BLESSED JUNIPERO SERRA

July 1st is the feast day of Blessed Junipero Serra, the Franciscan priest from Mallorca who at the age of 55, with a limp in his gait and afflicted with asthma, walked up and down what is now the State of California evangelizing the indigenous people, teaching them European methods of farming and defending them against those who would have taken advantage of them. He is associated with the establishment of the California Missions, many of which still function as parishes today. The earthly remains of Father Serra are interred in the Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel, California.

At the time of his death, Blessed Serra had baptized 6,000 Indians, a number which comprises approximately 10 per cent of the native population of California at the time. The Serra International website states: Between the years of 1796 and 1784, Father Serra made six voyages by sea totaling 5,400 miles. He traveled by land the distance between Monterey and San Francisco eight times, Monterey and San Antonio 11 times, His longest journey by land was from Monterey to Mexico City. In total, he traveled well over 5,500 miles by land.

His motto was, “Siempre adelante, nunca retredecer,” which in English means, “Always to go forward, never to turn back?.

Blessed Junipero Serra, Apostle of California, pray for usl

What I wish to say first of all is that, thank God, I am in good health, and that the famine which has laid heavily on all this country and been felt by so many poor people has hardly touched any of the Fathers, my companions, or myself…

Those who are the main supporters of our people are the gentiles. Thanks to them, we live because God so wills it; moreover, we must not forget that the milk from the cows and the vegetables from the garden have been very big factors in keeping these foundations going; but these two sources of food are becoming scarce. But, when all is said and done, I do not regret that these missions were founded and your reverence should not regret it either. None of the ministers who live in them have any criticisms on the matter. The complaint has only been with those without missions on account of the difficulty there has been to go ahead with their foundation.

And, above all, in regard to the promise made by God in these modem times to Our Father Saint Francis – as our Seraphic Mother Mary of Jesus declares – that the gentiles, at the mere sight of his sons, will be converted to our Holy Catholic Faith, it is my opinion that we are now seeing it with our eyes and touching it with our hands. Because if, at the present time, they are not as yet all Christians, it is, in my judgment, only for want of a knowledge of their language, a trouble of long standing with me which I have never been granted the grace to overcome, it seems to me, because of my many sins.

Yet, in San Diego, time has overcome the difficulty, and they already have baptized adults and solemnized marriages. And here, too, we are not far from arriving at the same state of improvement, since the children are beginning to express themselves in Castilian … To sum it all up: I put my trust in God that everything will turn out well.

Blessed Junipero SERRA (1713-1784)

The post A Franciscan with a Mission(s) first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Today is the tenth anniversary of the Australian Mission of the Franciscans of the Immaculate to Australia. Deo Gratias! May Our Lady continue with her blessings.

The post FiNews – Tenth Anniversary for FI Australian Mission!! first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The post July 1st: Blessed Junipero Serra first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #090713 ( 06min) Play – St Francis of Solano was a zealous Franciscan missionary to large portions of South America, converting hundreds of thousands and performing great miracles.
Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Jul 13 – Homily – Fr Ignatius: St Francis of Solano first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Roving Reporter #72 – Eduardo in Connecticut ( 10min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

On August 11th Eduardo Verastegui, the lead actor in the award winning pro-life movie Bella, came to the Eastern Connecticut University campus in Willimantic and gave a press conference followed by a talk in front of a packed auditorium. The event was organized by the Sisters of Charity in Baltic, Ct. We captured the press conference and are presenting it in three parts.

Part One:

Eduardo talks about his upcoming movies including one on St Peter with a $160 million budget. Then he discusses his company Metanoia Films and the difficult road of being an independent film producer. He mentions his recently completed world tour for the promotion of the movie Bella. And, finally, about his new non-profit organization Mantle of Guadalupe (Espanol) with which he goes on world missions to give help to the pour and is helping to build a hospital for pregnant mothers in a downtown LA Latino barrio.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

The post Video – Roving Reporter #72: Eduardo Verastegui Pt1 first appeared on AirMaria.com.

A soul united with Jesus can do anything…
Mother Cabrini

We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (feast day is November 13th)

Inspired by the grace of God, we join the saints in honoring the holy virgin Frances Xavier Cabrini. She was a humble woman who became outstanding not because she was famous or rich or powerful, but because she lived a virtuous life. From the tender years of her youth, she kept her innocence as white as a lily and preserved it carefully with the thorns of penitence; as the years progressed, she was moved by a certain instinct and supernatural zeal to dedicate her whole life to the service and greater glory of God.  It must also be mentioned that Mother Cabrini was a Third Order Franciscan.

