Celebrating the Feast Day of St. Theresa - October 1



St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, better known as "The Little Flower," St. Therese of Lisieux, was born in Alencon, France in 1873. She was the youngest child of Louis and Zelie Martin, who were themselves declared "Venerable" by Pope John Paul II in 1994. All five of the Martin children who reached adulthood became nuns; four of them became Discalced Carmelites.

Therese was drawn to God from a very young age. At the age of 15, she received special permission from her bishop to enter the Carmel of Lisieux. There, Therese lived a life of humility, simplicity, and childlike trust in God. By word and example, she shared this "little way of spiritual childhood" with the novices in her community.

On the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday in 1896, Therese experienced her first hemoptysis (spitting up of blood) from tuberculosis. Over the next 18 months, her condition steadily deteriorated. In the months prior to her death, she prayed for the grace to "spend my heaven doing good on earth" and promised that after her death she would send "a shower of roses" from heaven. Offering her sufferings for the salvation of souls, Therese died of tuberculosis on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24.

Upon her death, the nuns received permission to distribute Therese's autobiography, comprised of material that she had written at the command of her superiors and the request of one of her sisters in the monastery. Published on the first anniversary of her death as "The Story of a Soul," the initial printing of 2,000 copies quickly sold out. In the following years, hundreds of thousands of copies of her autobiography were printed, and it was translated into many languages.
As people read about this unknown nun and sought her intercession, letters started pouring into the Carmel reporting favors received through her prayers. By the time she was beatified on April 29, 1923, the Carmel was receiving 800 to 1,000 letters daily.

St. Therese was solemnly canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. On December 14, 1927, Pope Pius XI proclaimed St. Therese Principal Patroness, equal to St. Francis Xavier, of all missionaries, men and women, and of the missions in the whole world. On May 3, 1944, Pope Pius XII named St. Therese Secondary Patroness of France, equal to St. Joan of Arc.

Most recently, Pope John Paul II named St. Therese a Doctor of the Church on October 19, 1997, World Mission Sunday. "Doctor of the Church" is a title given to a select few saints "on account of the great advantage the whole Church has derived from their doctrine". She became only the third woman in the Church to be so honored, joining St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Jesus, foundress of the Discalced Carmelites.

In her life and her writings, St. Therese anticipated the teachings of the Second Vatican Council by showing that the path of holiness is open to all. She understood that what matters in the Christian life is not great deeds, but great love, and that anyone can achieve the heights of holiness by doing even the smallest things well for love of God. "All is well," she wrote, "when one seeks only the will of Jesus."



Exaltation of the Cross

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Feast Day

Bashlomo l'Moryo netcashaf
(in peace, we pray to the Lord)

We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee,
for by thy cross thou hast redeemed the world.

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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life.

- John 3:16 (Douay)


This feast was observed in Rome before the end of the seventh century. It commemorates the recovery of the Holy Cross, which had been placed on Mt. Calvary by St. Helena and preserved in Jerusalem, but then had fallen into the hands of Chosroas, King of the Persians. The precious relic was recovered and returned to Jerusalem by Emperor Heralius in 629.

The lessons from the Breviary tell us that Emperor Heraclius carried the Cross back to Jerusalem on his shoulders. He was clothed with costly garments and with ornaments of precious stones. But at the entrance to Mt. Calvary a strange incident occurred. Try as hard as he would, he could not go forward. Zacharias, the Bishop of Jerusalem, then said to the astonished monarch: "Consider, O Emperor, that with these triumphal ornaments you are far from resembling Jesus carrying His Cross." The Emperor then put on a penitential garb and continued the journey.

Triumph of the Cross
This day is also called the Exaltation of the Cross, Elevation of the Cross, Holy Cross Day, Holy Rood Day, or Roodmas. The liturgy of the Cross is a triumphant liturgy. When Moses lifted up the bronze serpent over the people, it was a foreshadowing of the salvation through Jesus when He was lifted up on the Cross. Our Mother Church sings of the triumph of the Crosinstrumentedtrument of our redemption. To follow Christ we must take up His cross, follow Him and become obedient until death, even if it means death on the cross. We identify with Christ on the Cross and become co-redeemers, sharing in His cross.

We made the Sign of the Cross before prayer which helps to fix our minds and hearts to God. After prayer we make the Sign of the Cross to keep close to God. During trials and temptations our strength and protection is the Sign of the Cross. At Baptism we are sealed with the Sign of the Cross, signifying the fullness of redemption and that we belong to Christ. Let us look to the cross frequently, and realize that when we make the Sign of the Cross we give our entire self to God — mind, soul, heart, body, will, thoughts.

O cross, you are the glorious sign of victory.
Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.

Symbol: The cross of triumph is usually pictured as a globe with the cross on top, symbolic of the triumph of our Savior over the sin of the world, and world conquest of His Gospel through the means of a grace (cross and orb).

Celebrating the Birth of the Virgin Mary to Joachim and Ann

Icon of the Birth of the Vigin Mary - The Blessed Mother



History:

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated at least by the sixth century, when St. Romanos the Melodist, an Eastern Christian who composed many of the hymns used in the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies, composed a hymn for the feast. The feast spread to Rome in the seventh century, but it was a couple more centuries before it was celebrated throughout the West. The source for the story of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal gospel written about A.D. 150. From it, we learn the names of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, as well as the tradition that the couple was childless until an angel appeared to Anna and told her that she would conceive. (Many of the same details appear also in the later apocryphal Gospel of the Nativity of Mary.)

The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 (nine months earlier).

SEDRO from the Maronite Prayer of the Faithful – Safro

Mary, the spirit finds itself powerless to describe your humility and the dignity to which you were raised.

The angle came to salute you in the name of the Most High, and in all humility you responded to him:

I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your will.  Because of your humility and your dignity, all generations call you blessed. The all-powerful has crowned you Queen of heaven and earth, Queen of angels and men.

Scripture Reading
A Reading from the Book of Sirach

Before all ages, in the beginning, he created me, and through all ages I shall not cease to be.  In the holy tent I ministered before him, and in Zion I fixed my abode.  Thus in the chosen city he has given me rest in Jerusalem in my domain.  I have struck root among the glorious people, in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.  “Like a cedar in Lebanon I am raised aloft, like a cypress on Mount Hermon, like a palm tree in Engedi, like a rosebush in Jericho.”

I spread out my branches like terebinth, my branches so bright and so graceful. I bud forth delights like the vine; my blossoms become fruit fair and rich. Come to me, all you that yearn for me and be filled with my fruits, you will remember me as sweeter than honey, better to have than the honeycomb.  He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for more, he who obeys me will not be put to shame, and he who serves me will never fail.  All of this is true of the book of the Most High’s covenant, the law that Moses commanded us as in inheritance for the community of Jacob.