957 was his dreamt ordination to priesthood in St. Martin's Church Washington, D.C. during that time Bishop McNamara was the Auxiliary Bishop of Washington.

His journey to a life dedicated to service of God through the service of men started on December 8, 1957. This was the day he arrived in Korea where he was assigned in the Diocese of Busan, Korea. It was during the time when Korea was at its lowest state due to Korean War. There were many orphans, widows, beggars, street children and unemployed. However, Fr. Aloysius was forced to go back to US after a month of stay due to affliction of Hepatitis. He didn't immediately return to Korea. While working for his recovery, in 1959-1961, he toured U.S. and Europe with a Korean Bishop to raise money for the missions. On March 1961, he established Korean Relief, Inc., fundraising Operation in Washington, D.C.

It was on December 1961, 3 years after, he was able to return. His come back was with a firm purpose of helping people in Korea. He was assigned as a pastor of St. Joseph parish. He lived a life of poverty, serving his parishioners especially the needy. He then organized the Legion of Mary Ladies to assist him in helping the poor.

In 1963-1969 he initiated Operation Hanky Self-help Embroidery Program in Busan, Korea which employed 3,000 slum dwellers.

On August 15, 1964, he founded the Sisters of Mary in Amnamdong Busan, Korea, (originally called the Mariahwe Sisters, a religious group now numbering 300 sisters working in Korea, Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras & Brazil).  This was also the day when he began family-unit orphan program in Busan, Korea. They accepted first group of orphans. On September 1966, opened first dispensary in slums in Busan and in the following year 1967, he opened another two more slum dispensaries in Amnamdong and Bosudong in Busan, Korea. That same year he resigned as pastor and worked full time with the Orphan Program.

His work continued to flourish. His mission was successful which paved way to the establishment of the following charitable institutions: Amni-Dong Free Middle School for Children in Busan, Korea on December 1968; Operation of Kuhoso Sanatorium in Busan, on July 1969;  Amnandong School in Busan, a middle school for boys and became first Boystown Program on October 1969; Sisters of Mary Mercy Hospital, October 25, 1970; Elementary School, Middle School, Technical School, 1972-1976 (All future Boystown/Girlstown Programs would include a fully accredited school program). On January 6, 1981, he began program for 400 severely retarded children and took over care of 1,800 destitute and homeless men in Seoul, Korea who were taking care of by the Society of the Brothers of Christ Religious Order founded by Fr. Al himself on May 10, the same year. On June 29, 1982, the silver year of his priesthood, he built the second Sisters of Mary Doty Memorial Hospital in Seoul, Korea which cater 120 bed full-service hospital which is totally free for the poor.

Fr. Al did not stop where he started. He responded to a more challenging job of spreading his mission to the world. He gave in to the request of Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin to start his noble work in the Philippines. Moved with pity, he founded "heaven on earth" in the Philippines located in Bacood Sta. Mesa Manila which was inaugurated on August 15, 1986. The facility can accommodate 3500 poor deserving children (where I myself is a beneficiary, 10th batch). Other than that, for almost 7 years (1985-1992), The Sisters of Mary operated the Charity Pavilion at Quezon Institute serving 2,000 tuberculosis patients for free until the government closed the facility.

Fr. Al is a hero not only for the children whom he gave shelter, food, education but for all the families he was able to help because of his wonderful deeds.

However, our hero is also human. He was afflicted with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and was diagnosed on October 1989.  Despite his health situation, he did not stop with his charity. He continue working and serving even it's hard for him to move because the sickness tied him up in the wheelchair. He accepted the pain with joy. He treated his sickness as gift so he lived with it fully.He devotedly delivered mass, spending hours in the blessed sacrament, praying the rosary, hearing confessions from the children, inculcating virtues of truth , justice, chastity, charity and humility through his words and example. Despite his physical weakness, the work continued.

On August 23, 1990 another Girlstown Program was inaugurated in Talisay Cebu at full capacity serves 3000 girls. On September 12, 1990, the program went overseas again and was established in Chalco Mexico.  On July 31, 1991, Boystown Program in Silang Cavite was also inaugurated which also serves 3000 youngsters (now Girlstown; Manila campus was moved here; boys were transferred to new facility near it, the Boystown ADLAS Silang Cavite.

