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November 13 Spiritual Bouquet: In all things give thanks; for this is the Will of God. I Thess. 5:18 SAINT STANISLAUS KOSTKAJesuit, Patron of Youth(1550-1568) Saint Stanislaus Kostka was born in Poland in 1550, of a noble Polish family. At the age of fourteen he was sent with his older brother Paul to study at the Jesuit College in Vienna. Twice a day he would pray at length in the chapel, and he never failed to recite a crown of the Rosary. He avoided the company of students too free in their speech and behavior, and often fasted and inflicted...

November 13, 2009                                 Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 13:1-9 All men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God,and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is,and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;But either fire, or wind, or the swift air,or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water,or the luminaries of heaven, the governors of the world, they considered gods.Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought...

November 12, 2009                                 Memorial of Saint Josaphat, bishop and martyr   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 7:22b–8:1 In Wisdom is a spiritintelligent, holy, unique,Manifold, subtle, agile,clear, unstained, certain,Not baneful, loving the good, keen,unhampered, beneficent, kindly,Firm, secure, tranquil,all-powerful, all-seeing,And pervading all spirits,though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion,and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.For she is an aura of the might of Godand a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty;therefore nought that is sullied enters into her.For she is...

November 11, 2009                                   Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, bishop     Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 6:1-11 Hear, O kings, and understand;learn, you magistrates of the earth’s expanse!Hearken, you who are in power over the multitudeand lord it over throngs of peoples!Because authority was given you by the Lordand sovereignty by the Most High,who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels.Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly,and did not keep the law,nor walk according to the will of God,Terribly and swiftly shall he come against...

November 10, 2009                                    Memorial of Saint Leo the Great,                                     pope and doctor of the Church   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Wis 2:23–3:9 God formed man to be imperishable;the image of his own nature he made them.But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world,and they who are in his possession experience it. But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;and their...

TOTOWA — Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic order of women, cares for 110 needy seniors living at a home in the borough, and to keep the home running, its 14 nuns go into the community each day to ask the public for donations.  This small order was thrust into the spotlight this month when Pope Benedict XVI canonized its founder, Jeanne Jugan, on Oct. 11 at the Vatican. Thousands of Little Sisters of the Poor from more than 200 homes around the world, along with residents and volunteers, made a pilgrimage to Rome last weekend for the...

November 7 Spiritual Bouquet: Strip off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new. Col. 3:9-10 SAINT WILLIBRORDApostle of the Frisons, of Holland, Zealand, Flanders and Brabant(657 — ca. 738) Saint Willibrord was born in Northumberland (northeastern England) in 657. His father left the world to enter a monastery, and is honored as a Saint in the monastery of Echternach in the diocese of Treves, and named in the English calendar. When his son was twenty years old he was already wearing the religious habit. Being accustomed to bearing the yoke of the Lord, and finding it...

Saint John Fischer: Catholic Hero Amid Softness Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira    Wednesday, November 4, 2009 Saint John Fischer was a martyr, cardinal and bishop of Rochester, England. Henry VIII ordered him beheaded out of hatred for both the Catholic faith and the primacy of the Roman Pontiff in the sixteenth century.He was entirely isolated due to the general apostasy of the Catholic Church in England. We can draw parallels with the apostasies caused by modernism since history repeats itself. A great process of apathy, lukewarmness and indifference always prepares the Catholic masses for the greatest of...

November 4, 2009                                 Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week                                 in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 13:8-10 Brothers and sisters:Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.The commandments, You shall not commit adultery;you shall not kill;you shall not steal;you shall not covet,and whatever other commandment there may be,are summed up in this saying, namely,You shall love your neighbor as yourself.Love does no evil to the neighbor;hence, love is the fulfillment of the law. Responsorial...

November 3, 2009                                     Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week                             in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 12:5-16ab Brothers and sisters:We, though many, are one Body in Christand individually parts of one another.Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,let us exercise them:if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;if ministry, in ministering;if one is a teacher, in teaching;if one exhorts, in exhortation;if one contributes, in generosity;if one is over others, with diligence;if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness....

November 2 All Souls Day  The death of one we love leaves us empty. Yearning for lost companionship, we grieve through remembrance, tears, and prayer. Whether death comes mercifully to end a long illness or ruthlessly in violence or accident, mourners struggle to live day by day without the person who made those days bright, who made them feel loved, and who lightened burdens like these. Catholics who grieve find comfort in faith. Belief in life after death helps us receive the loss of someone we love with anticipation. We believe we will reunite with those we love after death. Catholics...

