To love as we ought...

"Blessed is the influence of one 
truly loving human soul on another." - George Eliot

"To love God as He ought to be loved,

we must be detached from all temporal love.

We must love nothing but Him,

or if we love anything else,

we must love it only for His sake."

St Peter Claver
Native of Spain ~ 1581–1654
Jesuit, missionary to South America

Apostolate to Africans on slave ships,
sailors and traders 
Estimated to have baptized 300,000 +

Feast Day - Sept 9

 Peter Claver understood that concrete service like the distributing
of medicine, food or brandy to his black brothers and sisters
could be as effective a communication of the word of God as mere verbal preaching.

Peter said of the slaves, "We must speak to them with

our hands by giving, before we try to speak to them with our lips."

Click here: Saint Peter Claver - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: St Peter Claver - YouTube (CCTNtv - 3:30 mins)

St Peter Claver, pray for us!

Magnet for the friends of God...

"The Eucharist acts as a magnet

for the friends of God." - St Luigi Guanella

When St Luigi Guanella was traveling by train with pilgrimages to the various shrines,

he advised the pilgrims to turn their minds and hearts to Jesus every time

they saw a church tower from the carriage window.  He would say,

"Every bell tower indicates a church,

where there is a tabernacle,

where Mass is said,

and where Jesus stays."

St Luigi Guanella

____________________________

LABOR DAY

American and Canadian Federal Holiday

First Monday in September

"Work is not only good in the sense that it is useful or something to enjoy; 

it is also good as being something worthy, that is to say, something 

that corresponds to man's dignity, that expresses this dignity and 

increases it. ... Work is a good thing for man - a good thing for his humanity  - 

because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, 

but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed in a sense 

becomes 'more a human being.'"  - St JP II, Laborem Exercens #9

Prayer after Work by Fr. Peter John Cameron, o.p.

From Blessing Prayers

© Magnificat – Used with permission.    

www.magnificat.com

Most merciful Father, thank you for this day of work with all its achievements as well as its  burdens.  Thank you for all the successes, the challenges, and even the difficulties that it brought to me.  Your Son once said to His Apostles, "Come by yourselves to an out-of-the-way place and rest a little." Thank you for this gift of rest.  May this time be a chance for me to renew my gratitude for all your blessings.  In your great compassion and generosity, please be mindful of those who are out of work.  And help me to do a better job tomorrow.  I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 St Joseph, patron of the Worker, pray for us!

Biblical Christianity par excellence...

There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. 

If God had something more precious,

He would have given it to us." - St John Vianney

"The more I delved into Scripture (...) 

the more I became convinced that

the Catholic Faith is Biblical Christianity

come into its own.  

And nowhere do you find that more truly,

more fully, 

more powerfully,

and yet more mysteriously than in the 

holy sacrifice of the Mass."

 

Dr Scott Hahn

from How to Get the Most Out of Mass