SMS FACILITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES:

• The Sisters of Mary Girlstown, Biga Campus
• The Sisters of Mary Boystown, Adlas Campus
• The Sisters of Mary Girlstown, Talisay Cebu Campus
• The Sisters of Mary Boystown, Minglanilla Cebu Campus

The work must continue but our sick founder has to rest. He breathed his last on March 16, 1992 in Girlstown Manila and laid his body in Boystown Cavite. Our benevolent founder died but his service continue to grow. 

Here are the new villages after his death:

• The Villa of the Girls of Chalco Mexico
• The Children's  Village in Acatlan Guadalajara Mexico
• The Sisters of Mary Girlstown Guatemala
• The Sisters of Mary Girlstown Brazil
• The Sisters of Mary Girlstown Honduras

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ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX "THE LITTLE FLOWER"

"What matters in life is not great deeds, but great love." -St. Therese, The Little Flower

For almost 4 years of stay in The Sisters of Mary the most important teaching the nuns inculcated in me is the importance of small deeds offered to God.

I remember how we used to offer:

        the washing of 50pairs of socks every afternoon...

        the pain of kneeling down for an hour or so during station of the cross...

        the difficulty in staying awake during rosary prayer at night...

        the happiness when we got the perfect score in the test...
        the hardship in keeping the mouth shut from 7:30 pm till 7:00 am (silent time)...(being talkative in nature, it's really a big sacrifice)

        the endurance in jogging 3 rounds in the oval or around the campus...

        the little act of kindness extended to our fellow student....

        the practice of virtues of obedience, charity, faith, sacrifice etc...

Every memory is still fresh on my mind and the happiness we felt because of those small offerings for the glory of God is really unfathomable. I've realized in those offering, the simple act became greater because everything was done out of love.

How the sisters came up with such great motivating factor? It's because of St. Therese, The Little Flower. The nuns who are selflessly taking care of the children inside The Sisters of Mary institution follow the life of St. Therese and thus, the children are encouraged to do likewise. 

Learning about St. Therese is a blessing. May you be blessed upon reading her story.

The Story of St. Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church

Feast Day: October 1

Therese Martin was the last of nine children born to Louis and Zelie Martin on January 2, 1873, in Alencon, France. However, only five of these children lived to reach adulthood. Precocious and sensitive, Therese needed much attention. Her mother died when she was 4 years old. As a result, her father and sisters babied young Therese. She had a spirit that wanted everything.

At the age of 14, on Christmas Eve in 1886, Therese had a conversion that transformed her life. From then on, her powerful energy and sensitive spirit were turned toward love, instead of keeping herself happy. At 15, she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux to give her whole life to God. She took the religious name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Living a hidden, simple life of prayer, she was gifted with great intimacy with God. Through sickness and dark nights of doubt and fear, she remained faithful to God, rooted in His merciful love. After a long struggle with tuberculosis, she died on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24. Her last words were the story of her life: "My God, I love You!"

The world came to know Therese through her autobiography, "Story of a Soul". She described her life as a "little way of spiritual childhood." She lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God's love. "What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love." Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese's spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love.

Therese saw the seasons as reflecting the seasons of God's love affair with us.She loved flowers and saw herself as the "little flower of Jesus," who gave glory to God by just being her beautiful little self among all the other flowers in God's garden. Because of this beautiful analogy, the title "little flower" remained with St. Therese.

Her inspiration and powerful presence from heaven touched many people very quickly. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. Had she lived, she would have been only 52 years old when she was declared a Saint.

"My mission - to make God loved - will begin after my death," she said. "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses." Roses have been described and experienced as Saint Therese's signature. Countless millions have been touched by her intercession and imitate her "little way." She has been acclaimed "the greatest saint of modern times." In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared St. Therese a Doctor of the Church - the only Doctor of his pontificate - in tribute to the powerful way her spirituality has influenced people all over the world.

The message of St. Therese is beautiful, inspiring, and simple.

Here are some records of miraculous intercession of St. Therese to those who believe in her...