"The only mistake in life is not to become a Saint." When I first heard the above quote (perhaps a FIT reader will recall who said it) as a student at the University of Notre Dame, it really made me think. It was at a time when, after falling away from my child-like enthusiasm for Catholicism, I was coming back to the Faith but struggling to accept it as a man. But just as those too-perfect pictures of the Saints had hooked me as a youth, the realistic struggles of the Saints to follow Christ was what sealed the...

November 1, 2009                                        Solemnity of All Saints       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Rv 7:2-4, 9-14 I, John, saw another angel come up from the East,holding the seal of the living God.He cried out in a loud voice to the four angelswho were given power to damage the land and the sea,“Do not damage the land or the sea or the treesuntil we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal,one hundred and forty-four thousand markedfrom every tribe of the children of...

October 31 Spiritual Bouquet: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Phil. 4:4 SAINT QUENTIN Apostle of Amiens, Martyr at Rome Saint Quentin was a Roman, descended from a senatorial family. Full of zeal for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, he left his country and went into Gaul, accompanied by eleven other apostles sent from Rome. They separated to extend their campaign of evangelization to the various regions of France. Saint Quentin remained at Amiens and endeavored by his prayers and labors to make that region part of Our Lord’s inheritance. By the force of his words and...

ALL SAINTS & ALL SOULS We are approaching the end of the liturgical year which will culminate with the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. At this feast we celebrate what we read in Scripture, that God will be all in all. As we move toward this feast during this month of November, as a church we focus on the four last things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. The thought of death may bring discomfort to non believers who are healthy, wealthy, and wise in our own estimation. It can mean the loss of power, prestige, and possessions...

Saints Simon and Jude                      SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES From a commentary on the gospel of John by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishopAs the Father sent me, so I am sending you    Our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed certain men to be guides and teachers of the world and stewards of his divine mysteries. Now he bids them to shine out like lamps and to cast out their light not only over the land of the Jews but over every country under the sun and over people scattered in all directions and settled in distant lands.   That man...

October 28, 2009                                 Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Eph 2:19-22 Brothers and sisters:You are no longer strangers and sojourners,but you are fellow citizens with the holy onesand members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.Through him the whole structure is held togetherand grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;in him you also are being built togetherinto a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Responsorial PsalmPs 19:2-3, 4-5 R. (5a) Their message goes...

October 24, 2009                                 Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week                                 in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 8:1-11 Brothers and sisters:Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesushas freed you from the law of sin and death. For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do,this God has done:by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful fleshand for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in...

October 20, 2009                             Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week                                 in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 5:12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21 Brothers and sisters:Through one man sin entered the world,and through sin, death,and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned. If by that one person’s transgression the many died,how much more did the grace of Godand the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christoverflow for the many.For if, by the transgression of the one,death came to reign through that...

Brebeuf's Instructions to the Missionaries In 1637, Father Jean de Brebeuf drew up a list of instructions for Jesuit missionaries destined to work among the Huron. These reflect his own experience and a genuine sensitivity toward our people. You must love these Hurons, ransomed by the blood of the Son of God, as brothers. You must never keep the Indians waiting at the time of embarking. Carry a tinder-box or a piece of burning-glass, or both, to make fire for them during the day for smoking, and in the evening when it is necessary to camp; these little services...

Isaac Jogues, S.J. 1607-1646 Sponsored by the Vincentian Community(Congregation of the Mission) and the Missouri Knights of Columbus.Reprinted with permission. One of the eight Frenchmen known as the North American Martyrs, Isaac Jogues' first task when he arrived in Quebec in 1636, was to learn the Huron language. His teacher was Father Jean le Brebeuf, another Jesuit. Brebeuf earlier had written Instruction, a collection of data based on his years of living among the Hurons since 1625. His practical advice included tips for conduct: eating with the Indians, sharing their camps, caring for the ill in view of "medicine...

October 19, 2009                                 Memorial of Saint John de Brébeuf                                 and Saint Isaac Jogues,                                 priests and martyrs,                             and their companions, martyrs       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 4:20-25 Brothers and sisters:Abraham did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief;rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to Godand was fully convinced that what God had promisedhe was also able to do.That is why it was credited to him...

October 17, 2009                                     Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch,                                bishop and martyr   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 4:13, 16-18 Brothers and sisters:It was not through the lawthat the promise was made to Abraham and his descendantsthat he would inherit the world,but through the righteousness that comes from faith.For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift,and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,not to those who only adhere to the lawbut to those who follow the...

October 16, 2009                                 Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week                                 in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 4:1-8 Brothers and sisters:What can we say that Abraham found,our ancestor according to the flesh?Indeed, if Abraham was justified on the basis of his works,he has reason to boast;but this was not so in the sight of God.For what does the Scripture say?Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.A worker’s wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due.But when one does...