She welcomed delinquent youths into safe homes, and taught them to live upright and holy lives. She consoled those who were in prison, and recalled to them the hope of eternal life. She encouraged prisoners to reform themselves, and to live honest lives. She comforted the sick and the infirm in the hospitals, and diligently cared for them. She extended a friendly and helping hand especially to immigrants, and offered them necessary shelter and relief, for having left their homeland behind, they were wandering about in a foreign land with no place to turn for help. Because of their condition, she saw that they were in danger of deserting the practice of Christian virtues and their Catholic faith. Undoubtedly she accomplished all this through the faith which was always so vibrant and alive in her heart; through the divine love which burned within her; and finally, through constant prayer by which she was so closely united with God from whom she humbly asked and obtained whatever her human weakness could not obtain. Although her constitution was very frail, her spirit was endowed with such singular strength that, knowing the will of God in her regard, she permitted nothing to impede her from accomplishing what seemed beyond her strength.

– from a homily at the Canonization of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini by Ven. Pope Pius XII

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin (Feast day November 13) St. Frances was born in Lombardi, Italy in 1850, one of thirteen children. At eighteen, she desired to become a Nun, but poor health stood in her way. She helped her parents until their death, and then worked on a farm with her brothers and sisters.

One day a priest asked her to teach in a girls’ school and she stayed for six years. At the request of her Bishop, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. Then at the urging of Pope Leo XIII she came to the United States with six nuns in 1889 to work among the Italian immigrants.

Filled with a deep trust in God and endowed with a wonderful administrative ability, this remarkable woman soon founded schools, hospitals, and orphanages in this strange land and saw them flourish in the aid of Italian immigrants and children. At the time of her death, at Chicago, Illinois on December 22, 1917, her institute numbered houses in England, France, Spain, the United States, and South America, about 70 institutions altogether. In 1946, she became the first American citizen to be canonized when she was elevated to sainthood by Pope Pius XII. St. Frances is the patroness of immigrants.

(A longer version of her life story can be found at http://www.mothercabrini.com/legacy/life1.asp)

Almighty and Eternal Father,

Giver of all Gifts,

show us Thy mercy,

and grant, we beseech Thee,

through the merits of Thy faithful Servant,

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini,

that all who invoke her intercession

may obtain what they desire

according to the good pleasure of Thy Holy Will.

(here name your request)

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini,

beloved spouse of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,

intercede for us that the favor we now ask may be granted.

The post Mother Cabrini first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #101203 ( 06min) Play – Fr. Dominic preaches on the life of St. Francis Xavier who as one of the first Jesuits went on missions to the Orient evangelizing and Baptizing countless thousands of new converts. Father exhorts us to have this same orientation of zeal of souls by living our own lives out of love for God, all fueled by a faithful prayer life.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Francis Xavier – Memorial – Form: OF
Readings: Friday in the 1st Week in Advent
1st: isa 29:17-24
Resp: psa 27:1, 4, 13-14
Gsp: mat 9:27-31

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Dec 03 – Homily – Fr Dominic: Francis Xavier Well Oriented Saint first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Missions #1 – The St Pio of Pietrelcina House of Charity in Brazil ( 13min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

See what the sisters are doing for the orphan girls at St Pio of Pietrelcina House of Charity in Brazil.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Video – Missions #1: House of Charity in Brazil first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #121205b ( 14min) Play – Card. Raymond Burke gives the homily during the third Mass for the Priests Retreat at Our Lady Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center. Cardinal Burke exhorts us to take retreat from missionary activity in order unite ourselves with the one who sends us to the missions and who is the source of all our missionary activity. By doing this we will sanctify ourselves and make our outward activity fruitful and so fulfill what God is calling all priest to do.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Wednesday in the 1st Week in Advent – Wkdy – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: isa 25:6-10
Resp: psa 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
Gsp: mat 15:29-37

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Dec 05 – Homily – Card. Burke: Unite to Him who Sends Us first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #131203b ( 09min) Play – Fr. Elias on the life of the Jesuit St. Francis Xavier who is the special patron of our Diocese of Indianapolis and so we commemorate him with a feast. Father outlines the extraordinary life of this missionary saint who perhaps baptized more in the short ten years of his missionary expeditions than any other person in history. He relates this to the recent document of his fellow Jesuit Pope Francis: Gaudium Evangelii, the “Joy of the Gospel” on the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s society.

Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Francis Xavier – Mem – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: 1co 9:16-19, 22-23
Resp: psa 117:1, 2
Gsp: mar 16:15-20

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Dec 03 – Homily – Fr Elias: Xavier: Saint on a Mission first appeared on AirMaria.com.