Intercessions of St. Therese

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ST. JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL

When I was still young, I always thought the only people who have the right to become saints are priests and nuns who follow the will of the Lord in everyday of their lives. As I've turned pages of stories about saints, I've realized that all of us even an ordinary man or woman, single or married is called to become saints.
Here is another story of sainthood of a wife and mother.

THE STORY OF ST. JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL

Feast Day: August 12

from Wikipedia

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot, Baronne de Chantal, 28 January 1572 – 13 December 1641) is a Roman Catholic Saint, who founded a religious order after the death of her husband.

Life [edit]

Jeanne Frances Fremiot was born in Dijon, France on January 28, 1572, the daughter of the royalist President of the Parliament of Burgundy. She married the Baron de Chantal when she was 20 and then lived in the feudal castle of Bourbilly. Baron de Chantal was accidentally killed by a harquebus while out shooting in 1600. Left a widow at twenty-eight, with four children, the broken-hearted baroness took a vow of chastity.^[1] Chantal gained a reputation as an excellent manager of the estates of her husband, as well as of her difficult father in law, while also providing alms and nursing care to needy neighbors.

During Lent in 1604, the pious baronness met Saint Francis de Sales, the bishop of Geneva who was preaching at the Sainte Chapelle in Dijon. They became close friends, and de Sales became her spiritual director. With his support, and that of her father and brother (the Archbishop of Bourges), and after providing for her children, Chantal left for Annecy, to start the Congregation of the Visitation. The Congregation of the Visitation was canonically established at Annecy on Trinity Sunday, 6 June, 1610.^[1] The order accepted women who were rejected by other orders because of poor health or age. During its first eight years, the new order also was unusual in its public outreach, in contrast to most female religious who remained cloistered and adopted strict ascetic practices. When people criticized her, Chantal famously said, "What do you want me to do? I like sick people myself; I'm on their side."

Her reputation for sanctity and sound management resulted in many visits by (and donations from) aristocratic women. The order had 13 houses by the time de Sales died, and 86 before Chantal herself died at the Visitation Convent in Moulins, aged 69. St. Vincent de Paul served as her spiritual director after de Sales' death. Her favorite devotions involved the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary.^[2] Chantal was buried in the Annecy convent next to de Sales.^[1] The order had 164 houses by 1767, when she was canonized. Chantal outlived her son (who died fighting Huguenots and English on the Île de Ré during the century's religious wars) and two of her three daughters, but left extensive correspondence. Her granddaughter also became a famous writer, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné.

Veneration [edit]

Francis de Sales meets Jane Frances de Chantal, cutout from a window in the cathedral ofAnnecy

She was beatified on 21 November 1751 by Pope Benedict XIV, andcanonized on 16 July 1767 by Pope Clement XIII.

Saint Jane Frances's feast day is now generally celebrated on August 12 in the Roman Catholic Calendar of saints, although since 1969 Europeans often remember her on December 12, which is closer to the anniversary of her death (the traditional feast of St. Lucy).^[3] The move resulted from Pope John Paul II's declaring December 12 the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of theAmericas.^[4] North American Catholics had generally moved this foundress' commemoration to August 18, but in 2009 changed it to August 12.^[5] Traditionalist Catholics who continue to observe pre-1970 calendars celebrate Saint Jane Frances on the 1769-1969 date, August 21.

Writings of Saint Jane Frances [edit]

Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal, medal 1867

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal wrote some exemplary letters of spiritual direction.^[6]

References [edit]

1. ^ ^a b c Pernin, Raphael. "St. Jane Frances de Chantal." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 2 Feb. 2013
2. ^http://www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/life_saints/jane_chantal.htm
3. ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 110
4. ^ Decree 2492/01/L of 18 December 2001 of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
5. ^ Newsletter of the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship, May-June 2009, pg. 24
6. ^ Francis de Sales, Jane De Chantal, Letters of Spiritual Direction (Classics of Western Spirituality), translated by Péronne Marie Thibert, V.H.M. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1988.

• St. Jane Frances de Chantal at Saint of the Day
• The Life of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
• St. Jane Frances de Chantal at Catholic Online
• Saint Jeanne de Chantal at Patron Saints Index
• Saint Jane Frances De Chantal School in North Hollywood, California

from Wikipedia

  

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