October 15, 2009                                 Thursday of the Twenty-eighth Week                                 in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 3:21-30 Brothers and sisters:Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,though testified to by the law and the prophets,the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christfor all who believe.For there is no distinction;all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.They are justified freely by his gracethrough the redemption in Christ Jesus,whom God set forth as an expiation,through...

October 14, 2009                             Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week                             in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 2:1-11 You, O man, are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment.For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself,since you, the judge, do the very same things.We know that the judgment of God on those who do such things is true.Do you suppose, then, you who judge those who engage in such thingsand yet do them yourself,that you will escape the...

Father Damien, the Roman Catholic priest who cared for lepers in Hawaii in the 19th century, apparently is a saint twice over. Damien, who was born Joseph De Veuster in Belgium, was canonized a saint by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday in Rome. But Helen Radkey, a critic of the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Monday that research shows Mormons have both baptized Damien by proxy and "sealed" him for eternity to a wife named Marie Damien. There is no evidence Damien ever married, which would have been a violation of his vow of...

October 9, 2009                                     Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week                                  in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2 Gird yourselves and weep, O priests!wail, O ministers of the altar!Come, spend the night in sackcloth,O ministers of my God!The house of your God is deprivedof offering and libation.Proclaim a fast,call an assembly;Gather the elders,all who dwell in the land,Into the house of the LORD, your God,and cry to the LORD! Alas, the day!for near is the day of the LORD,and it comes as...

October 7, 2009                                Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week                                 in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Jon 4:1-11 Jonah was greatly displeasedand became angry that God did not carry out the evilhe threatened against Nineveh.He prayed, “I beseech you, LORD,is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?This is why I fled at first to Tarshish.I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God,slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.And now, LORD, please take my life from me;for it is better for me to...

October 6, 2009                                     Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week                                 in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Jon 3:1-10 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh,and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,according to the LORD’s bidding.Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;it took three days to go through it.Jonah began his journey through the city,and had gone but a single day’s...

Follow one Master only What a sad life does he lead who wants both to please the world and to serve God! It is a great mistake to make, my friends. Apart from the fact that you are going to be unhappy all the time, you can never attain the stage at which you will be able to please the world and please God. It is as impossible a feat as trying to put an end to eternity. Take the advice that I am going to give you now and you will be less unhappy: give yourselves wholly to God...

October 2, 2009                                     Memorial of the Guardian Angels         Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Bar 1:15-22 During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles prayed:“Justice is with the Lord, our God;and we today are flushed with shame,we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem,that we, with our kings and rulersand priests and prophets, and with our ancestors,have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him.We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God,nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us.From the time the Lord led our ancestors...

October 1, 2009                                             Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus,                                               virgin and doctor of the Church       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Neh 8:1-4a, 5-6, 7b-12 The whole people gathered as one in the open space before the Water Gate,and they called upon Ezra the scribeto bring forth the book of the law of Moseswhich the LORD prescribed for Israel.On the first day of the seventh month, therefore,Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly,which consisted of men, women,and those children old enough to understand.Standing at one end of the open place that was before...

September 30, 2009                             Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week                             in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Neh 2:1-8 In the month Nisan of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,when the wine was in my charge,I took some and offered it to the king.As I had never before been sad in his presence,the king asked me, “Why do you look sad?If you are not sick, you must be sad at heart.”Though I was seized with great fear, I answered the king:“May the king live forever!How could I...

September 29, 2009                         Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael,                        Archangels       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Dn 7:9-10, 13-14 or Rv 12:7-12ab Dn 7:9-10, 13-14 As I watched:Thrones were set upand the Ancient One took his throne.His clothing was bright as snow,and the hair on his head as white as wool;His throne was flames of fire,with wheels of burning fire.A surging stream of fireflowed out from where he sat;Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,and myriads upon myriads attended him.The court was convened, and the books were...

September 28, 2009                                 Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week                             in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Zec 8:1-8 This word of the LORD of hosts came: Thus says the LORD of hosts:I am intensely jealous for Zion,stirred to jealous wrath for her.Thus says the LORD:I will return to Zion,and I will dwell within Jerusalem;Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city,and the mountain of the LORD of hosts,the holy mountain.Thus says the LORD of hosts:  Old men and old women,each with staff in hand because of...

The World is Everything - God, Nothing! If people would do for god what they do for the world, my dear people, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven! But if you, dear children, had to pass three or four hours praying in a church, as you pass them at a dance or in a cabaret, how heavily the time would press upon you! If you had to go to a great many different places in order to hear a sermon, as you go for your pastimes or to satisfy your avarice and greed, what pretexts there...

