News
A Canonized Saint Who Began as an Everyday One
By Mike Kerrigan
I am apparently called to be a saint. That was a somewhat disconcerting revelation for a cradle Catholic in his late 40s. But according to a homily during Mass some years back, this is the purpose for which I was born.
With further reading, I learned this vocation doesn’t require me to be declared a capital-S Saint by the Catholic Church. I just need to be holy, or set apart for God—a lowercase- s saint. It’s no simple task, though, to close the gap between who I am and who I am called to be. This is where the wondrous St. Thérèse of Lisieux, or the “Little Flower,” has shown me a way.
Before dying of tuberculosis in 1897 at 24, the cloistered Carmelite nun pledged to spend her time in heaven doing good on the earth. So solicitous a saint seemed worth getting to know better if only because nobody tires of calling the friend who picks up every time.
The Little Flower left assurance for all who feel, as she did, they lack the heroic excellence in their own littleness. She looked at the saints who went before her and felt herself a grain of sand in comparison to the towering mountains of their lives. St. Thérèse of Lisieux needed another way to get to heaven, so she prayerfully came up with one: the “Little Way.”
Perfecting her Little Way to sanctity amounts to remembering that “our Lord does not so much look at the greatness of our actions, or even their difficulty, as the love with which we do them.” The occasion to do great deeds, after all, may never come to pass, or when it does it may find us wanting in courage. Small deeds, on the other hand, are everywhere, and when done with great love, they cease to be small. How fitting the saint with a childlike love of God would intuit that the contrast between big and small has a different meaning to man, who is limited by time and space, than to God, who isn’t.
Doing small things with great love made the Little Flower an everyday saint, and then it made her an official canonized saint. Her life proves what we do with the ordinary can make us extraordinary. There is nothing little about that way.
The Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux is October 1st.
Sacred Heart Parish School
Blessing of Animals
8am Tuesday, October 4th
Parishioners & pets welcome!!
🐢🐕🐈🦜🐇
Friday, Sep 30, 2022
Get to know the word
If you are a fan of scripture, then right next to your Bible should be The Jerome Biblical Commentary. The 2,000-plus-page book is a treasure trove of insight about the Bible written by Roman Catholic scholars from across the globe. It is a great resource for helping people to engage more deeply with scripture through study and reflection. The book is named after Saint Jerome, who is best known for his biblical commentaries and translations. Jerome believed that "Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ." It's never too late to increase your knowledge. What would be the first scripture passage you’d look up if you had the book in hand? Why?
MEMORIAL OF JEROME, PRIEST, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
TODAY'S READINGS: Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5; Luke 10:13-16. “Whoever listens to you listens to me.”
#takefiveforfaith #dailyingodsword
" We are attracted to God as to our center, like a stone toward the center of the earth."
Fr Thomas Keating
The coming of Autumn heralds a season of change and the dark days of winter. It is the earth’s ancient cycle of birth, death, and transformation. It is a good time for the spiritual practice of letting go, and entering into the deeper call of silence, solitude, and simplicity that this season embodies.
Contemplative Outreach of San Diego along with many other contemplative communities throughout the United States invite you to join us in a variety of enriching opportunities that will feed your soul. Programs are available online at contemplativeoutreach.org - click on calendar of events.
Join us in prayer for Florida, for family, friends and parishioners there, and especially for those with little resource who suffer the most following such a devastating hurricane with its tornadoes and floods. No power, limited cell service, no safe water in many places. Not yet safe to leave shelters or even know the full consequences the storm wrought.
Protect them from greater harm, from despair in their grief and loss. Bless those who come to their aid and preserve all in your mercies. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️
Catholic Charities serves as the lead agency for disaster response in the Archdiocese of Miami.
📸 Tall palms, homes and shoreline submerged in the surge of floodwaters.
Amen
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
The beauty of community… ❤️
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“Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other as a gesture of hope.
In community we say: “Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downs—but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care.”
Community is like a large mosaic. Each little piece seems so insignificant. One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull green, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold. Some look precious, others ordinary. Some look valuable, others worthless. Some look gaudy, others delicate. We can do little with them as individual stones except compare them and judge their beauty and value. When, however, all these little stones are brought together in one big mosaic, portraying the face of Christ, who would ever question the importance of any one of them? If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the face is incomplete. Together in the one mosaic, each little stone is indispensable and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God. That’s community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world.” - Henri Nouwen
#henrinouwensociety #henrinouwen #commYOUnity #faceofchrist #onebodyinchrist
Our Youth Minister Katherine has made it to Fatima! She shared this brief note with these photos.
Bom Dia (Good morning),
Hello from Fatima! It was a journey to get here but by the grace of God I made it. Each day I set an intention for my walk and yesterday I prayed for the parish community and each staff person serving the parish. ❤️🙏
And we keep her in our prayers:
Mary, mother of Jesus , take Katherine under your motherly protection, and the whole human family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of hope.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
#707 #caminodesantiago #fatima #pilgrimage #hailmary #rosary
Sometimes getting started on something new can be daunting, but start with baby steps. Try adding just one or two things to live more simply--reducing, reusing, recycling--and find yourself in greater solidarity with your brothers and sisters of our common home!
#Repost Sometimes ge
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#seasonofcreation2022 #sdcatholics #sdfamilylife #CreationCare #LaudatoSi #EcoCatholic #LaudatoSi #LaudatoSiMovement
Thursday, Sep 29, 2022
Angels watching over us
Today we honor the only three angels in scripture who have names. Michael is cited in the books of Daniel and Revelation and is known for being a protector. Gabriel is most famously a messenger, having relayed information to Daniel, but best known for giving Mary the news that she would be mother to our Savior. Raphael is associated with healing and appears in a series of adventures in the Book of Tobit, including his cure of Tobit’s blindness. At various times, each of us needs protection, a message from God, or healing. May these three archangels lift our prayers when we and our communities most need these things.
FEAST OF MICHAEL, GABRIEL, AND RAPHAEL, ARCHANGELS
TODAY'S READINGS: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 or Revelation 12:7-12a; John 1:47-51.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
#takefiveforfaith #dailyingodsword