Sts. Cosmas & Damian Born: unknown Died: September 27, 287 Canonized: pre-Congregation Feast Day: September 27 Patron Saint of: barbers, druggists, pharmacists, physicians, surgeons Early Christian physicians and martyrs whose feast is celebrated on 27 September. They were twins, born in Arabia, and practised the art of healing in the seaport Ægea, now Ayash (Ajass), on the Gulf of Iskanderun in Cilicia, Asia Minor, and attained a great reputation. They accepted no pay for their services and were, therefore, called anargyroi, "the silverless". In this way they brought many to the Catholic Faith. When the Diocletian persecution began, the Prefect...

September 26, 2009                             Saturday of the Twenty-fifth Week                             in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Zec 2:5-9, 14-15a I, Zechariah, raised my eyes and looked:there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.I asked, “Where are you going?”He answered, “To measure Jerusalem,to see how great is its width and how great its length.” Then the angel who spoke with me advanced,and another angel came out to meet him and said to him,“Run, tell this to that young man:People will live in Jerusalem as...

Plans have been finalized and registration is still open for the inaugural Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Fest Oct. 23-25 at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind. The Fest has been created around the legacy of Saint MotherSaint Mother Theodore Guerin Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, who was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome in 2006. She is the first person in Indiana to receive the Catholic Church’s highest honor, and only the eighth person who lived in the United States to be declared a saint.

September 23, 2009                             Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week                            in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Ez 9:5-9 At the time of the evening sacrifice, I, Ezra, rose in my wretchedness,and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees,stretching out my hands to the LORD, my God. I said: “My God, I am too ashamed and confounded to raise my face to you,O my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our headsand our guilt reaches up to heaven.From the time of our...

The Pope and the Child Jesus in Prague September 22nd, 2009 by ACN-USA News Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming trip to the Czech Republic will include a special visit to the image of the Holy Child Jesus in Prague — one of the most venerated and visited religious images in the country – on September 26, 2009.The Prior of the Carmelite monastery of the Holy Infant of Prague, Father Petr Sleich, spoke last week to international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about the Pope’s forthcoming visit to the Czech Republic. Its aim, he said, is to...

September 21, 2009                                        Feast of Saint Matthew,                                         Apostle and evangelist Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Eph 4:1-7, 11-13 Brothers and sisters:I, a prisoner for the Lord,urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,with all humility and gentleness, with patience,bearing with one another through love,striving to preserve the unity of the Spiritthrough the bond of peace:one Body and one Spirit,as you were also called to the one hope of your call;one Lord, one faith, one baptism;one God...

September 19, 2009                             Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week                                 in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Tm 6:13-16 Beloved:I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,and before Christ Jesus,who gave testimony under Pontius Pilatefor the noble confession,to keep the commandment without stain or reproachuntil the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christthat the blessed and only rulerwill make manifest at the proper time,the King of kings and Lord of lords,who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light,and whom no human being...

September 17, 2009                                 Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week                                 in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Tm 4:12-16 Beloved:Let no one have contempt for your youth,but set an example for those who believe,in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.Until I arrive, attend to the reading, exhortation, and teaching.Do not neglect the gift you have,which was conferred on you through the prophetic wordwith the imposition of hands by the presbyterate.Be diligent in these matters, be absorbed in them,so that your progress may be evident...

September 16, 2009                        Memorial of Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr,                         and Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr     Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 11 Tm 3:14-16 Beloved:I am writing you,although I hope to visit you soon.But if I should be delayed,you should know how to behave in the household of God,which is the Church of the living God,the pillar and foundation of truth.Undeniably great is the mystery of devotion, Who was manifested in the flesh,vindicated in the spirit,seen by angels,proclaimed to the Gentiles,believed in throughout the world,taken up in glory. Responsorial PsalmPs 111:1-2, 3-4, 5-6...

     The Seven Dolors DEVOTION APPROVED BY POPE PIUS VII  IN 1815

September 9, 2009                             Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week                         in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Col 3:1-11 Brothers and sisters:If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.When Christ your life appears,then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,and...

September 8, 2009                                     Feast of the Nativity of the                                     Blessed Virgin Mary Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Mi 5:1-4a or Rom 8:28-30 The LORD says:You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah,too small to be among the clans of Judah,From you shall come forth for meone who is to be ruler in Israel;Whose origin is from of old,from ancient times.(Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the timewhen she who is to give birth has borne,And the rest of his brethren shall returnto the children of Israel.)He shall...

Birthday of Mary Mother of God--St. Andrew of Crete  Birthday of Mary, the Mother of God The Nativity of Our Lady, the TheotokosSt. Andrew of CreteA reading used in the Roman Catholic Office of Readings for the Feast of the Birthday or nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known in the East as the Theotokos, on September 8 -- Saint Andrew of Crete on the nativity of Mary as a turning point in the old covenant becoming the new, the frontier where types and symbols give way to reality.  This reading shows that September 8th was celebrated as the birthday of...